Author?s unique history of Nixa a labor of love

For most folks who grew up in Springfield and surrounds, Gertrude Stein's observation about Oakland, Calif. "There's no there, there" might have applied to the tiny village of Nixa. For decades it seemed no more than a spot at a crossroads south of Springfield where you might stop for gas or for bait on the way to the Finley to fish, but little if anything else.

Now Wayne Glenn has not only unearthed the "there, there" in Nixa; he's written the town a 224-page love letter in the form of a new book.

"'Mid the Hills: A History of Nixa 1835-2001" is an achievement of ambition and affection. As Glenn puts it, "This book is a work of love. I love what Nixa has meant to me and my family."

The book's most obvious asset is its astonishing collection of vintage photographs and illustrations, which Glenn says amount to no fewer than "600 and some."

They start with a government survey team's 1835 map of the original "Guinn Prairie" on which, in 1881, Nixa was incorporated, and go on to include photos of everything from early pioneer farms and families to the town's original buildings and inhabitants and their doings through the decades. One especially intriguing document is a 1910 list of every one of the town's citizens, including birthplaces, ages, and livelihoods.

Glenn himself modestly calls the book "flawed." He writes, "Nixa was so small and inferior feeling for so long, that the fine citizens of the town didn't write down their history."

Lack of historical records notwithstanding, Glenn's regard for the town has enabled him to gather what obviously were extremely fragmented bits of information from a great many sources into a reasonably coherent and diverting account of the town's past.

Neither does the book lack for charm, as in Glenn's observation that "The growth of Nixa in the 1880s was as slow as the Curbow family's molasses."

Glenn, a Nixa native, is best known as the host for 25 years of his own "Remember When" vintage music show and commentary on KTXR-FM radio in Springfield.

The show, still on the air, can be heard Saturdays from 6 a.m. till 1 p.m. and Sunday nights from 6:30 to 10.

With "Mid the Hills," he's created a book that should appeal strongly to anyone with family connections to the town of Nixa, those with an interest in pioneer life in the Ozarks, or those who just love to visit the past in words and pictures.

"'Mid the Hills" is published by Glenn himself and priced at $32. Though unavailable in bookstores, it can be found at Nixa Hardware, the Guaranteed Federal Savings Bank in the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Nixa, or by contacting Glenn.