Cruise down The Loop and take a look at our new banners celebrating the centennial of Highway 40, the forerunner of today’s Business Loop. We wanted to find photos that spanned the entire history of Highway 40 so we searched everywhere from the State Historical Society archives to the secret room at Hickman High School with 100 years of yearbooks for these gems from the past.
Before Hickman High was built at the corner of Providence and then-Highway 40, the property was the 40 acre Hickman Farm owned by Mary Hickman. Her father, David H. Hickman, had died in 1869, leaving the house and land to Mary who was just 3 years old at the time. She rented the house until 1887, when it was lost to fire. The property then became home to the Boone County fairground, a horse racing track, and the occasional traveling carnival. The photo above is circa 1900 and the only concession to the summer heat is white muslim dresses, shirtsleeves for the men, and hats and umbrellas for all.
This photo from the 1955 Cresset, Hickman High’s yearbook, might as well be a scene out of Grease. Girls in ankle socks and saddle shoes, boys in cuffed Levis and leather jackets leaning against classic cars—everyone’s too cool for school. Even better, they’ve all parked right next to a big No Parking sign. Remember this next time someone complains about those kids nowadays.
When I70 came through Columbia in 1960, Highway 40 came to a close and Business Loop was born. It was essentially the same road save for this new intersection on the west end. While West Boulevard used to intersect with Highway 40 right near this Howard Johnsons (best fried clams in town, by the way), the new on and off ramps to the interstate required some rejiggering. Travelers would now have to take an access road from Business Loop to reach West. It was never a satisfactory solution—and clearly pedestrians didn’t factor into the plan—so MODOT added a roundabout to this intersection about a half a century later.
One can always date basketball photos by the length of their shorts so it’ll come as no surprise that this photo spread is from the 1971 Hickman High School yearbook. There were so many great sports photos from Hickman—from basketball to track to powder puff football—but these really captured the athleticism of our Kewpies. And we also appreciated that they played in Adidas Jabber Lows and Converse High Tops—today considered fashion sneakers more than performance shoes. Points for style!
