Temple Beth El was built in 1883 and is the oldest temple still in use west of the Mississippi River.

The plaque honoring the women from the sewing society.

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Constructed in 1883, Temple Beth El is the oldest synagogue still used west of the Mississippi River and the 14th oldest in the country. It is a simple one-story structure located in the heart of downtown Jefferson City. It is a Reform congregation and as such belongs to the Union of Reform Judaism. According to official records, Jews had been living in the city since at least 1865. In 1879, a few of the men formed the Jefferson City Hebrew Cemetery Association to create a place for burial and also established the congregation that year. In 1882, some women of the Hebrew Ladies Sewing Society donated money to buy a plot of land with the purpose of building the temple. These women are honored in a plaque that is on display in the temple. 

Temple Beth El

This tour of Missouri's capital city starts at Lincoln University and includes over two dozen landmarks including the state penitentiary, capitol building, and governor's mansion, as well as many local landmarks such as the William Porth House. Other tour highlights include the Jefferson Landing, Cole County Historical Society, and a cluster of historic homes at the end of the tour. 

History of Jefferson City Missouri Driving Tour

This tour starts at a pair of historic homes and the Missouri State Archives and includes numerous landmarks including monuments and historic houses, the State Capitol, several museums, a temple, a courthouse and the state penitentiary. Stop for a milkshake at an old-time soda fountain in a drugstore,  explore numerous historic buildings, and enjoy a relatively short walk which was designed to follow the Missouri River.

Jefferson City along the Missouri River Walking Tour

On January 14, 1866, Lincoln Institute was formally established under an organization committee. By June of the same year, it incorporated and the committee became a Board of Trustees. Richard Baxter Foster, a former first lieutenant in the 62nd Infantry, was named first principal of Lincoln Institute. On September 17, 1866, the school opened its doors to the first class in an old frame building in Jefferson City. In 1869, Lincoln Institute moved to the present campus, and in 1870 it began to receive aid from the state of Missouri for teacher training. College-level work was added to the curriculum in 1877, and passage of the Normal School Law permitted Lincoln graduates to teach for life in Missouri without further examination. Lincoln Institute formally became a state institution in 1879 with the deeding of the property to the state. Under the second Morrill Act of 1890, Lincoln became a land grant institution, and the following year industrial and agricultural courses were added to the curriculum. In 1921, the Missouri Legislature passed a bill introduced by Walthall M. Moore, the first Black American to serve in that body, which changed the name from Lincoln Institute to Lincoln University and created a Board of Curators to govern the University. The North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools accredited the high school division in 1925, the teacher-training program in 1926, and the four-year college of arts and sciences in 1934. Graduate instruction was begun in the summer session of 1940, with majors in education and history and minors in English, history, and sociology. A School of Journalism was established in February 1942. In 1954, the United States Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, and Lincoln University responded by opening its doors to all applicably meeting its entrance criteria. Today, Lincoln University serves a diverse clientele, both residential and non-residential, engages in a variety of research projects, and offers numerous public service programs in addition to providing an array of academic programs. The college slogan is "Proud past, progressive future." Some of the contributing buildings in the NRHP Historic District for the university's Hilltop Campus are: Richard B. Foster Hall (1923), the Power Plant (1923), Logan A. Bennett Hall (1938), Libby C. Anthony Hall (1940), and Irving C. Tuft Hall (1951).

At the close of the Civil War, soldiers and officers of the 62nd United States Colored Infantry, stationed at Fort McIntosh, Texas, but composed primarily of Missourians, took steps to establish an educational institution in Jefferson City, Missouri, which they named Lincoln Institute. Members of the 62nd Colored Infantry contributed $5,000; this was supplemented by approximately $1,400, given by the 65th Colored Infantry. With these funds, the school opened its doors in 1866. A part of campus with buildings dating from the 1920s to 1951 has been listed as the Lincoln University Hilltop Campus National Register Historic District; the structures are mainly two-story, brick Georgian style buildings. They are clustered along Dawson Drive, Dickerson Drive, Taylor Drive, and Chestnut Street (see the map below).

Lincoln University

Henry Gensky Sr. immigrated from Bremen, Germany, in 1904 at the age of fourteen, arriving in Jefferson City in 1907. Eight years later, in 1915, Gensky opened his first grocery store, located below the Central Hotel. However, he had to close the store within its first year after he suffered injuries after being thrown from a horse, but the injuries proved to be fortuitous. While recuperating, he rented a room with the Schmidli family. In 1912, Joseph Schmidli, a lauded German brick mason, had been hired by Joseph Pope, one of the first entrepreneurs to capitalize on the city's expansion after the state government decided to keep the seat of state government in Jefferson City. Pope hired Schmidli to construct a two-story commercial building on what was then a vacant lot at the northwest corner of Cherry and Miller Streets. Gensky rented it from Pope upon the building's completion and subsequently opened the H.E. Gensky Grocery Store in 1916. Schmidli's daughter Stella worked as a store clerk, and in 1917, she married Gensky.Henry and Stella enjoyed rapid success, which allowed them to purchase the property from Pope by 1921. Their two children, Ruth and Henry Jr., were born in the apartment above the grocery store. During the 1920s and into the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Gensky Store evolved into one of the largest independent grocery stores in Jefferson City. Henry Gensky, Jr. later explained that the store remained successful during the Great Depression partly because many of its patrons worked as Missouri state employees who enjoyed relatively stable incomes. The Grensky Store personified the "mom &amp; pop" store, which served communities before supermarkets grew ubiquitous. The westward expansion of the railroads boosted the grocery retail trade by facilitating the mass distribution of prepackaged goods. Consumers had easy access to various processed food supplies for the first time. But, early storekeepers also appealed to their broad clientele by stocking a diversified inventory, including farm supplies and construction materials. The Grensky Store, like most early grocery stores, allowed its regular customers to buy on credit. Customers paid their bills in full every month. The Gensky Store also maintained an expansive home delivery route throughout the Jefferson City area. The store made deliveries via horse-drawn wagons until 1924, when the Genskys purchased a Model-A Ford for making deliveries. Unique for the period, the Gensky Store clientele included both Black and White residents. Whites (mainly German) resided in areas north and east of Miller Street, while a predominantly Black population resided South of Miller, extending west to Dunklin Street. Thus, African American residents comprised roughly half of the store's customers. Henry Gensky, Jr. stated that Black and White customers routinely mingled in the store.In 1950, Capitol City Lodge No. 9 F. &amp; A. M. purchased the building and remodeled the second floor as a lodge hall, allowing its connection to local African American history to continue. Jefferson City's Prince Hall-affiliated Masonic lodge, ostensibly an African American organization, occupied the second floor. Although masonry has long been a part of American culture, dating back to the early eighteenth century, the vast majority forbade Blacks to join. Prince Hall, a free, property-holding Black man, who immigrated to Boston in 1765, was denied admittance into the Boston-based St. Andrews Lodge of Massachusetts. So, Hall petitioned and was subsequently admitted into British Lodge No. 441, a traveling military lodge. After the Revolutionary War, Prince Hall maintained his relationship with the Grand Lodge of England, who granted him a warrant to form African Lodge No. 459 in 1787, with Prince Hall as Master. By 1827, the Lodge separated from the Grand Lodge of England and became the African Grand Lodge No. 1. Over time, branches took the name "Prince Hall Grand Lodge." Prince Hall Masonry in Missouri started in 1865, and in Jefferson City in 1867 with the establishment of the Capitol City Lodge No. 9 A. F. &amp; A. M., Prince Hall affiliated (today referred to as No. 9 F. &amp; A. M.). Much as White and Black residents shopped at the Gensky store; the historically Black lodge served all races and nationalities. After Henry Gensky died in 1937, his wife Stella continued to run the lower-floor grocery store until 1942, when she rented the business to her niece and nephew-in-law, who operated the store until 1946. Later that year, Mr. and Mrs. Ben Anthony reopened the business as the Cherry Street Market; it closed in 1966, the last year in which the property served the community as a grocery store.

Built in 1915, the H. E. Gensky Grocery Store Building exemplifies an early twentieth-century family-owned neighborhood grocery store will living quarters above the store for the family-operated business. The Gensky family, immigrants from Germany, owned and operated the store from 1915 to 1942. From 1942 to 1966, the grocery section on the lower level functioned first as Glover's market and then as the Cherry Street Market. During that period, in 1950, the Capitol City Lodge No. 9 F. &amp; A. M. purchased the property; they remain the property's owner today. After buying the property, they converted upstairs into a Masonic lodge, serving the Prince Hall affiliation. Although the club exists as a predominantly African American organization, it welcomes all races.

H.E. Gensky Grocery Store Building and Capitol City Lodge No. 9 F.& A.M.

Jefferson City, known as Howard's Bluff until Missouri became a state in 1820, became the state capital in 1821. However, the city did not function as a capital until after its official incorporation in 1825. The city realized a population increase throughout the nineteenth century, which included many German-speaking immigrants as they immigrated heavily into the United States. Indeed, German-born people comprised twenty-five to thirty percent of the nation's entire foreign-born populace during the last half of the nineteenth century. As early as 1860, Missouri had almost 90,000 German-born residents, most of whom lived near the Missouri or Mississippi Rivers. By 1870, German-born people made up nearly fifteen percent of Jefferson City and vicinity residents. By the early twentieth century, an abundance of homes enjoyed German-style architectural design, often mixed with ideas adapted from American and French styles referred to as German-Vernacular. The predominant feature among the homes involves brick construction. Many of the German immigrants came from northern Germany, where brick construction was prevalent. And in contrast to rural U.S. areas where wood and stone were readily available and cheap, brick availability and cost made it popular among builders in urban communities. As such, brick kilns and brick sales emerged as one of the first industries in Missouri-German towns; the first brick kiln arose in Jefferson City in 1826.The John B. and Elizabeth Ruthven House reflects the German immigration to Missouri, including Jefferson City, and its influence on local architecture. Ada Francis Morris purchased the historic lot in the summer of 1876 and subsequently built the house as an investment; he did not live in it. They sold the property to John B. Ruthven on October 10, 1879. In addition to the brick commonly found in German buildings in the area during that period, the home lacked a fireplace as Germans usually preferred stove heating. Typical of German families of the period, John B. Ruthven and his son John W. Ruthven labored as masons, developers, and lenders. In 1877, John B. Ruthven worked as a commissary at the nearby Missouri State Penitentiary (now the Jefferson City Correctional Center). John W. Ruthven also worked at the prison. In fact, by 1885, John B. worked as the prison mason, with John W. serving as his assistant mason. The prison masonry work, followed by involvement with a bank, allowed the Ruthven family to purchase several additional lots near the house between 1879 and 1890. The newly platted lots gained the name "Ruthven Subdivision." John B. died sometime during the 1890s. By 1900, John W. became a full mason, and he served as superintendent of stonework at the prison. John W. also continued to develop the subdivision after his father's death. In 1897, the Ruthvens were among the stockholders and officers of the New Cole County Building &amp; Loan Association, with John W. serving on the board of directors. Three years later, in 1900, John W. took the position of Vice President of the Building &amp; Loan. By 1917, at age 67, John W. worked as superintendent of conditions at the Missouri State Penitentiary. Although John W. took ownership of the home after his dad passed away, John W.'s mother and uncle resided in the home. His uncle, Osborn Morris, served as circuit clerk of Cole County. The Ruthvens also rented part of the home to John Wilson and his family. John worked as a quarryman, so he likely knew the Ruthvens via his trade. The house stayed in the Ruthven family until Janet M. Ruthven, daughter of John W., sold it to Frank Theodore Wehmeyer and his wife Sarah on March 18, 1927; at the time, Frank Wehmeyer also worked at the Missouri State Penitentiary. Recent studies note that nearly forty percent of Missouri's modern population enjoys some connection to German ancestry. The Ruthven House is one of the few pre-1880 Missouri-German buildings still extant in Jefferson City. Thus, it survives as one of the few physical reminders of the substantial and impactful period of German immigration during the nineteenth century.

The John B. and Elizabeth Ruthven House, erected in 1878-1879, is an example of German Vernacular design and indicative of the strong influence on local architecture by the abundance of German immigrants who came to Missouri during the late nineteenth century. John B. Ruthven and his son John W. worked as masons for the local prison, and they also became involved in banking and real estate, including developing the Ruthven Subdivision adjacent to the historic home.

John B. and Elizabeth Ruthven House

Records indicate that the first burials date as early as 1861 and that these individuals were from military organizations from Missouri, Iowa and Illinois. By the time the cemetery was officially established in 1867 there were around 350 burials. Today there are around 1,600 gravesites and the cemetery has not accepted new internments since 1969.Jefferson City did not see any action during the war but, as noted above, many troops from the 39th Regiment are buried here. In late summer of 1864, the Confederates invaded Missouri in the hopes of capturing it. The campaign was led by General Sterling Price, who commanded a large force of mounted calvary and supported guerrilla warfare tactics. On September 27, a force of around 80 guerrillas led by Willian T. Anderson attacked and looted the town of Centralia, which is north of Jefferson City. When a Union train approached the city that morning, Anderson and his men, some of whom were dressed in stolen Union army uniforms, forced it to stop. On board were 125 passengers including around 23 discharged and furloughed Union soldiers (some were wounded and returning home). Anderson asked for one of the soldiers to step forward. Seargant Thomas M. Goodman volunteered, expecting to be executed. However, the guerrillas shot the other soldiers, mutilated their bodies, and set the train ablaze. A number of civilians were killed as well. Goodman was not killed and later described the incident, which became known as the Centralia Massacre, as the “most monstrous and inhuman atrocities ever perpetuated by beings wearing the form of man.” In response, commander of the 39th Regiment, Major Andrew Vern Emen Johnston, ordered his force of around 146 mounted troops to ride to Centralia and attack Anderson. However, Johnston's men were inexperienced and poorly equipped and were soundly defeated. Anderson's men were well armed and killed Johnston and most of his men. Only a few of Anderson's men were killed. It appears that 79 of Johnston's men were buried near the railroad station in Centralia. They were later reinterred at the Jefferson City National Cemetery in 1873. The monument to them was erected in 1968.

Jefferson City National Cemetery was established in 1867 and contains the remains of veterans from every branch of the U.S. military. The earliest burials date to the Civil War. The cemetery is two-acres in size and features a monument to the 39th Missouri Mounted Regiment of Centralia, MO, which honors the Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Centralia on September 27, 1864. The cemetery is also notable for the lodge and utility building, which was erected in 1870 and is a good example of the Second Empire style. The Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis County operates the cemetery, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Jefferson City National Cemetery

The Missouri-German Vernacular style property speaks to the German influence in Jefferson City and much of Missouri. Indeed many of the roughly seven million people that immigrated to the United States from German-speaking regions during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries settled on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. After the Civil War, the populations of several small towns were almost entirely German; nearly everyone spoke German. German immigrants comprised four of the six members of Jefferson City's first Board of Education in 1867.In 1873, Pauline Derkum obtained the deed on the land where the historic building now stands. She passed it down to Benjamin and Dora Derkum, who later deeded the property to William J. and Joseph R. Edwards on May 1, 1896. The deed read that Ben Derkum was living on the property, and it was known as the "Ben Derkum Store Property." Constructed in 1895, the Ben Derkum Store opened in 1896 and operated as a grocery store for eleven years. It grew into a prominent grocery and dry goods store under the ownership of the Kaullens from 1906 to 1942; they also lived in the building. Grocery items included fine china, the most up-to-date lines of staple and fancy products, coffee, domestic and imported teas, and an abundance of food items. Meanwhile, the store also sold dry goods, hardware, and pottery. The building design included large storefronts, allowing for eye-catching displays that attracted customers.Modern supermarkets can trace their roots to general stores like Kaullen Mercantile. Early storekeepers stocked a diversified inventory, including grains, seeds, cooking supplies, farm implements, and construction materials. As stores appeared more often on small-town main streets, notably with the rise of railroads, prepackaged goods increasingly stood on store shelves. As cities grew larger, the public markets where people sold fruits, vegetables, and meat became impractical; thus, general stores added those products to their inventory. In 1942 the property was foreclosed on by Jefferson City Building and Loan Association and subsequently sold on the courthouse steps to Paul Griffin, a local entrepreneur. He used it as a marine retail sales store until 1977. Building ownership changed several times after the 1970s, and then it remained vacant for some time. As of 2022, it operates as a steakhouse restaurant.

This historic Jefferson City building was constructed in 1895 and originally served as a dry goods store. Eleven years later, the Kaullen family, who lived adjacent to the building, took over the store and turned it into the most prosperous business in the area until it closed in 1942. The building was home to a marine supply store until 1977 before ownership changed hands many times. During the late twentieth century, the building largely stood vacant. Today, a steakhouse and seafood restaurant occupies the historic building. In addition to its significance as an influential retailer, the architectural design resembles many brick, L-shaped buildings built by German immigrants along the Missouri River during the late nineteenth century.

Kaullen Mercantile Company

The East End Drugs building has been a continuously-occupied commercial space since it was built in the 1890s. The drugstore, East end Drugs, began operating in this building in 1904. The parapet roofline and the arched and semicircular windows in the cornice are distinctive features of the two-story red brick structure. The modern storefront and a 1-story brick rear addition date to the 1950s. Traces of the "DRUGS" and "East End Drugs" lettering painted on the building's Lafayette Street side façade remain visible. One of the most notable features inside the drugstore is the preserved, original soda fountain, still in operation. The countertop has been replaced, but the Art Deco styling of aluminum decorations remain on the mirrored back wall. Historic photographs, old prescription bottles, and advertising for Coca Cola and other brands are on display in the store. The Black and white linoleum tile floor is another early feature. The rear of the building includes a pharmacy dispensing area, added in 1953. The two commercial spaces on the ground floor are separated by a party wall; the wall has been breached by a doorway, uniting both spaces into one for the drugstore. Most of the western part of the ground floor was being used for storage of medical equipment and other drugstore supplies, when the building was documented in 2003 for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The second-story apartments had been vacant and not updated since the 1940s when documented in 2003. East End Drugs became Whaley's in 1943, when "Red" Whaley took over this corner business. The soda fountain became a popular place for local teens, serving milkshakes and flavored sodas. By the 1970s, Red's son, Jim was part of the operations and opened the Medical Center Pharmacy (now Southwest Pharmacy) on the other side of town, . A business partner since the 1970s, Darryl Hubble bought the business in 1998. Hubble's daughter, Stacy Welling opened a third drugstore in 2005, Whaley's West Side, and currently serves as the company's president. The company held a "Soda Jerk Reunion and Customer Appreciation Party in 2009, serving their famous Cherry Cokes and root beer floats. In 2018, they threw another party to mark the 75th anniversary of Whaley's.

The red brick building on the corner of E. High and Lafayette was built sometime between 1892 and 1898. An example of the two-part commercial block, the structure features two commercial spaces on the ground floor and two residential units on the second story. A drugstore named East End Drugs has been in business in this building since 1904. The front façade makes it appear that both commercial spaces are one. The roof line is distinctive, with a parapet on the front façade having a rectangular section rising from the center and gabled peaks on the outer corners. The building features a corner entrance facing the street corner. The storefront was modernized in the 1950s with plate glass windows, light green Vitrolite facing, and aluminum. The original soda fountain still operates in what is now known as Whaley's East End Drugs.

East End Drugs

In addition to James Early Ray, who was only able to murder Martin Luther King because he&nbsp;managed to escape from the prison in 1967, the prison housed&nbsp;other notable inmates including high profile women inmates. One&nbsp;was Emma Goldman, who imprisoned for inciting riots and advocating the use of birth control, among other charges. She would later influence the founders of Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union. Another female inmate, Kate Richards, Chairman of the Socialist Labor Party,&nbsp;was charged with espionage after&nbsp;giving a speech in North Dakota. After her release she dedicated herself towards prison reform.&nbsp; As a result of the numerous murders that took place in the prison, Time Magazine dubbed it "bloodiest 47 acres" in the country. Riots occurred as well. The most notable one began &nbsp;early in the morning&nbsp;on September 22,&nbsp;1954 and lasted a full 24 hours or so before authorities, and the National Guard were able to fully&nbsp;subdue the inmates.

The Missouri State Penitentiary is a former prison located in Jefferson City. It was in operation from 1836-2004 and as such was the oldest prison still in use in the state until it closed. Over time, buildings were added to the 47 acre site; the Warden's House, built in 1868, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The prison housed several high profile inmates such as James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King in 1968. At its peak, the prison housed 5,200 inmates. It is open for tours and operates a museum located the corner of High and Jefferson streets. 

Missouri State Penitentiary

Lester Parker was born in 1860 in Chicago where his father worked at a shoe company. In 1871, their house burned down in the Great Chicago Fire that destroyed much of the city (apparently they lived next door to the house where the fire began). As a young man he studied law and graduated in 1879. He settled in Kansas where he practice law, became a teacher, and ran a farm where he raised sheep and cattle. He then moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1894 and got a job as a foreman in the Kellog &amp; Johnson Shoe Company. In 1895, he organized the Jefferson Shoe Company in Jefferson City as a subsidiary for another company called C.M. Henderson &amp; Co. However, also in 1895 Parker sold his interest in that company so he could establish the L.S. Parker Shoe Company.Jefferson City at the time was an ideal place to operate a shoe manufacturing business. The main draw was the ability to use cheap prison labor at the penitentiary, as well as the prison buildings and grounds. As a result, the companies were very profitable. In 1873, for example, one shoe company employed 70 inmates for 40 cents a day which produced a $5,000 annual profit. Other attractive conditions included low taxes, low rental rates, and competitive freight rates. From the state's perspective, contracting with the shoe companies enabled the prison to be more self-sufficient and cheaper to run.By 1915, this arrangement ended. The use of inmate labor became too costly as wages had risen to 75 cents per hour and inmates were no longer allowed to work for more than eight hours each day (it should be noted that while the shoe companies stopped operating at the penitentiary, shoe manufacturing in Jefferson continued and remained a large part of the local economy for many years). The state took control of the shoe manufacturing operations and the governor appointed Parker, who retired from his company in 1913, to be the first superintendent of industries at the prison. Under his leadership, the prison achieved its full potential at becoming self sufficient. Inmates made a variety of goods and by October 1919 the prison had a cash balance of $61,000.As noted above, Parker played an important role in selecting the artwork in the capitol, which was built in 1917 to replace the previous one destroyed by a fire in 1911. He was appointed to the decoration commission because of his love for art. He was a skilled painter himself and 100 of his paintings are housed at First Baptist Church. Parker also wrote songs and poems. One of his songs, "Come Back My Honey to Missouri", was considered for the official state song.Parker married three times. His firs wife, Katie, and mother of three children, Gracie, Clyde and Dan, died after just a few years of marriage. Sadly, Katie and Clyde died at a young age. Parker married his second wife, Sue, in 1895 and they had two children, Alice and Lester Jr. However, she also died just after a few years in 1899. He and Missouri "Zue" married in 1901 and they lived in the house for many years. Parker died in 1925. Zue and her only daughter, Rachel, died in a car accident in 1931. The house was converted into four apartments by 1939.

One of the city's leading figures of the early 20th century, Lester S. Parker, and his wife, Missouri "Zue" Parker, bought this elegant historic home in 1905 upon its completion. Parker was a successful businessman and is known for establishing the L.S. Parker Shoe Company. He also served as the state's first superintendent of industries at the state penitentiary across the street, and was a member of the Capitol Decoration Commission in the 1920s, which was tasked with collecting artwork for the capitol building. The house is also a fine example of Classical Revival architecture. It features a full-height porch with Ionic columns and a pediment, a balconet, a fanlight and tracery surrounding main entrance, and arched window openings with keystones and circular panels. It appears to be be an apartment building today. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

Lester S. and Missouri "Zue" Gordon Parker House

Saddle horse breeding grew into a significant industry in Missouri by the late nineteenth century, demonstrated by Missouri saddle breeders' success at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. As a result, horse shows grew popular in Missouri. Jefferson City held its first show in 1897, and annually for decades after that. As well, parades such as the popular Flower Parade allowed breeders to showcase their horses, including James Houchin, an industrialist and breeder of fine saddle horses. Moreover, breeders often competed at county and state fairs. Houchin's horse, Astral King, was named champion stallion at the 1909 Missouri State Fair.Most viewed him as the most successful breeder in the state, and he enjoyed financial success as an entrepreneur and political influencer. Houchin strongly supported the Democratic Party. He served as statewide coordinator for the successful election of Joseph Folk as governor in 1904. He also ran for governor in 1912 and 1916, although he lost both elections. Still, he gained his fame as a horse breeder. When the Missouri Saddle Breeders Association organized in 1912 in Jefferson City, they elected Houchin to its first two-year term as president.Houchin's success allowed him to build the elaborate, now historic, home. The Houchin family purchased all the property west to Marshall Street and removed two residences and a four-flat in the process. Constructing the historic house started with bulders -- including prison labor -- filling a ravine with 50,000 truckloads of cinders and dirt. It then took another three years to finish the opulent stone home, having been completed in 1900. James and is wife, Millie Clark, entertained governors, legislators, and their families at the house, and they routinely hosted lavish parties. They also hosted an annual Christmas party for as many as 700 of the city's needy children. For their own daughter, Myrene, they hosted a ball in 1919 on the eve of national prohibition. James and Millie constructed a fifty-foot pavilion and built a garden for the affair, and the night ended with a midnight dinner and fireworks show. However, by World War I, Houchin's success story began to fade. The rise of the automobile industry meant less interest in horses. The parades that once featured horse-drawn carriages began to feature cars. And the popular Flower Parade cased to exist by 1917. Additionally, one of Houchin's businesses, Star Clothing Manufacturing Company, went into receivership during the early 1920s.Myrene, who went on to found the Cole County Historical Society, and her husband, Jack Hobbs, took ownership of the property after James Houchin's business failed. As the twentieth century progressed, the historic stone home changed ownership a few times, even serving as a nursing home for a time. Jim and Betty Weber purchased the home in 1970 and subsequently spent years renovating the house. Although the house survives as a reminder of the prominent Houchin family, it also reminds us of a pre-automobile era when horses were not only functional but celebrated. Before there were car shows, there were horse shows. Before Detroit evolved into an automobile powerhouse, Missouri benefitted mightly from the saddle horse breeding industry. And, just as wealthy people own the fanciest and most expensive cars today, industrialists like Hauchin possessed the best horses around during the early twentieth century.

The James A. Houchins House is a Jefferson City Landmark. Houchin dominated Missouri's burgeoning saddle horse breeding industry during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Just as wealthy industrialists routinely own expensive cars today, industrialists like Houchin invested and showcased their horse collections prior to the late 1910s. James also made money in other business ventures and proved politically influential in the Democratic Party. The Houchin family's house, and the lavish parties they hosted, speak to the family's prominence during the pre-automobile era.

James A. Houchin House

The Victorian home on the corner of East Capitol Avenue and Jackson Street was constructed in 1893 for the future governor of Missouri, "Lon" Stevens, who took office in 1898. Stevens had moved to Jefferson City in 1890 from Boonville, where he had been born in 1855, to become the state treasurer. The local architect was Charles Opel, the child of German immigrants; Opel worked as a cabinetmaker before going into architecture. The open-air turret, wrap-around porch, and fish scale shingles are highlights of the brick, 2-1/2 story Victorian home. The hipped roof with intersecting gables was originally made of cedar shingles but has been replaced with asphalt. The house was built as a duplex but was later divided into four apartments. The interior features eight hand-carved fireplaces with original Italian tile, and a grand entryway oak staircase. The third floor ballroom was the site of many parties in the 1890s, thrown by Stevens and his wife, Maggie. The Stevens family sold the home to a local druggist, Gustavus A. Fischer, in 1903. Fischer founded the G.A. Fischer Drug Company at 105 E. High Street; his son followed him in the family business. Fischer was involved in the establishment of the Jefferson City Country Club, the Central Missouri Trust Company, and the Capitol Telephone Company. Fischer and his wife, Jennie, lived in Ivy terrace until their deaths in 1933 and 1947, respectively. Mary Woods bought the home in 1948, and operated the Mariwood College of Beauty Culture here until 1966. Thomas Whitecotton and his wife, Dee, the next owners, lived in the home until around 1987. Whitecotton restored the home in the 1960s. Whitecotton retired from the Missouri Highway Patrol in 1965 after over 30 years on the job; he once served as warden of the Missouri State Penitentiary. He was involved in a shootout with the infamous Barrow Gang in 1933. Whitecotton served as a local councilman until he died in 1987; a local police station was named in his honor. Ivy Terrace is within the Capitol Avenue Historic District and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. The house is one of the most intact examples in the city of the Queen Anne architectural style. The home is one of the historic houses in the Capitol Avenue Urban Renewal Plan approved by the Jefferson City Council in 2016. Renovations are being planned by a new owner who has been approved by the council in early 2020.

Ivy Terrace is a Queen Anne style historic home built in 1893, that was the home of Governor Lawrence V. ("Lon") Stevens. Stevens was the State Treasurer when he had the house constructed. The huge Victorian home has about six bedrooms and seven baths and offers nearly 6,000 square feet of living space. As part of its mission to fight blight in urban Jefferson City, Ivy Terrace and five other nearby historic homes nearby (dating from 1875 to 1920) were acquired in 2019 by the Jefferson City Housing Authority and offered for redevelopment. The house was slightly damaged in a tornado that struck the town recently. Dozens of potential buyers viewed the Ivy Terrace home during open houses, and a redevelopment plan was accepted in February 2020, with details to be announced.

Ivy Terrace

The first library (a subscription library) was established in 1871 by the Jefferson City Library Association. However, it did not last long and in the coming years subsequent attempts also failed. Finally in 1898, another subscription library was established and this time it remained open. It had 300 subscribers who paid an annual fee of three dollars and over the next three years collected 1,700 books were collected.Although it was successful, some in the community called for a free public library. In 1900, two local pastors wrote to Andrew Carnegie requesting funds. By then, Carnegie had been donating grants to communities to build libraries around the country for several years. He offered to pay $25,000 on the condition that the city buy a property for the library and agree to spend $3,000 annually to maintain it. The pastors worried that the city would not be willing to commit to that so they traveled to New York City in hopes of visiting Carnegie in person to discuss the matter. He declined and stated he would not grant the funds unless the city agreed to his conditions. In the end, the residents voted overwhelmingly (839-42) in favor of a tax to provide the annual maintenance funds.Construction began in 1900 and was completed in 1902. The community used the auditorium for a variety of purposes. It was used by many civic organizations and a local theater company called The Little Theatre originated here. The children's section featured fairy tale murals painted by local students but they seem to have been painted over. The library became part of the county library system in 1947 and it operated until the early 1970s. It was set to be demolished but residents rallied to save it. It is one of the few Carnegie library buildings remaining in the state.

Now home to the Cole County Assessor, the former Carnegie Library remains a landmark structure in Jefferson City. The library was built in 1902 and like 2508 other libraries across the United States, it was named in honor of Andrew Carnegie as his matching grant supplied half of the funds needed to construct the building. Over the next seven decades, the building not only served as a library but also as an entertainment and civic venue. The reading room and books were located on the first floor (the children's section was in the basement) and an auditorium was located on the second. A fine example of Classical architecture, the library was designed by local architecture firm Miller &amp; Opel.

Carnegie Library, Jefferson City 

Henry Hobson Richardson contrived the Romanesque Revival style in the 1870s and 1880s, emphasizing a new combination of older elements: massive, round arches, steep roofs and turrets, and incised decorative stonework. The defining elements for this building are: stone construction; a rectangular plan; arched and flat-topped windows; a tall, centrally located clock tower rising above the roof; steeply-pitched wall dormers above the cornice on each façade; and a slightly projected central section on the main façade accented by projecting entrance porches. This is the third courthouse for Cole, established as a county in 1820, with the capital at Marion. In 1829, plans were made to move the capitol to Jefferson City and sell the county buildings erected in Marion. The first county court held in Jefferson City was held in a log cabin near the present courthouse and a log jail house was built. The second county courthouse was a two-story stone structure on the corner of High and Monroe, facing Monroe, finished in 1836. The contract for this third county courthouse was made in 1896 and the building, designed by local architect Fred B. Miller, was completed by the following year. The State Senate met within the Cole County Courthouse in 1911, after a fire damaged the State Capitol. Only seven years later, it was the Courthouse's turn to be ravaged by fire. Although the first floor and basement remained intact after the fire, with just water and smoke damage to be fixed, the second story and higher needed to be rebuilt with new stone. The 1896 design was essentially reused in the 1918 to 1919 rebuild. Twelve other county courthouses in the Romanesque Revival style were still standing in Missouri in 1972 when the Cole County Courthouse was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Cole's was the sixth county courthouse to be build in this style; a thirteenth in the state had been demolished by 1972. While the Sherriif and Jail, and many other county departments, have moved to modern buildings, the Cole County Circuit Court remains within the Courthouse. Cole County is celebrating its bicentennial in 2020. President Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise in 1820, with Missouri coming into the union as a slave state, and Maine as a free state. The Missouri General Assembly first met in September 1820 in St. Louis; Cole County was established on the banks of the Missouri River in November 1820. The county had no towns at that point, but the town of Marion had been platted on the Missouri River near present-day Boonville. Jefferson City was founded in 1825, and became the state capital in 1826. Besides holding special events in 2020, including a special tour of Marion, the county has minted commemorative coins for sale and is raffling off a special rifle made for the occasion by the Historical Armory of Missouri Walnut. Never fear if you don't snag a bicentennial rifle - the bicentennial commission has ordered a small batch of "Cole County 200 Missouri Bourbon Whiskey" from Blacksmith Artisanal Spirits of Lohman. But wait - there's more! Local microbrewery Prison Brews will be creating a special beer made with bicentennial hops.

The Cole County Courthouse in Jefferson City was built in the Romanesque Revival style, a popular form for Missouri courthouse buildings in the late nineteenth century. The structure was built as the third courthouse for the county, and the second in Jefferson City, after the county seat was moved here from Marion in the 1830s. The massive stone courthouse with a county jail was completed in 1897. The building was gutted by a fire in March 1918 that started in the central clock tower; the corner pavilions collapsed due to the damage. The first floor and basement remained intact, but new stone was required to rebuild the second story and higher. Rebuilding began in October 1918 by Louis Schell. Don't miss the bicentennial events the county has planned for 2020 - see below for info on whiskey and beer being made just for the occasion.

Cole County Courthouse and Jail-Sheriff's House

Willis Porter Corwin was born in Jefferson City in 1899. By his teenage years he became the city's first-known amateur radio operator. The shack was at the base of a wooden tower he built in his parent's backyard. He also hand-built a spark-gap transmitter, Marconi-style antenna, and power supply. The antenna was attached to the top of the tower and reached a height of 85 feet. Corwin was one of the first radio operators in the country to receive a call sign (9ABD) from the federal government.After learning that the military needed radio operators to serve in World War I, Corwin enlisted, becoming the first from Jefferson City to do so. He enlisted a month before graduating from high school but earned his diploma in absentia. He served in France with the U.S. Naval Reserves as Chief Electrician (Radio) and as a wireless operator on the troopship he took to Europe. He also served in Navy installations in Great Lakes, Illinois, and Manistique, Michigan.As noted above, when he returned to Jefferson City Corwin built the city's first AM radio station, WOS, for the state department of agriculture. It was located in the dome of the capitol building. He also played a role in building radio station KSD in St. Louis for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He made strides in wire-photo transmission while working on the station. Unfortunately, Corwin suffered from mental health issues which forced him to live at the V.A. Home in Knoxville, Iowa for the last 29 years of his life. He died on January 27, 1959 (42 years to the day of the first transcontinental relay) and was laid to rest in the Jefferson City National Cemetery.

This historical marker commemorates the life and accomplishments of engineer and radio pioneer Wilis Porter. In a shack at this location on the night of January 27, 1917, eighteen-year-old and amateur radio operator Willis Porter Corwin received and transmitted three Morse code messages from Denver and sent them to Albany, New York. On that day, he was part of an amateur radio team that sent the messages from Los Angeles, California to Hartford, Connecticut. This relay was the first successful one-way transcontinental radio transmission in U.S. history. Corwin participated in another experiment two weeks later in which a message was successfully sent in both directions in a span of eighty minutes. After serving in World War I, Corwin built the city's first commercial AM radio station.

Willis Porter Corwin Historical Marker

The Benjamin Gratz Brown House is one of three in a brick row house building, designed in the Federal Style by St. Louis architect John Ingham Barnett. Barnett was the architect for a contemporaneous project nearby, the Governor's Mansion. Brown became the Governor of Missouri in 1870. Brown was the grandson of two U.S. Senators and graduated from Yale Law School.Brown married Elizabeth Gunn, the daughter of Calvin Gunn, a printer by trade, former Mayor of Jefferson City, and owner of the lot, in 1858. The property transferred to her after her father died and Benjamin, who was then governor of Missouri, became the trustee. Mrs. Brown grew up in a log house formerly on the lot where the rowhouses were built. Elizabeth was only 15 years old when she met Benjamin; she married the 32-year-old St. Louis legislator and editor of the Missouri Democrat newspaper three months later. The former governor's mansion was razed in October 1871 and the new mansion was not ready for occupancy until January 1872. In the interim, it is thought that Brown and his family lived in the row house building that Brown commissioned to be built. Brown's mother-in-law and sister-in-law are said to have lived in the rowhouses.The three parts of the structure have 109, 111, and 113 Madison Street addresses. The three parts were sold separately after 1881. The 109 house became a boarding house and later was used for office space. The Cole County Historical Society purchased the building in 1946 and completed renovations two years later. Later, 111 Madison Street was added to the historical society's holdings.Docents offer tours of the museum at a cost of $3 per person ($2 for age 55+, $1 for schoolchildren, free under 5). A new elevator makes all floors of the museum wheelchair-accessible. Many items in the Brown Room were donated by descendants of Benjamin and Elizabeth. Also displayed are furniture and items from the mansion of the first mayor, Thomas Lawson Price; that mansion was demolished to build the Missouri Supreme Court building. The society also houses the James Library, the DeLong Room which displays first ladies of Missouri's gowns, and the McHenry Room on the Civil War.Behind the rowhouses, the Margaret Upschulte House now stands. The circa 1865 structure was moved to this location from the 300 block of W. High Street in 1980. The brick house is part of the historical society and is used for social functions.

The Cole County Historical Society is a local, non-profit organization in Jefferson City, Missouri dedicated towards educating the public about the county's history through the collection and preservation of historical artifacts and other materials. The society operates a museum, housed in the Benjamin Gratz Brown House. Docents provide tours from Tuesday to Saturday, 1 to 3 pm. Admission charges are $3 pre person, with discounts for age 55+ and schoolchildren. Ages five and under, as well as Historical society members, get admitted at no cost. Brown was elected the twentieth Governor of Missouri in 1870. He had these triple rowhouses constructed around 1871 on his wife's family's lot. One was used for housing while a new Governor's Mansion was being built, and then as a home for his mother-in-law and sister-in-law. The Benjamin Gratz Brown House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

Cole County Historical Society (Benjamin Gratz Brown House) 

Construction began in 1871 and took only 8 months to complete. Inmates from the nearby Missouri State Penitentiary built the house. Originally it had 13 bedrooms and no closets or bathrooms. During the past 50 years or so, first lady's have led efforts to restore and preserve the building and its furnishings. In the late 1970s,&nbsp;First Lady Carolyn Bond started the Docent Program, where volunteers dress up in era clothing and lead tours. The most recent renovations took place in 2008.

Built in 1871, the Missouri Governor's Mansion is located near the state capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri. The first governor to take up residence there was Benjamin Gratz Brown (in office from January 1871-January 1873). It was designed by English native George Ingham Barnett in the Second Empire style, which was popular at the time. The style is distinguished by the use of a steep roof, which allows for another living space on the top floor. The home was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

Missouri Governor's Mansion

The Missouri Legislature designated Jefferson City as the permanent seat of government in January 1822, mainly because of its central location and river access. In 1824, Samuel Jamison purchased several parcels of land in the new capital city at a public auction, which he sold in 1834 to Richard Shackleford, who is believed to have built the first section of Lohman's Landing Building. Shackelford sold the historic property and Landing Building to Harvey Colgan, a building contractor, in 1836. Colgan's accomplishments included constructing the old Governor's mansion (used 1834 - 1871) and, it is believed, substantially expanded the Landing Building. Colgan sold the property in 1838 to James A. Crump, who built the final stages (and completed) of what is now the Lohman Building; it stood as Jefferson City's largest structure, eclipsing the 1826-built Capitol-Executive Mansion Building. The building was initially known as Jefferson Landing until Lohman, a Prussian immigrant, purchased the structure in 1852. In addition to the structure's ownership change and name modification, immigration (notably from German-speaking regions of Europe) and the arrival of the railroad in 1855 brought profound changes to the city. Crop failures and political upheaval in German-speaking regions of Europe led to nearly one million Germans immigrating to the United States during the 1850s. By establishing German enclaves in American cities, German immigrants were able to maintain their cultural traditions, religions, and language; two distinct German neighborhoods formed in Jefferson City. Lohman arrived in Jefferson City in 1848 and went on to operate a prosperous inn, store, and warehouse business in the Landings Building (where he also lived). Lohman and his brother-in-law, Charles Maus, purchased the building in 1852 and remained its owner until 1874. Maus also built a hotel across the street from the Lohman Building in 1855. The hotel initially went by the name of the Missouri Hotel, and then later the Veranda Hotel. But, when Maus returned from the Civil War, he renamed it the Union Hotel.  Lohman's Landing Building and the Union Hotel first benefited from the arrival of the Pacific Railroad in 1855. The rail company also purchased a dozen steamboats to connect with trains in Jefferson City, allowing the town to benefit from both its rail and water traffic. An advertisement of that period stated that passengers could travel from Kansas City to St. Louis in fifty hours via the combination of steamboats and railroads, a rather speedy travel time during the 1850s. Lohman's Landing Building initially housed a grocery store and public house (tavern) that served as the city's center of cultural life; riverboat men and politicians routinely gathered there. Later, the building added offices used as an agent's headquarters  for steamboat companies (Star Line and St. Louis-Omaha Packet Company) and as Wharf-Master's s office as established by the City Board of Aldermen in 1859. From 1905 until the mid-1960s, two shoe companies occupied the building. The government purchased the building during the 1960s with plans to raze the structures, but grassroots movements saved the buildings from destruction. Instead, a renovation project commenced, restoring Maus' house, the Union Hotel, and Lohman's Landing Building, which re-opened on July 4, 1776, the U.S. bicentennial celebration. Today, the building and district survive as one of the few reminders of the city's pre-railroad era and one of the many relics of the influx of German immigrants in Jefferson City during the mid- and late-nineteenth century.

Initially known as Jefferson's Landing Building for its first two decades of existence, Lohman's Landing Building first served the community during the pre-railroad era, and then when railroads and steamboat traffic worked in tandem. The Landing Building handled the supplies and served the persons entering the city via the Missouri River, which acted as a superhighway into Jefferson City before the railroad arrived. The historic commercial building is located within the Jefferson Landing State Historic Site, a state-owned historic district that also includes the Christopher Maus House and the Union Hotel, built by Christopher's brother, Charles Maus. Charles F. Lohman and the Maus brothers came to Jefferson City from Prussia at a time when millions of Germans immigrated to the U.S., including to Jefferson City.

Lohman's Landing Building

When Missouri became a state in 1826, the end of Jefferson Street soon became a hub of economic activity and dubbed "the landing". The Lohman Building was built in 1839 and would serve as a grocery store, warehouse, tavern, telegraph office, and hotel. When the Pacific Railroad started using the site in the early 1850s, activity increased even more and the landing became an important transfer point for goods. This prompted the construction of a hotel across the street in 1855 (the owner changed the name to the Union Hotel after the Civil War). After the 1870s, business declined as railroads took over from water transportation. The buildings were then used as storehouses and tenements and later as part of Tweedy Footwear Corp. They were saved from demolition in the early 1970s and were restored in 1976 and designated as a state historic site preserving a rare example of a Missouri River landing.

The Jefferson Landing Historic Site is an historic area located in Jefferson City, Missouri, situated just east of the state capitol building. It is comprised of two historic structures: the Lohman Building, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, and the Union Hotel. The Lohman Building has been restored as an 1850s general store and warehouse. A film about the history of Jefferson City is also shown there. The Union Hotel houses the Elizabeth Rozier Gallery, which presents rotating exhibits about Missouri history, art and culture. Admission to the site and both buildings is free.

Jefferson Landing Historic Site

The expedition officially launched on May 4, 1804 from Camp Wood which was on the east side of the Mississippi River near present-day Wood River, Illinois. The crew consisted of around 40-45 men (and Seaman, who survived the whole journey) who traveled on a keelboat and smaller boats called pirogues. By the time they reached the Jefferson City area, the men had sailed for 22 days and covered 145 miles. From June 1-3, they camped west of the city at a base of a hill called Clark's Hill, which, at the time, was located at the confluence of the Missouri and Osage Rivers. The top of a hill is a site called called Clark's Hill/Norton State Historic Site and features a trail, interpretive panels, and an overlook. It also preserves five Indian mounds, two of which Clark described in his journal (the other three were discovered later). The lush landscape and wildlife in the area impressed the crew. The men admired the bluffs and noted the abundant oak, ash, walnut, hickory, mulberry and sugar maple trees. At the mouth of the Moreau River, Clark heard a bird that reminded him of a nightingale and named a nearby creek after it. The expedition departed on June 3 and sailed 17.5 miles up the river and camped near a tall, isolated rocky outcropping called Sugar Loaf Rock, which is difficult to reach and on private land. In 1804 the river was wider than it is today and reached the base of the rock.

Located just down the street from the state capitol building, this monument commemorates the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which passed what is now Jefferson City on June 4, 1804. It consists of five bronze statues depicting expedition leaders Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Lewis' Newfoundland dog Seaman, Clark's African-American slave York, and George Drouillard, who was an interpreter, hunter and trapper. The monument is part of a plaza featuring interpretive panels describing the expedition and the Jefferson City Greenway, which is a multi-use trail that runs throughout the city.

Lewis and Clark Monument

In 1919, the Missouri General Assembly designated the first floor of the east wing of the <a href="https://mostateparks.com/page/55186/missouri-state-capitol" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Capitol </a>as the Missouri Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and placed it under the care of the Adjutant General's office. Two year's later, in 1921, the Missouri Resources Museum was created on the first floor of the Capitol's west wing under the Resources Museum Commission, which was charged with the responsibility to collect and place on permanent exhibit examples of the products, flora and fauna of Missouri. The two museums were combined in 1923, and designated collectively as the&nbsp;Missouri State Museum&nbsp;under the management of the Resources Museum Commission.The&nbsp;Missouri Department of Natural Resources/Missouri State Parks took over the museum in 1978. The Missouri State Museum houses an impressive collection of&nbsp;exhibits that portray Missouri's cultural and natural history in its two main exhibit halls - the History Hall and the Resources Hall. There are also exhibits with changing artifacts in the Missouri Veterans Gallery and the Foundations Gallery (state government and the State Capitol). A series of traveling exhibits can be used as educational tools by schools, civic and other groups. Interpretive staff offers various educational programs on aspects of Missouri's natural and cultural history.The Missouri State Museum is responsible for a large collection of artifacts that consists of approximately 30,000 artifacts and objects from all aspects of Missouri cultural and natural history that have been collected since the museum's inception. The museum's collections include more than 130 Civil War flags and a large collection of World War I flags. Museum staff is currently trying to conserve these fragile textiles and have conserved approximately 53 of the flags as of June 2014.&nbsp;

The Missouri State Museum is located in the Missouri State Capitol. There are two galleries on the main floor that provide exhibits portraying the state's natural and cultural history. Museum staff provide tours of the Capitol and also manage Jefferson Landing State Historic Site, including the Elizabeth Rozier Gallery. The museum is operated by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources/Missouri State Parks.

Missouri State Museum

Missouri women quickly organized to advocate for suffrage, utilizing their networks from previous reform and war aid work. The Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri formed in 1867, one of the earliest such organizations in the United States. Missouri women asked the state legislature for a suffrage amendment eighteen times between 1867 and 1901 with no success. In 1868 the 14th Amendment was ratified to the Constitution and Missouri suffrage leaders argued that the 14th Amendment protected a women’s right to the vote. Virginia Minor and her husband Frank advocated for a strategy where women showed up to polling places and asked to register for the vote. After Virginia Minor was turned away from the St. Louis County Courthouse in 1872, the Minors sued the city registrar, Reese Happersett, in a case that advanced to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the case Minor v. Happersett (1874) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution did not grant suffrage to anyone and reaffirmed that it was the power of the states to decide who could vote. In the 1910s Missouri women continued to push for suffrage and in March 1919 the state passed legislation allowing women to vote only in presidential elections. A few months later Missouri was the 11th state to ratify the 19th Amendment on July 3, 1919.

Missouri Ratifies the 19th Amendment, July 3, 1919

Jefferson City became Missouri's state capital in 1826, the same year the first capitol building was finished after a construction period of three years. It burned down in 1837 but the second capitol building was completed by 1840. A fire, however, destroyed that one, too, in 1911 after a lightning bolt struck the dome. Shortly thereafter, the current building was authorized to be constructed, on the same high bluff overlooking the Missouri River. By 1917, the building was finished. It is supported by 285 concrete piers standing on bedrock from 20 to 50 feet below ground surface. Including its wings, the building is 437 feet long by 200 feet wide. Carthage, Missouri limestone forms the building's exterior surfaces and much of its flooring.Several artists, including Alexander Calder, were commissioned to create artwork for the building. Ceres, the goddess of grain, tops the lantern of the dome; the bronze figure honors the state's agricultural heritage. Inside the dome hangs a 9,000-pound chandelier. The painted works of Frank Brangwyn grace the dome's interior. Another impressive interior feature is the grand staircase from the portico to the third floor and 30 feet wide.In 1935, artist Thomas Hart Benton painted a mural in the House Lounge that depicted everyday life over time in Missouri; its vivid depiction of the underbelly of life in the state sparked controversy. Scenes of slavery, lynching, a baby's bare bottom, and poverty offended some of the more sensitive viewers but the mural has endured.All four floors of the capitol are open to the public, including the State Museum on the ground floor.

Built from 1913 to 1917, the Missouri State Capitol is located Jefferson City and is the seat of the state government. It is the state's third capitol building. Like other state capitol buildings, it was designed in the Classical Revival style. Its most prominent feature, the dome, rises 262 feet from the basement floor. The building houses the Missouri State History Museum, which is operated by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The capitol was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

Missouri State Capitol

The Missouri General Assembly chose Jefferson City to act as the state capital in 1821, deeming its central location with access to waterways (steamboats), and roads (horses) as beneficial to the newly-formed state. By 1826, more than thirty families called Jefferson City their home, and the legislature met in the city's new capitol building. Its establishment as the capital and as a growing town pushed investors to bring railways into the city in later decades, further demonstrating Jefferson City's significance during the nineteenth century. Still, while more than 6,700 people lived in Jefferson City by 1890, numerous other Missouri towns exceeded Jefferson City in terms of population, commercial activity, and economic growth. Many even proposed moving the state capital to other towns (and many towns vied for that opportunity). However, when a fire destroyed the state capitol in 1911, the legislature decided to rebuild the building, ostensibly ending any discussion about moving the capital to another Missouri city. Once the state firmly established Jefferson City as its capital after the fire, speculators and business people felt confident in investing in the city. Before 1911, Jefferson City mainly supported residences, small businesses, and government buildings. But after the rebuilding of the capitol building, the town's commercial development and population boomed. Indeed, between 1910 and 1930, Jefferson City's geographical size expanded by forty-seven percent, and its population grew by eighty-two percent; Jefferson City stood as the state's seventh largest city at the dawn of the Great Depression. As the city grew, commercial and institutional development took over residential neighborhoods located around the Capitol, concurrent with a significant portion of the town's population moving away from the city to newly annexed suburbs. However, in the blocks just east of the capitol building, apartment buildings arose to accommodate those who could not afford or did not desire to own their own home. George Tergin, a local businessman and Greek immigrant, built one of the apartment buildings as a home for himself and his family as well as a source of additional income. Tergin immigrated to the United States at age fourteen with his uncle in 1916. Tergin quickly learned English and took a job sweeping factory floors before getting a job at a restaurant and a bakery. By age sixteen, only two years after arriving in the country, Tergin had saved $5,000, allowing him to buy a cleaning business in Jefferson City from his friend in 1918. Tergin and Aurania operated Central Cleaners; they managed the business until they mutually retired in 1976. In 1937, during a visit back to Greece, Tergin met and married his wife, Aurania. In 1938, Tergin hired firms to construct an apartment building for him and his family. Construction on the building began during the summer of 1938 and began renting to tenants in 1939. The Tergin Apartment Building design draws from both Art Deco and Art Moderne stylistic elements. Although houses built during the 1920s rarely exhibited characteristics associated with the exceptionally popular Art Deco movement of the 1920s, apartment buildings often enjoyed the trendy style. But, the Great Depression of the 1930s steered designers away from the highly-ornate Art Deco style towards a design style referred to as Art Moderne. Although Art Moderne enjoyed some Art Deco characteristics, it exhibited less ornamental excesses. The Tergin Apartment Building is one of the few Jefferson City buildings with a Modernistic Movement design, comprised of features from both styles. George Tergin raised his family in the apartment building he had constructed. Until a 1990s rehabilitation occurred, which forced him to temporarily move in with his son, Jim, and his family, he had lived in the building since it opened in 1939.

Constructed from 1938 to 1939, this historic apartment building is one of only a few Art Deco and Art Modern buildings in Jefferson City. The style of this structure combined the two Modernistic styles according to a design by builder, owner, and resident, George Tergin. Tergin came to the United States from Greece and opened a successful shoe-shining and hat-cleaning shop, followed by a dry-cleaning business. The apartments were constructed at a time when many people moved into (or built) new homes located in the outskirts or suburbs of Jefferson City. The apartments served those who remained in the city but needed affordable yet comfortable and modern housing.

Tergin Apartment Building

The building's initial history as a church (1874 - 1915) speaks to the neighborhood's association with the influx of German immigrants into the U.S., including Jefferson City, during the second half of the nineteenth century. The initial German Americans that settled in Jefferson City during the 1850s came during a time of crop failures as well as political and cultural unrest in German-speaking regions of Europe. Nearly one million Germans immigrated to America during the 1850s. By establishing German enclaves in American cities, German immigrants were able to maintain their cultural traditions and language. Munichburg emerged as one of two distinct German American neighborhoods that formed during the 1850s in Jefferson City. German Americans located in Cole, Cooper, Moniteau, and Osage Counties formally organized the congregation of the German Methodist Episcopal Church in 1846 by members in Cole, Cooper, Moniteau, and Osage Counties. The church incorporated in 1873, and then construction on the now-historic structure (Thomas House) took place from 1874 - 1875. Church membership declined steadily towards the turn of the twentieth century. Though evidence suggests the congregation hoped to build a new church building, possibly to boost membership, no records exist of any serious move to build a new facility. The dwindling membership coupled with anti-German sentiment during World War I led to the church's dissolving in 1915. The neighborhood also underwent a considerable cultural shift during the 1910s, no longer existing as a true German enclave. Albert and Wilhelmina Thomas, German immigrants who came to Jefferson City around the year 1900, and their five children joined the German-speaking Central Evangelical Church.Wilhelmina's parents strongly disapproved of her choice to marry Albert, a man from a different faith and in a lower economic class. Albert grew up in Germany as a Protestant peasant while Wilhelmina was raised as a more well-to-do Catholic. In fact, Wilhelmina's parents refused to accompany her to the train station to say their goodbyes before Albert and Wilhelmina departed for the United States prior to 1900. The couple sought to move to a German enclave, although no evidence exists to explain their choice to move to Jefferson City (specifically Munichburg) rather than other locations. Nevertheless, Munichburg served their desire to live among Germans. Indeed, although neighbors taught Albert and Wilhelmina English, Wilhelmina chose to read German newspapers for the rest of her life.After the building sat vacant for a time, a garage and upholstery shop occupied the shop for a few years before Albert Thomas purchased the building. In addition to converting the church building into a duplex, Thomas, a barber and builder by trade, built two homes on the same block. Thomas developed the duplex to house both himself and his wife, Wilhelmina, as well as his youngest child (of five) Edna Thomas Schroeder. Edna married Walter A. Schroeder in 1930, with the ceremony taking place in the newly-remodeled home's garden. After a brief honeymoon, they returned and moved into the home. Similar to many families during the Great Depression, the Thomas family moved upstairs and rented the lower level. Later, parts of the second floor were rented as well. Edna and Walter remained in the home throughout the twentieth century; Walter died in 1966, while Edna died in 2000. However, the home remains in the family; Edna's granddaughter owns and lives in the house as of 2022.

Originally a German Methodist Episcopal Church in 1874 serving the German American Munichburg neighborhood, Albert and Wilhelmina Thomas converted it into a duplex in 1929-1930. In between its time as a church and as Thomas' residence, the structure acted as a garage and upholstery shop. Both its history as a church and home to German immigrants speaks to the nature of the neighborhood as a thriving German enclave. Although the character of the area changed profoundly after the 1910s, the home remains in the family (as of 2022).

Albert and Wilhelmina Thomas House (Walter and Edna Schroeder House)

Henry Bockrath worked as a merchant and industrialist after immigrating to the U.S. (St. Louis) at age sixteen from Hanover, Germany, in 1852. After establishing a successful dry goods store in St. Louis, he married the Prussian-born Elizabeth Borkcrath. The couple did not come to Jefferson City until 1885 after years spent in St. Louis and Florissant, Missouri, where Henry operated a store and shoe factory. Bockrath retired from his shoe-factory business and subsequently built and moved into the historic house in 1899, located in the Munichburg neighborhood, established by German immigrants in the 1850s. The neighborhood had shifted to a more culturally diverse population by the time they arrived. The initial German Americans that settled in Jefferson City during the 1850s came during a time of political and cultural unrest (and crop failures) in Germany. Indeed, nearly one million Germans immigrated to America during the 1850s. By establishing German enclaves in American cities, German immigrants were able to maintain their cultural traditions and language. Two distinct German American neighborhoods emerged in Jefferson City, one initially established by Catholics and the other (in Munichburg), predominantly inhabited by Protestants. Munichburg remained culturally German after the Civil War but less divided along religious lines, as demonstrated by the Catholic Bockrath family settling in Munichburg. The influx of German immigrants built homes with designs taken from their homeland, usually mixed with ideas adapted from American and French styles, generally consisting of brick construction. Many German immigrants came from northern Germany, where brick construction was prevalent. And in contrast to rural U.S. areas where wood and stone were readily available and cheap, brick availability and cost made it popular among builders in urban communities. As such, brick kilns and brick sales emerged as one of the first industries in Missouri-German towns; the first brick kiln arose in Jefferson City in 1826. The Henry and Elizabeth Bockrath House house, with its limestone foundation and decorative brick exterior walls, reflects this trend of brick usage. The Second Empire design, part of the broader Victorian Styles that proved popular during the late nineteenth century in the U.S., including the Munichburg neighborhood from around 1885 to c. 1897, was usually built for successful upper-middle-class merchants and business people, including Bockrath. The term, Second Empire speaks to the French designs associated with the reign of Napoleon III (1852-1870), or the nation's "second empire." Under Napolean III, famed urban planner Eugene Haussmann and other builders transformed Paris into a city of grand boulevards and large buildings enjoying Renaissance-inspired architecture. The Second Empire architectural trend spread throughout Europe and the U.S. during the nineteenth century.Henry Bockrath arrived in Jefferson City near the beginning of a population and commercial construction boom. By the turn of the century, three railroad lines served Jefferson City, the city's infrastructure had improved profoundly, and the city completed a bridge across the Missouri River around the turn of the century. In 1896, Bockrath established the H. Bockrath Shoe Company (1896), and despite paying for workers instead of using prison labor as many of its competitors did, the company enjoyed success. (The use of prison labor existed as a legal practice until 1915.) The shoe company more than tripled its workforce, going from 40 to 150 employees by 1900. However, while they refrained from using prison labor, evidence suggests they employed children (boys and girls), which would have been legal at the time. So, some of the workforce, possibly as many as fifty employees, were children or teenagers. Typical of early German Americans, and in the era before the automobile and streetcars, the Bockrath family and company directors lived only a few blocks from work and close to each other.Henry Bockrath retired from the business in 1900 at age 63, leaving his son George to manage the company. It is believed that George managed the company until it closed in roughly 1908. George was one of nine Bockrath children who survived to adulthood; Henry and Elizabeth had twenty-four grandchildren by their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 1914. Around 1910, George and his family moved to Joliet, Illinois, while Henry and Elizabeth returned to St. Louis in 1911. The Munichburg neighborhood the Bockrath family left behind still enjoyed strong German cultural influences by the 1910s. Still, people of different religions, cultures, and nationalities had all slowly moved into the area, reflected by the schools built, which spoke to the "Americanization" of the neighborhood. Anti-German sentiment grew during World War I, making it more challenging for German Americans to maintain their culture. By the 1930s and 1940s, the community had changed profoundly, including many German-built homes torn down and replaced with apartments; thus, the Bockrath home stands as one of the few survivors of a time when the area served as a German enclave.

Built in 1899, the Henry and Elizabeth Bockrath House is a two-story, Second Empire style dwelling constructed with a red brick exterior on a limestone foundation. The red brick usage speaks to the influx of German American builders and designers who routinely preferred brick. The Second Empire style, derived from architecture associated with the urban redesign of Paris during the 1850s and 1860s, grew exceptionally popular in the U.S. during the second half of the nineteenth century. The home stood in the Munichburg neighborhood, a name that speaks to the abundance of German Americans living there. The Bockrath family built the house at a time when the German enclave slowly transitioned into a neighborhood of mixed cultures.

Henry and Elizabeth Bockrath House

Like many nineteenth residents of Jefferson City, Hess was a German immigrant. Many of the roughly seven million people that immigrated to the United States from German-speaking regions during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries settled on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. As early as 1860, Missouri had almost 90,000 German-born residents, most of whom lived near the Missouri or Mississippi Rivers. After the Civil War, the populations of several small towns in the area consisted almost entirely of German-speaking residents. German immigrants comprised four of the six members of Jefferson City's first Board of Education in 1867. By 1870, German-born people made up nearly fifteen percent of Jefferson City and vicinity residents. Robert R. Jefferson served as the lot's first owner when he acquired the historic land from the U.S. government in 1857. He likely built the home and then sold the house and land in 1864 to Charles and Katherine Schulz. German immigrant Philip Hess acquired the property in January 1865, then purchased the adjacent lot in March 1865, expanding the property to its current size. The Hess family lived on the upper floor, while the lowest floor supported the family business. Hess owned a traveling meat wagon and operated a grocery store and butcher's shop out of the now-historic home. In addition to his work, Philip Hess founded the German Evangelical Church. Before constructing a new church building, the Hess family hosted church meetings in their residence. The Philip Hess House is arguably the best example of an early German Vernacular house in the Munichburg neighborhood. The influx of German immigrants built homes with designs taken from their homeland, usually mixed with ideas adapted from American and French styles referred to as German-Vernacular. The predominant feature among the homes involves brick construction, as many German immigrants came from northern Germany, where brick construction was prevalent. And in contrast to rural U.S. areas where wood and stone were readily available and cheap, brick availability and cost made it popular among builders in urban communities. As such, brick kilns and brick sales emerged as one of the first industries in Missouri-German towns; the first brick kiln arose in Jefferson City in 1826. The Hess house, with its limestone foundation and brick exterior walls, reflects this German Vernacular style and common usage of brick. Philip's son, John Philip, and John's wife, Caroline Hess, inherited the home in April 1895. John Philip had assisted his father with the store, but after his father's death, he closed the store and worked as a letter carrier, which remained his career for thirty years. John Philip had three children, Selma Katharine Hess, Carl Hess, and Alma Carolyn Hess Heinrich. Alma, married to Victor Heinrich, moved back into the home after Caroline died. Alma gave birth to (and raised) her children in the family home. After three generations of Hess resided in the house, the family sold their residence and former store in 1943.

The Philip Hess House, constructed around the late 1850s or early 1860s, exemplifies the Missouri-German Vernacular architecture in the Munichburg neighborhood and the associated influence of German immigration in the Jefferson City area. German immigrant Philip Hess purchased the home at the end of the Civil War in 1865, and the house remained in the family until the 1940s. The home is the oldest surviving house on its block and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Philip Hess House

The house sits on a block once owned by Wilhelm and Wilhelmina Schmidt, who purchased the property from Adam and Levi Routsnong at the end of the Civil War in 1865. Wilhelm and Wilhelmina married in 1854 after emigrating from Germany. They settled in a Bavarian enclave within Jefferson City. Indeed, by 1870, German-born people made up nearly fifteen percent of Jefferson City and vicinity residents. The Charles J. and Clara B. Schmidt House, constructed in 1897, mainly consists of a German Vernacular design, but some Victorian details speak to the influence of American architecture. Some indications point to Charles as the home's builder, but the concrete proof to support that argument is lacking. However, Wilhelm, a horticulturist, planted a large elm tree in the backyard of the historic house, which still stands today. Although Charles Schmidt was the property's first resident owner, his mother, Wilhelmina Schmidt, owned the property and rented it to the home's first resident, Joseph Weiss. When he passed away in 1905, Wilhelmina transferred the house to Charles. Eight years prior, in 1893, Charles married Clara, and they went on to have eight children. As a result, Charles enlarged the house to accommodate his large family. After Wilhelmina died in 1919, at the age of 91, the block she owned was subdivided, platted, and given the name "Schmidt's Subdivision."Charles enjoyed success as a carpenter, and he became president of the local carpenter's union in 1913. Craftsman unions increased substantially after the 1890s. Between 1860 and 1910, the U.S. population tripled, as did the nation's industrial workforce; many comprised of immigrants. The Gilded-Age clash between business owners and workers led to numerous unions, strikes and sometimes violent worker uprisings. The establishment of the American Federation of Labor, a national federation of unions for skilled workers, gave greater strength to the skilled labor movement. And carpenters regularly joined unions; membership in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters reached 200,000 by 1910, and then 400,000 by 1920.Charles also participated in singing groups while Clara led in organizing activities for the German Evangelical Central Church. They maintained much of their German heritage, helped partly by the abundance of German Americans in Jefferson City. Charles lived in the house until 1943, and the historic home remained in the Schmidt family until 1991, when the estate of Pauline Schmidt, daughter of Charles J. and Clara B. Schmidt, sold the house.

Built in 1897, The Charles Julius and Clara Bosch Schmidt House, an example of Missouri German Vernacular, survives as the oldest remaining building on its block. The block, part of a German enclave, later became divided and platted as Schmidt's Subdivision. Charles J. Schmidt, the first resident owner, worked as a carpenter and homebuilder. Schmidt likely subdivided this land himself, intending to build houses on the lots. Missouri-German builders contributed to the Missouri-German Vernacular architecture of the neighborhood, which speaks to the abundance of German immigrants that came to Missouri during the period.

Charles J. And Clara B. Schmidt House

TheGertrude and Nelson Burch House is set back from the road, on the back half of a high, level lot. The house is the oldest one left on its block but not the oldest in its Munichburg Historic District. The front façade of the house has barely changed since the 1860s. The house was listed in the National Register for its significance in architecture, as a good example of the Italianate style as modified in the Munichburg (Historic Southside) neighborhood. The house is a kind of toned down Italianate house, with simpler details and German vernacular styled windows. The home exterior is painted brick and three bays wide. The wide eaves are supported by prominent but not fancy brackets, and the windows are segmentally arched with wooden shutters. The hipped roof features a raised flat platform; the original roof, as seen on the 1869 Bird's Eye View of Jefferson City, had a railing around the edge of the platform, called a widow's walk (named for women who would use this high vantagepoint to gaze out to sea, waiting for their captain or sailor husbands to return home; sometimes they never made it back home). The original house was square in plan, but several additions have been made to the rear. The Gertrude and Nelson Burch House also was found to be significant to the ethnic heritage of the neighborhood. Nelson and his brother, Oscar Burch purchased numerous properties in town in the 1860s. One was a lot of about five acres bought in 1867 along West Atchison and Jefferson Streets, part of the current house lot. Nelson Burch served as a clerk of the Missouri Supreme Court and Oscar was his deputy. Nelson was the publisher of the first daily newspaper in Jefferson City, the State Journal. In the late 1880s, Nelson, his family, and some of Oscar's children moved to California. The new owners of the house were a mother and daughter, Elizabeth Wagner and Antonia Wagner Zuendt. Both women were widowed in a local train accident in 1885. Elizabeth's late husband, Christopher, was a second-generation Missouri German who had made a good deal of money during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Christopher was a veteran of the Mexican and Civil Wars and became a businessman in Jefferson City. He was elected Cole County treasurer twice. Elizabeth lived in the home until her death in 1913; she shared the home with two sons, Christopher and Julius, in 1900. Her estate sold her interest in the house to Antonia Zuendt and James J. O'Connor. The house was rented out to a succession of people until being purchased by U.G. Lewellen by the late 1940s. A garage on the rear of the lot, present by 1939, is a contributing structure to the National Register nomination. The five-bedroom home on a three-quarter acre lot features almost 3,000 square feet of living space and a partially finished basement.

The home of Gertrude and Nelson Burch is one of the historic houses in the Southside/Munichburg Historic District. The Italianate style house also is known as the Russell House. It is an example of the modification of the Italianate style with aspects of the Missouri-German vernacular style. The two-story, cube-shaped brick house was built around 1868 on a stone foundation with a hipped roof. The house is visible in a bird's eye view rendering of Jefferson City from 1869. Interior features that have been retained include a marble mantle, hardwood floors, and the original walnut and mahogany staircase. The house was listed in the National Register in 2003 and is the oldest home on the block.

Gertrude and Nelson Burch House

The round arched windows and wide eaves decorated in brackets mark the Italianate style of the Mary and Oscar Burch House. The German-inspired touches are the unpainted red brick walls and segmentally arched windows with wooden shutters. The original house is a two-story house located to the rear of the current house, facing the Capitol, and may be even older than 1869. The house rests on a limestone foundation and the roof is standing seam metal pierced by four chimneys (three of brick along the ridge peaks and one exterior of stone).The house yard, set back from the road at the top of a long set of steps, is surrounded by a wrought iron fence. A garage that would have been a carriage house may date to around 1869 as well and is a contributing structure to the National Register nomination. Just inside the front door is a dramatic, sweeping staircase of walnut with evidence of careful craftsmanship. The front door opens directly into the parlor, with an original mantel. A small round abject visible about five feet off the ground in some locations is an historic speaker system, where folks could communicate with one another on separate floors. The house contains much of the interior integrity and has retained its function as a single-family dwelling.Oscar Goodburn Burch was born in New York State in 1841 and moved with his family to Kentucky, Missouri, and then settled in Keokuk, Iowa. He enlisted in the Union Army in 1862, in the 19th Iowa Infantry, and fought in a number of battles in the Midwest. He spent some time as a prisoner of war and was honorably discharged in 1865. Soon afterwards, Burch came to Jefferson City, where his brother, Nelson, was located. Oscar was made the State Librarian and later served as deputy to Nelson, the clerk of the Supreme Court of Missouri. Oscar married Mary E. Hart, a girl from back in Iowa, in a ceremony in Kentucky in 1866. Mary and Oscar had five children. Oscar later went into the real estate and insurance business with two of his sons, Nelson C. and Edson.Oscar worked with his brother in Nelson's newspaper, the State Journal. Oscar also contributed stories to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. In the 1870s and 1880s, Oscar became postmaster, and then a bookkeeper for the First National Bank. In 1916, Oscar died in Jefferson City at age 74 and was buried in Riverview Cemetery. Mary followed in 1928.

The Mary H. and Oscar G. Burch House was built around the corner from the home of Oscar's brother, Nelson Burch (also a Clio listing) in 1869. This house has also been known as the Sandy House or the Smith House. The gable end of the house is the front of the house, facing Jefferson Street. The house is on high ground on a level lot. The house, like his brother's, was built of brick in the Italianate style, with influences of the simplicity and craftsmanship of Missouri-German vernacular architecture. The couple lived in this house until their deaths in 1916 and 1928. Both houses are part of the National Register Munichburg Historic District and were documented for listing in the National Register in 2002.

History of Jefferson City Missouri Driving Tour

Temple Beth El

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