Category Archives: Local History
Shotgun Shack
A “shotgun house” is a narrow rectangular domestic residence, usually no more than 12 feet (3.5 m) wide, with rooms arranged one behind the other and doors at each end of the house. It was the most popular style of house in the Southern United States from the end of the American Civil War (1861–65), through the 1920s. (Wikipedia)
This is me. Taken sometime in the early ’70s? Yes, that’s a cotton field. My mom picked cotton when she was young. She said it was back-breaking work. They called them “shotgun shacks” because you could shoot a shotgun through the front door and out the back door. If memory serves, I sent this photo to Barb while she was still in college, to show her what life with me would be like.
Old Cole County Jail
Cole County Sheriff Greg White took time from his busy schedule to give +George Kopp and me a tour of the old Cole County jail which was in use until two years ago, when the new jail was completed. The old jail was designed to house 52 prisoners but was housing as many as 98 by the time they moved to the new facility. Not good. A portion of the old jail is still used for holding prisoners when hearings are held in the attached Cole County Courthouse.
Magnificent Flying Machine
Rolla is a medium/small town in central Missouri. I drove through it countless times during my affiliate relations days with Learfield. Just north of town is the municipal airport where, for as long as I can recall, a half-dozen vintage airplanes were parked near the runway. I was always curious but never stopped.
Today — for the first time in years — I drove past the airport and noticed most of the old planes had been moved built there was still one I could see from the highway so I stopped and asked if I could get a look at these magnificent machines. An airport employee said most of them had fallen into such disrepair they’d moved them to a remote corner of the airport and I couldn’t see these because I’d have to cross the runway and that was a no-no.
But one plane was still (barely) standing. My but how I would have loved to crawl through one of these. Imagining where they’d been and who had flown in them.
The Missouri State Penitentiary
“The Missouri State Penitentiary, also known as “The Walls”, was a prison in Jefferson City, Missouri that operated from 1836-2004. Prior to closing, it was the oldest operating penal facility west of the Mississippi River. It served as the State of Missouri’s primary maximum security institution. The current Jefferson City Correctional Center was opened on September 15, 2004, replacing the Missouri State Penitentiary.” — Wikipedia
My first tour of the old prison was prior to 2004 so the inmates were still there. A very different place than the empty cells and halls we toured in 2008 (photos).
Mark Schreiber — our guide in ’08 — was once a corrections office and, at one time, Associate Superintendent at the penitentiary. He’s also and avid historian and the co-author of Somewhere In Time: 170 Years of Missouri Corrections (out of print I’m afraid).
I regret I didn’t record the full tour because it was fascinating. As you will see from the excerpts above.
Cell Block
I shot this little clip during a tour of the Missouri State Penitentiary a couple of years ago, and forgot about it. One of my favorite prison factoids: The prison was opened in 1836… the same month the Alamo fell.
Tour of the old Missouri State Penitentiary
I spent a chilly two hours this morning touring the old Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. The prison was decommissioned in 2004, replaced by a new facility east of the city. I took a similar tour several years ago when the prison was still being used. Not sure which was more interesting. I was lucky to get in on this one, since they don’t do tours. Thanks to Jeff City Mayor John Landwehr for making it happen.
The old facility is rich in history and our guides –Charlie Brzuchalski and Mark Schreiber– shared one fascinating fact and story after another. It was the oldest prison west of the Mississippi (opened the same year the Battle of the Alamo was fought?) and, at one time, was the largest prison in the world, with 5,200 inmates. Former inmates include James Earl Ray, Pretty Boy Floyd, Sonny Liston and Stagger Lee. Plans for the old prison and grounds include redevelopment and restoration.
I’ll be posting some photos here in coming days but you can check out the flickr set and slideshow now. Titles and captions to come.
UPDATE: Mark Schreiber is the author of “Somewhere in time : 170 year history of Missouri Corrections.”
Demolition of state lab in Jefferson City
Demolition of the State Lab in Jefferson City. I should point out I was there during the noon hour a couple of Saturday’s ago. The guy resting his eyes had probably worked all morning and was catching a few winks before going back to work.
Flood images: YouTube and Flickr
People in the midwest (Iowa and Missouri) affected by the flooding wasted no time in posting video to YouTube. Here’s some footage from Washington, Missouri.
Missouri Valley, Iowa got 5-7″ of rain in a very short period of time, which resulted in three levee breaks. This clip is part of a series … this guy (I don’t know why I think it’s a guy) decided to go with a rock video treatment … and here’s one from Wyeth Hill in St. Joseph MO. (Across the river, Elwood Kansas was in the process evacuating.)
A Flickr search for “missouri flood” pulled up 490 images. I’m sure I missed some good ones. Go ahead and post them in Comments.
RadioWarren.com
Now we’re talking. Long-time radio guy Warren Krech has started posting some interviews at RadioWarren.com. I immediately spotted several that I’ll want to listen to. I assume these are interviews he did on local talker KLIK and the station has blessed this re-purposing of the interviews. Good move Mr. Manager. I don’t listen to radio at work so I’ve never heard these. Now I will. And it might prompt me to listen to KLIK to hear more. See what’s happening here?
I looked for, but didn’t see, the feed link. Warren is almost podcasting and will, I’m sure, get that final piece in place. I want to be able to subscribe so I won’t miss any interviews. Or whatever interesting, informative audio (or video?) he comes up with.
And by posting these to an RSS enabled blog, he can open up the comments so we listeners can get in on the conversation. If you lose your way, I’ve added Warren to the blog roll and slotted RadioWarren.com under Links.