The Village of Claycomo started as a 412-acre farm that belonged to the Barnes family. The farm was purchased by the Munger Investment Company which made plots and acreage. Roads were graded and streets were named after poets. Mr. Munger donated land for the McMurry United Methodist Church and Munger School. The Claycomo Improvement Association was formed and met in the Claycomo Sunday School. Mr. John Matheson was president. On November 21, 1946, the Village of Claycomo was incorporated. Claycomo incorporated the 1,100 acres where the Ford plant is located now from the Wabash Motor Transit Company, the Wabash Railroad purchased the land in 1949 to develop an industrial park which then attracted Ford. On April 24, 1951, the Village of Claycomo welcomed Ford Motor Company as a local business. In 1957 a special election passed and allowed for a city hall and fire station to be built. Currently, the police and municipal offices share a building and the fire department stands on its own next to the library. The Village boasts a community building that can hold as many as 300 guests and has two parks for residents to enjoy; Mildred Keeney Memorial Park and Village Green Park at the west end of Thornton Lane, complete with a gazebo, tennis courts, and a soccer field. Claycomo has come a long way from its beginnings as farmland. Major interstates, I-435 and I-35 cross Claycomo’s limits and 69 Highway is the main thoroughfare, giving residents quick access to the Village's businesses and the greater Kansas City area. Nearly 100 businesses call Claycomo home along with many other services that benefit residents and non-residents alike. The Village puts on events throughout the year to allow residents and employees to mingle and get to know each other. Night Out Against Crime, Trunk or Treat, and Stream Clean Up are all opportunities for people to gather. Claycomo offers ambulance services, a fully staffed fire department, 24/7 police protection, a municipal court, and a community dedicated to preserving and enhancing the parks.
Our History with Ford
Our History with Ford
Our History with Ford
The Ford Assembly Plant On New Year's day, 1906, Ford opened its first branch sales office in Kansas City at 318-20 Eleventh Street. 1909, Henry Ford announced plans to build the first branch assembly plant in the United States outside Detroit in Kansas City. Three and one-half acres of land were purchased on Winchester Avenue and a plant was completed in 1911. Civilian production was discontinued in 1942 and the following year the plant produced Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines during World War I. Car and truck production resumed in early 1946. In 1950, Ford purchased a plot of ground on Highway 69. On January 9, 1951, the ground was broken for the new assembly plant but plans changed with the demands of the Korean War. The plant was adapted to produce wings for the B-47 Stratojet bomber. On February 18, 1953, the first two sets of B-47 bomber wings were produced. The Kansas City plant shipped wings to Boeing at Wichita, Douglas at Tulsa, and Lockheed at Marietta, Georgia for three and one-half years. The Ford assembly plant took over on August 1, 1956. The plant included 1,197,000 square feet with six miles of conveyor systems. The 66,700-square-foot administrative building adjacent to the plant provided office space for the administration and district sales officers. A one-hundred foot garage containing one-hundred-foot, fire-fighting equipment connected the administration building with the assembly plant. Automobile and truck production began on January 7, 1957. A County Squire station wagon was the first vehicle off the assembly line of the new plant. Ford revenues made up 85% of the village revenue helping with improvements including paved streets, new lights, sewers, free ambulance service, and the fire department. Major expansions occurred in 1967 and 2010 on the now more than 1,100 acres acquired in Claycomo and additional acres in Liberty. In 2011, Ford announced more additions and upgrades including a new stamping plant in adjacent Liberty. The F 150 continues as Ford in Claycomo continues as the largest producer of vehicles in the United States.
