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JCHS Journal — Winter 2014
A Century of Progress
Blevins Davis: Creating a Cultural Impresario By Brent Schondelmeyer
T
he town really turned out the hot September weekend in 1933. Four years into the Great Depression the community was a festive mood. Two years earlier, voters had approved a $4.2 million bond issue which included construction of a modern art-deco courthouse in downtown Kansas City and remodeling the historic Independence courthouse – now similar in style, if not name, to Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Apparently everyone turned out to participate in the Sept. 7, 1933 dedication of what would be the fifth courthouse constructed on the Independence Square site. The following day’s newspaper headline boldly announced: “Estimate More Than 40,000 at Celebration.” The influx of out-oftown guests – estimated at 25,000 – created havoc as “cars were like flies” looking for parking and “celebrants made merry.” Independence’s official 1930 population was only 15,300.
test and yet another concert by the Independence Band.
from the University of MissouriColumbia.
The evening events – “the last big splurge” – included a movie projected on a large sheet hanging from the courthouse, a street dance, a carnival on Salisbury Lot, a horse show, and a ladies riding contest.
He was ambitious, energetic and an aspiring dramatist.
The capstone event was a much anticipated pageant play ominously titled A Century of Progress. The author, producer and guiding light was Blevins Davis – public school principal, English teacher and something of a bon vivant. Born in Osceola, Mo. in 1903, his family moved to Independence where he received his public school education. A circuitous collegiate path followed including attending Kansas City Junior College, Princeton and graduating
It was a day long celebration that began with a tennis championship, a mile-long parade, a band concert and a luncheon. The formal courthouse dedication took place at 2 p.m. Later that afternoon another bevy of activities ensued: swimming and diving contest (natatorium), horseshoes (the Campus), bathing beauty contest at Doutt’s Lake. The Square hosted contests for old A formal portrait of Blevins Davis by fiddlers and Negro dancing. Later Strauss-Peyton. Jackson County Historical came a two-hour drum corps con- Society archives PHL 66100.
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n 1932, Davis wrote and directed The Clouds of Times in honor of the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth. The production had 19 dramatic episodes each depicting a facet of the founding father’s life. “It was very original and very much ahead of the times as we look back,” Mary Pearl (Salisbury) Hare later recalled. It seems only natural that Davis – a respected cultural figure in the community – would undertake a bigger production the next year in conjunction with the dedication of the new Independence courthouse. The result was A Century of Progress – a pageant play about Jackson County which played twice at the Memorial Building, a new Independence building constructed in 1925 to honor those who lost their lives in World War I. It was a grand production with a cast of 350 players including many of the community’s leading citizens. There are no formal reviews of the play though the newspaper described the production as “gay and glamorously costumed pageantry.” Pageants had become a popular way to mark major historic anniversaries, a way to make history real and good entertainment. Radios were around, but still limited. In 1933, only 20,000 households nationally owned a radio – perhaps fewer than the popular