History
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...
Continuing our series on downtown Willow Springs we return to Center Street, turn east onto Main Street, and look at the buildings on East Main Street. Currently, the Walgreen's Pharmacy/Ferguson Drug, at 101 East Main, the history of this corner is long. In the late 1800s and early 1900s T.E."...
Sometime during my senior year at WSHS, Principal Fred Thomas summoned me to his office for an assignment. The third-grade teacher, Mrs. Yardley, had to be absent from class, and Mr. Thomas asked me to serve as a substitute teacher for a science lesson. Without any hesitation, I agreed. ...
Continuing where we left off last week, we come to Second Street in Downtown Willow Springs, also known as Main Street; it was formerly a part of Highways 60/63 before Willow Springs was bypassed. We will only cover one side of Main Street this time, which is an incomplete listing. The nice thing...
We start a series on the history of downtown Willow Springs with this issue. From the start, Willow Springs was a railroad town. Much of Hutton Valley and surrounding communities moved to the railroad and its opportunities for employment or commerce. From the first train's arrival on Christmas...
In my experience, some of the smartest people I’ve known are Willow Springs High School alums. And by any measure, Judge Duane Benton (WSHS, 1968) would be among those at the head of the class. And as a former Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court and current Judge for the United States...
The possibility of a national railroad strike has been in recent news. A similar strike at the same time of year occurred one hundred years ago and profoundly influenced our local economy in Howell County. It delivered the coup de grace to a struggling peach industry when train carloads of...
Howell was not the only southern Missouri border county to suffer post-Civil War violence and civil unrest. Both sides had committed atrocities, and the tendency to take the law into one’s own hands was prevalent among the population supposed to be at peace. The 1879 tragedy of the killing of the...