Did Tom Mix Come To Flemington On The Frisco High Line?

"After Mr. and Mrs. Fleming had built their home and the Hill House had been built then many other businesses came to be. Mainly because of someone's great idea of making paper fliers that encouraged folks to settle in the new community of  Flemington, Missouri. The first passenger train came through Flemington in 1898. That was a very long time ago, Marlee. With the railroad,  buildings had to be built such as the depot. The first railroad agents were Martha and Lillis Hill. I don't know if these folks were also part of the Hill family that owned the hotel or not.

 The Hill name was mentioned several times. This train ran from Kansas City to Springfield; stopping at Flemington and on to Bolivar and beyond to  many little stops along the way. I thought one interesting thing I read in the book was that turkeys along with cattle were shipped in the box cars to market. You didn't hear much about poultry being a good market for farmers other than cattle. There must have been farmers close by that enjoyed a good market for them.
 The train had a nickname of The Frisco High Line. It brought not only business and passengers but it may have brought a new movie actor soon to be a star to town. There is no record of how Tom Mix and his movie crew did travel to Flemington but for this little story let's pretend he did arrive by The High Line. The year the movie was made was 1910 so many or almost all of the records have been lost. The name of the movie he made was the The Range Rider. This silent movie has been lost to the best of my knowledge. I think it was called a short film because of it's very short length. Some folks from  Flemington as well as Humansville

were in it too. They were called "extras" or part of the crowd. Marlee, your great grandfather, Leroy Brown was in the movie. Can you believe it? How much fun is that? I would have loved to have seen it. The story line was so much fun to think about. Tom Mix, the handsome cowboy came to the large western ranch with his big White cowboy hat that signified that he was a good guy. (The Sheriff) Well, the elder of the two daughters of the rancher whose name was Mary fell in love with Tom. The ranch foreman was not a bit happy about that so the foreman got fired because of his bad behavior. He then became a cattle rustler and an enemy of the Sheriff for sure. There was a cattle stampede and a number of the cowboys wounded in the battle. Of course, Tom was the hero of this little film.

Here are some pictures of the buildings in Flemington that were used and some of the actors.
A huge home called the Rock House was the home of George Skidmore and his family when the movie crew came to town. It was later called the Avery Ranch."
Grandma B drove her car through the main areas of where the busy little town had a broom factory (Owned by Ashley Henry) in later years. There was a huge produce building.


 As well as churches, and cafe's. There were so many in those wonderful days.
Many or almost all of the original buildings have been left to deteriorate because of lost ownership, fire, wind and just too many years. It is said that the railroad deeded back its property to the village of Flemington perhaps in the late 1970's or 1980's.
It was time to go back to Humansville, but that makes time for Grandma Lu to tell another story......
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I am going to put in a movie clip of Tom Mix that has been thankfully saved. However even though he made over 300 films only a small percentage of them have been saved in their original state and many not saved at all. If you enjoy history as I do, there is a lot of information about Tom Mix. He was a character for sure. He had such an interesting and colorful life. I hope you enjoy seeing this little clip. You will only hear music. The script is on your screen. He was a child hero in those days. I was lucky to see a Tom Mix comic book. What fun.