Alvin Gray and the Plainview Station

Gray’s Service Station and Plainview Cafe are among the most iconic experiences in Maryville.  The station dates from 1936, when Alvin Gray opened a small station where he lived above it.  He also sold apples.   It is located on the highest point of 71 for hundreds of miles (at 1,168 feet by my measurement based on topo maps — higher than the reported highest point on the Wabash between Council Bluffs and St. Louis at the Wilcox curve).

It has been hit by at least two tornadoes and was featured in a recent tornado-chaser video.  There have been 10-foot-high snow drifts by standing motorists.  Being the only place out of the middle of nowhere, it has had its share of tragic accidents.

The cafe still has the vintage charm of an old trucker diner.

On a personal note, I didn’t realize until writing this that I had delivered his Forum back in the 1960s when he lived on Sunset.  He was the nicest guy.  I couldn’t find adult pictures but I posted a picture of him at the Harmony school by Clearmont (he thought enough f the school to buy it and move it to Maryville although I’m not sure where it was or if it’s still around).

Here are some items about the station.  This is just the tip of what’s out there.

FILLING STATION ON 71
The Maryville Daily Forum, April 8, 1936, Page 2. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-maryville-daily-forum-alvin-gray-ope/196977806/

Alvin Gray of Pickering to Open Place of Business Friday. Alvin Gray of Pickering will open a fruit stand and filling station in the new building on highway 71 a quarter mile, west of the wye north of Maryville on Friday, he announced today. He and his family will live in the apartment on the second floor of the building. Mr. Gray said he would handle Sinclair products.

1936 Ad Advertising Gray
The Maryville Daily Forum, December 4, 1936, Page 5. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-maryville-daily-forum-sinclair-at-gr/196987316/

ALVIN GRAY IS BUILDING ADDITION TO  GAS STATION
Nodaway County Tribune, April 18, 1940, Page 5. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/nodaway-county-tribune-alvin-gray-expand/196984360/

Alvin Gray, who operates a service station and lunch room on Highway 71 just west of the wye north of Maryville, has started construction of a two-room addition to his station. The new addition will be 14×28 feet in size, of wood construction, and will be used as a kitchen and as additional room for the lunch room.

ALVIN GRAY PURCHASES HARMONY HIGH SCHOOL BLDG.
Nodaway County Tribune, August 24, 1944, Page 16. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/nodaway-county-tribune-alvin-gray-purcha/196984117/

Alvin Gray, operator of the PlainView filling station, bought the Harmony high school building last Thursday at auction for $620, according to Frank Dowden, president of the school board and trustee of the Harmony Methodist church, which owned the building. Mr. Gray will move the building to Maryville. The building, 32×36 feet, had been used as a high school since 1918.

Due to a lack of pupils, the school was discontinued last year. The district retained the chairs, desks, and books, and the hot air furnace was purchased by M. O. Anderson of Maryville for $44.

NOTE: A later article said it was torn down (and thus the move  probably did  not take place)

Alvin Franklin Gray

The Kansas City Times, March 26, 1980, Page 14. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-times-alvin-franklin-gra/196981654/

MARYVILLE – Alvin Franklin Gray, 80, Maryville, died Tuesday at a hospital here. He was born in Clearmont, Mo., and had lived in Maryville most of his life. Mr. Gray operated the Gray Oil and Gas service station in Maryville for 30 years before he retired in 1976. He was a member of the Maryville First United Methodist Church.

He leaves his wife, Mrs. Virginia Gray of the home; a son, Quentin Gray, Maryville; a daughter, Mrs. Deloris Espey, Tarkio, Mo.; a stepson, Larry Yehle, Albuquerque, N.M.; a stepdaughter, Mrs. Rita Nicholas, Las Vegas, Nev.; two brothers, Burley Gray, Mary. ville, and Forrest Gray, Pickering, Mo.; a sister, Mrs. Ola Holt, Iowa: 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Price Chapel, Maryville; burial in Oak Hill Cemetery here. Friends may call from 7 to 8 p.m. today at the chapel.

Findagrave Buried at Oak Hill Cemetery

Independence School District #8 Near Clearmont 1908
The Maryville Daily Forum, May 12, 1976, Page 7. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-maryville-daily-forum-independence-s/196982305/

Pupils attending Independence School District No. 8, six miles east of Clearmont, are shown above about 1908. The picture was submitted by Harry Holmes, Clarinda, Iowa. They include left to right, front row, Anderson Clifford Edwards, Lloyd Anderson, Myrl Simpson, Harry Holmes, Aarron Kellog, and Alvin Gray; second row, Ruby Anderson, Fontell Hoy, Faye Holmes, Eula Anderson, Ola Gray, Lois Meadows, and Edna Holmes; back row (?) Anderson, Album Bess Burch, the teacher, Eunice Anderson, Minnie Edwards, Lorn Anderson, and Leo Johnson.

• Gray’s is where your gas tank gets filled and your life story starts.
• Plainview Cafe: serving coffee since before your great-grandma learned to complain.
• If the highway’s a memory lane, Gray’s is the photo album with coffee stains.
• The road to Gray’s has one lane — because everyone’s stopping for pie.
• Alvin Gray sold apples; now customers pay in stories and pie crust.
• Weather report at Gray’s: tornado at 2, blizzard at 3, porch gossip all afternoon.
• Ten-foot snow drift? That’s just our seasonal outdoor seating.
• The sign still says “Service Station” because nobody’s found a better word for magic.
• Truckers call it a pit stop; locals call it a reunion.
• Plainview Cafe: where “fast food” means someone shouts your name after they find your order.
• People ask why it’s on the highest point — so the gossip travels farther.
• Alvin lived above the station and sold apples. If you didn’t bring a pie, you left with a lecture and a Granny Smith.
• Tornado came through once and left a Yelp review: “Good coffee, could use better bolts.”
• The college kids come for the cheap food, the old folks for the stories, and the truckers because nobody messes with their coffee.
• Gray’s has the oldest jukebox in Missouri — it takes requests in Morse code.
• Plainview’s pie is so famous that even the weather stops to try a slice.
• You pull up at Gray’s, and the first thing you learn is that time runs differently there. There’s a clock on the wall that’s been stuck at 10:15 since 1952, and nobody’s bothered to change it because everyone uses the sun, the smell of bacon, or Alvin’s apple cart as a reference.
• The truckers tell stories like they’re road maps: “Take the left past the corn that looks like a guy waving, go past Gray’s where the coffee fixes everything, and if you see a ten-foot drift, you’ve missed the turn.”
• Plainview Cafe is the unofficial DMV of small-town wisdom: need directions, health tips, marriage advice, or a mechanic? Pull up a chair and pay with a dollar, a story, or an apple.
• Gray’s Service Station: proof that duct tape and coffee can solve 80% of car problems and 100% of bad moods.
• The bathrooms are vintage — by which we mean they’ve aged exactly like the rest of the place: stubborn and full of character.
• The building’s from 1936, so if it starts telling you stories, don’t argue — it’s older and legally allowed to.
• The waitress remembers birthdays so well, she’s probably on your calendar before your mom.
• Alvin’s apples: the only fruit that comes with mechanical advice and a hug.
• “Gray’s Service Station — If the world’s ending, at least stop for pie.”
• “Plainview Cafe — Fuel, food, and forecasts from people who’ve seen it all.”