Maryville Country Club Course Designed by James W. Watson Who Designed Mission Hills Course

Posted on January 25, 2026 by roger

Initial plans in 1921 for a golf course in Maryville called for a partnership with the college, with the course to be designed by James W. Watson, who designed the Mission Hills Golf Course.  The initial course plan called for it to extend nearly a mile from the old Methodist Seminary at First and Memory Street to the Chatauqua Park (between today’s Houston Performing Arts Center and the Hughes Field House) and come back to Maryville’s highest point, the 1,181-foot-high College Heights summit (today’s Garrett-Strong Science) to the north of the Administration Building.

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1928 Proposal to Build Towering War Memorial on Maryville’s Highest Point

Posted on January 24, 2026 by roger

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1921 Watson Designed Golf Course Still on Topo Map on Northwest Missouri Campus

Posted on January 24, 2026 by roger

Incredibly, the 1921 proposed J.W. Watson-designed golf course for the Maryville Golf Club is still on the latest published USGS topo map.  It was supposed to extend from the original Methodist Seminary on 1st and Memory Lane, around the west end of the campus through the Chautauqua grounds, and curve around to the north side of the Northwest Administration Building, summiting Maryville’s highest point (1,181 feet at what today is the Garrett-Strong Science Building). This quirk has been discussed in the Ville Facebook group, and everybody assumed it was unexplained. But there was a real attempt to establish this.

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20 Japanese and 2 Americans from Camp Clarinda Injured at End of World War II at Clearmont

Posted on January 22, 2026 by roger

On September 5, 1945 — three days after the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri — 20 Japanese soldiers and 2 American guards were injured on US 71 by Clearmont when a POW transport truck from the Camp Clarinda POW Camp was transporting the prisoners to do farm work in Missouri overturned — making them among the last casualties of World War II.

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Sonic Booms of 1962

Posted on January 21, 2026 by roger

In March/April 1962, B-58 Hustler nuclear bombers from the Strategic Air Command cris crossed the skies over Maryville at Mach 2, which produced sonic bombs as they did mock nuclear strikes on New York, Los Angeles, Omaha, Lincoln, St. Louis, and Rapid City.

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Hula Hoop Contest on Grounds of Nodaway Courthouse October 1958

Posted on January 20, 2026 by roger

On October 4, 1958, 135 contestants competed in a Jaycee Hula Hoop Contest on the grounds of the Nodaway County Courthouse.  They were divided into age groups of 0 to 9 and 10 to 100.  The endurance contest was called after 4 hours and 7 minutes for supper.  This view is northeast of the courthouse.  The A&P market is visible across the street.  It and the neighboring Maryville lumber yard would burn in 1962 (and the lumber yard is not clearly identifiable in this image.

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1878 Horse Race with Eugene Field, Gen Custer and Trump

Posted on January 19, 2026 by roger

The 7th Annual Nodaway County Fair featured horses named Eugene Field, Gen. Custer, and Trump.  The headline of the horse racing was the Trump race (and Trump won).

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Truman Road or North College Drive

Posted on January 18, 2026 by roger

In the 1950s through 1975 Maryville had a strange battle over the street name for the road going north from Administration Building over whether it should be called Truman Road or North College Drive.

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How Clarence Thomas Freshman Year at Conception Propelled Him to the Supreme Court

Posted on January 17, 2026 by roger

The rise of Clarence Thomas from a poor boy in Georgia to the Supreme Court is tied to a series of momentous events during his freshman year at Conception Seminary in 1967-1968 in Missouri.

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Highway 275 Conference Named For Highway That Only Goes Through 1 Town in Missouri (Rockport)

Posted on January 15, 2026 by roger

The Highway 275 Conference has to have one of the strangest concepts of any conference in the country.  It is named after a highway that goes through only 1 town in Missouri (Rockport).

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