Spotlight

Refurbished Antique Railroad Scale on Display at Kirkwood Train Station

On the scale of such things, a rusting, 100-year-old, wooden contraption, covered in cobwebs and looking like it’s only good for running over toes, may have seemed destined for a landfill or a scrap metal recycler.  Kirkwood and the region at large are lucky that Bill Burckhalter, the Kirkwood Train Station manager, saw "the contraption’s" value and resisted that temptation.

When the City of Kirkwood purchased the Train Station back in 2003, it inherited a variety of old furniture and equipment, including one cast-iron-and-wood, 100-year-old railroad scale, which Bill found in a storage closet.  It was manufactured around the turn of the 20th century by Fairbanks-Morse, a company that still makes scales.  Even the manufacturer was unsure exactly how old the scale is, but they were able to furnish some important details that helped in its refurbishing.

Bill enlisted the help of fellow City staff in Fleet Services, and they went to work on its restoration.  First, they talked to representatives at Fairbanks-Morse, who donated new decals and provided the original paint colors.  The scale was then disassembled, bead blasted (similar to sand blasting), painted, its brass polished, and then re-assembled.  Ace Hardware in Des Peres donated the paint.

Most modern scales are metal, but the Kirkwood scale is largely made of wood (everything in blue in the photo is wood).  It was likely used by the Missouri Pacific Railroad to weigh freight.  The fleet staff constructed a wooden platform to secure the scale and prevent it from rolling so it could be kept on display at the Train Station, where Kirkwood residents can visit it any time the station is open.
Business Licenses

Flat-Fee Business Schedule

The businesses listed below are charged a flat fee business license in the amount shown.

Auctioneers and auction sales: $35.00

Automobile and Truck Dealers: $3.00 for each new automobile or truck less than 1 1/2 tons, wholesale or retail, and $6.00 for each new truck 1 1/2 tons or over, wholesale or retail; unless 50 percent or more of the gross business is derived from used automobiles or trucks, in which case the rate of $1.00 per $1,000.00 of gross receipts defined herein shall apply.

Banks: $400.00 per year

Boxing and sparring exhibitions: $135.00 per day

Businesses duly authorized and operating at the Main Street Market a/k/a the Kirkwood Farmers' Market, that are currently licensed under this article and are operating the same business for which they are licensed: $0.00. For those businesses operating at the Main Street Market a/k/a the Kirkwood Farmers' Market that are not currently licensed under this article or are operating a different business than that for which they are licensed, the business license fee shall be determined in accordance with Section 13-39 and 13-40.

Carnivals, circuses, and shows: $135.00 per day

Commercial rubbish collector/commercial recycling material collector: $200.00 per year

Contractors and subcontractors: $50.00 per year

Dance halls and dances: $15.00 per day, $75.00 per month, $135.00 per year

Fortune tellers: $135.00 per year

Hotels: $7.00 per room, but not less than $35.00 per year

Itinerant merchants, peddlers, and solicitors: $25.00 per day, plus any additional administrative costs incurred including the cost of the criminal record check.

With motor vehicle: $65.00 per year, plus any additional administrative costs incurred including the cost of the criminal record check.

Massage parlors and establishments: $200.00 per year

Palmists: $135.00 per year

Parades: $35.00 per parade

Pawnbrokers: $525.00 per year

Private clubs: $7.00 per room, but not less than $35.00 per year

Public halls: $35.00 per day

Public lectures: $35.00 per day

Public meetings: $35.00 per day

Rooming houses, lodging houses, and boarding houses: $7.00 per room, but not less than $35.00 per year

Sign erector: $35.00 per year and $1,000.00 general performance bond

Street exhibitions: $35.00 per day

Temporary merchants, operating in a structure such as a building, tent, or trailer for example: $1.50 per one thousand of gross receipts, $2.00 per one thousand of gross receipts if operating in the Special Business District. A cash deposit up to $1,500 is required.

Vendors of prepared foods sold for immediate consumption: $5.00 per month, $35.00 per year