Rimsie McConiga
Special to the Citizen
Dearborn’s Reminisce Days will be held from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28.
This year, the second year of the event, the Cassity Bus Company will be honored. The company has been a staple of the community for the past 83 years.
The event is sponsored by the Dearborn Betterment Association and the North Platte Area Chamber of Commerce.
The North Platte Historical Museum & Cultural Center will host an open house from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This will also be the grand opening of the museum. The museum will also be officially opened during Reminisce Days.
“We’ve been working hard to get a library up and going,” said Switch Track Mall owner, Elaine Greer. “They plan to be open every other weekend on Fridays and Saturdays. This area is very rich in history and I believe in honoring people when they’re still alive, so last year our first Reminisce Days was because we opened our new bridge, the oldest bridge in Missouri. It was a big deal for Dearborn. Then we also honored Lu Durham, Dearborn’s oldest resiadent.”
Durham, who still lives in the same house she was born in, was a graduate of Dearborn High School and taught at the North Platte School District for many years. She has been involved in the Platte County Historical Society and the Ben Ferrel Platte County Museum.
Dearborn will also host the city-wide garage sale that weekend. The sale has been going on for more than 16 years. “Anyone can take part in the garage sale, but if someone wants their name on a map it’s only $4,” Greer said. “We have a lot of new families in the area.”
The activities will also include a parade at 3 p.m. It will start at North Platte High School. There will also be a car show.
“We are hoping they will be in the parade also,” Greer said. “Cars, tractors, bicycles, wagons, kids — whoever wants to be in the parade can be in the parade. People can show off their antique cars or whatever cars they want to show off.”
A miniature train club from St. Joseph will also have a display at the Dearborn Community Center. There will be games and face painting for kids.
There will be food trucks that will serve funnel cakes.
“We have a lady here in town who makes wonderful crepes and those will be for sale and there will be lemonade, tea and pop,” Greer said.
Booths are still available. The cost is $15 per booth and not-for-profit booths are free.
The event will also feature a cornhole tournament. People can sign up to participate and there will be prizes.
Switch Track Mall will be open and people can view the room that houses a giant model train that was given to the mall by Greer’s cousin, Earl Seymour, who is a 97-year-old World War II veteran.
Jane Hagg, the daughter of Frank Forrest “Frosty” Cassity, who began the Cassity Bus Company, will provide memorabilia about the bus company and her family during the celebration at the new Dearborn museum.
“Frosty began thinking of entering the bus business when he was in high school,” Hagg said. He owned a Model T Ford that he hauled his friends to and from school in for $3 a month. After graduation in 1934, Frosty convinced the school board that he could run his business on a much larger scale and he would provide the bus. The school then granted him a contract for $75 a month.”
In order to fulfill his contract with the school board, Frosty borrowed the money and had a bus built on a 1931 Ford truck chassis by Schmidt Carriage Works of Saint Joseph. The seats were placed on the sides and in the back of the bus, so Frosty could deliver high school students to and from Dearborn.
“Later on, when the district began transporting elementary children, a bench was put down the middle of the bus, so they would have a place to sit “ Hagg said. “In 1939, the district required that all buses have forward-facing seats.”
Frosty launched his business and multi-tasked tirelessly. He was the mechanic, driver and manager in the early years. In 1943, he was called for active duty in World War II. With the help of a mechanic and driver his wife Georgia took over the business until Frosty’s return in 1946.
He was awarded the Administrator of the Year Award from the Missouri Association of Public Transportation in 1991. In 2007, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the Missouri School Bus Contractors Association. He also received recognition from the North Platte School District for his years of service.
He passed away in 2006. His son, Bob Cassity and wife Lynn and grandson Jeff and wife Jennifer, now manage the company.
“Frosty often said that even though the business had seen many changes, his reasons for starting it never changed,” Hagg said. “He used to say, ‘I like kids, I always used the 3-F formula on my buses, which was be firm, fair, and friendly.’”
“The Cassitys are a very honorable family,“ Greer said. “It’s quite a big deal for a private company to own the buses and operate the buses for the school. Anyone who went to school here in the last 83 years has probably ridden on one of their buses.”