Back when it first opened, in 1916, Waldo Grain Company was the city's first park-and-ride. Folks would tie up their horses at its original location, at 75th Street and Wornall, before jumping on the trolley line. Eighty years ago, the place moved three blocks south on Wornall to a red-barn-looking building in what was then mostly farm country. Waldo Grain sold cattle feed and live chickens and, on the weekends, showed movies projected on the side of the building. The old mill burned in a fire in 1949, perhaps some sign of the coming changes. Chain restaurants and housing developments replaced the farms, and the store began carrying dog, cat and bird food. Now, Brooksiders come in for grass seed. Brothers Jon and Kurt Goodwin, the grandsons of founder Harry Frey, own the place. "About every year, there's some realtor coming by with some offer," Jon Goodwin says. "Mostly, we don't believe it. But we're not selling, either." It's a good thing, because it's the only park-and-ride left with a horse hitch.
