This town has 5 beer depots and a beer warehouse. One of the beer depots has its own railroad spur. Some of you might think that the spur serves the lumber yard, but not me. With all of that beer drinking going on the Frisco had to have been bringing the malted adult beverage in by the carload. This depot needed a spur. This requires further investigation.
This post may be somewhat speculative, but probably more truthful than not. This area in Southeast Kansas, Northwest Oklahoma, and Southwest Missouri was a major coal and lead mining area at the time. It was sometimes called a Mineral Belt of its own. I have two Frisco published pamphlets documenting it. My mother was born and raised in Arma, KS which is close to Minden Mines, MO. These people were mainly Italian immigrants who lived a miner's life to the maximum. They would spend the day in the mines and the nights, and especially weekends at the bars. There were bars scattered all over the countryside over there. There was one across from where my mom grew up that had a small dance floor in it and an outdoor bocce pit. Bocce was a game played on a dirt surface with balls and was similar in nature to shuffleboard played indoors. It does not surprise me at all about the number of taverns in the town. It was all part of the local culture of the time. Bob Hoover FriscoFriend
Even when I was a kid Minden Mines was a hot spot to go to for Sunday beer. Being from Southeast Kansas myself I remember well going there with older relatives to get beer on Sunday. Bocce ball was also a favorite pastime of one of my Uncle's who lived near Radley. Bob Wintle Parsons, KS
