My home town--Part 2

Editor's note: This account was originally published on Nov. 11, 2009. Much has changed in the last six years, but Corbin's account remains as he wrote it.

Back in 1839, a Mr. Joshua Mabery bought 80 acres of wilderness land that was located on a sand ridge practically surrounded by water. The marshy bog, now known as "The Old Field," was on the east side of the Mabery ground, the "Great Cypress Swamp" was on the west side, and the "Goose Pond Basin" was on the north. Had Mr. Mabery known that the Little River Drainage District would someday drain these wetlands, he would probably have asked Mr. Louis Houck more than $10.00 per acre for a place to put his railroad terminal. Anyway, in 1881, Mr. Houck extended his railroad westward from Cape Girardeau County, and the whistle of this train brought life to my hometown of Advance, Missouri.

The first major industry in Advance was a stave mill, owned and operated by Thomas Howell. As the population began to increase, a small factory was established for canning tomatoes, beans, corn, and other farm, garden fruits, and vegetables. During this time, the farmers raised a lot of chickens, and there were times when full boxcar loads of chickens would be shipped from Advance to the larger cities.

With the passing of time, the profile and prosperity of Advance changed, as the reign of authority was passed from one generation to another. During the early part of the twentieth century, the Prather family was a dominating factor in Advance, as Charley and John owned the largest store in town. Charley owned the bank of Advance and was mayor of the town for several years. They were doing a thriving business, but were doing very little toward promoting growth and prosperity of the town.

This all changed in 1949 when Dr. E.C. Masters was elected mayor and started a push for progress. The citizens of Advance passed a bond issue and put in a water and sewer system. In 1950, there was a reorganization of school districts. I was president of the board of education in Advance, when several of the small, surrounding schools were brought into the Advance School District. A bond issue was passed to build a new elementary school building.

John Lamarr came to town and started making infants' and children's shoes. He started this factory in an old abandoned church building, with twelve employees. The demand was so great that he could not fill all his orders. He needed more room, and he needed it fast, so the town and surrounding community came together in an effort to provide the space he needed. I was in charge of organizing a work force of donation labor for this project, and I didn't have any trouble in finding all the help he needed. To raise money for purchasing material, we had picnics, carnivals, and raffles, with all proceeds going to this building process. We soon had a building to accommodate 200 workers, but by the time the echo of our hammers died down, we realized that more room was needed. We went through this building process a total of four times. At its peak, the Inland Shoe Company had about 1,000 employees, and that was more than the population of the town at that time. After 35 years as the leading industry in Advance, competitive prices of shoes made in Taiwan made it necessary for Mr. Lamar to discontinue his factory.

It has been 44 years since Advance has heard the rumble of a boxcar and the whistle of a train, as the last train to pass through Advance was on November 27, 1965. The only person to bid it goodbye was Thomza Zimmerman, a noted citizen of our town. She took a picture of "the last train through Advance." Even though the train and the shoe factory were sorely missed, their loss was not a mortal blow.

Like most of the early towns, when Advance was laid out in the 1800's, no provisions were made for parking--other than on-the-street parking. Consequently, as new businesses came to town, they chose sites out along the highway, where there was more room for their buildings and parking space large enough to accommodate 50 to 75 vehicles at one time. This action left the old business part of town looking like a ghost town, but it seems that there is a steady movement by a new generation of industrious citizenry to rebuild the downtown area.

For the past 14 years, we have been fortunate to have a town council, headed by Mayor James Harnes, who made a full-time job out of a part time position. He and the board of aldermen have promoted the development and growth of Advance. Today, we have 53 business establishments in our town, and work is underway to establish a 7,500-square-foot Cross Trails Medical Center in the center of the original town.

The future looks bright for Advance, and I am proud to call this place "My Home Town."