Gas—Food—Lodging: How the Automobile Shaped Johnson County
Today, the effects of America’s century-old “car culture” are everywhere in Johnson County. Communities are connected and intersected by a web of interstate highways, acres of parking lots surround large shopping malls and drive-up windows are available at all sorts of businesses, including banks, dry cleaners, fast food restaurants and pharmacies.
But for many years, county residents got around by foot, by horse- or mule-power, or, if their location allowed it, by train or streetcar. The county was largely rural and many residents lived on rough dirt or gravel roads until well into the twentieth century.
Shortly after 1900, a number of communities had their first glimpse of the “horseless carriage” and the many changes it was to bring. Gardner saw its first auto, a Horstman, in 1909. A Maxwell car agency opened there in 1911. Gradually the automobile had a profound effect on the landscape of Johnson County.
By 1927, the automobile was well-accepted enough that the Central Auto Company of Olathe issued a newspaper advertisement urging “A car for her, too!” The ad depicts a woman with fashionable bobbed hair and cloche hat. In the background is a touring car and the Chevrolet logo. The copy declares that “in thousands of average American homes there are now two automobiles…so there may be transportation for the family while ‘he’ drives away to work.”
Highways and Byways
The family automobile came to Johnson County, but was Johnson County ready for it? Despite popular enthusiasm for the new mode of transportation, road conditions lagged behind. Although Kansas passed laws early on for construction and maintenance of roads, these paths suited to horses and mules would scarcely work for autos. The County Road Act of 1856 required that all able-bodied men contribute labor to county road maintenance. Proper maintenance meant, among other things, making sure that any stumps in the road were no more than 8 inches tall.
When automobiles began to come on the scene, the movement for better roads began. In 1900, Kansas ranked tenth in the nation in number of cars, with 220 vehicles statewide. By 1915, there were 460 autos in Johnson County alone. Olathe businessman George Hodges was instrumental in the push for better roads. In 1904, Hodges was elected to the state legislature, where he introduced a good roads bill that became law in 1907. Kansas was the first state in the country to have such a law, which provided for the construction of hard-surfaced roads. Construction funding came through county and township governments and from residents of benefit districts adjoining the roads.
In 1916, federal aid became available for states to build roads. In 1917 Kansas formed a state highway commission. Despite early enthusiasm, the state was slow to construct roads suitable for automobile travel. As of 1926, Kansas ranked behind 46 other states in building good roads and boasted fewer than 1,000 miles of hard-surfaced roads.
Johnson County fared better than some other parts of the state. In 1928, the county roads were declared “well graded and passable throughout the year.” Olathe was connected to Spring Hill by a concrete road and to Kansas City, Missouri by a concrete and brick road. A hard-surfaced road ran from Overland Park to the southern county line, and another from Lawrence to Kansas City through the northern part of the county. However, pavement was still enough of a novelty that when Union, Main and Cherry Streets in Spring Hill were paved in September 1929, the occasion warranted a street carnival and dance.
Cars Take Over
Automobiles brought changes in more than just roads. Businesses supporting the use and maintenance of cars came on the scene. One of these was the gasoline station. Accessories such as tires and engine oil could be purchased at general stores and even drugstores. Early car owners might go to the general store and pump gas out of a large barrel into a smaller gas can, which they then used to fill the car’s tank.
Gasoline remained a generic product until the 1920s, when brand-name gas appeared on the market. Motorists could then get their gas directly from a pump either at curbside or in front of a business that sold other automobile-related products. Car dealerships also appeared, and blacksmiths and carriage shops began to offer auto repair services. By 1931, Overland Park had several auto-related businesses, including three garages, a Pontiac dealer, a Studebaker dealer and a number of gas stations. The residential landscape also began to change, as homeowners built freestanding garages to house their vehicles.
During the 1920s, increased interest in automobile travel encouraged new developments in the food and lodging business. Diners began to crop up along the highways to serve hungry travelers, and roadside tourist cabins offered rest to the weary. These lodging places were a forerunner to motels. At first each room was a small separate building. Soon, such facilities were being constructed with the space between the cabins roofed over to provide shelter for automobiles. Tourist cabins were a common sight along the highways well into the 1950s.
The popularity of automobiles also affected other means of transportation in the county. By 1937 US 50 Highway and Kansas Highway 10 connected Olathe with southern Kansas City. These improved roads followed closely the route of the Strang Line, the interurban railway that had linked Kansas City with several communities in Johnson County. The new highway encouraged increased car and truck traffic, and contributed to decreased use of the interurban line. This was a major factor in the decision to close the Strang Line in 1940.
Various forms of mass transit continued for some years, even after the interurban lines shut down. Shortages of gasoline and tires during World War II contributed to support of bus lines, particularly for workers traveling into Kansas City from the growing suburbs in northeastern Johnson County. The Argentine Transit Lines ran buses from Shawnee through Roeland Park into the city beginning in 1939. The Kansas City-Lake Quivira Bus Lines began serving that suburban community in May of 1942, six months after the United States entered the war. Both lines remained successful for a number of years, despite the postwar lure of the private automobile.
Curb Service
Economic recovery after World War II brought renewed enthusiasm for automobiles and a boom in businesses that catered to the motorist. Even the humble gas station worked hard to win and keep customers. In the 1950s these businesses were commonly known as “service stations.” Cars pulling in activated a bell that notified uniformed attendants of the customer’s arrival. While the driver stayed in the car, the attendant pumped gas, checked the oil and cleaned the windshield. A mechanic was on duty full-time to deal with automobile maintenance or repair.
Another business was the drive-in movie theater. At these establishments moviegoers never had to leave their cars. Motorists parked in rows in front of a huge screen and listened to the movie through speakers set on poles by each parking spot. The first such theater had opened in New Jersey in 1933.
The first drive-in in the Kansas City metro area opened in May 1942, on Highway 40 in Independence, Missouri. The business peaked in 1958, when there were more than 4,000 drive-in movie theaters nationwide and 125 in Kansas. Drive-ins in Johnson County included the Shawnee Drive-in on Highway 10 (Shawnee Mission Parkway), the Leawood Drive-in near 120th and State Line, and Olathe’s Twin Drive-in at 119th and I-35. No drive-ins remain open in Johnson County, but the Boulevard Drive-in Theatre remains an active business just over the county line at 1051 Merriam Lane in Kansas City, Kansas.
Drive-in restaurants also proliferated during the postwar years. According to Car Hops and Curb Service, eateries built specifically to serve motorists in their cars originated in the 1920s with a Dallas businessman who asserted that “people with cars are so lazy that they don’t want to get out of them to eat.” Until the early 1960s and the advent of nationwide fast food chains, a variety of locally-owned restaurants catered to the car crowd. The term “drive-in” didn’t necessarily mean that customers were served in their cars. “Drive-in” might refer to a restaurant with a walk-up exterior window where customers ordered and received food. Some restaurants called “drive-ins” actually offered sit-down dining inside, but with plenty of parking space outside. Other restaurants offered curb service by means of carhops who took orders and delivered food to cars parked alongside the restaurant building, oftentimes around a large canopy roof. Food choices tended to focus on the familiar hamburgers, fries, pop and milkshakes.
Several Johnson County drive-ins were listed in the Greater Kansas City Yellow Pages in 1955. Boots Drive-in at 8115 Santa Fe Drive in Overland Park offered “Good Food – Good Cooks.” Other eateries listed included Jone’s Drive Inn on 63rd Street, Whopperburger on Johnson Drive, and two Smak’s, at 5201 Martway and 7530 Metcalf. The 1959 Yellow Pages for northeast Johnson County actually included a separate category for “Drive-in Restaurants.” In addition to those mentioned above, the listing included Allen’s Drive-Inn and the Dari-O on Johnson Drive. As of 1962, the Olathe area directory listed Jack’s Burger Bar at 302 E. Santa Fe, Smak’s at West Dennis Avenue and Troost, an A & W Root Beer on East Santa Fe and the C & R Drive In on Main in Gardner. Well into the 1960s, most drive-in restaurants were one-of-a-kind operations or very small local chains. By the early 1970s, the county was awash in fast-food franchises offering tacos, pizza and fish and chips as well as the traditional burgers. Some local restaurants survived for a number of years, including the Osburn Drive-In in De Soto, which functioned as a community gathering place from 1965 to 1986, when the owners retired.
The motel is another post-war phenomenon that served the American penchant for automobiles. Motels provided parking adjacent to the rooms and amusements such as televisions and swimming pools for families on the road. Many motels were part of national chains. Holiday Inn, one of the larger chains, began in 1952 and opened a location in Overland Park in early 1957. This motel was located just west of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Metcalf. Near 80th and Metcalf, outside the Overland Park city limits at the time, there were two older tourist cabin motels, Annette Cabins and the Royal Auto Court. In 1957 a local landmark, the White Haven Motor Lodge, opened at 8039 Metcalf. The motel, still owned and run by members of the White family, continues to operate on its original principles of “quality at a reasonable price, plus convenience of access to the rooms.”
The Interstate System
Construction of the Interstate Highway system began in 1956 and has had an incalculable impact on the development of the Kansas City metropolitan area, including Johnson County. This nationwide highway system was originally conceived not only as a transportation network, but also as part of a national defense system. As such, these roads allowed for evacuation of cities in case of enemy attack and served as emergency runways for military aircraft. For the everyday driver, these roads meant faster and safer travel. Longer commutes and family vacations to the coasts became more common.
In Johnson County as in many other areas, highway construction has been a continuous process. By 1958, I-35 was built through Merriam. In the 1960s, I-435 was built east from I-35 to the state line. The southeast quarter of the I-435 loop was completed in the 1970s, and construction of I-635 allowed drivers to bypass downtown on their way between I-35 and I-29. The entire I-435 loop was completed in the 1980s, and debate over additional highway needs has continued as plans are made to accommodate future growth. In the mid-90s, concerns about cost and suburban sprawl defeated the proposed 21st Century Parkway, an outer beltway designated far west and south of I-435 in Johnson County.
Although highway construction has provided for safer, faster travel by car, it has also had major drawbacks. Interstate construction displaced some established neighborhoods, and led to the decline of older downtown areas. The highways and “car culture” contributed to sprawl in suburban areas. Over the past one hundred years, the automobile has reshaped the economy and geography of Johnson County, as well as the lives of its residents.
--ALBUM vol 16, no. 4 (fall 2003)