Old ‘Wonder Tower’ in Colorado offered views of 6 states

August 2024

​Vintage Discoveries

Old ‘Wonder Tower’ in Colorado offered views of 6 states

by Ken Weyand

Back in the mid-1920s, a favorite ‘”tourist attraction” in eastern Colorado was a crude 65-foot tower built on what was reported to be the highest point between New York and Denver.

During the summer months, the tower’s builder and owner, Charles W. Gregory, a retired railroad engineer, is said to have stood at the tower with a bullhorn. As a car approached with its windows rolled down (it was before car air-conditioning) Gregory would invite the motorist and his family to stop, have a “cold pop” and see six states from the top of the tower.

After the visitors refreshed themselves, they could pay a dollar to climb a set of crude steps and take a look. Gregory’s property also included a gas station, restaurant and motel, offering the passing tourist many ways to spend his money.

In the 1960s, Jerry Chubbuck, a man who found many significant fossils in the area, bought the property. He also became successful with “outhouse archeology,” and his searches provided a supply of old bottles, guns, Indian items and other Western artifacts. Chubbuck added a “museum of oddities” that included a two-headed calf, a woolly mammoth skeleton, a large collection of arrowheads, and other curiosities. Even after Interstate 70 replaced old Hwy. 24, the “Wonder Tower” continued to draw a small but steady stream of visitors.

Jerry also had an extensive collection of old bottles, and stored many in abandoned cars on the property, which from a distance made the place look like it had attracted many visitors. The bottles contained iron in the glassmaking process, that turned the bottles various shades of pink when exposed to sunlight over long periods. On our trips to Denver and other Western states in the 90s, my wife and I often stopped to see the “Wonder Tower” and enjoy a visit with Jerry. On each visit, my wife delighted in finding a bottle or two to add to her collection. I even climbed the tower and took a look at the impressive view. On one of our visits we even ran into people we knew from the Kansas City area.

Jerry died in 2013, and his family auctioned most of the museum’s contents. Three years later, a group of Coloradans bought the tower, hoping to preserve the iconic attraction that first impressed visitors nearly a century ago.

Today the abandoned property stands behind barbed wire and “keep out” signs. Like the old attraction, Genoa’s few business buildings are also abandoned and empty, except for a post office and grain elevator.

 The Quack's Victims

Old museum is empty, but signs remain.

Biggle Health Book

“Wonder Tower,” built in 1926, attracted a steady stream of visitors. (Ken Weyand photos)

Biggle Health Book

Gate now bars entry to once-popular attraction.

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.

Old brochure touts Ford’s automotive progress – in 1935

July 2024

​Vintage Discoveries

Old brochure touts Ford’s automotive progress – in 1935

by Ken Weyand

A few years ago, I chronicled the story of a long “road trip” my parents and grandparents took to California in 1935, a couple of years before I was born. My parents and my mother’s folks shared at least one thing in common: a love for travel, and once the crops on the family farm in northeast Missouri were cultivated (or “laid by,” as they called it) my Dad would look for ways to get the family “on the open road.”

In 1935, still in the depths of the Great Depression, money was tight, and any travel had to be done “on the cheap.” Staying with relatives often saved overnight expenses, which in those days meant paying $2 to $3 for a “tourist cabin,” and maybe furnishing your own bed linens. Food was bought at grocery stores along the way, with few stops at restaurants. Gas cost as little as 17 cents a gallon, and their nearly-new 1935 Chevy had fresh tires that gave them no trouble.

Using a trip-planner furnished by Conoco, my mother recorded every cent the foursome spent, even including haircuts for the men. The total cost of their 6,603-mile, 24-day trip came to only $164.

One of the highlights of their trip was the California Pacific International Exposition at Balboa Park in San Diego.  They were among the more than 7 million visitors to visit the expo. Admission for the four of them cost $2.

Along with the Expo’s many (free) attractions was the Ford Motor Co.’s exhibit, highlighting its latest automobiles, and the various steps in their manufacture. The exhibit included twenty working models showing the Rouge plant in Dearborn. Obviously impressed with the Ford exhibit, my folks saved the brochure among other keepsakes from their trip. To me, it remains a “time capsule” of the state of automotive progress nearly 90 years ago.

Besides describing in detail the advantages of the latest models, the Ford brochure touted Henry Ford and his status as a leader of the industry. His thoughts are quoted on every page, and the cover features a photo of Henry with his first automobile. In one of his quotes, he writes, “Industry is Mind using Nature to make human life more free.”

By 1935, Ford was facing intense competition from Chevrolet and others, and the brochure shows the effort the company was making to remain an industry leader. Ten years later, Henry Ford II would succeed his father as company president.

 The Quack's Victims

Center spread shows features of 1935 cars, and all the models available.

Biggle Health Book

Cover of 1935 Ford brochure

Cover of Ford brochure, showing Henry Ford’s first automobile, newest model.  (Image courtesy of the author)

Biggle Health Book

Ford coupe

Ford coupe owned by my parents featured a “rumble seat.”  (Image courtesy of the author)

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.

Old ‘slate-board’ from the 1800s made learning a bit easier

May 2024

​Vintage Discoveries

Old ‘slate-board’ from the 1800s made learning a bit easier

by Ken Weyand

While today’s parents and teachers fret about how youngsters are too dependent on smart phones, I was tickled to find an “education tool” from another age in the back of a closet. My mother’s name, written in a child-like scrawl, appears on one edge. it’s a good bet my slate-board set got some hard use back in its day.

My mother was born June 5, 1894, in Palmyra, IL, and lived for a time in Lincoln, MO, before the family moved to Kahoka, where her dad became an RFD Mail Carrier. By 1900, she was a student in a Kahoka elementary school, where she undoubtedly used the slate board. (Fortunately she also studied music, something she would utilize most of her life). An article in the Clark County Courier noted that she had performed a violin solo at a meeting of the local teachers’ association.)

The slate-board I found is actually two 6 x 9-inch boards, both with inch-wide wooden frames. The frames are wrapped in a thin layer of protective cotton, held in place by a thin cords. The corners of the frames are rounded, and both boards are hinged with narrow fabric straps.

Besides my mother’s name: “Mabel June Forrester,” the frame also includes a faintly stamped logo: “THE UNEXCELLED.” My online research revealed that the fabric edges on the frame “softened the noise” of the slate clattering against the edges of desk, and these slates were called “soft slates.”

 

 The Quack's Victims

Mabel Forrester (mother of the author) with her parents, Charley and Carrie, in a 1902 photo. (Image courtesy of the author)

Biggle Health Book

A Soft Slate

Two slate panels were attached with narrow cloth hinges. The cloth around edge quieted the slate when it brushed against a desk, giving it the name: “soft slate.” (Image courtesy of the author)

 

Used to promote penmanship, a sought-after goal, the writing slate became commonly used in primary schools in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Its popularity was enhanced by the high cost of paper. Use of the slate-boards declined in the early 1900s as paper became less expensive.

My researched showed several companies producing writing slates, but no reference to “THE UNEXCELLED” could be found. Examples of the slates are offered at various internet sites, with prices ranging from $50 to $150, depending on condition.

 

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.

Old magazine brought back memories of the 1950s

April 2024

​Vintage Discoveries

Old magazine brought back memories of the 1950s

by Ken Weyand

Like many 15-year-old boys in early 1950s rural America, I was caught up in the popular culture of the times. In those heady days before the Internet killed off or reshaped much of print media, magazines were a big part of my life.

The 1952 “Popular Mechanics” I recently uncovered revealed a lot about the culture in which I grew up. The issue marked the magazine’s fiftieth year, and consisted of more than 320 pages of America’s latest inventions and developments in the mechanical arts. Unlike some of its contemporaries, the magazine is still published, although only six times a year, with a lively website.

My issue featured the latest news about the development of “super helicopters” in England, a Floyd Clymer article about the latest foreign cars, a review of the “completely restyled” 1952 Ford, a sleek homebuilt “catamaran” said to be the “fastest boat under canvas,” and many other articles. More than half its pages were filled with ads, including a hefty section of classifieds. In addition to the ads for the latest shop tools, do-it-yourself projects, and car accessories, there was Charles Atlas selling his body-buildng secrets, reaching his likely market: teenage boys.

As a “car nut” I remember liking magazines that previewed the latest automobiles. The Popular Mechanics ad that caught my eye, however, was a small one near the back of the magazine touting the 1952 King Midget, the “world’s lowest-priced passenger car.” The vehicle was developed by two Air Force vets in Ohio using lightweight aircraft technology. Their ad featured a young man giving his girlfriend a ride in the sporty mini-convertible. I was hooked.

During the summer, I earned my King Midget’s $750 purchase price by growing and harvesting a field of soybeans on our family farm. That fall, my car was crated, put on a boxcar and delivered by a train that still ran through a nearby village. Ironically, the day it arrived, I was away from home on a school trip, and Dennis, a friend of mine, unpacked the shipping crate, and my mother drove it to our farm.

 

 The Quack's Victims

The small ad that introduced me to the King Midget, my first (and worst?) automobile.

Biggle Health Book

Cover of 1952 issue of Popular Mechanics

1952 issue of Popular Mechanics marked publication’s 50th year

 

A couple of years later, a local weejky newspaper snapped a photo of my then-girlfriend and I in the concession stand at a local drive-in theater. The proprietor had given us free admission and popcorn if I would drive the tiny car inside. The car survived my years in high school, finding itself “re-parked” in various places on several occasions by my buddies. It was later traded for another vehicle when I started my college career at Mizzou.

Looking back, I realize I could have made better choices. But that’s how an old magazine added an adventurous chapter to my life.

 

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.

Old geography textbook taught my ancestor the ‘basics’

March 2024

​Vintage Discoveries

Old geography textbook taught my ancestor the ‘basics’

by Ken Weyand

A small and very old textbook turned up recently in the back of a bookcase. I thought it might have been something I had acquired from an antique shop, but it turned out to have been the property of my grandmother’s younger brother, William H. Van Horn, whose short life began in 1864 and ended in 1901. (My mother’s name also is in the 1873 book, indicating she probably read it when she was a child in the early 1900s.)

The cover (measuring 5 x 7 inches) is in such poor condition it’s virtually unreadable, and defies any attempt to photograph it. A single strip of clear tape around the spine shows someone tried at some point to keep the covers together, but their worn edges and faded surfaces proved beyond repair.

However, the 48 inside pages are well-preserved and show how many youngsters in the years following the Civil War were taught about their world. The inside cover announces the book’s title, “Monteith’s First Lessons in Geography,” published by A.S. Barnes and Co., New York and Chicago. Searching online, I discovered that an ebook version of my book exists, published by Project Gutenberg, a library of more than 70,000 freely readable ebook titles. Their cover illustration is similar to the actual book, and I’m reproducing it here, acknowledging their generosity.

James Monteith, author of my 1873 book, authored a “series of geographies, maps and globes,” according to the inside cover. Monteith’s book was “on the Plan of Object Teaching, Designed for Beginners.” In his Preface, Monteith declared the book was to present the subject in its simplest form. “It treats of GENERAL FEATURES, such as the locality and description of Continents, Countries, States, Rivers, Mountains (etc), without dwelling prematurely upon details which embarrass the learner in his first effort.”

Like many of his contemporaries, Monteith combined facts with religious zeal: the book’s first illustration shows a crude globe, with the headline, “In the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth.” On a later page, under “Lesson LVIII,” Monteith presents an illustration of turbaned worshippers bowing down to a seated idol, with the words, “This is a picture of a HEATHEN TEMPLE or place of worship. It contains frightful looking objects, before which you see people falling on their knees and faces. Such people are called IDOLATERS, PAGANS, or HEATHENS.” Monteith continues to warn his readers, “You will be surprised to learn that there are millions of idolaters. They live in Asia, Africa, and Islands of the Pacific Ocean.” In a final paragraph, he reassures: “Missionaries have been sent from the United States and Europe to teach those ignorant people about the TRUE GOD who says in his commandments, “THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BUT ME.”

 

 The Quack's Victims

Title page from the book in ebook form, courtesy Project Gutenberg.

Biggle Health Book

Cover of "First Lessons in Geography"

 

Montieth also teaches his young readers about the settlement of the U.S., with an illustration of “savage Indians” attacking a white family. After a paragraph describing the “great cruelties from the Indians,” he assured that “at present, there are no savages east of the Mississippi.”

He concluded: “The first inhabitants of a place are called settlers, or colonists.”

William Van Horn wrote to his sister (my grandmother) from Murdock, KS, west of Wichita, in 1886, that he was “working for a railroad man. He says if it stays dry so that he don’t want me on the farm he will give me a job on the railroad with a surveying company. That will be nicer than shoveling dirt, and better wages.”

William had been married twice. In 1892 he married Minta Apperson, and they had two sons, William and Earl, both born in Eureka, KS. Ancestry records show he married again in 1894 (wife unknown), and was living in Topeka as of the 1900 census. He died there in 1901.

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.