Touching the Missouri River

There were several speakers at the ribbon-cutting Friday, but the one who made the most hay from his time before the microphone was Mayor John Landwehr, who reminded the audience of the importance of the river to Jefferson City.




Using Woody Guthrie’s “This land is your land, this land is my land” as a theme, he spoke of our common interest in the Missouri River and asserted that by reaching out and “touching” the river, Jeff City will join Hermann, Washington, Little Rock, Memphis, Wichita, and Ottumwa as cities that “learned how to touch their rivers.”

Coastal cities have the ocean; mountain cities have their peaks; and we have our river: We can use its enduring scenic and historic nature as a way to gain tourism revenue and a stronger sense of identity. Landwehr suggested that, as we cross the new pedestrian/bicycle bridge, we think of our connections to the river.

And he spoke of the importance of the Adrian Island project in beautifying and vitalizing the city.

If you’ve ever been to Mud Island in Memphis, you have some idea of what Adrian Island—now just a huge sandbar thick with weedy bottomland trees—could become, albeit on a much smaller scale. Or you could look at Hermann, New Haven, or Washington’s waterfront parks, which are incredibly pleasant places to have a picnic—I know, because I have picnicked at each of them, on food purchased at restaurants in those towns.

Here is a view of Jeff City taken from the new bicycle/pedestrian path attached to the Missouri River Bridge. I've circled Adrian Island for your reference.




The idea of building a tunnel under the railroad tracks to provide access to the island is controversial for a number of reasons (that usually come down to money), but the idea of developing the area as some kind of city park is one that’s long, long overdue. We’ve got a historic and attractive downtown, and a spectacular Capitol, but no way to “enjoy” a view of the river except for a simple MDC boat ramp on the opposite bank.

Surely there’s a way to work with the railroad to provide access to that land without endangering pedestrians or infringing on the trains’ ability to come and go.

Indeed, I find the coming-and-going of trains almost as fun to watch as the river! How about an adjoining train or transportation museum? Perhaps some of this could even benefit the railroad.

Little ol’ Cooper’s Landing, up at Easley, offers better ways to enjoy the river than the capital city.

And although I’m beginning to see that many Jefferson Citians have a grudge against Columbia, where “anything goes,” I’m also concluding that a lot of that is just jealousy. If Columbia were located right on the Missouri, you know there’d be a lovely waterfront park, lots of great restaurants nearby, shopping, and so on. I mean, look what they did with the Flat Branch, which, when I was a kid, was nothing but a trashy ol’ drainage ditch.

Columbia's longtime, recently retired mayor, Darwin Hindman, was at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and it was great to see him and outgoing Jefferson City mayor Landwehr chatting together as they began to ascend the new bicycle/pedestrian ramp. Both of these leaders understand the importance of quality of life in a town. I'm afraid I'm going to miss both of them quite a bit. I hope they stay involved.




Now, this is just my two cents. I’m not an economist or a developer, but I can speak as a resident and consumer, and I just know there’s a way for Jeff City to use its proximity to the river to our advantage. My fear is that our city is too pessimistic, reactionary, and inflexible to move forward, and that we will be the last river town in the United States to do so.

. . . But my hope is that that isn't the case.

State Capitol on Fire!

Jefferson City residents awoke this morning to the grim knowledge that the Missouri capitol has burned overnight and is a total loss. The fire started last night around 6:15, when lightning from yesterday evening’s thunderstorm struck the building’s dome. The fire spread rapidly along dry pine boards of the roof.

Firefighters from all nearby districts were called in, including the negro firefighters from Lincoln Institute and the German immigrants from the Muenchberg community just south of town. A group of firemen from Sedalia loaded their water pumps and other equipment onto railroad cars and made it to Jefferson City in record time—just over seventy minutes—but they were too late. By the time they arrived, the water main had broken, and there was nothing for anyone to do but simply witness the disaster. And the statehouse burned all night long.




. . . This, of course, is history, and the reason I’m mentioning it is that last night, February 5, 2011, was the one-hundredth anniversary of the disaster.

Sue and I went to the commemoration ceremony last night, and I want to tell you about it. If you weren’t there, you missed a pretty cool event.

Jim Dyke, a local artist and cartoonist, was one of the chief organizers, and what a wonderful thing he did for the community.




It started with a reenactment that had a twenty-first-century twist. At 6:15 p.m., church bells all over started ringing like crazy, and fire trucks, with lights flashing and sounding their horns, drove around the capitol’s circle drive, then parked in front of it, lights blazing, blasting out all the chords of “emergency.”

And, true to history, they represented many local departments—Jefferson City, Cole County, Russellville, Lynn, Osage, Columbia, and several more.

I’m sure that people driving by on High Street, the river bridges, or anywhere else within sight, were shocked by what must have looked like a tremendous emergency at the capitol!




Then, when this stage of the event was concluded, everyone convened in the beautiful rotunda of the capitol for a commemorative presentation.




What good fortune to have Bob Priddy there to tell the story of the 1911 Capitol fire!

In case you don’t know him, he’s one of our favorite historians of Jefferson City and Missouri. He’s a professional journalist with a distinguished career, and for years he did a radio show called Across Our Wide Missouri (and published books based on those programs).




He is one of those people who can relate history in a way that makes it gripping. By the time he’s done, you understand not only the story, but all the enriching context, as well. (More Bob Priddys, please!)

He didn’t just tell the story of the night of the fire; he described the decade or so before that event, when it had become clear that the old capitol was a musty old tinderbox and needed replacing, and when others in the state were trying to relocate the seat of government to their localities. With all the arguing in the legislature, no progress was made in preventing the disaster.

So the capitol fire in 1911 brought those issues to the forefront. And—after much more legislative and journalistic discussion—we all know how it turned out: Jefferson City remained the state capital, and the old capitol was replaced with one that far, far surpassed it, in strength, size, and beauty. Priddy pointed out the strange irony of that devastating fire: It was one of the best things that ever happened to Jefferson City.




I should also mention that he concluded his speech by pointing out that our beloved state capitol presently needs some millions of dollars in maintenance and renovation. And you know, considering that it functions not only as the seat of legislature and symbol of our state’s greatness, but also as a history museum and art museum holding priceless treasures, we really owe ourselves such renovation.

Mayor Landwehr issued a (very fun) proclamation, juxtaposing the situation of a hundred years ago to our lifestyles today. (For example, in 1911, a group of Boy Scouts volunteered the night of the fire, helping to keep people safe; in 2011, it would take at least a week to get all the parental consent forms signed!) He also recognized Mayor Elaine Horn of Sedalia, who was there with representatives of the Sedalia Fire Department.

Sedalia, by the way, was one of the strongest voices wanting to relocate the seat of government away from Jeff City—they believed they would be a much better location. Yet on the night of the disaster, there they were, rushing to get their firemen on the train, to help fight the blaze. Their efforts to acquire the seat of government would continue after the fire, but on February 5, 1911, such discussions were set aside.




Artist Jim Dyke spoke at the end, inviting everyone to proceed to his gallery a block away, as he had assembled a group of artifacts from the old capitol, along with posters and other displays about the fire. As an added incentive, he offered wine and cheese! (There were also sugar cookies shaped like the old capitol, iced with a conflagration of yellow and orange, and lightly dusted with sootlike black sugar sprinkles. I thought that was clever!)

Finally, at the end of the presentation in the rotunda, Mr. Dyke urged all the firefighters present—I think there were at least forty of them—to come stand with him before the audience. Thus there was a procession of uniformed and nonuniformed, professional and volunteer firefighters, who stood together in a line. This, naturally, garnered a standing ovation for them and for all the past-present-future heroes they represent.




It was a memorable evening, though it certainly doesn’t hold a candle to that night a hundred years ago. If you haven’t been to our state capitol, you really should see it. Of the top ten tourist attractions in Jefferson City, the capitol comprises numbers one through seven. And it took a major fire, a hundred years ago, to clear the way.

A Special Thank-You to Susan Ferber, who took these (and numerous other terrific) photos, of moving objects, in poor light, at all distances. Danke schoen, Sue! (The historic photo, at the top, appears on scads of Internet sites.)

Jeff City’s Annual Christmassy Weekend

There’s lots of Christmas partying this weekend in the capital city!




It started tonight with the official lighting of the Mayor’s Christmas Tree, which is on the north end of Bolivar Street overlooking the river. Free cookies, hot cider, and hot chocolate! Hot popcorn, too! The Helias High School choir sang, the regional head of the Rotary club spoke, and Mayor Landwehr gave a little speech, too, emphasizing the importance of the river to Jefferson City. And then the tree was lit up! Hooray!

There are more festivities, too. And they’re all free. Here’s the schedule.

Living Windows is tomorrow (Friday) night, 6:00–9:00 p.m. Downtown Jeff City is all duded up, and kids put on little vignettes or sing in the shop windows. More goodies are available. Stroll around and enjoy the wholesomeness of it all.

Candlelight tours of the Governor’s Mansion are also tomorrow night, 6:30–9:00 p.m. If you have never been in our state’s lovely Governor’s Mansion, this is a fabulous time to see it. The Christmas decorations are lovely and everyone’s in a jolly mood. A high school choir sings carols on the grand staircase, and docents are dressed in nineteenth-century costumes. And the governor and first lady are there to greet you personally. It’s really a pleasant thing to do.

To see pictures from last year’s Candlelight tours, click here.

Christkindelfest is on Saturday, Dec. 4, 9:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. The kaffeeklatch and bake sale is 9:30 – 11:00; the worship service, which includes the spirited singing of Esther Seidel and a rare and unusual German mass by “Silent Night” composer Franz Gruber, starts at 11:00; after the service (around noon) is a yummy lunch of Burger’s ham and other dishes; and at 1:00 p.m. Rev. Buchholz will lead a tour of the church.

For more information, see my earlier post about Christkindelfest.

The Jefferson City Christmas Parade is also on Saturday, starting at 4:30 p.m. It used to take place in the early afternoon, but they moved it to the evening so that the lights on all the floats would be prettier. And they are pretty!

To see pictures of some pictures from last year’s festivities, click here.

Missouri River Pedestrian Bridge at Jefferson City

This morning was the groundbreaking ceremony for the long-awaited pedestrian addition to the Missouri River Bridge here at Jefferson City. I’m not an official journalist, I’m just a blogger, and an amateur one at that—but I’m thrilled that this project is moving forward!




Indeed, it’s a step forward on many accounts. It advances tourism in Jefferson City. It advances the connection of the Katy Trail State Park with neighboring communities. It advances safety for bicyclists and pedestrians as well as for the over 50,000 vehicle drivers that cross the river here each day.

(Nifty shovel, huh?)




In order to appreciate what we’re getting, you have to know what we have now. Right now, there are two bridges crossing the river—the one on the west is for southbound traffic and the one on the east is for northbound. When they built the second of these two bridges (the northbound one), back in 1991, they didn’t take possible pedestrian or bicycle traffic into account.

Meanwhile, also twenty years ago, the Katy Trail State Park was launched. Indeed, they’re celebrating this rails-to-trails park’s twentieth anniversary this month! It follows the old MKT railroad line from St. Charles clear to Clinton, Missouri.

It passes by Jefferson City right across the river at a point they call “North Jefferson”—but which many of us locals still think of as “Cedar City.” Cedar City was destroyed by the Great Flood of 1993.

Anyway, Jeff City has annexed the former town, but there’s really not much there beside the MFA, a golf range, some big soccer fields, and the Katy Trail access point.

So a problem arose: Even though the city built a nice bike trail connecting the cross-state Katy Trail to a point nearer to the Missouri River Bridge, bicyclists had hell to go through before getting across the river to Jeff City proper.




And that’s bad for tourism! And it’s dangerous, any way you slice it. The temporary solution has been to add a “bike lane” to the northbound (wider) bridge. But . . . that lane must function for bicyclists traveling both directions.




Now, if you’re a grown-up, responsible bicyclist, every fiber of your being should rebel against the thought of riding on the left side of the road, against traffic. But that is what you’re “supposed” to do if you are heading south, toward town. Argh!




And God forbid you should have to pass another bicyclist going the opposite way! —But of course, that rarely happens, since most bicyclists don’t want to attempt this ugly crossing.




Seriously—the traffic on the bridge is posted at 60 mph—which you know means many people are traveling at 70 mph. Including huge trucks.




You can’t tell from a car, but you can tell when you’re walking: Those big trucks make the bridge rumble and shake. They pass you in a whirlwind, stirring up grit and litter, creating a suction that threatens to pull you away from the shoulder. No joke.




So they finally did it—all these agencies, governments, and organizations put their heads together, and the work is beginning next week. (They would have begun this week, they said, but for all the rain.) A local company from Fulton, OCCI, Inc., won the bid.

The project is going to cost $6.7 million—the money’s coming from MoDOT, the City of Jefferson, the DNR, and the Missouri State Parks Foundation. That last is a private, nonprofit organization formed to raise money for Missouri State Parks. There was a 20 percent local match.

The Missouri Department of Transportation is naturally in charge of this project, as it pertains to Missouri Highways 54 and 63, which merge at this point to get across the river.

But, as Mayor Landwehr pointed out in his brief remarks, this has been a three-times complex project—complex engineering, complex funding issues, and complex in terms of policy, the drawing together of the governments of Callaway and Cole counties, the City of Jefferson, plus the state agencies for highways and state parks.

He also noted the good the pedestrian access will do for Jefferson City, “connecting the dots” of the Katy Trail with the State Capitol (which is a huge tourist attraction), the 12.5-mile Jefferson City Greenway system, and, one day, a development on Adrian’s Island making it friendly for public recreation.

It also makes it much easier for residents of Jefferson City to ride directly to the trail, instead of having to load their bikes into a vehicle and drive there. And that, my friends, will make Jefferson City—particularly the old-town portions near to the bridge—into a more desirable place to live.

And you know the Jefferson City CVB is thrilled about this project—there are thousands of riders on the Katy Trail, and it would be grand to have them spend the night in Jeff, eat at one of our fine restaurants, do a little shopping . . . !

So the plan is to attach an eight-foot-wide pathway against the east edge of the easternmost (northbound) bridge—which provides enough room for a couple of bikes to pass, as well as pleasant views of the State Capitol and the river. There will be a couple of places where you can stop to take in the sight.




Here is a view of the east side of the bridge, where it is going to be attached:



It must have been fun for them to figure out how to handle the trail on the north side of the river, since the bikes would have to cross the highway somehow. To accomplish this, they’re going to build a multi-staged ramp so that trail riders can get from bridge level down to the ground, then ride under the bridges to the nearby (and scenic) Carl R. Noren river access. (Which is managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation—see, I told you this is a complicated project!)

I took a picture of one of the artist-renditions of what the ramp will look like. I'm sure you can see this better on the MoDOT Web site:



From the river access (boat ramp), the trail will lead to the existing Katy Trail “North Jefferson” access point.

I don’t know about you, but as a native Central Missourian, I treasure the Missouri River, and from a young age, I have always assumed that one of the main reasons for bridges is for you to get a good look at all that water rushing below, and the landscape around. It has seemed unnatural that Jefferson City hasn’t done much to monopolize on its several potentially fabulous river views.




Mayor Landwehr pointed out, I think correctly, that the Missouri River is our own “big nature.” “We don’t have Rocky Mountains or an ocean here. But we have the Missouri.” And yes, it is unique.




As I stood there listening to the speakers at this morning’s groundbreaking, my eyes were incessantly drawn to the river going by in the landscape beyond them. It is hypnotic, it is inevitable, and it is somehow gentle. More people ought to look at rivers, and the pedestrian bridge is one step in the right direction.




They say it will be complete a year from now!




Meanwhile, they cautioned, lanes will be narrowed, traffic will be forced to slow down, and you won’t be able to get on the bridge from Main Street. I say: No problemo! Bring on the bike path!