1940 Warrensburg Auto Supply Opens 305 N. Holden

Joe Humphries opened Warrensburg Auto Supply in 1940 at 119 N. Holden in Warrensburg. After W.W. II, he hired a young veteran, Arnold Riddle, to work for him. 

James Arnold Riddle, Warrensburg, MO

Humphreys moved the store to 305 N. Holden in 1952 and hired a photographer from Simmons Studio to take pictures of it.

I love the details in these pictures:

The Vess Cola thermometer on the north side of the facade.

Farmer's Insurance

Russell Garnett
Attorney At Law
Notary Public

John Miller
Watch Repaires

Grizzly Brake Lining

Check out the cool sidewalk in front of the store.

After Joe's death in 1954, his widow, Chris, sold the store to his employee, Arnold Riddle and his wife Jean Marie Flanery Riddle. Jean Marie added in some of her family money and gave Arnold community strength and acceptance as the Gillum/Flanery name was an old and honored one.

Addie Gillum Flanery, Warrensburg School Teacher

Johnson County Missouri - On the wall of the Old Downtown Courthouse
First Row
Charles Goodnight Recorder of Deeds 1915-1919
William E. Sommonds Treasurer 1909-1915
A.J. Fitch Presiding Judge 1911-1917
Otto Jacoby Deputy Recorder of Deeds
J.M. Caldwell Circuit Clerk 1915-1923
Row 2
John Miller Deputy Sheriff
C.A. Norman Sheriff
R.F. Gillum Deputy Collector of Revenue
Lee Howard Deputy County Clerk
Richard Boston Supt of Schools 1911-1919
Theodore Hyatt County Clerk 1915-1921
Row 3
W. C. McDonald Prosecuting Attorney 1913-1917
Grover Gillum Collector of Revenue 1911-1919
Charles Gilliland Assessor
Osborne Green Deputy County Clerk

 — at Johnson County Courthouse, Missouri.
The store moved a third time to 423 N. Holden St.

His daughter, Linda, remembers, "My Dad's new store on Holden next to the big red brick Christian church wasn't built in the 50's as I can remember walking on the newly poured concrete. I was probably in elementary school."

Arnold Riddle Obituary

Arnold Riddle, 78, formerly of Warrensburg, died Saturday, May 28, 1994, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

He was a native Missourian.  Mr. Riddle was a World War II U.S. Army Air Corps veteran, was a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a member of Elks Lodge 673 in Warrensburg, and a member of the American Legion.

He had owned and operated Warrensburg Auto Supply for more than 40 years.

Survivors includ his son, Mark Riddle, Kansas City, two daughters, Linda Riddle Corazalla and Susan Pentlin, Warrensburg; one sister Vivian Scott of Oak Grove, and two granddaughters.