I married into the Frabbiele family with my first wife in St. James Parish. Other than shipping trucks occasionally, there wasn't a whole lot of activity there.
You shouldn’t let the cold hard facts ruin a perfectly good legend.
About 25 years ago I had a case at 9 am in Weston Missouri.
I forget now the particulars, but I freed another drunk driver from the consequences of his conduct, and bade him go, and sin no more (but if he did, to call me).
I knew that Weston was famous for three things, then.
At the time, Weston made Austin and Halleck muzzleloaders, the Lee Star Grade of muzzle loading rifles.
And, the McCormick distillery was, and still is at Weston.
Closed today, but then Weston had the only tobacco auction barn west of the Mississippi River.
My first stop about noon was at the Austin and Halleck factory. I was expecting something bigger, maybe with smokestacks. It was a small metal barn like building.
A bored receptionist was glad to have a visitor. She yelled for the two employees to give me the tour.
Two guys came to the front, and said it was almost lunchtime, but they’d show me the factory floor, it wouldn’t take long.
In the factory area, there were two piles of boxes, either side of a table. The employees took an Italian made barrel and screwed it on a Missouri made Fajen stock, then put it in a box with American flags and sat it on the other side.
Dissappointed, I went to the tobacco auction barn. This looked as it should, old and dingy and huge. But it was nearly vacant. There was a little hand lettered sign that read
Platte County Burley price: $1.65 per pound
The man said they only had one auction a year, and otherwise they’d buy leaf at the posted price. He said it went east to be made into lower priced cigars like King Edward, and the like.
Then I toured the McCormick distillery. It was grand to behold, There were old stone buildings, big barrel houses, and we saw a huge copper still the guide said that was used till only recently.
About that time a tanker truck with Illinois distilled pure ethanol arrived, and replenished the tanks where they filled barrels that came in from Lebanon Missouri.
Since then I understand new distillery owners have restarted distilling at Weston.
But 25 years ago Weston made guns, booze, and tobacco.
It was better knowing they did, than seeing how they did it.