Where to start, where to go

The official starting locations for the White Way car run for May 13, 2006, will be:

Concordia In front of the Brown Grand Opera House, 310 W 6th Street, at 8 a.m. For more information about the opera house, go to www.browngrand.org.

Atchison In front of the Atchison Santa Fe Depot, 200 S 10th Street, at 8 a.m. For more information about the depot, go to www.atchisonkansas.net.

The unofficial starting locations for the White Way car run will be:

Anywhere you happen to be On the original car run in 1914, vehicles joined in at almost every town along the White Way. The object of the car run isn’t to see how many miles you can put on your vehicle but to reenact a part of our history and to experience rural Kansas.

The Brown Grand Opera House was chosen because meetings were held there in the planning of the White Way. The Atchison Santa Fe Depot was chosen due to its historical significance. Both structures were there in 1914.

The finish will be in Frankfort at the city park, weather permitting. In the event of inclement weather, we will meet at the Frankfort Regional Education Center, 119 N. Kansas Ave. (785-292-4970)

There will be a program beginning at 2 p.m. This could be skits, or a chance to show off your cars, or simply a time to meet new friends and reminisce. It’s really up to you! If you have any ideas or want to volunteer to emcee, please let me know. Alvin Gleason, co-owner of the WhiteWay Chevrolet dealer in Frankfort (also known as “Mr. White Way”) will have memorabilia on display.

This run is being done with the idea of having fun, so please feel free to add your thoughts and ideas. If you have history and stories you would like to share, or information about the route that others need to know—or just want to share a favorite spot or a location of historic significance—please do so by e-mailing me at tlparker1@sbcglobal.net. I will post the information as I get it.

So enjoy your ride and be prepared to share what you have seen along the way. There may be a test!

Lori Parker
785-363-7228

The Whiteway Chevrolet dealer is the last remaining symbol of the White Way in Kansas

One of only two remaining symbols of the White Way is this sign post in Netawaka, Kan.

The background of the 1914 car run

This article was found in the Barnes newspaper dated May 21,1914.

KANSAS WHITE WAY DAY

Friday, May 15, was White Way Day at Frankfort. The Concordia Auto Club started at eight o’clock with three autos and when they reached Barnes at 10:15 twelve other cars from towns along the route had joined them. P.C. Young met them and conducted them through Barnes Township and on to Blue Rapids. Two other cars, John Wright’s and Wes Rencin’s, joined them here. They arrived at Frankfort at 11:35.

The Atchison Auto Club was joined by cars from the intervening towns arriving at Frankfort at 11:50. In all about 150 autos and 500 people attended this meeting. The meeting was called to order by Mr. Kennedy of Frankfort; at 1:30 J.M. Decker was elected president, F.M. Smith Secretary.

It was moved and carried that the counties of Atchison, Jackson, Nemaha, Marshall, and Washington join the Kansas White Way.

Each county elected a director and also a log committee of five from each county to log and designate a route through each county. H.J. Meilkord of Linn was elected director of Washington County and following is the logging committee from this county: P.C. Young, Geo. Werner, W.W. Beaty, Geo. Paul and R.H. Groom.

The road from Waterville to Greenleaf is logged as follows: 1 ½ miles west, ½ north, 4 ½ west, 1 mile north and 3 miles west into Greenleaf.

Those from Barnes attending the meeting were P.C. Young, L.D. Spence, W.C. Irwin, W. Hiltgen, John Wright, B.A. Holt, E.E. Shannon, Mr. and Mrs. Rencin and son, Noble, Mr. and Mrs. V. Cerveny.

Fading into time -- the Whiting gas station on Hwy 9, or the Kansas White Way