It All began...

It all began in the 1930’s when Chicken Annie’s husband got injured and couldn't work in the Crawford County, Kansas coal mines any longer.  Annie had to become the bread winner and so she did what she knew best. She began to fry up chicken dinners to serve folks at her own dining room table. Folks loved them, the family pitched in and three generations later Chicken Annie’s is one popular place to eat.  Why, people come all the way from Missouri to eat there!  Well, Annie’s is only about a mile or so from the Kansas-Missouri border, but that’s not even as close as her nearest Fried Chicken competitor.

We ate this evening at Chicken Mary’s.  Not because Mary’s establishment is  especially better than Chicken Annie’s, though it does advertise winning the Travel Channel Food Fight prize, or some such thing.  But Annie’s won some prize on the same channel once too.  No, we went there because the first person to tell us about both restaurants, Bettyanne, the docent at the Franklin Mining Museum, said she liked Mary’s best.  And Mary’s was closer to us by about a quarter mile. Which isn't saying much either because they are both back a country road a couple of miles near no town but a train crossing… without a gate.

It was about 10 years after Annie’s husband got injured that Mary’s husband had to quit the mines and she had to become her family’s bread winner.  Never mind that Annie’s family had spent a decade building the trade in this lightly populated farm and mining county. Mary knew she lived in America, and anything is possible in America if you work smart enough, hard enough, and have the right seasonings in the breading.

Now there are at least 4 fried chicken restaurateur families in Crawford County and the population isn't a whole lot bigger than it was when Annie started frying.  But people do come from far and wide to sample the many kinds of really good fried chicken here, as we did this evening. We shared a fine meal of chicken, mashed potatoes, baked beans and homemade German Cole Slaw. With bread and butter and water with ice all for $12.00, and man we were both full when we walked out the door.  And it’s good we arrived when we did because as we were walking out crowds were beginning to line up to get in.

We didn't know it then, but we visited the BROOKVILLE in Abilene, shown second from left in top row above, almost two months ago on our way west.

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Do you remember the visit we made to the deepest hand dug well in the world at Greensburg, Kansas?  That stop which we thought would be good for a laugh introduced us to some of the amazing people of Greensburg and the rebuilding of their whole town since a 2007 tornado destroyed 95% of it in 2007.  Today we had a similar, experience.

Franklin, Kansas, is a tiny, unincorporated village just north of the lake we are camped. It lies just east  of US rte 69. Franklin’s been known for two things beyond its own borders for years.  The area mining museum (small though well laid out) and the world’s longest rural sidewalk which connects two non-contiguous towns together (there’s a distinction for you!).  

Yes, Franklin and Arma, to it’s north, are connected on one side of north-south Business rte 69 with a 30” wide sidewalk which is still, though often heavily edged in vegetation, tying these two towns together like a safety rope between a lifeguard and struggling swimmer.  And that  sort of describes the way it was in 2003 when Franklin had it’s tornado swoop down and wipe most of it off the map.

Arma is the bigger of the two communities and the people there stepped up first when the folks of Southeast Kansas and Southwest Missouri came together to rebuild as much as possible of the quiet hamlet connected to Arma by a concrete companionway. Bettyanne, the docent at Franklin’s rebuilt mining museum, has lived in the Franklin area all her life.  Though she was raised on a farm she grew up knowing that neighbors, no matter what they do or don’t do for a living, are neighbors. And in the summer of 2003 that was proved to her and all in Franklin over and over again.

As Nicodemus answered Jesus when asked by Him, “and just who is your neighbor?”  “Everyone.”  Somebody say AMEN.

-Ken

PS: We did make it to Fort Scott today.  Check out my Facebook page for the photo-report on that fascinating visit, and a few others.

-K