Denver Reunion Held; Sesquicentennial Planned

Over 100 people attended the Denver Reunion Sunday, September 1st. People who had attended elementary at the Denver Schoolhouse came back, as well as Evelyn Groom, who had taught there.

The Denver CBC announced in its calendar that they are planning a Sesquicentennial celebration for next year to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Denver.

Copies of the 2020 Denver Schoolhouse Calendar are on sale now for $10. They contain historic pictures and information about the City of Denver. To get a copy, contact Helen Foster at (660) 326-2252 or any other Denver CBC member.

F.C. Grace’s Party Line Sale

The late F.C. Grace certainly knew how to sell TV’s, appliances, farm machinery, and just about everything else. One such promotion was a Party Line Sale back in 1955. A flyer of the promotion is at the Denver Schoolhouse.

Back in those days, people did not have their own phone lines, meaning that nosy neighbors could listen in on others’ phone conversations and learn all the local gossip. Obviously, the goal in F.C. Grace’s case was to get people talking about his bargain prices. For instance:

–A three piece bedroom suite cost $79.50, with two lamps thrown in for free.
–A living room set went for $98, with a $25 floor lamp thrown in for free.
–A new 1956 Admiral 17” tabletop model TV, which could be moved from room to room, went for $119, with an ash tray thrown in.
–A Whirlpool washer went for $199.
–An 11 cubic foot freezer went for $229.50.
–A 9 cubic foot refrigerator from GE went for $189.50. An Admiral 7.6 cubic foot refrigerator went for $129.

Times were pretty good on the farming front, and there were also plenty of bargains on farming and fencing equipment. And as an added bonus, delivery was always free.

Denver Museum Adds New Display from General Store, Plans Upgrades

Between 50 and 100 people attended the annual Denver Reunion Sunday afternoon. A new display has been added to the museum – a display of goods that were sold at the Denver General Store.
Some of the brand names seem unfamiliar today and some where themed by the Cowboys and Indians imagery of this country. For instance:
–Powhatan Apple Sauce;
–Morton’s Salt. “It pours;”
–Beechie’s Gum. “Worth stopping for.” It’s still around today.
–Uneeda Biscuits. They were only five cents.
–Uncle Sam Apples.
–Route 29 Milk Chocolate Licorice. “Farm raised in small hands.”

They sold more common brands that are still available locally, such as Campbell’s Soup, Quaker Oats, Planter’s Mixed Nuts, Nabisco Crackers, Crayola Crayons, and Folger’s Coffee.

Helen Foster said that they were planning to do the front and middle hallways next, along with repairing damage from the storm in June. Two tornadoes hit Denver on June 28th, blowing out windows from the building, among other damage to the town. They plan to replace the flagpole, which was blown down, along with redoing the flower bed and putting in a new sidewalk.

During the past year, workers redid the ceiling in the east room, rewired the lights, and put in sheet rock around the structure. The walls were painted and new tablecloths were purchased for community events. Repair work was done on the windows.

Annual Denver Reunion Held

Around 100 people attended the annual Denver Reunion Sunday afternoon. A covered dinner was served, and people looked at some of the many artifacts of the Denver Schoolhouse. It served as the school for Denver from 1870 to 1964, when it was consolidated with the Worth County School. Before then, it had served as a K-8 school for the Worth County School System. Many alumni of the school system came back home.

Among the items on display was a copy of the Denver Herald, from July 8th, 1909. The following are some gleanings from that paper:

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Some marks of a real man:
–Superiority to petty feelings;
–Never taking grudges into private life against a man who you combated with in public.

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1st man: “I never knew a man so lacking in judgement and foresight.”
2nd man: “Perhaps, but there is an excuse – he worked in the weather office.”

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The Christian Church was struck by lightning which tore a hole in the floor. Fortunately, the building was insured.

***

A judge in Macon ruled that a wife had a vested interest to scold her husband who sued her for divorce because of her habit of losing her temper. Media speculation is nothing new; the editors of The Herald speculated that the judge was either a bachelor or had a pleasant wife. “A woman’s right to nag, scold, or fly to pieces is the same as the man’s right to drink – either will have a thunder of a time if they take advantage of it,” wrote the editors.

***

The copy of The Herald was donated by Rosemary Stevens Cox. Another item was from a supplement from the Worth County Times in 1916. It included two letters from people who had lived in Worth County and then had set out further west. In addition, there were financial statements from three banks – the Citizens Bank of Grant City (Now Great Western Bank), the Bank of Denver, and the Farmers Bank of Allendale.

Denver CBC Looks for New Faceboard for Schoolhouse

The Denver CBC sought to put new guttering on the Schoolhouse, but couldn't do it after Sean Cameron, the person they had sought to hire for the front portion for $500, advised them that the faceboard was rotting. The challenge will be to find a way to access the 40 foot height. The belfry tower needs work as well. Twelve years ago, Elmer Davidson had worked on the roof.

The CBC is planning to sell postcards with the schoolhouse on it. They also plan to have Tyler Miller put a sign in front of the schoolhouse.

Worth County students Will Engel and Nate Adwell did community service work for the schoolhouse for three hours, helping to sort through stuff.

The next meeting for the Denver CBC will be on July 13th at 3 pm at the schoolhouse.

Grant City VFW Performs Flag Dedication Ceremony for Denver Schoolhouse

Grant City VFW Post 3123 of Grant City performed a flag dedication ceremony at the Denver Schoolhouse Saturday.

Commander Robert Hull led the ceremony. “We have the honor today of presenting the National Standard, the Flag of the United States, to this worthy organization on this occasion. We bring the heartiest greetings from the officers and members of Post 3123, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. As one of the highlights of our community service and youth activities programs, it is a great pleasure to us to be able to present to you this symbol of our great republic to you, the Denver Betterment Committee.

Officer of the Day Joe Marshall presented Helen Foster the American Flag and with the assistance of John Kenny, they raised the American Flag in honor and memory of Rick Meyers, who had passed away in Denver two years ago. As they raised the flag, Joe Marshall led all in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Honor Guard of Post 3123 was brought to attention and presented arms, hand salutes, and rifle salutes. A prayer to ask the blessing of our national colors was spoken.

After the prayer, there was a rifle volley and the National Anthem was played.

A flag pole was donated to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and refurbished by the members of Post 3123 and also donated for the dedication.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary was represented by Sandra Marshall.

The VFW Post 3123 members and officers were Commander Robert Hull, Quartermaster and Adjutant Joe Marshall, VFW Post Flag Bearer Harold Fletchall, and Rifle Squad members were John (Jack) Cottrell and Will Brown.

Robert Stricklen, Pony Express Riders Recognized at Denver School Open House

Robert Stricklen and other riders of the Pony Express were recognized at the Denver School Open House held Saturday afternoon. Mr. Stricklen was also a Worth County resident as noted by the Worth County Reporter. He moved to Grant City in 1884 and lived in Worth County for the last 42 years of his life. He moved to Worth in 1904 and died there in 1926.

Before the Pony Express came along, mail from the rest of the country to California was taken either on fast packet ships sailing around Cape Horn or via Panama and then loaded on ships and delivered to their destination. But, as advertised in New York City, mail could be delivered to San Francisco in 10 days. The Gold Rush was on and there was more and more demand for a faster mail service.

Letters cost $1 for the first 1/2 ounce (after initially starting at $5) and each additional 1/2 ounce was another $1. A flyer on display at the Denver Schoolhouse Saturday advertised for employment for young riders. They had to be willing to risk death daily and orphans were preferred. Pay was typically $60/month. St. Joseph was the westernmost point of the US rail system in 1860 and the Pony Express ran for 18 months from St. Joseph to Sacramento. Kids as young as 11 rode the routes, which took 10 days in summer and 12-16 days in winter. Riders had to weigh 125 pounds or less. In 1861, the telegraph was built, which meant that news could travel much faster and the Pony Express was ended. But by its end, it had delivered 35,000 pieces of mail in its 18 months of operation.

Helen Foster gave a talk at the Open House about the Pony Express and about Western movies in general. Cookies and drinks were served.

Fundraiser Held for Denver Schoolhouse

A fundraiser was held Saturday evening for the Denver Schoolhouse. Dinner was served at 6, followed by an auction at 7.

Helen Foster said that current goals were to put in folding doors to cut down on energy costs and put in kitchen cabinets. Currently, LaDora Combs is working on an inventory list of everything that is currently at the museum. She also donated a collection of obituaries dating back to 1863, which is the oldest such collection in the county. She also is working on a large collection of funeral cards dating back to 1901, which she says will help families find gravesites if the obituary is incorrect or didn't list one. The Worth County Partnership Library allowed her to borrow materials for her latest projects.

Open House for Denver School

There will be an open house for the Denver School this Saturday, December 8th in the afternoon. The schoolhouse will be decorated for Christmas and there will be tables with school records, material from all the towns in Worth County, and play programs from the old Denver school. The community of Denver is in the process of restoring the old schoolhouse, which is the only remaining two-story schoolhouse left standing in the State of Missouri.

Denver Raises Funds for Schoolhouse at Spring Fling

Around 35 people attended the kids games for the Denver Spring Fling and others attended the dinner afterwards Saturday afternoon. Rains that had threatened in the morning moved out of the area by the afternoon, enabling the hunt to go forward.
The Denver Schoolhouse project is moving forward. LaDora Combs donated her genealogical library to the museum; it has many resources from out of the state as well as in-state resources. There is now a whole wing of the museum that is dedicated to genealogical resources as well as a copy of the 1940 census records for both Allen and Smith Townships. There is also a microfilm reader as well as old plat maps. People can come to the museum by appointment; for an appointment, contact a Denver CBC member. There are also a lot of obituaries, family trees, and pictures.
Three sides of the schoolhouse have been painted and the south side will be painted this summer. Next, work on the guttering will be done followed by starting on work on the inside of the building. The upstairs will be used for a model classroom and one idea is to bring students from the school there to see what it was like to learn in such an environment. There will be another wing that will be used for storage. The bottom will consist of the genealogical room as well as a community room.
The Denver CBC is still getting donations for the project and they are selling t-shirts and calendars as well as plants and other stuff. The project is entirely funded through private donations as well as a $400 grant from GRM. They are selling reproductions of the Denver Cookbook as well.
Brenda Abplanalp of the CBC said that she thought there would be a lot of people there over Memorial Day weekend to do genealogical research.
Throughout the dinner, F.C. Grace Jr., son of the late F.C. Grace, kept folks entertained with his stories about the old schoolhouse, his dad’s business, and playing baseball and riding horses. Following the dinner, the CBC auctioned off some plants to raise funds for the schoolhouse.
Among those who attended were Jeanine Grass, Diana Reynolds, Amy Huffstutlar, Helen Ridge Foster, Doug Combs, Ross and LaDora Combs, Nick and Brenda Abplanalp, Lavon (Sweeney) Smith, Austin Findley, Stephanie King, Lowell and Pat Houts, Jane and Brad Gabriel, Jacy, Trent, Reid, and Avery, Matt Mincy, Ted and Barbara Findley, Nory Reneman, Avis Parman, Tammy Ueligger, Lily Ueligger, F.C. & Karen Garce, Annisa Justice, Dave, and Cole, Adam and Rhonda Palmer, Dallas and Jackie Findley, Keith and Debra Younger, Dan and Louise Summa, Dominique Findley, J.C. & Pam Parman, Gary and Roberta Owens, and Jack Hawk.

Evelyn Groom Recalls Teaching at Denver School

Denver held an open house for their two-story schoolhouse Sunday afternoon and is continuing the process of restoring the old schoolhouse and turning it into a museum. Currently, they are about to start painting the building. More work needs to be done on the inside and some of the windows need to be replaced. LaDora Combs and others have put together a lot more historical records in the last year including records of Denver businesses as well as records of many of the rural schools including Sheridan, Allendale, and Worth. The Carnegie Library in Albany donated a microfilm reader that will be used for people who want to read microfilms in the future; Ms. Combs said she has many of those. There are also many newspaper clippings about Denver as well as information about the original settlement of Denver back in 1840.
Present at the open house was Evelyn Groom, who taught at the Denver School from 1960-1964, when it closed. After the Denver School closed, she taught at the Worth County School until her retirement in 1992; she taught first through 3rd grade at Denver. She has taught most of the people who grew up in Worth County at one time or another. Prior to Denver, she had taught all the grades at Amity and had taught grades 3 and 4 in Allendale at the age of 18. In total, she taught for 41 years.
Groom said one of the biggest changes that she had was from teaching many different grades to one grade.
She said that it became a lot easier to teach when she only had to do one lesson plan instead of several. She said that the big challenges that she faced in Denver were the lack of technology. For instance, back in those days, there was one phone at the front of the building and you had to call the operator and get her to connect you to the outside world. She only had one blackboard to work with and relied a lot on the workbooks that the school used.
Once she became teacher at Worth County, she taught with Vanda Terry and they could do a lot of things together that they couldn’t have done in the earlier one-room schools given the fact that they only taught one grade instead of several.
Recently, Ms. Groom celebrated her 80th birthday and got two dozen roses “from your most difficult student,” who turned out to be Chuck McCrary. She says she hears from a lot of her students.
If there was any lesson most likely to be learned by students who had Ms. Groom, it is to live life to the fullest. Despite being 80, she is starting a new life as she will be marrying John Ruby this August and will move with him down to Nixa, MO. She had been going to dances where she met Mr. Ruby. “I feel just as young as I did when I was 30,” she said. “People can have a great time no matter how old they are.”
A free meal was served and a local group of people played patriotic music.
Galen Ruckman, who grew up going to the Denver school, said it was the greatest place on earth to grow up. “We entertained ourselves,” he said of the days before kids had Internet or cell phones or TV. Ruckman went to Denver school for 10 years and had Gwanetha Parman and Dean Tandy as teachers. Ms. Parman later married Ed Girling of Sheridan. “Parman was a really good teacher who was very patient with us,” said Ruckman. “We could be really rowdy, but she was strict on discipline. Now, teachers can’t do anything anymore.” Of Ms. Tandy, who taught grades 1 through 3, Ruckman said, “She put the power to me and I’m glad of it.” Students were always expected to turn in their lessons promptly but Ruckman said he thought that he didn’t have to and told her so. He said he changed his mind in a hurry and was always the first to hand in his lessons after Ms. Tandy got done with him.
Ruckman said that he had a lot of fun doing track, basketball, and baseball. Baseball games were played outside the school building. Basketball games were played in a gym where you couldn’t put too much arch on your shots because the ceiling was so low; they would routinely play neighboring schools in athletic contests. Ruckman said that the teachers at Denver were really good about working with students as individuals; “If you needed help with something, they would give it to you,” he said.