10 Years Ago: 2016

1/5/2016 – Dr. Theodore Baldwin retires at age 85 after 50 years of family medical practice.  He started his practice in 1965 in Lawson and has been at the location on Jesse James Road since 1967. His last day in the office was December 31st.

1/12/16 – The Excelsior Springs Hospital and Price Chopper will open the Express Clinic at the local Price Chopper on Kearney Road.

1/19/2016 – The Harlem Ambassadors thrilled a local crowd at the high school gym this week. The traveling basketball team defeated the local E-Town All Stars in a game sponsored by the Rotary Club.

1/25/2016 – Pitcher Shaun Marcum announced his retirement from Major League Baseball.  The Excelsior Springs native has taken a position as pitching coach at Northwestern Oklahoma State College after 13 years in the major leagues. During his MLB career, Marcum started 167 games, made 28 relief appearances and pitched more than 1,000 innings.

25 Years Ago: 2001

1/2/2001 – The new Excelsior Springs Public Works Department facility on South Marietta Street is shaping up. The department is expected to relocate in February.

1/9/2001 – Clay County’s bad check collection sets second consecutive record.  In the two years since Don Morrishas served as prosecutor, his office has collected more than $3.1 million in bad check restitution for businesses and individuals in the county.

1/19/2001 – Don Short celebrated 50 years in the pharmacy business by receiving a Gold Certificate from the Missouri Board of Pharmacy.  He started his career in July 1950 and co-owned and operated Logue & Short Prescription Drug until 1972 when he and partner Hollis Logue sold the business to Tom Brown.  Mr. Short has been a presence and part time pharmacist at Brown Drugs since then.

1/23/2001 – Excelsior Springs High School basketball star Carrie Smith’s number 32 has been retired. She was recently honored at halftime as the leading scorer in ESHS history with 2,032 career points.

50 Years Ago: 1976

1/2/1976 – Dr. James T. Gillie dies at 63. Dr. Gillie had lived in the community since 1947. He served as Chief of Staff at the Ball Clinic from 1947 to 1964 and was in private practice until shortly before his passing.

1/8/1976 – Water pumps for the City of Mosby froze up in extreme cold weather, causing outages and inconvenience for residents.  Mayor Neil McCrary reports the City plans to pull, clean and replace broken pumps at an estimated cost of $150.

1/21/1976 – The local Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise at Crown Hill Plaza is offering a special “My Dinner” box for $1.99. It includes two pieces of chicken, potatoes and gravy, coleslaw and a roll.

1/23/1976 – Spa girl continues college on scholarship from the Aurora Borealis Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association.  Miss Mary Ann Wierzbicki is a 1975 ESHS graduate attending Missouri Western in St. Joseph. The scholarship will provide her with $300 per semester for four years.

75 Years Ago: 1951

1/2/1951 – Magician and sleight of hand artist Rac Ballie put on a two-hour show at the VA Hospital this past Saturday afternoon. His appearance was sponsored by Clyde Gustine Post 216 of the American Legion. He performed his magic tricks in the three dayrooms of the hospital, assisted by his wife.

1/10/1951 – The Excelsior Springs Fire Department reported 86 fire calls in 1950.  This was nine more than reported in 1949.

1/19/1951 – Silver’s Stanberry Motor Company at 414 Thompson is advertising the 1951 Dodge currently on display in the showroom.  The ad features endorsements by slugger Ted Williams, celebrity Betty Hutton and motivational speaker Dale Carnegie.

1/24/1951 – Fire destroyed the Dixie-Bell Café at the junction of highways 10 and 69.  It is thought the fire started in the building’s basement.

100 Years Ago: 1926

1/3/1926 – The Excelsior Springs News-Call suspended publication after this morning’s edition. This leaves the Daily Standard as the only local newspaper in the Excelsior Springs territory. The Call was established in 1895 when it took over a newspaper known as the Daily Phunn.
1/3/1926 – See Hoot Gibson in “Calgary Stampede” this week at the Casino Theater on Elizabeth Street.

1/19/1926 – The McCleary Sanitarium is offering a full line of baths and hydrotherapy.

1/25/1926 – The Excelsior Mill Company invites the public to their new Creamery, Eggs and Poultry Station at 106 S. Kansas City Avenue.

Compiled by Monte Railey

Martha Neil Ross pictured above in front of the original golf clubhouse flanked by her husband, golf pro Alex Ross on the left and golf course developer Charles Fish on the right.

In November 1915, the Excelsior Springs Daily Call Newspaper (one of three local newspapers published at the time) picked up a story from The Kansas City Star featuring the signature food of Martha Neil Ross, whose husband, Alex Ross was the
local golf pro here while she ran the dining room.

“Everybody,” the Star writer said, “who has eaten lunch between games on the links at Golf Hill, Excelsior Springs, must know how very good are Mrs. Ross’s Scotch scones.

And Mrs. Ross is as pretty and wholesome looking as her scones are good. She serves them with preserves of her own making and butter from a nearby farm. Oh, such scones. And, oh the heathery brogue Mrs. Ross brought with her from the Highlands. Her husband [the 1907 U.S. Open Champion] is the professional player in charge of the links. His skill with a brassy, though, is not greater than that of his wife with a bowl and a spoon. Here is the scone recipe as she told it to me:

“To a quart of flour add three teaspoons of baking powder (in Scotland we also make them with sour milk and baking soda and cream of tartar, but here everybody uses baking powder), half teaspoon of soda, one tablespoon lard, one tablespoon butter, one egg, three tablespoons syrup, two teaspoons salt and milk enough to make a soft dough.”

I was eating hot scones and quince preserve at the kitchen table while she rolled and patted her dough into shape at the other end of it.

“Handle it as little as you possibly can,” she said, and in a trice her dough was flat on the floury board and ready to cut like the pieces of a pie. Into a dripping pan went some and into the piping hot oven. Onto a griddle went some more and onto the top of the range. Griddle and oven full the rest were tossed right on the hot stove top, and turned when brown on one side, to bake on the other. In ten minutes they were ready for the hungry golfers coming in from the links.”

When Mrs. Ross died in December 1924, the obituary writer was even more effusive: “Mrs. Ross by her charm of manner and a personality best described as motherly has given the club a home atmosphere, which has endeared the club to golfers who come here from all parts of America. Her removal from life and scenes about the club will be felt as a distinct blow to the thousands of visitors who come and go in Excelsior Springs. The many friends of the family in this city join in the bereavement and loss of a good
woman.”

Even as late as 1950, her cooking was still remembered fondly. Major W.A.J. Bell, in one of his last visits here from Sussex, England, after selling his golf links and other Golf Hill properties to the city in 1949, recalled that “Mrs. Ross’s scones and orange marmalade became bywords of golfers far and wide.”

Mrs. Ross was actually born in Kent, England, but her father, Thomas Neil, was Scottish (as was her mother, who was not otherwise identified on the 1924 death certificate). Some accounts indicate she grew up in Scotland, as did her Scottish born husband, so
she may indeed have had a “heathery brogue.”

Learn more about the Rosses, Charles Fish and the developers of Golf Hill and the golf course in displays open through Nov. 30 at the Excelsior Springs Museum & Archives, 101 East Broadway in historic downtown Excelsior Springs. The Museum is open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Researched and written by Kathy Duncan

In November 1915, the Excelsior Springs Daily Call Newspaper (one of three local newspapers published at the time) picked up a story from The Kansas City Star featuring the signature food of Martha Neil Ross, whose husband, Alex Ross was the
local golf pro here while she ran the dining room.

“Everybody,” the Star writer said, “who has eaten lunch between games on the links at Golf Hill, Excelsior Springs, must know how very good are Mrs. Ross’s Scotch scones.

And Mrs. Ross is as pretty and wholesome looking as her scones are good. She serves them with preserves of her own making and butter from a nearby farm. Oh, such scones. And, oh the heathery brogue Mrs. Ross brought with her from the Highlands. Her husband [the 1907 U.S. Open Champion] is the professional player in charge of the links. His skill with a brassy, though, is not greater than that of his wife with a bowl and a spoon. Here is the scone recipe as she told it to me:

“To a quart of flour add three teaspoons of baking powder (in Scotland we also make them with sour milk and baking soda and cream of tartar, but here everybody uses baking powder), half teaspoon of soda, one tablespoon lard, one tablespoon butter, one egg, three tablespoons syrup, two teaspoons salt and milk enough to make a soft dough.”

I was eating hot scones and quince preserve at the kitchen table while she rolled and patted her dough into shape at the other end of it.

“Handle it as little as you possibly can,” she said, and in a trice her dough was flat on the floury board and ready to cut like the pieces of a pie. Into a dripping pan went some and into the piping hot oven. Onto a griddle went some more and onto the top of the range. Griddle and oven full the rest were tossed right on the hot stove top, and turned when brown on one side, to bake on the other. In ten minutes they were ready for the hungry golfers coming in from the links.”

When Mrs. Ross died in December 1924, the obituary writer was even more effusive: “Mrs. Ross by her charm of manner and a personality best described as motherly has given the club a home atmosphere, which has endeared the club to golfers who come here from all parts of America. Her removal from life and scenes about the club will be felt as a distinct blow to the thousands of visitors who come and go in Excelsior Springs. The many friends of the family in this city join in the bereavement and loss of a good
woman.”

Even as late as 1950, her cooking was still remembered fondly. Major W.A.J. Bell, in one of his last visits here from Sussex, England, after selling his golf links and other Golf Hill properties to the city in 1949, recalled that “Mrs. Ross’s scones and orange marmalade became bywords of golfers far and wide.”

Mrs. Ross was actually born in Kent, England, but her father, Thomas Neil, was Scottish (as was her mother, who was not otherwise identified on the 1924 death certificate). Some accounts indicate she grew up in Scotland, as did her Scottish born husband, so
she may indeed have had a “heathery brogue.”

Learn more about the Rosses, Charles Fish and the developers of Golf Hill and the golf course in displays open through Nov. 30 at the Excelsior Springs Museum & Archives, 101 East Broadway in historic downtown Excelsior Springs. The Museum is open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Researched and written by Kathy Duncan