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Kansas City, Missouri, Alexandria, Virginia, United States
~ About: A 1961-65 Park College Diary ~ As a high school girl and then a college coed in the first half of the 1960s, I wrote nightly entries on the pages of one-year diaries. In January 2010 I began transcribing the entries into a blog and gave each one a title. I grew up on three farms within 30 miles of Iowa City and the University of Iowa with its Iowa Writers' Workshop. As the oldest of four daughters, in my diaries I sometimes referred to my sisters as "the kids" or "the girls." We helped our parents, but we also had good, wholesome fun - a characteristic I took with me to Park. Park is 300 miles southwest of West Chester, Iowa, in Parkville, Missouri, on the Missouri River 10 miles northwest of Kansas City, Missouri, and across the river from Kansas City, Kansas. In 2000 Park College became Park University. Today Park's flagship campus is in Parkville and there are an additional 41 campus centers across the nation. Park was one of the first educational institutions in the United States to offer online learning. My last post was on May 22, 2018. I may be followed on Twitter @BarbaraMcDWhitt.

January 13, 2017: Memories of Parkville - Merchandise and Events

During my time at Park I walked many times to Parkville and back or made trips in my car which I had my senior year and some of the summer after it. Park and Parkville have always been near and dear to my heart. Parkville is fortunate to have been among the American small towns that have evolved with the times. It was quaint in an old-fashioned sense when I was there in the early to mid 1960s. Today its charm is due, as it was then, to the friendliness and expertise of its merchants. Here, in the order I found them when I did a blog search for Parkville, is a record of some, but not all, of my trips there and my reasons for going:

Jim got one of the Parkville men to bring a very old truck up here and we took some of Evelyn's and my stuff down to their apartment which they've rented in Parkville. They are letting me store some things in their basement for the summer. *** Fred Haenisch called me tonight and wanted to go down to an establishment that has opened up in Parkville. They were supposed to be serving turkey sandwiches, but after walking up Parkville's main street and back we still couldn't get any. *** I went with Margaret McElwain and Barb Page to the Parkville Presbyterian Church. *** Bonnie and I went to see Dr. Swaney, the folk singer, in the opening performance of the Parkville Fine Arts Festival.

This morning Evelyn and I went down to Parkville. I took my colored film and got some tissue paper and Christmas stamps. *** Nancy and I took a walk through Parkville in the rain this afternoon. The Parkville librarian let me have the copy of the paper with the student council picture in it. *** I was in the restroom at Union Station when I heard an announcement for a train leaving for Council Bluffs and Omaha, so I hurried ("Information" man said I could buy my ticket on the train) and rode to Parkville for 44 cents. *** This afternoon I went down to Parkville. I got Mrs. Cowan a gift package of perfume nips for Christmas at the gift shop. The lady was so nice. She not only gift wrapped it for me but got it ready for mailing.

I made a trip to Parkville this afternoon to get some distilled water for my steam iron, some sandpaper, and to inquire about Parkville-Kansas City Trailways bus trips. I hope nobody thought my jug had gin in it! *** Seth and I walked around campus and through Parkville. *** A number of other senior girls and I went to a tea sponsored by the American Society of University Women, Parkville branch, at the Presbyterian church tonight. It was very nice. *** This afternoon Evelyn and I went to Parkville to buy prizes for the SNEA booth at the Student Union Development Committee carnival tonight.

Evelyn and I went down to Parkville to order Harvest Festival flowers. *** I went down to Parkville this afternoon to get some supplies for the new education department kitchen. *** This afternoon I went down to Parkville to get some boxes so I could get started packing. After supper Evelyn went with me down to the laundromat to dry clean my winter clothes. On the way down the fire department whistle blew when we were across from the fire station and then Jim appeared out of no where. He had been getting advertising in one of the stores.

Yes, I was glad there was a true "town and gown" relationship between Parkville and Park College. And I was also glad Park and Parkville were as close to Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas as the are.    

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