Midland Dr. holds historical significance
The road, which runs parallel to Shawnee Mission Parkway, used to be a portion of K-10 highway
After school most days, several students will find themselves grabbing a drink or snack at the Quiktrip on Shawnee Mission Parkway. To get there, some take Monticello Rd. to Midland Dr., a winding, bumpy road that holds a few businesses. What most don’t realize, though, is that this road is a part of what used to be K-10 Highway.
Tire Town, located at 21000 Midland Dr., is one of the businesses housed on the road. Tire Town farm sales manager Tim Manson, who has lived in Shawnee since 1951 and has worked at Tire Town since its opening in 1978, said that the road used to be a “major thoroughfare,” as it was the main route to travel from one city to the next.
”Until I-70 was built, this was the main way to go to Lawrence,” Manson said. “You went from Kansas City through Shawnee, you went through Zarah, then you went up here to the corner.”
In addition to the road, the Tire Town office itself also holds its own history. According to Manson, the stone building used to be a family home, and the building across the street from it was a local grocery store.
“That was a grocery store. They had a house, and then they wanted to have a business so they built a grocery store; that’s what that building was originally for,” Manson said.
The small building behind the Hilltop Tavern no longer serves a purpose, however, is used as tire storage for Tire Town.
Later, in the early 1940s, the grocery became a tavern, which closed in about 1965.
“When they sold the place, that was when it turned into a tavern across the street — the Hilltop Tavern,” Manson said.
Although Manson said that some farms populated the area during that time, it was not nearly as inhabited as it is currently.
“When we took the bus over to De Soto [High School], I remember there being 20 kids on the bus, and that was all of grade school, all of high school; that was everybody on this side,” Manson said. “One bus picked up everybody pretty much this side of [K]7 Highway. This was not town like it is now.”
Social studies teacher Cory Wurtz, who frequently goes on runs on Midland, said that to find out the
The office of Tire Town are in what used to be an house that sat on the old K-10 highway, which at that time was the main and only highway from Kansas City to Topeka.
history behind it was “very surprising,” since he “didn’t think that would be a big thoroughfare.”
In addition, Wurtz said he thinks it is important to understand and preserve this part of Shawnee history.
“I think it’s just interesting to see how this area has grown,” Wurtz said. “Getting these things that are way [old] to be preserved and for people to understand that this area was a lot different 50, 100 years ago is important.”
Manson agrees; he said that understanding and learning about history is imperative to growth.
“To measure how far you’ve gone, you have to know where you started,” Manson said. “You don’t know where you’re going until you figure out where you’ve been.”