Whiteside Jewelry

Whiteside Jewelry is a fine-jewelry store, repair bench and watch shop on the north side of the Historic Liberty Square, trading under the same name since 1898 and in the same building since 1906.

Description

Whiteside Jewelry occupies a storefront at 16 E. Franklin Street on the north side of the Liberty courthouse square, in Clay County’s county seat.¹ The store sells fine jewelry and runs a working repair bench, and describes itself on its own site as offering “Fine Jewelry since 1898.”¹

The shop’s trade is weighted toward service rather than pure retail. Advertised services include jewelry appraisals for insurance, legal and estate purposes; buying gold and silver; jewelry repair covering ring sizing, mountings, stone replacement, prong re-tipping, cleaning and polishing, and necklace, bracelet and clasp work; custom design executed with CAD/CAM; engraving; and watch repair handled by an in-house watchmaker.¹ Listed supply relationships include Stuller, Citizen, Rembrandt Charms and Hadley-Roma.¹

In a 2026 business profile published by Historic Downtown Liberty, Inc., the neighbourhood’s non-profit main-street organisation, the store is described as having been in business for over 127 years, which the organisation characterises as making it the oldest jewelry store in the Kansas City area.² That claim originates with the profile and has not been independently audited here.

Ownership and history

According to the store’s own account, Whiteside Jewelry was founded by W.W. Whiteside. James J. Meirowsky began working for Whiteside as a watchmaker in 1948 and bought the business in the early 1950s; he continued working at the store until his death in 2007. His son, Stephen Meirowsky, followed him into the trade and is listed on the company site as owner.¹ The store states it has been located on the north side of the Liberty Square since 1906.¹

The Historic Downtown Liberty profile gives a compatible but slightly more specific sequence: W.W. Whiteside conceived the store in 1898 and operated it with his wife until the 1940s; Jim Meirowsky joined as a watchmaker after World War II and took over in 1952; Steve Meirowsky became owner in the 1980s.² The two accounts agree on the succession and differ only on the precise handover years.

The same profile reports that Ryan Miller, who has worked at Whiteside Jewelry since 2007 and is listed on the company site as VP and custom jewelry designer, is set to become the store’s next owner once Steve Meirowsky retires.¹² Miller took coursework at the Gemological Institute of America but attributes most of his training to bench work and to a silversmith mentor named Eldon, after whom he named his son.² Other staff named on the company site are Mark (jewelry repair) and Carole (executive assistant); surnames are not published.¹ “ — the date on which ownership formally transfers to Miller.

Links

• Website: https://whitesidejewelry.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whitesidejewelry/

Services

First-party service list, per the company website:¹

• Jewelry appraisals (insurance, legal, estate and trust, private)
• Gold and silver buying, with on-the-spot evaluation
• Jewelry repair: ring sizing, mountings, stone replacement, prong re-tipping, cleaning and polishing, necklace and bracelet repair, clasp replacement, refurbishment
• Custom jewelry design using CAD/CAM
• Watch repair, from battery replacement to servicing, by an in-house watchmaker
• Engraving

Sources

Footnotes

1. “The Whiteside Jewelry Store,” Whiteside Jewelry Inc. (company website), retrieved 2026-08-26. URL ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

2. Jillean Williams, “Diamond in the Rough,” Historic Downtown Liberty, Inc., 2026. URL ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴