INSIDE Bicentennial keepsake edition 1B-32B SPORTS Tigers burn Dragons on gridiron 36A

Jefferson County

‘Once a week but never weakly’

Vol. 25, No. 6 Thursday, September 27, 2018 www.myleaderpaper.com 636-931-7560

Celebrate history
Help wanted:
County seeks
election judges Jefferson County Bicentennial Exposition
By Steve Taylor
to be held Oct. 6 in Hillsboro
For the Leader worked throughout the year to plan a
By Peggy Scott
variety of community events celebrat- Ted Howell photo
For the Leader
If you’ve ever wanted to get in- ing two centuries of Jefferson County School officials want to upgrade security
volved in politics, but the idea of run- history. at De Soto High School’s main entrance,
It’s been 200 years in the making,
ning for elected of- above, as well as at other schools.

Moving
so the Jefferson County Bicentennial The Bicentennial Expo is expected
fice doesn’t appeal to be the biggest.
Exposition promises to deliver tons
to you, Jefferson About 40 vendors and
of history, family-friendly
County Clerk Ran- exhibits will be on dis-
activities and commu-
dy Holman has just play, along with speak-
nity gusto.
the job for you.

Moolah
The expo will ers, activities and
Holman, the more.
be held from 9
county’s election Mandy Alley
a.m. to 5 p.m.
authority, is look- with the Bicen-
Saturday, Oct.
ing to recruit more tennial Com-
6, at the Hills-
election judges. mittee has been
boro Commu-
Election judg- Randy Holman helping organize
nity Civic Center
es are the workers
at each of the county’s 53 polling places
who check in voters, set up and tear down
and Fairgrounds.
Admission and
the event.
“The expo De Soto district
seeks tax shift
parking are free. is something that
the equipment, answer questions and reaches out to ev-
“We definitely
make sure voters are inserting ballots eryone in the commu-
into machines that count them correctly.
“We need eight to 12 people per
hope it will be one
of the largest commu- nity,” Alley said. “We have
something that will appeal to
for better security
nity gatherings,” said Bernard
polling place, so that means we need everybody. There is something for kids,
Laiben, chairman of the Jefferson
close to 500 people for the November something for older people. We think it By Kevin Carbery
County Bicentennial Committee. “It’s
election, which we expect will be busy,” For the Leader
our year to celebrate.”
Holman said.
A group of about 50 volunteers has See EXPO, Page 34A
“Right now, we have 350 or so who De Soto school officials are placing
Bicentennial edition today, Pages 1B-32B a tax measure on the April 2 ballot that
See ELECTION JUDGES, Page 35A
would provide more funds to improve

2 men killed safety and security throughout the dis-

trict.

in plane crash
The measure, called Proposition Safe
Schools, would allow the school district
to shift 15 cents from the debt service

near Festus levy to the general operating levy, which

By Kevin Carbery
For the Leader
A man and his son died in a plane
crash that happened sometime after 10
p.m. Sept. 20 south of Festus.
On Monday, Jefferson County Sher-
Hot diggity
Ted Howell photo iff Dave Marshak identified the victims
– Michael G. Metzger, 56, Hillsboro,
From left, Avery Scherrer, 1, Hailey Scherrer, 6, Courtney Scherrer, 4, give hot dogs
varying reviews during the De Soto Fall Festival on Saturday. See more on pages 6-7A. See CRASH, Page 34A
would free up funds to be used on the
safety improvements.
The proposition requires a simple
majority for passage.
If approved, the measure would not
require a tax increase. However, a debt
service levy is temporary and expires
when the debt is paid off. By shifting the
15 cents to the operating levy, on the other
hand, the tax would become permanent.
School officials said the tax shift
See DE SOTO, Page 35A

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34A Jefferson County Leader
Crash: Pilot tried to circle for a second attempt at landing at Festus airport
Continued from Page 1A
who was the pilot, and his son, Jacob A.
Metzger, 20, of Iowa.
The victims were identified by dental
records, Marshak said.
The crash occurred while the father
was attempting to land at the Festus Air-
port, authorities reported.
Mike Bippen, vice president of Citi-
zens for Airport Economic Expansion,
which operates the airport, said the two
men were the only ones in the plane.
“They had just purchased the plane
in New York and flew it here,” Bippen
said. “I believe (the father) was going to
restore the plane.”
He said no one was at the airport
other than Michael Metzger’s friend, who
was there to pick up the two men after
they landed.
Authorities identified the friend as
Michael Metzger’s fiancee, and she was
communicating with him as he was try-
ing to land.
“From what I understand, he (the
pilot) did a ‘touch and go,’” Bippen
said. “He didn’t like the landing, flew
off to circle around and try again. (The
crash) was south of the airport near Plat-
tin Creek.”
Marshak said the woman waiting at
the airport told authorities she received
text messages from her fiance while he
was trying to land.
“From what we know, the female
was texting back and forth with her fi-
Expo: More about the Bicentennial Expo and county history on Pages 1B-32B
Continued from Page 1A
will be a great day.”
In addition to the free activities, a
number of food vendors will be on hand
during the day.
The Rotary Club will serve a pancake
breakfast. Local Boy Scouts will offer
fried chicken and barbecue meals. Food
vendors also will offer a variety of con-
cessions, from kettle corn to ice cream.
Laiben said the event should be both
fun and educational.
“What we’ve tried to do with the
expo is to cover all sorts of things that
have happened in the last 200 years,”
he said.
For example, re-enactors from the
earliest days of the county through World
War II are scheduled to be on hand.
“We have several different groups,”
he said. “They will set up camps and
show the lifestyle of each war or historic
period.”
Throughout the day, troops will fire
a military cannon and will do musket
demonstrations. Re-enactors also will
have wooden guns and will show children
how to march and conduct military drills,
Laiben said.
“The ladies,” Alley added, “will
show how people used to live, cook,
wash clothes and what their roles were
back then.”
A large steam tractor from the
News
Emergency personnel were at the Festus Airport on Sept. 21 following a fatal plane
crash nearby.
ance,” Marshak said. “She reported her
fiance was returning from New York with
a plane he had purchased. He wanted
her to provide some lights at the end of
the runway. He asked her to bring some
lights. She brought flashlights.
“He attempted to land and touched
down and took off again. Then, she didn’t
have any more contact with him. She
believed he went to another airport. She
Frank Ray Sr.
Warrenton Tractor Museum will fire up
during the expo.
“This is the kind of tractor that in the
late 1800s definitely would have been
used a lot around the county,” he said.
The steam tractor operators will
demonstrate a variety of implements. In
addition, a collection of other antique
farm tractors and implements will be on
display.
A selection of artisan vendors, in-
cluding those who practice historical
crafts, will participate. “We have a lady
from De Soto with a corn thresher. We
have a beekeeper who will demonstrate
getting honey out of the comb.”
A musical jam session will be held
Kevin Carbery photo
didn’t know there had been a crash. She
called the Crystal City Police a short time
later, and the call was later transferred to
us. We immediately attempted to locate
him through his cell phone by pinging
towers. The last location was a quarter-
mile from a cell tower near CC Highway.”
Marshak said authorities imme-
diately began a search that included a
helicopter, but wet weather conditions
Mel Besher
from 1-3 p.m., led by local music greats
Frank Ray Sr. and Mel Besher.
“Mel Besher was recently inducted
into the Grand Old Opry,” Alley said.
“He is so talented, playing at bluegrass
festivals and winning so many awards.
He’s a hidden gem. Mel is a great musi-
cian also. It will be a real treat.”
Local musicians are invited to come
by and play along. “People will be able to
enjoy some really good music,” she said.
Throughout the day, speakers will
present stories about the county’s history,
including Stephen Huss’ overview of the
entire 200 years of history; Mindy Hud-
son’s presentation on murder and may-
hem; Judge Tony Manansala’s recap of
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018
“They had just
purchased the plane
in New York and flew
it here. I believe (the
father) was going to
restore the plane.”
Mike Bippen
Citizens for Airport Economic
Expansion vice president
forced the helicopter to land.
“As soon as it cleared up (on Sept.
21) helicopters went back up,” he said. “I
believe it was a Mercy Jefferson (hospital)
helicopter that found it (the crashed plane).”
Bippen said representatives of Na-
tional Transportation Safety Board ar-
rived later in the day on Sept. 21 to begin
an investigation into the crash.
“It usually takes (the NTSB) six to
eight weeks to turn in a preliminary report
to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administra-
tion),” he said. “The NTSB usually takes
about six months to complete its (final)
report for the FAA.”
Bippen said the airport has runway
lights that are controlled by pilots through
their instruments. If the plane was having
mechanical problems, Bippen said, the
pilot may not have been able to turn on
the runway lights.
Stephen Huss
the county’s judicial system; Kevin Cul-
ton’s program on Sam Hildebrand; and
“The Sullivan Ballou Letter” presented
by re-enactors from Fletcher Camp 47.
See a list of speakers and the times
they will speak in today’s Bicentennial
special section.
Laiben and Alley said additional
information about the Bicentennial Expo
can be found online at Facebook pages
for the Bicentennial and the Hillsboro
Chamber of Commerce. Also, find links
to the information on the Leader website
at myleaderpaper.com.
“Everyone can come out and cel-
ebrate the 200th birthday of Jefferson
County,” Alley said.
Celebrating
HISTORY
Ted Howell photo
Sisters Maggie and
Mollie Raye, both 7, of
Hillsboro hand out
American flags during the
Bicentennial Parade in July.

rowth, progress
TWO CENTURIES Jefferson County g

Moses Austin,
John O’Heim, Page 20B Page 29B
21B
8B Fourth of July celebrations, Page
Mahn Plumbing, De Soto, Page

Bicentennial Exposition Oct. 6 Keepsake edition

8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Jefferson County Fairgrounds
Hillsboro | Free admission and parking
Sept. 27, 2018
Page 5B
 Jefferson County Bicentennial

Jefferson County
2B Jefferson County Leader Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018

Geography played major role in county’s history

By Steve Taylor
For the Leader
Jefferson County’s 200-year history
can be bracketed by two major events
involving the formation of a new govern-
ment.
The most recent was in 2008, when
voters approved a home rule charter
government, and the history of that is still
being written.
The first and most important, of
course, was the creation of the county in
1818. The seeds of that, however, were
planted 15 years earlier, said Stephen
Huss, a historian who has given several
presentations during the yearlong Bicen-
tennial observance.
“The first major cultural time period
important in Jefferson County’s history
came in 1803, with the Louisiana Pur-
chase,” Huss said of the transfer of a large
portion of the continent from France to the
fledgling United States. “With that, people
started to come to this area to live, rather
than just trappers and traders and other
temporary residents.”
Jefferson County was created three
Steamboats, like the U.S. Mail boat Crystal City, traveled the Mississippi River on
Jefferson County’s eastern border.
“Geography also played a major role
in why Hillsboro was eventually chosen
the county seat (in 1831). Hillsboro is
halfway between Potosi and St. Louis, and
at the time, it had a large spring near where
the Fletcher House is now. Herculaneum
always was considered to be a temporary
“At the time the county was founded,
there was probably not more than 3,000
people in the county,” he said. “There re-
ally wasn’t much going on.”
And the little that was going on, Huss
said, was agriculture.
In 1803, the Huskey farm near Hills-
boro, one of the first family farms in Mis-
souri, started and it’s still around.
Huss said the county never was des-
tined to be a major player in farming.
“One of our difficulties is our geogra-
phy,” Huss said. “Only about 16 percent
of the county is arable land, so we were
never going to have large-scale farming,
mainly dairy and fruits and vegetables. But
it’s our advantage because we have such
beautiful views.”
As recently as 1970, Huss said, ag-
riculture represented 24 percent of the
county’s economy. Last year, it was less
than 1 percent, he said.
After the Civil War, industry started
to emerge.
In New Detroit, along the Missis-
sippi River, the American Plate Glass Co.
started in 1868. The company eventually
became PPG Industries, which in 1991
closed the plant in what has for years been
called Crystal City.
Because Crystal City started as a
company town, less controlled develop-
See JEFFERSON COUNTY, Page 3B

D
We’ve been
county seat.”

E
years before Missouri joined the Union

L
Huss said Herculaneum was chosen

G
in 1821, and Huss said geography played

N
because it was more developed.

A
a big role in the reason why.

T
“There was a movement to form the “It was at the center of industry at the
county because of our location,” he said. time, with the shot tower,” he said.
The lead shot made at Herculaneum

“The major settlements in the area at
the time were St. Louis, Potosi and Ste.
Genevieve. Jefferson County sits between
those areas. Travel by water sometimes
went around the county’s edges, but by
land, you went through the county to get
to any of those cities.
UP
was used in the War of 1812.
“It was about the only population
center that was developed at all at that
time,” Huss said, noting that for 30 years
Herculaneum had the county’s only post
office.

Promoting and Supporting

Growth and Development
in Jefferson County history
for more than 100 years
Congratulations
Jefferson County
Festus Established 1887
(formerly Tanglefoot)

In Jefferson County
Since 1988
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018 Jefferson County Bicentennial Jefferson County Leader 3B

Jefferson County: Formed in 1818, county marks two centuries of history

Continued from Page 2B
ment started to its west. The settlement of
Tanglefoot, which dates to 1878, became
Festus in 1887.
In 1882, the St. Louis and Iron Moun-
tain Railroad opened a car works shop
in De Soto, known for its artesian wells
(hence the nickname “Fountain City.”)
That rail line merged with Union Pacific
in 1917.
The railroad also was important in the
development of Pevely, which was settled
in 1799 by Joseph Harrington. By the mid-
1800s, a town was laid out along the St.
Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad and a
post office and was established there. With
an influx of German immigrants into the
county before the Civil War, dairy herds
were brought in and Pevely became known
by local farmers as a prime shipping point
for milk and butter to St. Louis. One fam-
ily, the Karchoffs, named their large dairy
in St. Louis the Pevely Dairy. Pevely was
incorporated in 1910.
Huss said World War II set off a series
of events that led to changes in Jefferson
County.
County residents played their part in
the war effort in various ways. Many, of
course, joined the armed forces. Those at
home bought so many war bonds that two
U.S. bombers were named ‘The Spirit of
Jefferson County’ and ‘The Pride of Jef-
ferson County.’ Jefferson County children
collected nearly 6,000 bushels of milk-
weed pods, needed for life preservers.
In 1946, Schrader and Jesse Pigg enjoy an afternoon at Rockford Beach in House
Springs.
“The modern era of Jefferson County
started after World War II,” Huss said.
“The G.I. Bill allowed people to start small
businesses and build homes.”
With a booming economy came new
ways to get around.
“Jefferson County’s population his-
torically has followed its major roads,”
Huss said.
For years, Hwy. 61, originally an
Indian trail, was the only highway that
passed through the county. Hwy. 21, called
“Coach Road” for the stagecoaches that
went from Hillsboro to St. Louis and back,
was expanded southward after the war.
I-55 was built in the late 1960s and early
1970s, and Hwy. 30 was improved in the
1970s as well.
Those thoroughfares led to an influx
of new residents – some from Arkansas
and southeast Missouri seeking work in
St. Louis, others moving from St. Louis
and St. Louis County.
“Until 1972, Jefferson County south
of Hwy. M was a rural county,” Huss
said. “It was really the creation of Arnold
from (the towns of Maxville, Flamm City,
Wickes, Tenbrook, Beck and Arnold) that
led people in the area to recognize that
Jefferson County was an emerging suburb
of St. Louis. It was an acknowledgement
of what was already happening.”
The changing population set off an-
other movement.
“This led to a growth in social ser-
vices because the people who moved here
wanted the same kind of services that they
had in St. Louis,” Huss said.
Schools were consolidated, libraries
started and the Jefferson County Health
Department, Comtrea, Jefferson Memorial
Hospital (now Mercy Hospital Jefferson)
and Jefferson College were founded.
A primary reason that Jefferson Coun-
ty developed early is one of the reasons it’s
still growing, Huss said.
“Land was extremely cheap, and the
cost of living in Jefferson County is still
one of the reasons that draws people here,”
he said. “It’s interesting to me that even
though we’ve seen so many changes, that
some things still remain the same.”
And as Jefferson County approaches
its Bicentennial, the population continues
to grow. According to the U.S. Census Bu-
reau, the county had an estimated 223,810
people as of July 2017.
Stephen Huss, who for 43 years was
chief executive officer of Comtrea, is vice
president of the Jefferson County Heritage
and Historical Society. He also taught his-
tory at Jefferson College and social studies
at Hillsboro High School. He will give
presentations at the Bicentennial Expo on
Oct. 6 at the Hillsboro Community Civic
Club and Dec. 8 at the Sheriff’s Office Bi-
centennial Banquet at the Lexington Inn in
Festus. Huss’ book, “Thomas C. Fletcher:
Rediscovering the ‘Lost’ Missouri Civil
War and Reconstruction Governor,” will
be released this fall.

B. F.
Mahn & Sons
112 W. Clement Street
De Soto, MO 63020
636-586-2300 150 Years
The company has been family owned and operated since 1868

Photo taken July 21, 2018

The company still operates out of the same two-story brick building where their great-
great-grandfather was recorded as a blacksmith in 1868.
Proud to not only carry on their family’s name, but provide excellent service to
Jefferson County. The family business began as a horse and carriage blacksmith shop.
The first B.F. Mahn sign was hung in the 1920s. Dutch started a tinsmithing shop on
the upper floor. The family continually restructured the business plan to advance with
the changing times. As an innovative entrepreneur, Dutch Mahn led the area in a new
direction with the advancement of indoor plumbing and heating technologies.
The next generation has been launched at B. F. Mahn & Sons, Inc. as both Biff’s sons
have joined the staff. Jonathan “J.P.” Mahn has utilized his college education to lead
the HVAC division and most recently, Gabriel “Gabe” Mahn has put on the uniform in
the image of the exceptional men before him in the plumbing division. With this newly
added generation comes determination and natural ability to continue into the future…
4B Jefferson County Leader
Train wrecks a part of Jefferson County’s history
By Laura Marlow
For the Leader
The trains running through Jef-
ferson County now are largely cargo
haulers, but for much of the county’s
history, passengers rode the rails in
great numbers.
Unfortunately, where there are trains,
there are derailments, wrecks and other
mishaps, and the county has had its share.
■ A train wreck in Sulphur Springs
on Aug. 5, 1922, splashed a horrific and
gripping tale across the pages of Jefferson
County history. Thirty-four people died
in the crash and another 186 were injured
when Express No. 4 slammed into the
back of Missouri Pacific’s Local Train
No. 32, according to “Remembering
Missouri’s Worst Train Disaster,” a slide
presentation by John Abney.
An 18-year-old woman, Esther
McDonald, was laid out with the dead,
until someone noticed she was breathing
after all.
McDonald, along with one of her
neighbors and a cousin, had transferred
from the Mississippi River and Bonne
Terre railroads and boarded the Local
Train at Riverside Station. They were
heading to St. Louis and planned to go
to the Highlands, an amusement park in
Forest Park in St. Louis.
The Local was behind schedule when
it stopped to take on water from the tower
in Sulphur Springs just after 7 p.m., ac-
cording to a New York Times article.
Some of the passengers got off the
train to walk along the tracks. The sun
was beginning to set, and the passengers
were enjoying the colorful sky and its
reflection in the ripples of the Mississippi
River below, the Times reported.
Express No. 4 out of Fort Worth,
Texas, was on time that evening and,
unknown to anyone, was about 4 miles
behind the Local, bearing down on the
train at about 45 mph.
It is believed that Matthew Glenn,
engineer of the Express, was reading
orders and missed the red signal that
indicated the track ahead was blocked.
At 7:17 p.m., Express No. 4 rounded a
curve in the track and smashed into the
other train.
The last four coaches, which were
sitting on the trestle over Glaize Creek,
were knocked off the track and fell 40 feet
down the embankment. The locomotive
pushed its way through half the train and
came to rest on the trestle, according to
the Times.
Esther McDonald was unconscious
when pulled from the wreckage and
would remain so for two weeks. She had
a crushed pelvis and broken collar bone;
the bridge of her nose was crushed; her
eye was dislocated from its socket and
lay on her cheek.
Those injuries healed, but blue spots
Jefferson County Bicentennial
Off the rails
This old photo shows the wreckage left behind after the Aug. 5, 1922, train wreck in
Sulphur Springs. In the crash, 34 people died and another 186 were injured.
A memorial to the train wreck stands at the entrance to Sulphur Springs Landing.
on her body, places where cinders along
the track were ground into her skin,
remained for years as reminders of the
accident.
■ Heavy rains in 1938 caused a flood
on Joachim Creek that derailed a train,
killed the engineer and left dozens of pas-
sengers stranded in coach cars dangling
above the powerful waters near Bailey
Station in Festus, according to a June 16,
1938, article in the Jefferson Republican.
The disaster happened in the wee
hours of the morning on June 11, after
a deluge the night before dumped 7.84
inches of rain into Joachim Creek. Flood
water covered the tracks for almost a mile
and the water was so high that it washed
away a portion of the trestle that spanned
Joachim Creek.
The fast Missouri Pacific No. 7 mail
train was bound for Little Rock, Ark.,
and was proceeding slowly through what
looked like shallow floodwater when the
engine gave a lurch and toppled over into
the raging waters, the article said.
Three baggage cars and express
cars also tumbled into the water, and the
express men and mail clerks scrambled
to safety, but the 65 passengers in the
coaches were marooned and had to wait
to be rescued until a platform and a make-
shift bridge could be built.
■ Freight cars from two Burlington
Northern Santa Fe trains derailed in
August 2005 on the tracks just east of
I-55 in Imperial, about 2 miles south of
Richardson Road.
A southbound train was stopped on
the tracks near Black Creek Road east of
Miller Road, which is off Hwy. 61-67,
when a passing northbound train derailed.
Sixteen freight cars from the northbound
train derailed, and those cars knocked
eight freight cars on the other train off the
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018
Kevin Carbery photo
Emergency crews on the scene of a
January 2013 derailment at Imperial Main
Street, which caused a brief evacuation
of nearby residents. No injuries were
reported.
tracks, BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg
said.
“We’re not sure what caused the
moving train to derail,” he said.
The derailment caused lane clo-
sures and traffic slowdowns on both
I-55 and Hwy. 61-67 between Arnold
and Imperial. No one was injured in
the accident.
Four years later, in August 2009,
seven cars of a southbound Burlington
Northern Santa Fe freight train derailed
in almost the same spot.
■ An Amtrak passenger train headed
south derailed at about 11:30 p.m. Sept.
28, 2005, after it hit a boulder on the
tracks near Wilson Hollow and Vineland
roads in rural De Soto.
At the time, Capt. Ralph Brown of
the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said
the boulder was likely dislodged from the
nearby bluff by recent rains.
“The train was going 40 to 45 mph
and was unable to stop,” he said. “When
he (the conductor) plowed into that boul-
der, it broke the track and caused the rails
to separate. The engine became detached
and spun around before it came to rest off
the tracks.”
Twenty-four people were taken by
ambulance to Jefferson Memorial Hos-
pital (now Mercy Hospital Jefferson) in
Crystal City, but most of those people had
minor injuries, a hospital spokesman said.
■ Authorities ordered the evacua-
tion of a number of homes near Imperial
Main Street after a January 2013 train
derailment.
Ron Harder, a spokesman for the
Rock Community Fire Protection Dis-
trict, said the Burlington Northern Santa
Fe train was on its “Memphis line” run
when the derailment happened.
“There were 12 cars involved,” he
said. “Two of the cars had residue of
hazardous materials, though not actual
hazardous materials.”
The evacuation, as well as the brief
closure of the eastern end of Main Street,
were precautionary, Harder said.
No injuries to train personnel or
emergency responders were reported.
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018
Jefferson County Bicentennial Exposition
9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6 | Jefferson County Fairgrounds
Free admission and parking
Schedule of events
■ 9 a.m. – Gates open.
■ 9 a.m. – Tractor display opens, in-
cluding steam engine.
■ 9 a.m. – Encampment displays open.
■ 9 a.m. – 4-H Animal Encounter.
■ 9 a.m. – Pony rides.
■ 9-11 a.m. – Pancake breakfast by
Hillsboro Rotary Club.
■ 9 a.m.-5 p.m. – Craft and business
vendors open.
■ 9:15 a.m. – Opening ceremony,
including national anthem by Julia Terry.
■ 9:30-11 a.m. – Better Class of Losers
Samuel Crawford plays major role in making De Soto a railroad town
By Tracey Bruce
For the Leader
Samuel “S.W.” Crawford came of age
when the power of steam was beginning
to move cargo and people all across the
country, and he came to De Soto to help
make that happen.
The 19th century was an era of adven-
ture and change. The Louisiana Purchase,
completed in 1803, opened up millions of
acres of land and new frontiers west of the
Mississippi. There also was new technol-
ogy – steam – used to power steamboats
traveling the Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and
Mississippi rivers and steam locomotives
waiting for track to be laid to take them
from coast to coast.
Crawford, born May 13, 1832, was a
man of the age. A “railroad contractor and
capitalist,” as the book History of Frank-
lin, Jefferson, Washington and Gasconade
Counties called him, Crawford was a mer-
chant with a vision for the next big thing,
and that thing was trains.
He opened a lumber mill in De Soto
and began providing railroad ties for the
St. Louis Iron Mountain and Southern
Railroad, and as his work helped expand
the railroad, the city of De Soto began to
grow, along with Crawford’s wealth and
prominence.
“(Crawford) is one of the most
substantial businessmen and influential
citizens of Jefferson County and he’s been
very successful financially,” according to
the history book. “He owns 1,000 acres
of land, several business blocks and the
opera house in De Soto as well as a large
residence.”
As a young man, Crawford saw the
country opening up and began to look for
opportunities. At 18, he was employed on
a packet ship traveling the Ohio and Mis-
sissippi rivers, the history said.
In 1855, Crawford came to St. Louis
where he served as a contractor for the Iron
Mountain Railroad.
Jefferson County Bicentennial Jefferson County Leader 5B
band performs.
■ 11 a.m. – Hillsboro Rockin’ Hawks
■ 1-3 p.m. – Jam Session by Frank Ray
Sr. and Mel Besher. Musicians welcome.
Letter, presented by Fletcher Camp 47.
■ 11 a.m. – Murder and Mayhem in
performance. ■ 3-4 p.m. – Line dancing with Earline Jefferson County, presented by Mindy
■ 11:20 a.m. – Hillsboro Intermediate Abney. Hudson.
Treble Singers performance. ■ 4-5 p.m. – Jefferson College Concert ■ 12:30 p.m. – The Jefferson County
■ 11:30 a.m.-5p.m. – Fried chicken Band. judicial system, presented by Judge Tony
dinner by Jamm-in. ■ 5 p.m. – Closing ceremony. Manansala.
■ 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. – Barbecue by Boy ■ 1 p.m. – History of Jefferson County,
Scout troops. Speaker Schedule presented by Stephen Huss.
■ 11:40 a.m. – Hillsboro High School Hillsboro Community Civic ■ 2 p.m. – The Sullivan Ballou Letter,
Swing Choir. Center building presented by Fletcher Camp 47.
■ Noon – Cannon demonstration by ■ 2:30 p.m. – Sam Hildebrand, pre-
re-enactors. ■ 9:30 a.m. – History of Jefferson sented by Kevin Culton.
■ 12:30 p.m. – Williams Beard Com- County, presented by Stephen Huss. ■ 3 p.m. – Murder and Mayhem in Jef-
pany Beard and Mustache Contest. ■ 10:30 a.m. – The Sullivan Ballou ferson County, presented by Mindy Hudson.
Steaming ahead
In 1869, Craw- In 1871, Crawford came to De Soto In 1889, Crawford helped R.M.
ford came to Jeffer- and again began contracting with the St. Denholm establish The Weekly Facts,
son County, where Louis Iron Mountain Railroad, “furnishing a newspaper that became the Jefferson
he purchased a farm cross-ties and wood for its entire line and County Republican and later the Jefferson
and grew “small branches,” according to the history book. Republic, and he may have helped estab-
fruits” in a place The machine shops were established lish the De Soto Press, too.
Crawford later laid in De Soto the following year, in 1872, Crawford died on Oct. 9, 1916, from
out as Silica City. according to the MoPac Historical Society. kidney failure. He was 84 years old.
The town was lo- Crawford worked and lived in De
Family History Fair
cated at the junc- Soto for the rest of his life, establishing a
tion of the Missouri Samuel Crawford lumber mill on the east side of De Soto and
Pacific and Crystal at one point contracting with the St. Louis
City railroads, in what today is the Festus Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad to
area, west of West City Park. Silica City provide 5 million railroad ties, according
Saturday, October 20, 2018
was named for its “plentiful” deposits of to the Jefferson County history. 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
“glass sand” that Crawford mined there. In 1881, he and his wife, Marietta, Exhibition Tables, Silent Auction,
The town eventually featured a general purchased the Alta Vista mansion from
Free Classes
store, hotel, post office and railroad station, Louis Rankin, who with his brother-in-law,
according to a website called “A Directory Thomas Fletcher, laid out the city of De presented by:
of Towns, Villages and Hamlets Past and Soto in 1857. Fletcher became governor Jefferson County
Present of Jefferson County.” of Missouri in 1865.
Genealogical Society
and Jefferson County
Proud to be part of Library
Jefferson County & Surrounding Areas since 1980 Featured
Speaker:
38 Years of Service Pat Stamm,
CG, CGL
Remembering
• Bringing Salt Lake
Excellence to Your Door
Prevails • Using Technology
in Genealogy
• Developing a
Genealogical Plan
for Research
This is a FREE event! Attendance
prizes and drawings!
Grand Prize: Flip Pal with Case
or Ancestry DNA Kit
Pre-order a boxed lunch for $12.00
through the JCGS website
www.jcgsmo.org
NORTHWEST BRANCH
5680 State Road PP | High Ridge,
1661 Veterans Drive • De Soto MO 63049 | 636-677-8186
636•337•2150 www.jeffcolib.org
@JeffCoLibMO
6B Jefferson County Leader Jefferson County Bicentennial Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018

Taking care of business

County’s oldest companies maintain proud legacies
By Gordon Bess
For the Leader
Calvin Coolidge said it best.
“The chief business of the Ameri-
can people is business,” said the 30th
president of the U.S. “They are pro-
foundly concerned with producing,
buying, selling, investing and prosper-
ing in the world.”
That includes the hard-working
people of Jefferson County, some of
whom have built businesses that have
stood the test of time. These “legacy
enterprises” have anchored our local
commerce for generations and survived
depressions, recessions, natural disas-
ters and world wars.
What’s their secret?
“There’s just a need for their ser-
vices,” said Dan Govero, president and
owner of Govero Land Services Inc.,
a professional surveying company in
Imperial. He should know.
His company, celebrating its 30th
anniversary this year, is booming with
the hot real estate market; as long
as people buy and sell real property,
they’ll need surveying work done.
Govero, president of the Jefferson
County Growth Association, said the
county affords some basic advantages
to people starting and maintaining busi-
nesses here.
“The cost of land is less (here);
Vinyard Funeral Home in Festus dates
to 1907.
for a lot of areas.”
Business in the county is humming
right in tune with the robust national
economy, too.
“The climate for business (here)
is very good; building has picked up,”
Govero said. “There’s some expan-
sion going on, on some businesses.
They’re looking forward to keep mov-
ing ahead.”
When the association was created
in 1988 as the Jefferson County Growth
& Development Association, “no-
retention in the county.
“We’re doing a lot of things that
nobody (else) is doing, like the candi-
date forums coming up for the elected
officials, and the State of the County
(address),” Govero said. “The Bottle-
neck Bridge (bicycle) Ride was a very
good success here (in August). We’re
trying to bring more people in and I
think we’re finding out tourism is a
big thing.”
Keeping his own business going
demands so much of his time, he added,
that he personally hasn’t been able to
do much with his 30th anniversary or
the county Bicentennial.
“I think it’s great that we’re (mark-
ing) the Bicentennial and we’re moving
ahead,” he said. “We’re doing every-
thing we can (at the association). I want
to be more involved (on the Bicenten-
nial), but I just don’t think we have the
people to do that right now.”
Here are profiles of some of the
county’s oldest businesses – companies
that largely have retained family owner-
ship and management across the gen-
erations. Their success is woven into
the 200-year fabric of Jefferson County.
Vinyard Funeral Home
in Festus
Family-owned Vinyard Funeral
Home in Festus dates back to 1907, with
fourth-generation funeral director Keith
H. “Herby” Vinyard of rural Festus now
at the helm.
At the time of its centennial in 2007,
Vinyard Funeral Home had performed
more than 9,500 funerals and has added
significantly to that total in the last 11
years. The company started small, aver-
aging less than one funeral a week, but
by 2007 was averaging five times that
number, serving families over two, three
and even four generations.
Records show the business started
Feb. 1, 1907, when Thomas Byrd took the
opportunity to buy a Festus Main Street
business called Festus Furniture and Un-
dertaking Co. from Lenton Armbruster.
The business was at 116 Main St.
Byrd had been a schoolteacher and
had owned two little markets before his
venture into the furniture and undertak-
ing business. The company performed 63
See BUSINESS, Page 7B

taxes are less,” he said. “We’re (in)
close proximity to St. Louis, with three
major highways that make us pretty
accessible.
“I think it’s just a good location,
and once they’ve built here, expansion
has been pretty easy, if they’ve got the
ground. We’re a good central location
City of Herculaneum
body knew Jefferson County existed,”
Govero said. “So they got some money
together and did some advertising to let
people know that Jefferson County did
exist, that we’re not fighting Indians.”
The association shortened its name “Oldest Incorporated City
in Jefferson County - 1819”
in 2012 and revised its mission to more
broadly support business expansion and
“First County Seat
of Jefferson County 1819-1839”

Congratulations
Jefferson County on
200 Years of History

“Proud Jefferson County business since 1982”

A Jefferson County family owned and operated

business specializing in the Vending, Coffee,
Soft Drink, Gaming and Mass Transit industries.
Dieb is owned by the
Cross, Politte and Hunter families.
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018
George Radeackar, center, with his younger brother, Jerome “Rome,” right, and an
unknown boy outside the old Radeackar’s in Cedar Hill. The market celebrated its
100th anniversary in 2017.
Business: Celebrating milestones
Continued from Page 6B
funerals in its first year.
Fifteen years later, Byrd’s daughter
Joyce married a Horine farmer named
Herbert S. Vinyard, who joined his father-
in-law in the undertaking business and
eventually gave the company his name.
Byrd retired in 1926, leaving the business
to his daughter and son-in-law.
In 1928, experienced undertaker
Tony Duester joined the firm and the
company name was changed from Festus
Furniture and Undertaking Co. to Duester
and Vinyard.
A promotional yardstick asked cus-
tomers to call the business’s three-digit
telephone number, proof that at one time
Festus was so small there were fewer than
999 telephones.
The Duesters and Vinyards remained
partners until 1940. In November 1941,
the name was changed to Vinyard Fu-
neral Homes Inc. An important part of
the company’s history was as a provider
of ambulance services for 50 years, be-
fore the creation of the Joachim-Plattin
Ambulance District.
The Festus Furniture and Undertak-
ing Co. and its successors – Duester and
Vinyard and then Vinyard Funeral Home
– all were headquartered at 116 Main St.
for approximately the first 50 years of
the business.
In 1949, Vinyard’s moved its opera-
tion to 616 W. Main. A branch facility
had opened in Herculaneum in 1947.
Vinyard’s operated the Herculaneum
funeral home until Vinyard Hillcrest
Chapel opened in 1969 on Hwy. 61-67 in
Pevely, and in 2006, the business opened
Jefferson County Cremation Services
next door.
Herbert S. Vinyard died in February
1972, leaving his son, Keith B. Vinyard,
to carry on the family business. He and
his wife, Betty, moved to an apartment
near the Hillcrest Chapel in 1974, both
continuing to work in the business.
Jefferson County Bicentennial
After graduating from college in
1982, Keith H. Vinyard joined the family
business with his father. Keith B. Vinyard
died from ALS (amyotrophic lateral scle-
rosis) on April 11, 2001, and son Herby
has taken the business into its second
decade of the 21st century.
Radeackar’s Market
in Cedar Hill
Radeackar’s AG Market in Cedar
Hill, better known as just Radeackar’s
to local shoppers, celebrated its 100th
anniversary in 2017.
Not only has the store withstood the
test of time, but it has remained in the
Radeackar family all those years.
The grocery store originally was
established by George B. Radeackar, but
not in Cedar Hill. An entrepreneur and
one of Louis and Elizabeth Radeackar’s
nine children, George, moved from Cedar
Hill to St. Louis at age 34 and in 1917,
built a store in the 4300 block of Man-
chester Road in St. Louis. In 1936, with
the new Hwy. 30 nearing completion, he
moved back to Cedar Hill and opened a
store there.
George built a store on the north
side of the intersection of highways NN
and 30 where he sold groceries, feed and
hardware.
He also built a dry goods store called
the A&V Variety store that his sisters,
Agnes and Verona, ran. The store sold
“linens, overalls, shoes, material and
cards,” among other items.
George operated the grocery store
until 1946 when he retired and sold it to
his brother, Walter Radeackar Sr., who
owned it for just one year, then passed it
on to Walter “Sonny” Radeackar Jr., just
home from serving in the Army Air Corps
during World War II. He borrowed $2,000
with a GI Bill loan to use as a down pay-
See BUSINESS, Page 8B
Jefferson County Leader 7B
Hillsboro is the
County Seat
Hillsboro
is the county seat of Jefferson
County which is Missouri’s sixth largest
county by population (218,733) with
Hillsboro being the 7th largest city (2,821)
as reflected by the 2010 census. Jefferson
County was formed on December 8, 1818,
with Herculaneum designated as the first county seat. In 1832, the
consensus was to move the county seat to a more central location;
thus, Hillsboro became the county seat on February 8, 1839. Wishing
to honor our third president, Thomas Jefferson and his home atop a
hill in Virginia, Hillsboro was named Monticello; however, this was
short lived as Lewis County had already laid claim to the name. Thus,
the townspeople settled for the English equivalent, Hills, plus adding
the word borough, which in colonial days was widely used in place of
the word town or village. The name Hillsborough was used, however,
whether by accident or pronunciation the named was recorded Hillsboro,
and so it has stayed.
The residents of Hillsboro enjoy the comfort and serenity of a rural
setting located just a short scenic drive from the St. Louis area while
enjoying the amenities of city life with cultural activities at Jefferson
College and the Rickman Auditorium in Arnold; fine dining at the
Russell House or casual eats at the Courthouse Grill along with thirteen
other eateries including Mexican, Chinese, Pizza, a gourmet sandwich
shop; and a quaint cafe specializing in coffees, smoothies and teas plus
an array of fast food. The 63050 zip code includes the city of Hillsboro
and surrounding area as well as three residential lake developments
within a few miles of our city limits. Several new subdivisions as well
as historic homes provide ample housing for the growing community.
A business district and our historic Main Street provide a wide range
of services from government to private businesses. Potential industrial/
commercial development is available in two large undeveloped tracts of
land. The potential is wide open! Hillsboro is home to several service
organizations including the Greater Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce.
The city is governed by a city administrator form of government and is
a 4th class city. Aldermanic Meetings are held the 1st Monday of every
month at 6:30 p.m. Hillsboro is a progressive and proud community
which looks at its history for inspiration and wisdom in preserving its
rich historical heritage and optimistically towards future growth and
challenges. For further information about our beautiful and growing city,
call city hall at 636-797-3334.
Hillsboro Fire Protection District
2017 Staff
Serving over 42 square
miles since 1949
The Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce
is proud to be a part of
Jefferson County and the
Hillsboro Community since 1991!
HILLSBORO COMMUNITY
CIVIC CLUB
Congratulations
With more than 25 years serving as
“The Voice of Business and the Community,”
Jefferson County
the Greater Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce
is proud to promote opportunity and
on
prosperity in local commerce.
To become a Chamber Member please call 636-789-4920
200 Years!!!
8B Jefferson County Leader
Business: De Soto’s B.F. Mahn & Sons may be county’s oldest business
Continued from Page 7B
ment to buy the business.
Walter Jr. suffered a massive heart
attack in 1973 and his 21-year-old son,
Jerry Radeackar, took over the business.
Sonny recovered enough to still work
in the store, but Jerry continued to run his
father’s business.
In 1981, a new 13,000-square-foot
Radeackar’s Market was built at 6771
Mall Drive in Cedar Hill, where the store
still operates.
B.F. Mahn & Sons
in De Soto
This HVAC and plumbing contractor,
located near the corner of West Clement
and Main Street in downtown De Soto,
may be the oldest business in Jefferson
County. Mahn & Sons is celebrating its
150th anniversary this year.
Bernard F. “Biff” Mahn III and
his sister, Beth (Mahn) Ross, operate
the company out of the same building
where their great-great grandfather, John
Kempe, ran a blacksmithing business.
Kempe’s granddaughter, Mildred, mar-
ried Bernard F. “Dutch” Mahn, who ex-
panded the business into tinsmithing and,
in the 1920s, into plumbing and heating-
cooling systems as the automobile made
blacksmithing obsolete.
Phillip Mahn and Bernard F. “Ber-
nie” Mahn Jr. took the reins as third-gen-
eration owners in the 1950s, with Bernie
overseeing the expansion of HVAC work.
Biff got an early introduction to the
business as a 10-year-old, sometimes
holding a flashlight or getting into tight
crawl spaces and between floor joists
where the men couldn’t fit. He worked
summers in high school as a plumber’s
apprentice. Beth joined the company in
1993 when Bernie, her father, had to retire
for health reasons.
A fifth generation is helping the
company continue to prosper as Biff’s
sons, Jonathan “J.P.” Mahn and Gabriel
“Gabe” Mahn, take up the family legacy.
J.P. leads the HVAC division and his wife,
Courtney, helps run the office, while Gabe
wears the technician’s uniform as his
predecessors did.
“Our forefathers created a legacy
that we are responsible to pass to the
next generation, who will take it to a
Visit Our Historical Restaurant
“Preserving Our History…
Saving The Future”
Banquet Facilities Available
Greenhouse room up to 80 capacity
Tea Room up to 20 capacity
10333 Business 21, Hillsboro, MO 63050 • 636-797-8501
Jefferson County Bicentennial
Mahn & Sons is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a street party on Friday outside
the business at West Clement and Main Street in De Soto.
level we can only imagine,” Beth said.
Her company’s long-running success, she
added, is because “we treat everybody
like family – like we’re going to sit down
with them across the Thanksgiving dinner
table. We treat people with respect.”
Ross said the company plans to hold
a 150th-anniversary party Friday (Sept.
28) on the street outside their business,
with live music, food, games and more;
everyone is invited.
Koller-Craft
in unincorporated Fenton
Plastics manufacturer Koller-Craft
got its start in unincorporated Fenton
three-quarters of a century ago, when
plastic was a new technology.
Founded by Alois “Al” Koller Sr.
in 1941 at 1400 S. Old Hwy. 141, the
company now has four manufacturing
plants, including the site in Fenton, and
employs more than 400 people who make
a variety of products, from automotive
parts to drinking cups.
The son of Hungarian immigrants, Al
Sr. was born in 1910 and grew up in south
St. Louis. He came to the Fenton area in
1935 when he and his parents purchased
Spring Lake Park. The 55-acre property
featured a resort with a swimming pool,
riding stables, handball and tennis courts
and a tavern.
Al Sr. and his father, John Koller,
And
catering
Gordon Bess photo
ran the resort, but it wasn’t what Al
wanted to do. He had mechanical skills
and he had an idea about making things
out of plastic.
Then in December 1941, with the
bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. entered
World War II and the nation’s manufac-
turers geared up for war.
Al Sr. wanted to begin a manufactur-
ing plant, but he could not get a govern-
ment contract until he had the machinery,
and with the war on, he could not get
the machinery without a government
contract.
Jefferson County has a rich
and colorful history, for
which we’re proud.
Arnold has much of this history
beautifully displayed for you in
our nearly 2,500 sq. ft. museum
and cultural center, in Arnold.
The Arnold Historical Society invites you to tour our
beautiful museum to stroll through OUR little part
of Jefferson County’s history!
1723 Jeffco Blvd., Arnold • www.arnoldhistorical.org
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018
He had a friend, however, who was
a salesman at Monsanto, which at the
time made and sold plastic materials. His
friend helped him buy the necessary ma-
chinery and negotiate contracts with the
government, and from there, the company
was launched.
Al Sr. bought Resinox, a thermo set-
ting material, from Monsanto.
The powder, when heated to 350 de-
grees with steam heat, melts and forms in
a mold under pressure. Once taken from
the mold, it will not melt and was good
for electrical items, pot handles, toasters
and kitchen items, among others.
The new company also made parts
for the Defense Department, including
items for the Douglas C-47 Skytrain,
known as the “Gooney Bird” military
transport plane. The company began mak-
ing things from thermo plastic material,
which, unlike thermo setting materials,
can be ground up, remelted and made
into other things.
Koller-Craft still uses thermo plastic
materials today.
In time, Koller Sr. had one of the
largest plastic presses in the country.
Over the years, the company had success
making and selling products such as the
mechanical creeper, louver lighting and
automotive parts.
Al Koller Jr. joined his father in the
business in 1962 and became its president
in the late 1970s. Al Sr. died in 1997 and
See BUSINESS, Page 9B
Tour Arnold’s oldest cemetery.
Headstones date back to 1844.
$5 Donation Requested
Wheelchair Friendly
HOURS:
Friday & Saturday
Noon - 4 p.m.
and By Appointment
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018
Koller-Craft was founded by Alois “Al” Koller Sr. in 1941 at 1400 S. Old Hwy. 141.
The company now has four manufacturing plants, including the site in Fenton, and
employs more than 400 people who make a variety of products, from automotive parts
to drinking cups.
Business: Handshake deal pays off
Continued from Page 8B
Al Jr. died in 2017. The business is oper-
ated today by a third generation – Al III
and David Koller.
The company continues to expand,
most recently adding a fourth manufac-
turing plant in Gadsden, Ala., in 2013.
Here in Jefferson County, a 2017
feature story in the Leader reported that
the local Koller plant had 120 to 130 em-
ployees working in three shifts to create
automotive parts and custom molding
for lawn and garden products, trash cans
and aquariums for companies that include
Walmart, PetSmart and Petco.
The next generation of Kollers said
their job is to keep the business going.
“We like manufacturing. We enjoy
making things and we want to continue to
make them,” Al III said. “We are looking
at the market to see what we have to do
to be successful in the future. We want to
keep it going another 25 years until it’s
100 years (old) and see where we are.”
H.W. Herrell Distributing Co.
in Imperial
Harvey W. and Irma Herrell started
this beverage wholesaling business in
1923, three years after the advent of
Prohibition under the 18th Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution. In those early days,
the company distributed coal, ice and soft
drinks. When Prohibition was repealed
in 1933, beer became the primary Her-
rell product. The company has thrived
ever since as the exclusive distributor of
Anheuser-Busch products in Jefferson
County.
The Herrell’s son, Donald C. “Big
Don” Herrell, became president of the
company in 1963 and assumed control,
with his mother, when Harvey died in 1968.
In 1970, Big Don’s son, Donald H.
“Donnie” Herrell, joined his father and
grandmother in the business. Big Don
died in 1988, and Donnie took over as
president and CEO. Irma Herrell died
in 1989.
Jefferson County Bicentennial
Donnie led the company until his
death in August 2013 at age 63. Today
the business is managed by Carol Ann
Herrell-Schanz, president; Chuck Herrell,
vice president and equity agreement man-
ager; and general manager Mark Lednick.
Purcell Tire and Service Centers
in Crystal City, De Soto
and Fenton
With a simple handshake, Robert M.
Purcell borrowed money from two asso-
ciates to open the first Purcell Tire store
in Washington, Mo., in 1935, during the
Great Depression.
“He never looked on the dark side
of things,” said Robert’s son, Robert G.
“Bob” Purcell. “He was honest, sincere
and a very hard worker.”
The senior Bob Purcell expanded to
a second location, in Granite City, Ill.,
in 1951. Patiently he grew the company
until the younger Bob Purcell, and his
wife, Juanita, opened a store and retread
facility in De Soto in 1963.
The sky has been the limit since then,
with the company expanding its retail
operation to more than 70 locations in
11 states (Arizona, Illinois, Nevada, Mis-
souri, Kentucky, Arkansas, New Mexico,
Utah, Texas, Washington and Alaska).
It also maintains thriving commercial,
wholesale, retreading and mining divi-
sions.
Purcell ranks as the third-largest
independent commercial tire dealership
in North America, the nation’s largest
retreader for OTR tires, and one of the
10 largest independent tire store chains
in the U.S.
Bob and Juanita Purcell have run the
company since the senior Bob Purcell
died in 1970.
“You’d think 50 years in the tire
business would be enough, but not for
me,” the younger Bob Purcell said. “Our
growth over the years has been an excit-
ing ride. Why do I love the tire business
so much? I don’t know – maybe it’s easier
to retread than to retire!”
Jefferson County Leader 9B
City of De Soto
Welcomes you to the City of Pride
The ultimate success of any city relies on everyone
combining their talents, efforts and input.
Administration Department:
Public Information, Finances,
Municipal Court, Water Services,
Public Services:
Police Department,
Code Enforcement
Kennel Manager
636-586-3326 636-586-8891
Communications/Dispatch
Public Works Department:
Streets, Sewer System, Water System, 911
Parks, and Beautification Fire Department
636-586-2499 636-586-3888
Overview
Welcome to the City of De Soto, “City of Pride.” De Soto is rich in history, progress,
patriotism and volunteerism. Located in Jefferson County -- Missouri’s 6th largest county
by population -- De Soto offers an array of residential and commercial opportunities. Our
housing choices range from majestic 200-year-old homes to newer custom-built homes
in every price range. We have three business districts located throughout the city: our
historic Main Street, Rock Road and Highway 21. De Soto is also home to family businesses
established as far back as 1868, as well as new multi-national businesses and franchises.
In addition, we have three industrial parks suitable for manufacturing companies.
De Soto is home to several veteran and service organizations, including the De Soto
Chamber of Commerce. With over 20,000 people living in De Soto’s zip code and over
200,000 residents in Jefferson County, we welcome new residents to both urban and rural
locations. Our City Manager form of government makes opening a new business in De Soto
both appealing and prosperous. For further information about any of the departments of
services offered by the City, please visit their website at www.De Sotomo.com.
History
The history of De Soto is rich with Frenchmen, Spaniards, Indians, pioneers and
entrepreneurs. Originally part of the Louisiana Territory, De Soto once belonged to both
France and Spain. The land was granted to the United States in 1803, and the City of
De Soto was established. People were drawn to this spot for the overflowing and plentiful
Artesian wells, and would come from miles away to fill their containers with the clean fresh
water. Many chose to stay.
The St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company reached De Soto in 1857,
and the city flourished under the arrival of the railroad. There was an Opera House, a
hospital, a college and a YMCA. Lavish homes for railway executives were built and modest
homes for railway workers were built. Businesses opened and prospered. The town was
abounding with artesian wells- over 200 that still flow today. In 1904, De Soto sent bottled
water to the Louisiana Purchase Expedition – the World’s Fair in St. Louis. The water sold
for five cents a cup. Twice named “All American City” and once the population center of the
United States, De Soto has survived and thrived through America’s struggles and triumphs.
There are numerous areas individuals can
serve, including but not limited to, The Park
Board, the Planning & Zoning Commission, the
Library Board, the Cemetery Board, the Board of
Adjustments and the Industrial Development
Authority. Other areas not directly related to the
City include the Senior Center, Get Healthy De Soto,
the Chamber of Commerce and the Food Pantry.
10B Jefferson County Leader Jefferson County Bicentennial Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018

12,000 years of history

Mastodon State Historic Site focuses on Ice Age
By Kevin Carbery
For the Leader
Jefferson County is celebrating its
200th anniversary this year, but the area’s
human history goes back much further.
Try 12,000 years or so, according
to Ken Smith, site administrator for
the Mastodon State Historic Site, 1050
Museum Drive, in Imperial, under the
Missouri Department of Natural Re-
sources (DNR).
The Mastodon State Historic Site
has some of that history on display at its
museum.
“We operate the site that focuses on
the Ice Age and the relationship between
mastodons and humans,” Smith said.
“(Mastodon State Historic Site) was the
first place that showed mastodons and
humans lived at the same place at the
same time. The people hunted them for
food. They would utilize different parts
of the mastodons for other things, like
clothing. Mastodons were furry – it was
a little colder then.”
He stressed that mastodons are dif-
ferent than woolly mammoths.
“Mastodons are a little smaller than
mammoths,” Smith said. “They are not
the same as mammoths.”
While mastodons and mammoths
looked similar, they had some different
physical features, like their teeth.
“A mammoth tooth looks like a big,
giant file, flat with rough edges,” Smith
said. “A mastodon tooth was more square,
looked like giant molars. Mammoths ate
grass and lived on prairies. Mastodons
lived in more woody areas and ate coni-
fers. Like we tell kids – Christmas trees.”
The road to linking humans and the
large elephant-like mastodons goes back
at least to 1839, when a St. Louis museum
owner named Albert C. Koch got wind of
something interesting south of the city
in what eventually become known as the
Kimmswick Bone Bed.
“Albert Koch heard there were
bones sticking out of the ground,” Smith
Professor Russell Graham works at the
Bone Bed in the 1970s.
said. “He excavated the area. What he
discovered, he took and toured Europe.
Unfortunately, he assembled the bones
incorrectly.
“It was not an accurate representa-
tion. He called it ‘The Missouri Levia-
than.’ The British Museum purchased it
from him and discovered it was a mast-
odon. They put it together and it still
stands in the British Museum today.”
Fast forward about six decades
and another major dig took place at the
Kimmswick Bone Bed. Amateur St.
Louis paleontologist C.W. Beehler dug
up several skulls, jaws, teeth, tusks and
other fossils.
“There have been several archaeo-
logical digs since (Koch’s) time,” Smith
said. “There was always an underlying
interest in the mastodons.”
Information supplied by the DNR
describes another significant dig from
1940-1942 in an effort led by archaeolo-
gist Robert McCormick Adams of the St.
Louis Academy of Science and sponsored
by the Works Progress Administration.
The effort recovered more fossils.
Other ensuing excavations at the site
took place, but it was not until the 1970s
that major breakthroughs happened. The
DNR, which bought 418 acres containing
the Bone Bed in 1976, sponsored excava-
tions of the site in 1979, 1980 and 1984.
The 1979 excavation led by paleon-
tologist Russell W. Graham of the Illinois
State Museum offered the first “solid
evidence of the coexistence of humans
and mastodons, as a stone ‘Clovis’ type
projectile point was found in association
with mastodon bones. This was the first
site in eastern North America where this
association was conclusively demon-
strated,” according to the DNR materials.
The Paleo-Indian Clovis culture
is the earliest well-documented Native
American existence in North America,
the DNR materials say.
“Because of past unscientific archae-
ological digs, we don’t know how many
mastodons are here,” Smith said. “There
was also a quarry here (further complicat-
ing the search for bones). We’ve never
found an intact mastodon skeleton. We
think this was a kill site. Humans would
come here and hunt, then leave.”
The Kimmswick Bone Bed at the
Mastodon State Historic Site is one of
10 Jefferson County sites on the National
The History Continues...
Register of Historic Places. (See related
story on Page 11B.)
The historic site was placed on the
national register on April 14, 1987.
I-55 construction spurred
effort to protect Bone Bed
When the state announced plans to
create I-55, a group of Jefferson County
residents banded together to preserve the
Bone Bed.
“When they were getting ready to
put in I-55, to protect the Bone Bed, the
Mastodon Park Committee organized
fundraisers and political support to pur-
chase the property,” Smith said. “(The
committee) originally bought 418 acres in
1976,” he said. “Now, it’s about 430 acres
(after later acquisitions). The committee
donated the property to become a state
park. The purchase preserved everything
so the highway wouldn’t come through.”
The Mastodon State Historic Site
sits off of I-55, a short distance north of
Imperial Main Street. The site is split in
two by Seckman Road, with a museum/
visitor center and trails to the Bone Bed
See MASTODON, Page 11B

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Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018 Jefferson County Bicentennial Jefferson County Leader 11B

County sites on National Register of Historic Places

By Kevin Carbery known as Central School), 221 S. Third significance is described as “agriculture, House Springs. It is privately owned,
For the Leader St., De Soto. It was added to the National communications, architecture.” Private and the address is not publicized. It was
Register in 2009 and its significance ownership. added to the National Register in 1974. Its
The Kimmswick Bone Bed at the is that it was a “school.” It is privately ■ Kimmswick Historic District, significance is described as “prehistoric.”
Mastodon State Historic Site is one of owned. roughly bounded by Front, Fourth, Mill, ■ Louis J. and Harriet Rozier House,
10 Jefferson County sites on the National ■ Thomas C. Fletcher House, on Elm and Oak streets in Kimmswick. It 322 W. Clement, De Soto. It was added
Register of Historic Places. (See related Elm between First and Second streets, was added to the National Register in to the National Register in 2006. Its sig-
story on Page 10B.) Hillsboro. It was added to the National 2007. Its significance is described as nificance is described as “architecture.”
The other nine Jefferson County Register in 1974. Its significance is de- “architecture.” Local, private ownership. Private ownership.
locations listed on the National Register scribed as “politics/government, archi- ■ Valentine Leight General Store, ■ Windsor Harbor Road Bridge,
of Historic Places website include: tecture.” Fletcher was the 18th governor 4566 Main St., House Springs. It was Windsor Harbor Road at Rock Creek,
■ Sandy Creek Covered Bridge, of Missouri. Private ownership. added to the National Register in 1992. Its in Kimmswick. It was added to the Na-
north of Hillsboro off Hwy. 21. ■ Greystone-Meissner House, off significance is described as “commerce, tional Register in 1983. Its significance
The Missouri Department of Natu- Hwy. 61 north of Pevely. It was added architecture.” Private ownership. is described as “architecture.” Local
ral Resources owns the bridge, and the to the National Register in 1974. Its ■ Moder Archaeological District in ownership.
Mastodon State Historic Site oversees the
bridge, which was added to the National
Register in 1970.
“There are only four covered bridges
left in the state,” said Ken Smith, site
administrator for the Mastodon State His-
toric Site. “There had been five, but one
was destroyed in a flood in the 1960s. The
state took over all the covered bridges in
Missouri in 1967.
“Sandy Creek was on a major thor-
oughfare connecting Hillsboro and St.
Louis County. The Sandy Creek site gets
about 200,000 visitors a year. It has a
picnic area.”
■ Boemler Archeological District
in Byrnes Mill. It is owned by a private
entity, and the address is not made public.
It was added to the National Register in
1974. The website describes its signifi-
cance as “prehistoric.”
■ Central School Campus (also

Mastodon
Continued from Page 10B

on the north portion and a park area with

a creek running through it on the south
portion.
Smith said Jefferson County resi-
dents may be surprised to learn how much
of an attraction the Bone Bed is.
“The Bone Bed is behind the visi-
tor center,” Smith said. “We get around
500,000 visitors a year. As long as it’s
nice, every weekend in the summer is
packed. Even in December, we’ll have
20,000 people on site for the month. It’s
not unusual to have 70,000 for the month
of July.”
“We’ve had people as part of their
trip here from Germany, the Philippines,
Japan,” Smith said. “A lot of our visitors
are people who’ve lived in this area for
20 or 30 years who stop by just because
they’ve never been here before.”
For more information, visit
mostateparks.com or the Mastodon State
Historic Site’s Facebook page.

Learn more about

Mastodon State Historic
Site at the Leader’s
Arnold Senior Expo on
Oct. 10.

For history’s sake
12B Jefferson County Leader
Jefferson County historical society to open museum next month
By Tracey Bruce
For the Leader
The Jefferson County Heritage and
Historical Society has a lot to celebrate
this year.
Jefferson County is celebrating its
200th anniversary, and the Heritage and
Historical Society is having a big birth-
day, too – its 50th.
With the historical society’s golden
anniversary on the horizon, society
members are opening a museum. It will
be in the First United Methodist Church
of Festus-Crystal City, 113 Grand Ave.,
in Festus.
“All of us who love local history
probably collect things that we feel are
historically important,” said Bernard
Laiben, JCHHS president and Bicenten-
nial Committee chairman. “A museum is
a way to share the great things that people
have. There are great museums through-
out the county – Arnold, De Soto, Crystal
City, Kimmswick and Valles Mines, but
we decided to start a museum to encom-
pass the (whole) county, since that is the
area that our historical society covers.”
First United Methodist in Festus is
allowing the historical society to use a
room in the church for the museum. A
grand opening is planned for 2-5 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 14.
In the meantime, members are get-
ting display cabinets set up and collecting
artifacts to exhibit, Laiben said.
“We are bringing in a lot of our own
items, visiting area antique malls, and
buying through online sites,” he said. “We
will also be displaying items loaned to
us by people who happen to have a great
item that would fit into a museum devoted
Jefferson County Bicentennial
A photo of an Iron Mountain Railroad train traveling along the Mississippi River in
Jefferson County in 1898 is among the new museum’s treasures.
to Jefferson County.”
He hopes county residents will lend
the museum items that will tell the story
of the county and its various communi-
ties.
“Any items loaned will be very se-
cure and labeled with the owner’s name to
give them recognition for their generous
loan,” Laiben said. “There is no doubt
that so many true county treasures are
hidden away in a closet, cellar or garage.
We hope that having a museum to display
a person’s artifacts might encourage them
to dig out those items and keep them
preserved for all to enjoy.”
When the historical society was
formed Dec. 8, 1968, it was called the
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018
built by Missouri’s first native-born gov-
ernor, Thomas Clement Fletcher.
Other historical society projects in-
cluded helping to save and preserve the
Sandy Creek Covered Bridge, helping
establish the Jefferson County History
Center at Jefferson College, and the ongo-
ing project of locating and documenting
the cemeteries in the county.
The historical society meets from
2-4 p.m. the second Sunday of every
even-numbered month at First United
Methodist Church in Festus. The group
has about 25 members and is always look-
ing for new ones, Laiben said.
All are welcome to attend the mu-
seum grand opening, he said.
For more information, or to discuss
loaning the museum an artifact, call
Laiben at 573-701-3951 or email him at
blaiben@outlook.com.
Tracey Bruce photo
Jefferson County has seven other
historical societies, including ones in
Arnold, Crystal City, De Soto, Hercula-
neum, Kimmswick, Northwest Jefferson
Jefferson Heritage and Landmark Cor- County Historical and Preservation
poration. Society, and the Historic Tanglefoot As-
Its first project was to buy and restore sociation in Festus. (See related story on
the Fletcher House in Hillsboro – a home Pages 13B-14B.)
Congratulations
Jefferson County for
years
Celebrating 20 Years in Jefferson County
Jefferson County Locations
De Soto Main • De Soto Boyd Street
Festus • Hillsboro • Imperial
Shady Valley
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018 Jefferson County Bicentennial Jefferson County Leader 13B

Historical societies – keepers of the county’s stories

By Tracey Bruce
For the Leader
Jefferson County has eight histori-
cal societies – one that serves the entire
county and seven others that focus on a
specific city or part of the county.
All of them are dedicated to preserv-
ing the county’s stories.
Arnold Historical Society
The roots of the Arnold Historical
Society are still kind of tender. The group
formed just 13 years ago – in June 2005.
Ever since then, its members have
been working “to educate the public about
the six villages that formed the city of
Arnold (Maxville, Beck, Wicks, Flamm
City, Tenbrook and Arnold),” said Bernie
Wilde, the society’s treasurer.
The group has reprinted a book of
Arnold history first printed in 1976. For
five years, the society printed a calendar
with historic pictures of Arnold. And most
importantly, the group opened a museum
and filled it with local treasures.
“We have 2,500 square feet of dis-
play area,” Wilde said.
The group also has published a book-
let with the records about the Richardson
Cemetery, which is on Richardson Road
in Arnold, she said.
Bernard Laiben, president of the Jefferson County Heritage and Historical Society, left,
shows members Lisa Gendron and Bill Haggard a historic newspaper as the group
unpacks memorabilia at the new Jefferson County Heritage and Historical Society
Museum.
museum, and at one time, the society had
open houses and other events there.
While the Historical Society isn’t
active anymore, Crystal City has a lot of
wonderful history, and it’s recorded at the
museum, Parr said.
Tracey Bruce photo
which occupies a portion of two floors
in the De Soto Community Center, 400
Boyd Street.
Other museum rooms include items
from an old schoolroom, including photos
from classes that graduated long ago, as
well as furniture and equipment from a
doctor’s office. There’s a military room
that includes photos of De Sotoans who
served, including some who died while
serving, Williamson said.
The De Soto Historical Society’s mu-
seum is open from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesdays
and Thursdays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
on Saturdays.
Society members meet at 7 p.m. on
the third Tuesday of the month at the
museum.
Herculaneum Historical Society
The Herculaneum Historical Society
was founded in June 1999.
Its original name was the Hercu-
laneum Historical and Beautification
Society and its aim is to preserve the
community’s history and promote beauty
in its neighborhoods and parks.
The Society was responsible for the
development of the Shot Tower Memorial
Park and the dedication of the Austin-
Samuel Hammond Memorial Bridge.
The group assists with Herculaneum
See SOCIETIES, Page 14B

said.
“The first grave was in 1844,” Wilde

The booklet includes information

about the people buried in the cemetery –
each person’s name, birth and death date
and who they were married to, she said.
Members are now documenting the
history of St. John’s Lutheran Church in
Arnold, Wilde said.
When the Arnold Historical Society
formed, it had 30 members, and today,
it has 75. New members are welcome,
Wilde said.
The organization meets at 7 p.m. on
the second Monday of the month on the
lower level of the Historical Society’s
museum, 1723 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold.
De Soto Historical Society
The De Soto Historical Society was
Congratulations
founded in 1991 “to serve as a storehouse
of knowledge about our community’s Jefferson County
rich history,” according to the group’s
website.
on your 200th
It was at least partly formed to hold Birthday!
on to the memories of the railroad town
after the De Soto train depot was torn
down.
“We operate a museum set up to
help preserve the history of De Soto,”
said Jackie Williamson, treasurer for the
society.
Mementos from the depot, including
benches and a clock, are at the museum,

Crystal City Historical Society

The Crystal City Historical Society,
which was established at least 40 years
ago, is quiet these days.
“We’re not as active as we used to
be. We’ve all gotten older,” president
Marilyn Parr said.
In fact, the society no longer meets,
but “the history is still there,” she said.
The historical documents and records
are available for viewing at the Crys-
tal City History Museum in a historic
building next to Crystal City Hall, 130
Mississippi Ave. The building where the
museum is housed was Pagano’s Market,
Parr said.
She said those who want to visit the
museum may call City Hall at 636-937-
4614 and make an appointment to see
the displays.
Parr said the museum is filled with
pictures and objects residents have do-
nated or loaned to the society.
She said the late Mary Ann Null
was instrumental in pulling together the
Our Lady
Catholic Church
Our Lady Catholic Church was founded in 1956 after
it became clear that a second parish serving the
people of both Crystal City and Festus was needed.
Rev. Charles Huelster was appointed as the first
pastor of the new church, and Our Lady School held
its first classes on February 28, 1958.
In 1965, after the death of Rev. Huelster, Rev. Harold
Voelker was appointed our new pastor. Under his
leadership, we built a new rectory, replacing the
farm house that had originally served as the rectory.
In place of the farm house now sits the beautiful
Rev. Harold Voelker Memorial Garden, where the
cross in the center of the garden is made from the
timbers of the old rectory.
In the decades since the establishment of Our Lady Catholic Church, our parish has seen tremendous growth and change. Our school,
unable to adequately serve a growing number of students with its six original classrooms, was renovated in 1976 to include four new
classrooms. In 1989, under the leadership of Rev. John Dietenhafer, we built a new church. This beautiful church still serves us today.
Our current pastor, Rev. Gregory Klump, was appointed to Our Lady Catholic Church in June 2018. Under his leadership we are looking
forward to a future that includes greater discipleship and more enriched, joyful lives for all parishioners.
From the beginning, our parish family has been richly blessed and challenged. The stewardship of the parish and the sharing of their
time, treasure, and talent have been outstanding throughout the history of Our Lady Catholic Church. We have grown to about 1000
families today from the 265 in 1956. We continue to deepen our faith and knowledge as disciples of Christ on the journey to eternal life.
14B Jefferson County Leader
Societies: Groups working in a variety of ways to preserve local history
Continued from Page 13B
holiday events and sponsors the city’s
Christmas Light contest each year.
The society has 12-15 members,
president Bill Haggard said.
“It’s a loose organization,” he said.
“We regularly bring in historical presen-
tations.”
Historical Society meetings are
held at 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of
each month at Herculaneum City Hall, 1
Parkwood Court.
Information about the group is
available on the City of Herculaneum’s
website, cityofherculaneum.org under
the history tab. Or, call Haggard at 314-
852-4964.
Kimmswick Historical Society
History is what the city of Kimms-
wick is all about, and the Kimmswick
Historical Society plays an important role
in preserving and recording that history,
said Nadine Garland, one of the members
of the Historical Society.
“We have a very wonderful mu-
seum,” she said.
Garland said items of interest include
a piece of a bowl used by Native Ameri-
cans to process salt, a clock from the
Imperial Clock Co., which gave the town
of West Kimmswick the name Imperial
and a mastodon tooth.
The museum, at 6000 Third St. in
Kimmswick, is open from 1-4 p.m. on
Saturdays and Sundays from March
through December. Admission is free.
The Kimmswick Historical Society
held it second annual Living History Day
on Sept. 15. The event took on special
significance with the celebration of the
county’s 200th year, Garland said.
The Historical Society has 35-40
members and meets the first Thursday
of the month.
Northwest Jefferson County
Historical and Preservation
Society
The Northwest Jefferson County His-
torical and Preservation Society, which is
celebrating its 30th anniversary this year,
documents the history of the communities
served by the Northwest School District,
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Jefferson County Bicentennial Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018
Tracey Bruce photo
Rhea Milisitch serves cookies during
The Historic Tanglefoot Association shared this photo from the Crystal City Historical Christmas at the Hagemeister House
Society’s collection on social media, one way to keep history alive for new generations. event in 2016.
The photo shows a glimpse inside Crystal City’s Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant in the
The Association records the history
late 1950s or early 1960s. According to the historians, before 1965, unfinished plates
of glass were ground with sand, then passed on tables beneath giant rows of buffers
of Main Street and Bailey Road, as well
to polish them, as shown in this photo. as the businesses that have operated along
those streets in Festus and Crystal City.
The group also has considered whether
including High Ridge, House Springs,
The Historic Tanglefoot to apply to the state to become a historic
Cedar Hill and Dittmer.
Association district.
Through the years, the group helped
“It’s a tourist attraction, good for
add the Leight Mercantile Building to
The Historic Tanglefoot Association the city and there are tax abatements
the National Register of Historic Places
is focused on the past, present and future for businesses who want to restore their
and researched and commemorated other
of Festus and Crystal City. The associa- property,” Gilbert said.
buildings, including Scheve School and
tion recently reformed and is made up of He said the designation would also
the Byrnesville grocery store. In 2000,
“local business owners who have a stake increase the awareness that Main Street
the organization moved the Hagemeis-
in Main Street and citizens who want to “is a hub, the place where things are hap-
ter House, the former home of a House
see Main Street prosper and not forget pening and renew the focus of the town.”
Springs shoe cobbler, to Byrnes Mill
our rich history,” said John Gilbert, chair- The group meets on the last Thursday
City Park, and the log cabin has become
man for the social media and marketing of the month in various locations along
a centerpiece for the park.
committee. Main Street. The association has 40 paid
The group will help to put on the
“When Tanglefoot regrouped, we voting members, and more than 100
Byrnes Mill Fall Festival on Oct. 6 and
were adamant that the group focus on people receive the agenda each month.
will hold Christmas at the Hagemeister
both Twin City main streets – Bailey For more information, see the group’s
House from Nov. 24-25.
and Main – from City Hall to City Hall,” Facebook page or website at historict-
The Historical and Preservation
he said. anglefoot.com.
Society, has about 20-25 members. It
meets at 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of
the month at the Northwest Branch of the 636-797-4440
Jefferson County Library, 5680 Hwy. PP,
in High Ridge. www.MMCTInc.net
636-797-4440
“New members are always wel-
come,” said Rhea Milisitch, a member 636-797-4440
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16B Jefferson County Leader Jefferson County Bicentennial Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018

Water, water everywhere

Flooding has been a part of living in Jefferson County these 200 years
By Laura Marlow
for the Leader
Jefferson County has had a love-hate
relationship with its rivers and streams for
most of its 200-year history.
The Mississippi and Meramec riv-
ers form part of its boundaries, and the
Big River runs through it, along with
the Plattin, Joachim, Glaize, Rock and
Saline creeks.
With all those waterways, Jefferson
County residents have plenty of scenic
views and water-related recreational
activities to enjoy. But, they’ve also seen
their share of damaging and even deadly
floods over the last two centuries.
Many Jefferson County residents
remember the Flood of 1973, when high
school students were dismissed from
class to staff sandbag-filling operations
along the Mississippi and Meramec
rivers. The Meramec flooded in 1982,
and the Mississippi again in 1993 and
1995, causing traffic delays and untold
economic losses.
Year after year, “Road Closed” signs
went up in Arnold, Kimmswick and Crys-
tal City, marking where the same roads
and homes were flooded by the same
rising waters.
In June 2015, the bridge on Hwy. 61-67 across the Joachim Creek at Herculaneum was
closed – again – due to floodwaters.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the city
of Arnold decided to take on the problem,
and, with help from the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency, bought out
hundreds of homes along the Meramec
River and other flood-prone areas.
And, efforts to buy out flood-ravaged
Matt O’Harver photo
homes in the Starling Estates subdivision
in Arnold are still underway.
About 20 miles south of Arnold, the
diminutive but dynamic Rita Lovelace
also said enough is enough and led an
effort to get a flood protection levee for
the Twin Cities.
Construction of the 3,400-foot-long
levee started in 2002 and finished in
2005, with the levee going into opera-
tion in 2006. Although the $17 million
project – officially known as the Rita
Lovelace Twin City Levee – held back
floodwater from the start, it took almost
10 years for the structure to receive of-
ficial federal certification. But in 2015,
homeowners behind the levee could
finally drop their expensive flood protec-
tion premiums, and hungry diners could
anticipate an uninterrupted supply of
Stoplight burgers.
About 1,500 Jefferson County homes
and businesses were impacted by unprec-
edented flooding in the last days of 2015.
The flooding forced Crystal City to tem-
porarily close its water treatment plant
and to buy treated water from Festus.
Judy Wagner, area engineer with the
Missouri Department of Transportation,
said it was the first time I-55, which was
built in the 1960s, flooded near Mera-
mec Bottom Road. At one point, flood-
ing closed almost all roads and bridges
linking Jefferson County and St. Louis
County, causing serious traffic problems
in the area.
See FLOODING, Page 17B

On behalf of the Jefferson

County Sheriff ’s Office,
we are proud to serve you.

Happy
Bicentennial
—Sheriff Dave Marshak—
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018 Jefferson County Bicentennial Jefferson County Leader 17B

Flooding: Remediation in the works

Continued from Page 16B

Flash flooding
Seasonal floods are one thing, but
flash floods due to heavy rain are a dif-
ferent animal altogether. Those incidents
come with far less warning and can be far
more dangerous.
In April 2013, a storm that dumped
more than 4 inches of rain in a couple of
hours caused flash flooding that De Soto
officials called the “worst in memory.”
An 80-year-old woman drowned when Ron Ridgon photo
her car was swept into the creek along Rescue workers evacuate flooding victims along the Big River in May 2017.
Veterans Drive (Hwy. E) at the north end
of Walther Park.
In July 2015, a storm dropped 6
inches of rain in the Hillsboro, Festus
and De Soto areas, sweeping vehicles off
roads without warning. Two women were
drowned in separate incidents when their
vehicles were swept off the road by rush-
ing water, and a Cedar Hill man rescued
his daughter from the roof of her car as
the Joachim Creek rose around it.
That storm caused an estimated $1.2 Floodwater creeps up on the Flamm City
million in infrastructure damages. sign during 2012 flooding.
Floods of varying severity occurred
Corps of Engineers flood in 1825, 1844, 1851, 1875 and 1881, but
mitigation efforts it wasn’t until the Great Flood of 1927
that the Corps began serious efforts to
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tame the Big Muddy.
was established in 1802 and has worked The Flood Control Act of 1928
to mitigate the effects of seasonal flood- marked the beginning of what is now the
ing from that time forward. world’s longest system of levees.

OUR LEGACY
Celebrating 80 Years
THE VALUE OF HARD WORK
Purcell Tire was founded by Bob’s father, Robert M.
Purcell, in Washington, Mo., in 1935. He obtained
a Goodyear franchise that same year. The elder
Purcell borrowed money from two associates to start
the company. The loan was sealed with a simple
handshake. Robert worked hard to build the business
— not an easy task during the Great Depression. “He
never looked on the dark side of things,” says Bob. “He
“You’d think 50 years in the tire was honest, sincere and a very hard worker.” Purcell
Construction of a 3,400-foot-long levee to protect Crystal City and Festus properties
business would be enough, but Tire quickly earned a reputation for outstanding quality
means hungry diners don’t expect a scene like this at Gordon’s Stoplight ever again. not for me. I began working at and superb service.
my dad’s tire store in the fifties. As the business grew, a second location was opened
I opened my own store and the in Granite City, Illinois in 1951. In 1963, Robert’s son,
first retread plant in 1963. Since Robert G. (Bob) and his wife Juanita opened a third
then, we have opened more location and the family’s first Retread facility in De Soto,
than 70 car, commercial, and Missouri.
OTR tire centers. We have also Today, Purcell Tire and Rubber Company has become
become of one of the leading one of the leading tire and OTR retreaders in the world.
OTR tire retreaders in the world. In addition to 5 retread plants, Purcell has more than
Son Kevin D. Heather L. 50 Service Centers for cars and trucks and 35 Truck
Our growth over the years has
Celebrates 35 Years in
Hovis joins Hovis joins
Georgia Ann closes after 55
the family
Insurance and Financial Tire Centers to service commercial vehicles. Purcell
Olive and Clayton Hovis years in business and Dennis
C. Hovis moves Insurance
business
the family
business
Services and over 75 years been an exciting ride. Why do I has locations in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico,
of business in De Soto
move to De Soto and
open Georgia Ann Style business love the tire business so much? I Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Texas and recently
1940 Shop 1995 2004 2006 2019 don’t know - maybe it’s easier to Washington and Alaska. Purcell now offers delivery
1970 1984 1992 2000 2005 2012 retread than to retire! service for trucks and equipment to 44 states and to
Hovis & Associates Hovis & Associates opens its
- BOB PURCELL three continents.
Dennis C. Hovis Dennis C. Hovis Son David K.
opens its second third location in St. Louis
52 Locations to Serve You
Kathy and Dennis expands to Hovis joins the
begins in the location in Festus
C. Hovis join offer Financial family business
Life Insurance
Georgia Ann Style Services
Shop management
Industry
Western Locations: Arizona (15) | Nevada (5) | New Mexico (1)
Texas (1) | Utah (1) | Washington (5)
www.HovisandAssociates.com Eastern Locations: Missouri (11) | Arkansas (3) | Illinois (2)
Kentucky (5) | Alaska (3)
18B Jefferson County Leader
Stormy weather
May 2003 event one of many violent storms to plague county
By Laura Marlow
For the Leader
Riley Jackson was barely 8 hours old
when she had her first encounter with a
ferocious Missouri spring storm. Riley,
now 15, was born at Jefferson Memorial
Hospital (now Mercy Hospital Jefferson)
on May 6, 2003, the same day a storm
spawned tornados, straight-line winds
and flash flooding in southern Jefferson
County.
“The hospital had lost power. They
were running on emergency power, so
nothing in the patient rooms worked,” said
dad Jimmy Jackson, 40, of rural Festus.
“They put all the babies with their mothers,
and moved everybody in beds or chairs out
into the hallway.”
Some of the mothers were still under
sedation, including a friend’s wife who had
just given birth.
“My friend, Chris Roberts, he called
and said he couldn’t get there,” Jimmy
said. “His wife was so out of it still that
she couldn’t lift her arms up to hold the
baby. So I’m holding their baby, Alanna,
and my wife’s sitting on a wooden chair
with our baby in her hands.”
Jimmy said the scene was chaotic,
although the storm only lasted a half hour
or so.
“Nurses were running around ev-
erywhere,” he said. “It was dim in the
hallway and dark in the rooms, and the
AC wasn’t working. The storm was just
raging outside – rain blasting sideways,
the wind howling off the side of the
hospital. The parking lot was a river.”
Once the storm abated, the mothers and
babies were slowly moved back to their
rooms.
“It was pretty well cleared out and
things were calm by about 9 p.m.,” Jimmy
said. “I decided to go home to check on
things on our place, and it took me more
than 20 minutes to go the 3 miles to our
house. There was gravel washed over the
road, tree limbs down, leaves and branches
everywhere. It was a mess.”
Riley, now a high school sophomore,
has no memory of the dangerous storm
that marked her first day on earth, having
slept through the whole thing.
De Soto hardest hit
That spring storm, hitting Jefferson
County at about 7 p.m., was more severe
than most.
In De Soto, residents said the storm
blew rain in through the crevices around
closed windows and came down so hard
that being outdoors was like being un-
derwater.
A 42-year-old man died during the
storm when his car was swept off the
1100 block of North Main Street and
through one of two large culverts that
carry stormwater from Main Street under
Jefferson County Bicentennial Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018
Sherree Faries Fite photo
The De Soto High School football stadium was among structures damaged in the
2003 storm.
Riley Jackson on the
day she was born, the hundreds of chairs for the students One of the graduates, Chris Owens,
May 6, 2003, and strewn across the field, the stage destroyed 17, said the graduation was memorable.
Riley today. and other damage in the area. “It was interesting. I expected there
Ultimately, the graduation was held to be bad weather, but not that,” he said.
the Union-Pacific railroad tracks. His body in the nearby Rickman Auditorium, with “There were more people in the school
was recovered 10 days later. just a fraction of the 363 graduates’ guests than I’ve ever seen in my life. It was kind
The storm also destroyed the junior allowed inside. The others got to watch the of frantic. Graduation was maybe not as
high school gymnasium and severely dam- ceremony on a big screen TV set up in the magical as it could have been, but it was
aged the rest of the junior high and high high school gymnasium. definitely more interesting.”
school complex. Air-conditioning units
were torn from the roofs of the junior high
and high school buildings, and the roof at
Vineland Elementary was damaged.
Luckily, the storm took place well
after students had gone home for the day,
and no injuries were reported, but De Soto
School District officials were forced to
cancel the remainder of the school year.
Parkview Baptist Church found itself
roofless after the storm cleared, and people
struggled with cleaning up their homes
and businesses after they were damaged
$0 JOIN FEE
by downed trees and flash flood waters. to 00
$1
Save up
A federal disaster declaration helped
ease the financial burden, and community Offer valid
groups and individuals rallied to help with Oct 6, 2018
the cleanup.
Emergency crews representing as CELEBRATING
many as 70 departments from throughout
the St. Louis Metropolitan Area rushed
in to offer assistance, and neighbors also
OUR COMMUNITY
pitched in to help each other. The YMCA is proud to be part of the Jefferson County community.
In honor of the Bicentennial Celebration, the Jefferson County Y
“Interesting” will offer a one day only special of No Joining Fee!
Barely a year later, a storm that ripped As a member of the YMCA, you receive:
through the Arnold area sent hundreds • Access to ALL Gateway Region YMCA locations
of Fox High students, staff and parents
• FREE Land & Water Fitness Classes
gathered for a commencement ceremony
scrambling for cover. • FREE Child Watch for Household Members
Graduation was originally scheduled • Pool, Track, Fitness Center, Gymnasium
to be held on the athletic fields. But a • Affordable Individual & Group Personal Training
severe thunderstorm with strong winds
• Lowest Prices on Fee-based Programs
swept through the area about 7:30 p.m.,
just after the group finished singing the JEFFERSON COUNTY FAMILY YMCA
national anthem.
A crowd of between 5,000 and 6,000
636.931.9622 gwrymca.org
students and spectators was quickly rushed *Membership dues apply and access is subject to YMCA policies and guidelines.
Please visit the Y for details. Offer valid at the Jefferson County YMCA on October 6, 2018.
inside the high school to take shelter. After Must present this ad when joining to redeem the offer.
the storm subsided, school officials found
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018
County firefighting has come a long way
By Laura Marlow
For the Leader
In Jefferson County’s first 140 years,
fire protection was fairly haphazard. Most
areas had a fire association, staffed largely
with volunteers and supported through the
sale of fire tags and fees.
In 1958, after a major blaze in Festus,
the Jefferson County Fire Fighters Asso-
ciation was born.
That fire, believed to have started from
burning leaves nearby, struck Waggener
Lumber, Quality Dairy, Overberg Paints, a
Coca-Cola distributor and the Festus Elks
Lodge, all located along West Main Street
where the Festus Public Library is now.
JCFFA president and longtime Hercu-
laneum Fire Department Chief Bill Haggard
said the magnitude of the inferno required
the help of every local firefighting company,
and the lack of a standard communication
wavelength made the job tougher.
The lessons learned in battling that
blaze led to the formation of a countywide
group in March 1961. It includes all 16
firefighting entities and five ambulance
districts in the county: the Antonia, Cedar
Hill, De Soto, Dunklin, Goldman, He-
matite, High Ridge, Hillsboro, Jefferson
R-7, Mapaville, Rock Community and
Saline Valley fire protection districts; the
Crystal City, De Soto, Festus and Hercula-
neum fire departments; and the Big River,
Joachim-Plattin, North Jefferson, Rock
Township and Valle ambulance districts.
The new group was tested in 1966
when a gasoline tanker backed into a
building in Crystal City. Several years
later, members helped fight a fire that
destroyed the quirky Kohler City Supply
store in Barnhart.
Over the years the association and its
Congratulations
Jefferson County
Vinyard
Funeral Home
Family owned and operated through
5 generations since 1907.
Festus
636-937-4646
Jefferson County Bicentennial
Blazes
Firefighters from many departments and districts helped fight an October 2007 fire
on Main Street in Festus.
members developed county maps and fire
response areas, a mutual aid system, and a
countywide radio system for dispatch. It
developed training facilities and outreach
and education programs throughout the
county, all while going on calls like these:
■ In 1991, firefighters battled not only
flames but subzero temperatures and 45-
mph winds to fight a fire that destroyed the
Herculaneum Baptist Church.
■ Other fires claimed the Colonial
Cleaners in Festus in June 2003, the
Graham Packing building in Antonia in
January 2005 and White’s Auto Repair in
Pevely in 2007.
■ Two separate fires damaged or de-
stroyed several buildings on Main Street
in Festus, including the Main Street Cafe
and the Father Tyme Clock Shop.
■ Several local landmarks were dam-
aged or destroyed by fire, including the
historic Peterein Barn at West City Park,
Pevely
Jefferson County Leader 19B
De Soto
Chamber of Commerce
Building the present,
planning the future and preserving
the past since 1928
De Soto Chamber
of Commerce
celebrates 200 years
of Jefferson County!
2018 - 2019
Board Members
Debbie Boyer, President
Eric Leonard, Vice President
Bryce Visnovske, Treasurer
Danni Foreman, Secretary
Sherree Faries Fite photo
Anita Whitener • Tony Benningfield
Kim Anderson • Arnold Baum
Jesse Barton • Jennie Lessor
Rick Pica
which sustained $50,000 in damage in July Sarah Greenlee, Office Coordinator
2009, and the Elks Lodge in Crystal City,
which was heavily damaged in a February #47 Jefferson Square
2010 blaze. De Soto, MO 63020
■ The historic Beacon Cafe in 636-586-5591
Bloomsdale was destroyed by fire in May desotomo_chamber@yahoo.com
2014 and House Springs was the site of a www.desotomochamber.com
fire that destroyed the 50-year-old Durham
Park Hall.
ER
S O N C OU
F
NT
J EF
PRESIDENT TRUMP
Y
RE
UB
U
BL C
P
IC A N
Promises Made & Promises Kept
• More Jobs – Lowest Unemployment EVER!
• Lower Taxes – Reduces $2,000 on average for Missouri Families.
Businesses are expanding and hiring more workers.
• Better Security – Beefed up military, increased border security
and supports law & order.
If you like these changes and want to keep them, VOTE for
Republican candidates to continue these accomplishments.
Make American Great Again!
Vote Republican November 6th
JEFFERSON COUNTY REPUBLICAN CLUB
All like-minded citizens are welcome to attend our meetings
at 7:00 PM on the 3rd Monday of the month at:
Ponderosa Steakhouse
3601 Jeffco Blvd.,
Corner of Richardson Road & Highway 61-67
Arnold, MO
Come early & purchase a meal, meet fellow Republicans,
candidates and elected officials.
For more information, call Alan Leaderbrand at 314-541-0326.
Paid for by Jefferson County Republican Club, Ryan Jones, Treasurer
20B Jefferson County Leader
Montesano Springs
Entrepreneur claimed amazing curative properties from his Kimmswick well
By Tracey Bruce
For the Leader
If Juan Ponce de Leon had made his
way up the Mississippi River to Mon-
tesano Springs, he would have found
medicinal waters that may have helped
him on his legendary quest for the Foun-
tain of Youth – at least according to John
O’Heim.
O’Heim, a German immigrant and
Kimmswick merchant, said he discovered
water with amazing curative properties
after drilling for a well 130 feet through
a formation of solid rock. He said he did
not know the water had special qualities
until, during a dry summer, residents be-
gan to drink it and “to the astonishment
of all, those afflicted with stomache and
kidney ailments began to improve so in
health Mr. O’Heim was induced to have
the water analysed and tested,” according
to a pamphlet extolling the qualities of
“Uncle John’s Health Water.”
The area known as Montesano
Springs is on the north side of what is
Kimmswick today.
“Montesano means mountain of
health,” said Nadine Garland, a member
of the Kimmswick and Herculaneum
historical societies.
O’Heim, however, was not the first
to discover the “healthful waters” around
Montesano Springs.
Several sources claim it possibly was
the saline and mineral springs that brought
the mastodons to the area’s marshy lands
near the Mississippi River thousands of
years ago. The remains of dozens of mast-
odons and other prehistoric animals have
been found buried in the Kimmswick Bone
Bed, now cordoned off for posterity, in the
Mastodon State Historic Site.
Native Americans, too, settled there
in great numbers, according to an 1896
article in Midland Magazine.
“Even prior to the days of Laclede,
the Indian chieftains had camped around
the fifteen springs that bubbled from a
small area in a cove between two great
hills,” the article says.
Native Americans used the spring
water in the area to make salt, boiling off
the water and leaving the mineral behind,
Garland said.
“There were so many springs in that
valley; they were everywhere,” she said.
When white settlers arrived, the
importance of the minerals in the water
was not lost on them. One man, Thomas
Jones, had a salt manufacturing operation
there in 1770 in what was then known
as Crystal Springs, according to Walter
Eschbach’s Historic Sites of Jefferson
County. Later, the name of the settlement
was changed to Montesano Springs.
In 1850, Theodore Kimm purchased
a large parcel of land and laid it out on
a grid. He called it Kimmswick and
opened a post office in 1858, the same
year the Iron Mountain and Southern
railroads came through, bringing settlers
Jefferson County Bicentennial Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018
Train tickets
that included
admission to
Montesano
Park.
Uncle John’s Health Water was
also “recommended for nervousness, no
John O’Heim, a German immigrant who ran a beer garden in Kimmswick, discovered matter from what cause, young or old, it
the curative properties of the water in his Kimmswick well and bottled it as Uncle will give quietude, refreshing sleep, gain
John’s Health Water. in flesh and healthy color cheeks,” the
advertisement said.
and tradesmen with them, according to Providence or the J&S and by trains (a O’Heim was adamant that his health
the History of Kimmswick on the Visit 21-mile ride from St. Louis) the people water was a cut above the rest.
Kimmswick website. came to partake of the mineral waters “…it is not a ‘quack’ or ‘cure all’ and
On the north side of Kimmswick, from the fourteen springs within the park. should not be classed or confounded with
visionary entrepreneurs recognized the The water was bottled and shipped as far virtueless, so called medical waters, that
value and service they could provide by away as New York. are so generally on the market,” accord-
making the medicinal waters from the “In the park were a hotel and res- ing to his pamphlet.
springs available, so in 1881, a summer taurant, a dance pavilion, a boating Eventually, the automobile became
resort was laid out and a four-story ho- lake, a merry-go-round, a gallery, ‘Herr the favored mode of transportation. Roads
tel was built. Visitors took the trains or Bismarck’s Tent Show,’ and other attrac- were built that passed by Kimmswick.
steamboats from St. Louis to the springs tions,” the guide says. The steamboats stopped coming. The
to escape the city heat and drink the min- O’Heim’s discovery was right in trains brought fewer passengers.
eral waters from the springs. The hotel step with the times. He began bottling The last records show Montesano
burned five years later, in 1886. But the the waters as a recommended cure for Springs Park closed in 1918, according
Columbia Excursion Co. purchased the “dyspepsia, stomach troubles in all their to the Walking Tour Guide. A subdivision
property and built a large amusement aggravated forms, biliousness, constipa- now stands where the long-lost attractions
park there that attracted visitors by the tion, rheumatism, backache, sleepless- once stood. And the springs, although in
thousands, according to the Kimmswick ness and kidney complaints rising from many places development has covered
Historical Society’s Walking Tour Guide. defective action of the liver, kidneys and them over, still bubble up from time to
“Arriving by steamboats such as the stomach,” according to an advertisement. time in unexpected places, Garland said.
Our Family would like to congratulate Jefferson
County, MO on their 200th year of history.
ALGONQUIN NURSES HOME HEATH CARE has been a
proud supporter of the Jefferson County Community since 1987
If you need an extra hand but value the independence of remaining in your own home,
Algonquin Nurses Home Health Care is at your service. We will work with you to create a care
plan that meets your individual needs and unique situations.
Licensed & State Certified,
Services Offered: * Nursing Care O’Fallon Office: (636) 978-1775
Staff is Screened, Drug
* Transportation and Running Errands
* Personal / Home Care * Med Setup St. Louis Office: (314) 822-8158 Tested, Bonded and Insured,
Minimum 2 hours care to
* Companionship / Respite Care
* Alzheimer’s, Dementia Care
www.algonquinnurses.com 24 hrs. / 7 days a week