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Barnes Brothers Highway Officially Dedicated

By Brian Hagen

05/14/2013

(KNZA)--It's official: a 3 mile stretch of K-79 in Jackson County is now known as the Barnes Brothers Memorial Highway.

That follows a Monday afternoon ceremony, at the Circleville Community Center where the new highway signs were unveiled, designating the stretch in honor of Virgil and Jesse Barnes, Circleville natives who became famous as Major League Baseball players.

The effort to see the highway stretch renamed began several years ago as a project of 7th grade Royal Valley Middle School students taught by history teacher Nate McAlister.

Along with McAlister and student Derrick Barger, other guest speakers at the ceremony included Northeast Kansas KDOT District Engineer Mike Stringer, Former Kansas Representative Trent LeDoux, who introduced the legislation drafted by the students, Circleville Mayor Ed Rostetter, Melany Barnes, the granddaughter of Virgil Barnes and Steve (Arch-uh-pole) Archepohl, grandson of Virgil Barnes.

Virgil Barnes played in the Major Leagues from 1919 to 1929, while his brother, Jesse, played from 1915 to 1927.

Later in life, Virgil became a portrait artist while Jesse became a police officer.

The legislation renaming the stretch of highway in their honor was approved by the Kansas Legislature on March 26th, 2012 and then signed into law by Governor Sam Brownback.