From Hannibal, the road lead west to Monroe City with 2 early new deal schools, both interesting and designed by Bonsack & Pearce out of St. Louis.  The elementary school burned in 1936 and both this and the segregated black Washington School were submitted as WPA projects.  Both were designed by Bonsack & Pearce and constructed by Epple Const. of Columbia in 1937.  Despite overcrowding, the black Washington school would not have been constructed with the WPA assistance.  Washington School operated until 1963 with the integration of the schools.

 

        From Monroe City, I travelled south to Mark Twain State Park, which was constructed to a large degree by the CCC company 1743, an all-black company in the late 30's.  There are rock walls, shelters, and the road system in the park.  The rock work is still excellent and has been maintained. 

        Back north, I went to Palmyra with its post office and the mural by James Penney depicting "Memories of Marion County", including a flood with a for sale sign to the right, Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Joe dominating the center on a raft going down the Mississippi River, and a newspaper advertising for 2 run-away slaves. 

 

         Up Hwy 61, Canton, MO has possibly the last of the Missouri post office murals that I will photograph, a work by Jessie Hull Meyer, "Winter Landscape" showing the town of Canton and the Mississippi in the background and horse-drawn sleds in the foreground.  The colors enhance the feeling that it must have been bone-chilling cold.

 

        Cross country to the west, Edina and the Knox County courthouse was next up constructed in 1935, with art deco elements as well as simple classic columns.  Far to the west was the Sullivan County courthouse in Milan constructed in 1939 and then back to Shelbina.  Shelbina had 3 sites that were closely related, but different.  A Lake was constructed by WPA in 1941 along with a park on the east side of the lake with some shelters and other recreation sites.  On the west side of the lake, a 9-hole golf course was built, a nice surprise.  Originally, it had sand greens to economize on the cost.  Few if any WPA golf courses were constructed in Missouri.

 

       It was then back to Columbia.

The latest trip went to the northeast of Missouri and briefly into Illinois.  Due to the mileage and number of sites I planned to see, the day started early at about 6:00.  Going into the sun isn't always a great idea, but I was able to get a good pic of the early morning on I 70.

Its really a pleasure driving into a scene like this in the early morning.  It was on to Mexico for the airport east of town (a possible site), and then to Vandalia Lake, a peaceful spot and some of the most concentrated mosquitoes I have run into.

        The Vandalia post office was next with a mural by Joseph Vorst depicting the corn harvest.  It seems nostalgic today, and is, but shows how the harvest was done at that time.  This can still be seen in the Amish country north of Columbia, east of Clark.

 

        From Vandalia,  the road lead to Louisiana, MO, home of Stark Brothers nursery as well as former governor Stark from the 30's.  The town has seen better days, but there are some beautiful old homes Victorian and earlier.  I was in search of the RR Rowley Annex to the old high school and received the necessary help from 2 walkers.  It was at the top of the hill on 5th street and is no longer a school, run-down at least on the inside, though the exterior seems intact with bas reliefs at the entry and a cornerstone.  It is attached physically to the main old high school building.  Although I'm sure there are many issues with this particular building, it is a shame to allow a building such as this to get to this point. 



 

          There was a quick trip to Clarksville to the Lock and Dam 24, retracing my steps back to Louisiana with a pic of the old treatment plant(?new deal), then on to Pittsfield across the Champ Bailey Bridge into Illinois.  The Pittsfield post office has a view of the Champ Bailey bridge by William Schwartz.  He was a Chicago who did several PO murals and was on that cusp between representational and abstract (particularly cubist) art.  The color palette he used is typical of this time in his life.  Another pic of the bridge in the present shows how little has changed.

 

           Although I try to stay on blue highways on these trips, time necessitated that I take 36 west to Hannibal for the largest number of concentrated new deal sites.  The Mark Twain museum next to his boyhood Hannibal home is a brick structure and has a wall to the north between the home and the previously surrounding homes for fire prevention.  On to the most interesting stop on the road to Lover's Leap south of town off of 79.  There is an abandoned park with rock work remaining and a dedication to the "People of Hannibal for clean and wholesome recreation.  It was wildly overgrown, but retained at least some charm.

 

           The old Hannibal Armory was constructed of rock quarried locally and also used to construct the walls of the adjacent baseball field that is presently used for minor league teams and the high school "Cavemen".  During WWII, the baseball field was used to house German prisoners of war and the townspeople would watch them from a viaduct just to the east.   A Mark Twain memorial lighthouse was constructed on Cardiff Hill and is still there, but was rebuilt after a tornado destroyed it in the 60's.  The design is exactly the same as the original WPA design. 

 

 



         Levering Hospital was originally constructed with at least 3 additions, the 2nd being a PWA construction.  Currently it is a long term facility.  Hannibal High School was constructed in 1933, possibly with some new deal funds, but that requires confirmation.

         I'm off for the rest of the trip in another blog.





Testing, again.

Let's try another and add another image.

Baldwin Hall, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO

 Large classroom building at the northwest corner of the quad.

Kirk Memorial Hall, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO

 Extensive renovation of the Kirk Memorial Hall which is reminiscent of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

Orphelia Parrish Hall, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO

 Orphelia Parrish Hall was the original junior high school for the then State Teacher's College lab school.  Presently it houses the University art museum.

Greenwood School, Kirksville, MO

Greenwood is just east of Orphelia Parrish.  It was a grade school in Kirksville, but is not occupied presently, being used for storage.

National Guard Armory, Kirksville, MO

This is the National Guard Armory commented on previously.  The central entrance to the building is classic art deco.

This is a test for uploading pictures.  Below is the first attempt to do so, now on to formatting these best.  Now on to adding more images.

Wood Relief, La Plata Post Office, Emma Lou Davis

There are 2 new trips to reflect on.  The first to Kansas City documented the US Courthouse and Post Office at 8th and Grand.  It is a massive structure that is being repurposed as condominiums/apartments.  Unfortunately, I was unable to get into the lobby, but the outside has excellent Art Deco motifs with eagles and excellent light fixtures.  It would be quite a place to call home.  The second stop was the US Post Office on Pershing.  Unfortunately, I am uncertain as to whether this is strictly speaking New Deal or probably in the transition.  The cornerstone is for 1933.  Just to the east on Pershing, is the set of bas reliefs of the generals from WWI who attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the WWI Memorial on the hill to the south.  It is a spectacular site.  The bas reliefs are of Marshall Foch, Admiral Beatty, General Pershing, General Diaz, and General Jacques, commissioned as a WPA project and sculpted by Walker Hancock.  He, also was the sculpture for the massive horses/riders at the St. Louis, MO WWI memorial and was the professor of Art at Washington University in St. Louis for many years.  The last stop was not for documentation, but visited the City Market in the section of Kansas north of the main Downtown area, just south of the Missouri River.  City Market was a WPA project and now has a combination of restaurants, stands, and groceries that are particularly active on week-ends.  It also is the home for the Steamship Arabia which was dug up by a group of Kansas City treasure hunters.  Once they realized what they had found, they determined to keep the contents together and founded a museum.  It is the largest collection of pre-Civil War objects in the world and is truly amazing.

The next trip started in Columbia, picking up some sites just discovered including additions to Fred Douglass school, a historically black school, now an alternative high school that was currently being used in the summer.  The original building dated to 1916 with additions both to the north and south.  The second was a large addition to Ridgeway Elementary school from 1934.  The architects married the addition to the original quite well with a duplicate entrance to the school in a classic form.  It is currently a magnet school with the emphasis on individually designed curriculum to reflect the needs of individual students.  Both of my children attended Ridgeway.  I attempted unsuccessfully to determine the addition to Hickman High School, but have a lead on that to look at architectural drawings.
I then revisited Fulton, getting better pics of the airport and a plaque at the front of the George Washington Carver school, a historically black school.  There was a plaque, but no specified federal agency responsible for funding, rather surprising.  Next up was the Fulton State Hospital, originally the lunatic asylum, founded in the mid-1800's.   A total of 5 buildings were built as New Deal programs including a 2-story addition to a clinic, the power plant, the nutrition, dining, and auditorium building, a 5-story hospital, and 2 large buildings that are now associated with the department of corrections(not available for photography).  Together, it is a great complex and has interconnecting tunnels between the buildings.  Unfortunately, only the nutrition/dining/auditorium building and the power plant are in current use(also the 2 corrections facilities).  They are the "victims" of the changes in treatment of mental illness with the abandonment of in-patient treatment and the use of treatment in local clinics.  Refurbishment and repurposing of these buildings is unlikely with the use of asbestosis and the need for security in the area.  The 5-story building has classic, simple art deco motifs at the entrance.  What can be done with such buildings??

It was then on to Kirksville, the home of both Truman State University(the state teacher's college in the 30's) and the A. T. Still School of Osteopathy, the first school of osteopathic medicine in the country.  Baldwin is one of several Truman State buildings, a large classroom building on the northwest side of the quad, still in heavy use.  The quad itself was a WPA project with the landscape architect being Hare and Hare from Kansas City.  At the south end of the quad is the Kirk Memorial building, currently being renovated.  It has a form similar, though smaller in scale, to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.  The north building of the Orphelia Parrish school was a New Deal project and served as the junior high school for the college's lab school.  It is currently the art museum.  It is the 1st of 2 additions to the original building.  I searched for the old field house, but was unsuccessful in definitely finding it.  The Industrial Arts building is southwest of the main campus, added onto in the 70's, but the original building remains towards the rear.  It is completely unadorned and reflects the industrial arts and the later date of construction(1940).
The Kirksville Armory has the characteristic white stucco exterior and the art deco entrance on the east side. It remains the Armory for the local National Guard unit.  Close to the Truman State campus is the 2-story Greenwood school, previously an elementary school, similar in design and size to the Eugene Field school in Mexico.  It is in disrepair, unfortunately and seems to be used for storage by the University.  Stucturally, it seems to be sound.  Next is the Willard School, another elementary school that is slightly smaller than Greenwood, also 2-story, but less well-maintained with multiple broken windows.  It seems to be a private storage site, but there was no-one around.  For both of these schools, there were no plaques visible.  The old 1914 High School had an addition, but the whole school is not being used and the addition is not clear.  There is an AT Still Kirksville School of Osteopathy clinic building at the south end of the business district and just east of the hospital, now Kirksville Regional Hospital that is still used by the Osteopathic School, built in 1936, uncertain as to the program used for partial funding.  It is in excellent condition and has clearly been well-maintained.
On the way back to Columbia, I made a stop at La Plata for the Post Office and the painted wood relief sculpture by Emma Lou Davis.  It depicts Missouri livestock, with minimal relief, strong outlines, and painting of the animals.

This is the first posting for my New Deal travel journal, based in Columbia, MO.  I plan to travel throughout the state of Missouri documenting various sites constructed during the 30's as part of the New Deal.  My intent is to document as many of these sites in the state of Missouri as possible to highlight the positive affect this period had on us as a state/nation.  It is my contention that it essentially brought us from the horse and buggy era to the automobile/plane era for travel and enhanced our potential for education, in addition to the positive effects economically of employing such a large part of our population.  As a reader, if you know of any sites, please forward those on to me.  Your assistance will be greatly appreciated as there are few resources as to things constructed by the New Deal programs.

My last trip was to Fulton and Mexico, MO.  First up was the airport on the southwest part of town that was initially built as a WPA program*, though my documentation of this is a little shaky.  Its a small airport that seems to have little if any commercial traffic. 

Next up is George Washington Carver School, northwest side of Fulton and a historically segregated school.  It is currently not being used and is in poor condition with broken windows, though the over-al condition of the building seems to be good with no gross visible problems.  I attempted to take a pic of the plaque, but was unsuccessful and don't have good info on it, yet, but will return.  I had to take the pic through a broken window into the dark and automatically focused on a gate in the closer foreground. 

Looked for a national guard armory, but was unsuccessful, except for a more recent structure, then going downtown to the Callaway County Courthouse, a simple art deco design with excellent light posts/fixtures both externally and within the building.  The plaques are on the 2nd floor, interestingly and include the plaque for the previous courthouse.  The previous courthouse was the site of the trial of Celia, a slave who killed a sexually abusive "master" and who was tried for murder, getting a surprisingly spirited defense in this area which is termed Little Dixie.  See the book--"Celia, a Slave".
A march occurs in her memory yearly in Fulton.

The Fulton High School building was a New Deal program at least the original building on the southwest side at the corner of 10th and Grand, northeast Fulton.  I was fortunate in being able to get into the building with a black employee seeing me attempting to get in, asking what I was doing, and then taking me in and on a short tour.  He was just a little younger than me and had attended Carver school when it was segregated moving to an integrated school after 3rd grade.  Although I had thought that transition might be difficult, he disagreed and said it wasn't and that he felt that kids were all just kids.  He graduated from Fulton HS in 1974. 

Veterans Park is flanked at the entrances by stone pillars(set to be removed, but retained after the intervention and education of their significance by one of the members of the Callaway County Historical Society.  The park was the camp for the local CCC company who primarily did agricultural improvement such as terracing and dams for runoff.  The structures photographed were the pillars, a set of horseshoe pits*, an amphitheater built with stone seating, and the pond.  Most or all were built by the CCC.

Fulton State Hospital will be on the next trip.  Moving to Mexico, MO, the Audrain County courthouse was very interesting.  I had thought it was a New Deal site, but was completed in 1951.  Interestingly, it was a proposed site, but due to the inability to pass a bond issue (with 2 weeks notice) in 1938 for the 55% local share and with the opposition of the local newspaper, its constructed until after WWII.  The 45% federal allocation for the proposed building was not used.  The building was considerably more expensive when it was constructed, the $500,000 proposal ballooning to $850,000 by the estimate of the architects. 

Mexico High School* is a probable site and is quite ornate, particularly at the entrances.  It was closed and will need further documentation.  Eugene Field Elementary was a large 2 story New Deal site that had a plaque that was visible through the closed doors. 

Garfield school was a black school that has been repurposed for use as a credit union, across the street from the former AP Green factory that produced bricks and other ceramics.  Documentation of the building plaque was not obtained.

Those sites with adequate documentation were sent to the livingnewdeal website.  Check it out.

* documentation uncertain or questionable for some reason