To the Editor:

I enjoyed the article by Mildred Harris New, "Some good old days in Overland Park" (February 2011). I grew up in Overland Park in the early 1950s through the early '60s. I attended the Overland Park grade school in 1952, then "opened" Santa Fe Trail, Tomahawk, Milburn Junior High, and Shawnee Mission East.

I fondly remember all the businesses and stores she mentioned, especially getting hamburgers at Boots Drive-In on Saturdays or malts after a ball game at Sagner Field. But there was also Dale's Hardware, owned by Dale Lyerla, where I worked as a teen; Jennings Lawn & Seed, where I bought my duck feed; Carter's Sports, where I stopped after school to purchase arrows for my archery hobby; Overland Park Auto Parts, where my step-dad purchased parts; and KCPL, where you could exchange your burned-out light bulbs for free new ones. Also I remember the Overland Park Movie Theater, where, for less than a dollar, you could see a double feature on Friday nights and buy a treat.

The motel cabins at 81st and Metcalf (Highway 69) were moved, and are now north of Ottawa, close to the intersection of highways 56 and 59.

Gary E. Kahmann, Olathe