Remembering my ‘Dirt Road Days’

February 2025

​Vintage Discoveries

Remembering my ‘Dirt Road Days’

by Ken Weyand

Years before J.D. Vance penned his “Hillbilly Elegy” about his Appalachian origins, I put together an e-book that recalled my early years on a Northeast Missouri farm. As the blurb on the Amazon website noted, my “only connection with the outside world was a dirt road.”

The isolation often meant that a week spent looking forward to a visit to a county-seat town for a matinee showing a Hopalong Cassidy flick with a side of Bugs Bunny cartoons while my parents did their trading could be ruined by a Friday night rain. The 4-mile dirt road connecting us with the nearest blacktop would turn to mud, a challenge too great for our old Chevy.

Looking back, growing up on an isolated farm had its advantages. From an early age, my folks allowed me to explore the farm on my own. I remember my six-year-old self playing in a shallow creek while my dad plowed bottomland. I’d build small dams that would quickly wash away, and pursue crawdads and frogs that usually avoided by reach. It was a far cry from the helicopter parenting that isolates and protects today’s youngsters from the realities of life, but I survived.

The photo shows Ken as a toddler at the back of their farmhouse, which featured a pump for drawing water. His dad (and occasional harvest hands) would use the pump to wash up before entering the house for dinner.

Biggle Health Book

The photo shows Ken as a toddler at the back of their farmhouse, which featured a pump for drawing water. His dad (and occasional harvest hands) would use the pump to wash up before entering the house for dinner.

Biggle Health Book

Ken’s mother captured his toddler self helping his dad wash up before coming in for dinner, probably in the summer of 1939. (photos from Ken Weyand collection)e pump to wash up before entering the house for dinner.

Before I was born, my parents had been building a life together on a small farm in northeast Missouri. The house and barn had been built before the Civil War, and my dad had labored mightily make the farmstead liveable for his bride, a city girl with no experience in country living.

On summer days he would pump a pan of water from the old well on our uncovered back porch to wash up before coming into the house for dinner. On the farm, we had breakfast, dinner and supper. After a hearty meal, he would return to the fields to continue his work, while I found other things to occupy my time.

The back porch was the site of another incident a few years later. I had been known to occasionally wander in my sleep. One night, I walked downtairs in my sleep and out the back door to the porch. When my mother caught up with me, I had pumped a cup of water and was preparing to take a drink. The sleep-walking problem went away as I got older, but the water-pump incident was the source of family amusement for years.

(Exerpts from “An Unlikely Love Story” and “Dirt Road Diary,” Ken’s e-books about growing up on a Missouri farm)
Ken Weyand’s Kindle eBooks are available for $2.99 at Amazon.com.
Biggle Health Book
Biggle Health Book

Ken Weyand is the original owner/publisher of Discover Vintage America,  founded in July 1973 under the name of Discover North.

Ken Weyand can be contacted at kweyand1@kc.rr.com Ken is self-publishing a series of non-fiction E-books. Go to www.smashwords.com and enter Ken Weyand in the search box.

Keokuk, IA, celebrates 10-year restoration of 1891 Union Depot

December 2024

​Vintage Discoveries

Keokuk, IA, celebrates 10-year restoration of 1891 Union Depot

by Ken Weyand

Back in its day, the massive and ornate Victorian-style depot building built in 1891 was a centerpiece of Keokuk, IA. Then a bustling transportation center, the city boasted five railroads and a steady stream of packet boats plying the Mississippi River.

 Over the years, many of the packet lines gave way to railroads, and most of the rail lines gave way to automobiles and trucks. As the years passed, people like my grandfather, who used the Keokuk and Western Railroad for most of his travels, would be forgotten, as would the massive depot building that remained as a crumbling relic.

 For the past decade, however, the city of Keokuk and a dedicated group of preservationists have worked to restore the depot. On Nov. 9, they met to celebrate the results of their work. A massive Victorian roof, gleaming tile and stonework, woodwork, ornate chandeliers, and a rare trackside canopy were separate restoration projects. The iron canopy is said to be the only one of its kind in existence.

 The depot is available as a venue for parties, reunions and other events. Other possibilities include an Airbnb as a destination for railroad enthusiasts.

Biggle Health Book

A plaque denotes the depot’s National Register status.

Biggle Health Book

The depot features a steep roofline and Victorian embellishments. (Photos by Ken Weyand)

Ken Weyand is the original owner/publisher of Discover Vintage America,  founded in July 1973 under the name of Discover North.

Ken Weyand can be contacted at kweyand1@kc.rr.com Ken is self-publishing a series of non-fiction E-books. Go to www.smashwords.com and enter Ken Weyand in the search box.

Poster recalls Ozark Air Lines, TWA, and an exciting cross-country flight

November 2024

​Vintage Discoveries

Poster recalls Ozark Air Lines, TWA, and an exciting cross-country flight

by Ken Weyand

Recently, I found an old aviation poster, rolled up in a corner. It’s a reminder of the days I had a love affair with aviation, writing about its history in self-published magazines, and actually learning to fly at the old Fairfax Airport in Kansas City, KS.

The poster features Ozark Air Lines in 1985, the year before Trans World Airlines, then an important Kansas City institution, absorbed them. Ozark had a brief startup in 1933 with flights between Kansas City and Springfield, but that effort only lasted a year. A decade later it resurfaced, taking over from the failed Parks Air Transport.

For the next four decades, Ozark expanded its operations, eventually acquiring 80-passenger DC-9s and serving 90 destinations from its St. Louis hub. In 1985, not long after my poster was printed, it merged with Air Midwest, changing its name to Ozark Midwest. The following year, the airline was bought out by TWA.

I had one encounter with the airline in the early 1960s. I was learning to fly at the old Fairfax Airport in Kansas City, KS, and attempted a solo cross-country round-trip flight to Columbia Regional Airport. It was a clear and sunny day, but windy, when I took off early in the morning in the flying club’s ancient Cessna 140 tail-dragger (My instructor, Bill Cliff, said later if he hadn’t overslept, he would have grounded me because of the wind conditions).
The Cessna’s normal top speed was a bit over 100 mph, but with a 40-mph tailwind, I zipped to Columbia in record time. I intended to land on their main east-west runway, but to my dismay, an Ozark DC-3 was parked there, awaiting passengers. I decided to land on the grass strip running north south, “crabbing” into the wind and holding my breath as I executed my first (and probably best ever) cross-wind landing.

On the flight back to Kansas City, the headwind slowed me to a crawl, as I watched vehicles outpace me on the newly built interstate. Slowly crossing over North Kansas City, I radioed the tower and got OK’d for a direct landing on Fairfax’s east-west runway. As I approached, a Boeing 707 airliner appeared to my right, heading for Downtown Airport. It looked blimp-sized as our flight paths began to converge. I had to circle and make another approach, losing a lot of distance as I fought against the strong headwind, but I managed a successful landing.

It was one of my most exciting days as a student pilot — I eventually took my check-ride at Downtown Airport, and got my license, although my “flying career” only lasted a few years. And it was my first – and only – encounter with Ozark Air Lines, whose parked plane nearly ended my flying before it started.

Ozark used many clever marketing plans to promote business, and the “sweepstakes” theme may have been an offer to combine flights with Mississippi River cruises. My research efforts came up empty.

My poster is unique, as it’s one of the last to be issued under the Ozark Air Lines brand before the company absorbed Air Midwest, and a year before it was absorbed by TWA. But its value may be limited. Many flying-themed posters are available online, with prices as low as $19.

Biggle Health Book

Ozark Air Lines poster from 1985, not long before the merger with Air Midwest. (Ken Weyand photo)

Ken Weyand is the original owner/publisher of Discover Vintage America,  founded in July 1973 under the name of Discover North.

Ken Weyand can be contacted at kweyand1@kc.rr.com Ken is self-publishing a series of non-fiction E-books. Go to www.smashwords.com and enter Ken Weyand in the search box.

‘Forgotten airport’ found in Kansas City Area

October 2024

​Vintage Discoveries

‘Forgotten airport’ found in Kansas City Area

by Ken Weyand

When I was putting together the 1970 book, “Aviation History in Greater Kansas City,” a few of the old-time pilots I interviewed mentioned the old “Police Airport” in North Kansas City. Located just west of Burlington Avenue, the airport was little more than a grass strip, and didn’t “make the cut” to be included in my compilation, which included Kellerstrass Field at 87th & Holmes Road.; Old Richards Field, south of Highway 50; and New Richards Field, later to become Kansas City Municipal (eventually Kansas City Wheeler Airport).

In the book “Bridge to the Past, A Personal History of North Kansas City,” published in 1983 under the auspices of the City Council and edited by Mildred Fulton, an “early-day barnstormer,” A. E. (Ace) Reynolds was credited as coming to North Kansas City and renting a room on Erie Street “because he needed to be close to an airport!” It was 1923 and Reynolds was learning to fly.

The article stated that Reynolds was not only close to the old Municipal Airport but to “Police Airport” as well. The Police Airport was essentially a hayfield just east of Burlington Avenue where the retail complex that once housed the old Dolgin’s store would be built. At the edge of the hayfield was a “hay barn and an old metal shed which was used as a hangar,” according to Reynolds.

Reynolds recalled that in 1923 the pilots refueled their airplanes from a “large square portable tank with its dispersing pump and drums with oil.” He mentioned that the “airport” had a second landing strip with a hay barn for a hangar near where Cook’s Paint is now.”

Ace Reynolds was a barnstormer, a test pilot, and an instructor at the Art Goebel School of Flying at the Municipal Airport. “I can remember taking off at Municipal Airport and landing at Rugel’s (a big drive-in restaurant) on Burlington one noon,” he said. “They ran an ad in a newspaper after that, reading ‘Drive-In, Fly-In Service.’ The CAA made short work of that, though.”

When I was doing research for my book, I interviewed many old-time local pilots, including Ben Gregory, a veteran barnstormer and North Kansas City resident then in his 80s. Gregory recalled a short grass strip running basically east-west alongside the levee near present-day Macken Park. But in those days, Gregory said, there were fewer houses or other obstructions, and a lot of small fields served as airstrips.

(Visit www.claycountyhstoricalsocietymuseum.org to learn more about Clay County, Missouri history.)

Biggle Health Book

Art Goebel, noted Kansas City area pilot in the 1920s, established a school for pilots at the old Kansas City Airport. Ace Reynolds was one of his instructors. Goebel later worked as a stunt pilot in Hollywood, and in 1927 piloted the winning aircraft in the Dole Air Race from Oakland, CA, to Hawaii.

Ken Weyand is the original owner/publisher of Discover Vintage America,  founded in July 1973 under the name of Discover North.

Ken Weyand can be contacted at kweyand1@kc.rr.com Ken is self-publishing a series of non-fiction E-books. Go to www.smashwords.com and enter Ken Weyand in the search box.

World’s Fair souvenir book reveals styles of the ‘thirties

September 2024

​Vintage Discoveries

World’s Fair souvenir book reveals styles of the ‘thirties

by Ken Weyand

Six years ago in my column, I recalled a trip my mother and her parents made in 1934 to the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. Recently, I discovered a book of photos my Mother had bought at the Expo. Always a “pack-rat,” she saved the book, and it somehow got overlooked in the bottom of a cedar chest. (More about it later.)

My parents and my mother’s parents had made the trip when the Expo opened in 1933, taking advantage of the Santa Fe Railroad’s extra-low fare of $5.45 for a round-trip ticket from Medill, MO, to Chicago. It was too good an offer to pass up, even in the Depression years. By the end of 1933, Expo officials decided to extend it for another year, and the railroad extended its offer.

My dad’s farm work kept him at home in 1934, so my mother made the trip again with her parents, leaving the Medill, MO, station on Sept. 10. Overnight expenses in Chicago weren’t a problem, either. My mother took advantage of a college friend’s offer to put them up in her home, not far from the show grounds.

My mother reported in her daily journal that the group enjoyed the Sky Ride, a bridge that enabled visitors to travel from one side of the Expo to the other. She mentioned several of the Expo’s highlights, including “seeing President (Theodore) Roosevelt and Marconi, the inventor of the telegraph.” She also noted that they “saw Chevrolet cars being assembled at the General Motors exhibit.”

In addition to seeing the Expo, the trio took time for sightseeing, taking in the Field Museum and other Chicago attractions. They spent one day shopping in the “Loop.” Mother’s diary entry reported visits to Marshall Field’s, Carson-Pirie’s, and the Davis store.

On Sept. 16, Mother and her folks returned to Medill on the train, after 10 days in the “Windy City.” My dad was there to bring Mother home to their farm near Granger, MO, by car, while her folks took the Keokuk and Western Railroad to Kahoka, MO, where they lived. It was an era when trains still dominated travel; my grandfather never owned a car, but enjoyed traveling by train.

By the time the Century of Progress Exposition finally closed in November, the total attendance was reported to be more than 48 million. A true “World’s Fair,” it was the first of its kind to pay for itself.

In my previous column, I shared postcards my Mother brought back, and the Santa Fe brochure, showing the train schedule and the railroad’s special round-trip fare, that undoubtedly had much to do with the Expo’s attendance.

I recently discovered a “picture book” of the fair that I had overlooked. I’m not sure what Mother paid for it, but given her attention to pinching pennies, I’m sure it was a bargain. The 48-page book measures 10 x 13 ½ inches and is printed on quality magazine stock, with 129 black & white photos and a two-color cover. The Expo celebrated the best of the world’s cultural and scientific achievements, making the book an interesting window into the 1930s.
Although my mother had repaired the spine of the book with tape, the rest of the book is unmarked and intact. The photos are clear, with no obvious fading. I’ve seen a few examples of this book online, with prices ranging from $13 to $42.

POSTSCRIPT:
I had a chance to examine the “souvenir playing cards” from the Expo, and made an interesting discovery. Although the cards have gilt edges as advertised, my package contained only 42 cards out of a normal 52-card deck. There was one joker (most decks have two), and I counted at least a dozen examples of the four of spades – meaning the deck was far from complete. It’s possible that some of the cards were taken out and lost, but the extra cards of one suit makes the deck unplayable.

My grandfather enjoyed playing cards – he introduced the game of “Casino” to my dad before I was born, and I would later learn my numbers playing the game as a child. I’m sure he would have been disappointed to learn he had been swindled at the Worlds Fair!

 The Quack's Victims

Souvenir playing cards

Biggle Health Book

Cover of 1933 souvenir book (Ken Weyand photos)

Biggle Health Book

Ready for attempted flight to stratosphere

Biggle Health Book

Crowd at Midway

Ken Weyand is the original owner/publisher of Discover Vintage America,  founded in July 1973 under the name of Discover North.

Ken Weyand can be contacted at kweyand1@kc.rr.com Ken is self-publishing a series of non-fiction E-books. Go to www.smashwords.com and enter Ken Weyand in the search box.