History
I am fascinated by people who can do things that I haven’t done or probably couldn’t do. Esoteric subjects interest me, but I can’t imagine getting a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in philosophy, and after those accomplishments, changing course and going to law school. Then, becoming a Curators’...
With the construction of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad completed, the exploitation of the virgin pine forests in Howell County could begin. The big timber was located in the northwest and northeast corners of the county. The northwest portion was first harvested because it...
Each episode of “The Way We Were” is an adventure, often down paths I have not thought about for years. One source of memories, particularly those that recur from time to time and may still affect us in subtle ways, often stems from something a relative said. My latest jaunt down “reflection lane...
After my column last time about Christmas in the Ozarks, I heard from a few friends who shared their memories of Christmas in Willow Springs in the 1960s.
Annette Tetrick Johnson (WSHS, 1965) recalled, “I remember how exciting it was to go downtown as the streets were decorated and hearing the...
In the past couple of issues, we’ve explored an unpublished local history written by John Frommel.
Another unpublished manuscript deserving of attention is a local history written by R.J. Huckshorn in 1951. Robert Jack Huckshorn was a resident of Willow Springs in the early part of his life,...
north, snow covered the lawns and cornfields to the point of boredom, but were a rarity greeted with mild awe in the Ozarks.
In the northern cities, people drove to Christmas tree lots full of Scotch pine, Douglas firs, and blue spruce trees to get their symbol of the holidays and toted it home...
This issue continues the saga of William "Pug" Garrison, an early pioneer of Howell County. Garrison came to the Hutton Valley-Willow Springs area as a long hunter, trapper, and squatter in the summer of 1852 and lived here for nearly a decade hunting and subsistence farming before the Civil War...
In the 1960s and 1970s, McGlynn’s Grocery on South Harris in Willow Springs, just past the viaduct, anchored the grocery business on that side of town. Opened in 1957 by Ernest and Lillian McGlynn, it was the only grocery store in town open seven days a week. Annually, it only closed on Christmas...
A couple of decades ago, lifelong Willow Springs resident Ron White told me of early pioneer hunter William "Pug" Garrison, who lived and hunted for ten years before the Civil War at the south junction of what would become Willow Springs. Ron, years before, had purchased a black powder rifle that...
As a recap, my previous article about Mark James covered his WSHS (Class of 1974) and
college experiences and detailed his career with the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) from 1978 until 1987. While working undercover for the MSHP, he partnered with numerous federal agencies, and in 1987...