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.