Ben Holladay, a Kentucky businessman, founded the original distillery here in 1856. Holladay's brother, Major David Holiday, later took over the business which was sold in 1894 to the Shawhan family and then sold again by the 1930s to the Singers brothers. The name of the distillery went from Holladay Distillery to Old Weston Distillery until 1942 when the Singer brothers bought the McCormick name. After 120 years of operation, the distillery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.Over the past century-and-a-half, the distillery has operated with only a brief pause during the era of Prohibition. The company now produces a wide variety of whiskies and produces 30,000 cases daily thanks to a warehouse that can hold up to 22,000 barrels for aging whiskey.The company offers tours that mix history with brand promotion and opportunities to taste their products for those who are of age. The tour begins with the history of the site, including a video in the distillery's "Ancient Cave" which was hand-dug in the mid-1800s. Visitors can also see fermenting tanks, a Kentucky-built copper still, and the barrel warehouses where a cut-used barrel is presented to demonstrate how evaporation happens before bottling.

This distillery is located on a limestone spring that was utilized by Native peoples and also explorers Lewis and Clark during their 1804 expedition. Recognizing the potential of the limestone springs to provide unique flavor, this area has long served as a center of whiskey production starting with the Holladay Distillery. Today, public tours are available that include the historic stillhouse where Ben Holladay first used the limestone spring water to make bourbon, along with the aging barrels.

McCormick Distilling Company

This tour includes locations in Weston, Platte City, Parkville and the Kansas City International Airport. 

Platte County and Surrounding Area Driving Tour

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Baptists arose as one of the most prominent Protestant denominations on the Missouri frontier as ministers catered their services and ministries to frontier life. Baptists first appeared in Missouri as early as the first decade of the nineteenth century, not long after Lewis and Clark passed through western Missouri. They entered Platte County in 1837 after the Platte Purchase transpired, which displaced Native Americans and allowed White settlers to take their place. Two Baptist branches materialized: Old School/Hard-Shell and Missionary Baptists. The Missionary Baptists erected Pleasant Ridge United Baptist Church on land provided by four slave-owning ex-Southerners, including one with a connection to Abraham Lincoln. After the community conducted three meetings in a log schoolhouse near the home of John W. Vineyard (one of four men who donated land), they formally organized the church with Reverend Albert Peter Williams as its leader (and considered its founder). Vineyard's land supplied the clay for the bricks used in the building's thick walls in 1844. The straightforward, unpretentious design of Pleasant Ridge Church speaks to the informal nature of churches on the Missouri frontier. However, the congregation maintained its simple style even as populations grew in western Missouri as it transitioned from rural, frontier land to an increasingly urban environment. John Vineyard's brother, Jesse, married Mary Owens, who previously declined Abraham Lincoln's marriage proposal. The Lincoln connection has given the adjacent Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, established by the church in 1848, national appeal as it serves as the final resting place for Mary Owens Vineyard (and Jesse). They are buried roughly one hundred feet from the front of the church. Owens is said to have declined Lincoln's proposal in 1837 because she felt he lacked "gentlemanly qualities," so she instead married Jesse Vineyard; the couple moved from Kentucky to Weston sometime after they married in 1841.

Pleasant Ridge United Baptist Church, Platte County's oldest Baptist church and one of the first three Baptist church buildings constructed in the county, was built in 1844 by a Missionary Baptist branch of the larger Hard-Shell Baptist denomination. Pleasant Ridge also stands among the oldest rural church buildings of all denominations in northwest Missouri. Its ridgetop setting adjacent to Pleasant Ridge Cemetery speaks to the church's significance within the community during the mid-nineteenth century. The cemetery is also the resting place of Mary Owens, a woman who declined Abraham Lincoln's marriage proposal.

Pleasant Ridge United Baptist Church

In 1836, the Platte Purchase allowed Missouri to add more than 3,000 square miles on its northwest side, which included Platte County; the U.S. pressured local Native Americans to sell the land. Even before the Platte Purchase took place, Missouri residents infiltrated the region (now comprised of six counties in northwest Missouri) and its fertile farming land in anticipation of the eventual expansion of the state. After the treaty, residents and immigrants moved to the area in droves.The first county court took place in a log cabin on March 11, 1839, in what is now Platte City. For years, before construction of a permanent courthouse began, county and circuit courts met in various cabins or stores. The county built and opened its first courthouse, a fifty-square-foot, two-story wooden building, in 1840. In 1861, during the Civil War, Union troops set fire to the Southern-sympathizing town (home to an abundance of guerrilla warfare), which destroyed the courthouse. In 1865, the county appointed Joseph Murphy commissioner of public buildings and appropriated $100,000 for a new courthouse. The builders laid the now-historic courthouse cornerstone in 1866 and finished the structure in 1867.The courthouse hosted several intriguing events and cases. In the civil lawsuit Winn vs. Reed in 1897, concerning eleven heads of hogs, the court awarded Newton Winn $75.00 in damages. An outraged Watson Reed shot and killed Winn, likely marking Missouri's only "in-court" slaying; the court sentenced Reed to ninety-nine years at hard labor. Also, records include a nineteenth-century marriage certificate from Jesse M. James, which could be that of the notorious outlaw. Meanwhile, Blanche Caldwell Barrow, sister-in-law of Clyde Barrow and a Bonnie and Clyde Gang member, was tried for theft in the Platte County Courthouse in 1933 and received ten years in the State Penitentiary.

The Platte County Courthouse, built in 1866, replaced a small wooden structure (built in 1841) that burnt down during the Civil War. Another military-led burning of Platte City thwarted the town's attempt to rebuild the courthouse in 1864. The courthouse speaks to Platte City's rebirth after the war, which, in addition to the two major fires, included economic decline, strife between Union and Southern sympathizers, guerilla warfare, and more. The courthouse grew into a symbol of civic pride, but it also served a practical purpose, including ties to the Bonnie and Clyde gang and, possibly, Jesse James.

Platte County Courthouse

Frederick Krause was born on March 22, 1827, in Lagensalza, Prussia (now central Germany). His father, Gottlieb, sailed to the United States in search of a place for his family to live and decided on St. Charles County, Missouri. It appears the rest of the family didn't make the journey until 1853, however. By then, Gottlieb had died (he decided to go back to Germany in 1847 but was robbed in Baltimore, got sick, then died in 1849). Eventually, his widow, Augusta, decided it was time for the family to immigrate to America. She sold their possessions and arrived in Baltimore in 1852.Krause worked as an apprentice butcher there before moving to St. Louis in 1855. Two years later he moved to New Orleans but, after experiencing the hot climate, soon relocated to Memphis where he got a job working for a butcher company. In 1860, he moved to Leavenworth, Kansas where relatives lived but didn't stay long. He settled in Platte City to open a meat market, which became successful and Krause emerged as a leading resident in the community. He also operated a brickworks and livestock farm. In 1873 the governor appointed him as a commissioner of the World's Exposition, which was held in Vienna, Austria.In 1879 Krause bought the property to build this house based partly on the style of the governor's mansion which led to his choice of the Second Empire architectural style for this home. The house features a mansard roof with hexagonal slates (some of which form a rosette pattern), dormer windows on the roof with decorative woodwork, rusticated stone blocks at the corners of the walls, cast-iron work, and a front porch with decorative woodwork. There is a bronze fireplace in the sitting room that looks like the white marble fireplace in the governor's mansion.Krause died in 1894. His wife, Nancy, lived in the house until 1917 when she sold it to Thomas Perry. It remained in the Perry family until 1973. The next owner sold it to the Platte County Historical Society and the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In the coming years, the house was restored and converted into a museum.

Operated by the Platte County Historical Society, this local history museum is located within the Frederick Krause Mansion which was built in 1883. The elegant building is a fine example of Second Empire architecture and was meant to be a mini version of the Missouri governor's mansion. Frederick Krause, who was born in Prussia in 1837, operated a successful meat market in Platte City. The house was restored and visitors can tour it as well as view the museum's exhibits. The museum also offers events and also holds a local history archive. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Frederick Krause Mansion; Ben Ferrel Platte County Museum

Taking inspiration from the visual riddles from the popular I Spy book series, local artist Kati Toivanen composed I Spy Carry-On which is located by Gate B52 by using items that could be found in a family’s carry-on luggage. Implementing a shadow-show approach, she placed the individual objects on vellum paper. She photographed them from underneath a light table before digitally arranging them into three collages. The intriguing visual compilations showcase everyday items, children's toys, and more, with additional objects paying homage to local culture. By creating three separate pieces, Toivanen alludes to the universal process by travelers and the continuous nature of carry-on luggage being X-rayed at an airport's security checkpoint.After coming to the United States from Finland, Kati Toivanen earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and a Master of Fine Arts from the School of Art Institute of Chicago. As an active artist and educator, Toivanen has been the recipient of multiple grants, awards, and fellowships, has been featured in solo and group exhibits internationally, is the author of multiple publications, and is currently a Professor of Studio Art at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

I Spy Carry-On by Kati Toivanen

Kansas City’s history with powered flight dates back to the early 20th century, when aviator Charles K. Hamilton demonstrated his aircraft in Overland Park on December 26, 1909. Kansas City enthusiastically embraced aviation. In 1910, J.C. McCallum designed and manufactured the first aircraft in the city, which diverged from other airplane designs of the time by having a propeller which pulled the aircraft forward instead of pushing it from behind. And local developer William B. Strang built an aviation park around 1911 which included hangars, a grandstand, and an aviation school.Following World War I, aviation schools flourished in the Kansas City area: by 1930, eight separate schools were in operation, including the Curtiss-Wright Flying Service, Art Goebel School of Flying, and the Porterfield Flying School. Porterfield Flying School was based out of Richards Field, the area’s first commercial airport, which opened in 1922 and was named after Air Force Lt. John F. Richards, the first pilot from Kansas City to die in combat during World War I.Richards Field is where air mail service began in Kansas City in 1926. Chamber of Commerce President Lou Holland convinced Post Office officials to include Kansas City as a stop between Chicago and Dallas. A new air mail plane, Miss Kansas City, was christened at the launch ceremony on May 12, 1926, where thousands watched as the first mail deliveries arrived from Chicago. However, Richards Field soon became inadequate for Kansas City’s burgeoning air traffic, and in 1927 the downtown Kansas City Municipal Airport was dedicated. Legendary flyer Charles Lindbergh attended the dedication at Municipal Airport and praised the location, helping put Kansas City on the map as an important air hub.Lindbergh remained a part of aviation in Kansas City, helping chart the “Lindbergh Line” for airline Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) in 1929, a coast-to-coast, 48-hour route which was a combination of air and rail travel. TAT merged with Western Air Express the next year, in 1930, and the combined companies formed a new airline which would become world famous: Transcontinental and Western Air, better known as TWA.TWA chose Kansas City for its new headquarters in 1931, thanks to the efforts of Lindbergh, Lou Holland, and other city leaders, and a Kansas City icon was born: TWA employed nearly 13,000 people within the state of Missouri at one time. TWA was known for aviation innovation, first-class flight experiences, and its red-carpet treatment. The airline was known as “The Airline of the Stars” because of the glamorous celebrities that frequented its flights. T&amp;WA (Transcontinental and Western Air) officially changed its name to Trans World Airlines in 1950, keeping the three-letter designation: TWA.The 50s, 60s, and 70s also saw the current Kansas City International Airport location come into being, thanks in part to TWA’s influence. As early as the 1940s city leaders recognized the need for a larger airport. TWA’s maintenance overhaul base was located at Fairfax Airport in the early 1950s, across the Missouri River from Municipal Airport. But a flood in 1951 destroyed that maintenance site and disrupted operations at Municipal Airport, accelerating the search for a new site. TWA moved its overhaul operations to the current site of Kansas City International Airport in 1957, then named Mid-Continent Airport, and asked city officials to expand Mid-Continent since Municipal Airport was becoming too small for commercial jet traffic. The city agreed: in 1966, a $150 million bond passed and allowed construction to begin, and Kansas City International Airport opened on the Mid-Continent site in 1972. The original three-terminal design was innovative for its time and allowed passengers to drive almost to their gate, but following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, new security procedures made the airport much harder to navigate. The current terminal was opened in 2023, to update Kansas City’s airport again for modern air travel. Even though aviation giants like TWA are no longer operational in the area (TWA filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and was absorbed into American Airlines), Kansas City’s aviation history has positioned it to embrace the future of flight.The current KCI site has not been without controversy: in 2007, descendants of enslaved people who lived on a plantation that became part of the airport’s land were notified that a racetrack would be built there. Oralee McKinzey and her father Warren R. Watkins Jr. fought this expansion and were able to halt the racetrack project in 2008. Their foundation went on to advocate for the recognition of the lives of those who lived and were buried on this land. Listen to the audio clip by Oralee McKinzey to learn more about their efforts.

These four panels in the center of the concourse connecter share both the history of aviation in Kansas City and the history of the city itself. Each of the four panels incorporated historic photographs and media with text that offers a detailed introduction to each topic while being mindful of the traveler's time. Highlights of the exhibit on aviation include information about the indigenous and enslaved peoples who first inhabited this land, and the various airports and terminals that have served the city, along with historic airlines such as the iconic Trans World Airlines that was once headquartered in Kansas City.

History of Aviation in Kansas City

The genesis of TWA dates back to 1925 with the organization of Western Air Express, which transported U.S. Mail and occasional passenger service between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. In 1929, the airline added daily flights between Los Angeles and Kansas City and then a link between Kansas City and the East Coast, which put Western Air Express in competition with Transcontinental Air Transport Company; the two companies merged in 1930 to become Transcontinental and Western Air. One year later, in 1931, Kansas City voters approved funding for a public improvements program, including a bond issue for expanding the city's new Municipal Airport. Thus, Transcontinental and Western Air, which calculated that Kansas City stood twelve hours from any point in its flight network, selected Kansas City as the base of its maintenance, ground operations, and general offices. Upon selecting Kansas City as a base, Transcontinental and Western Air transferred 250 workers and their families to the city. The airline forecast Kansas City to evolve into one of the nation's most significant air hubs. Indeed, the city had already spent decades as one of the nation's most integral railroad and trucking hubs. Kansas City also served as the midway point and an overnight stop in the airline's thirty-six-hour coast-to-coast daylight flight that started in 1934, substantially benefiting Kansas City's downtown hotel and restaurant businesses. In 1939, the airline made Kansas City its corporate home, in addition to serving as the base for its maintenance and ground operations.  By the 1940s, during World War II, TWA routinely worked with the U.S. military, further allowing the airline to develop its international presence. By 1945, the airline operated routes to Europe, the Middle East, and India; the company subsequently changed its name to Trans World Airlines. During the 1950s, TWA continued to expand its domestic and international routes, reaching profits of $10 million annually by 1954. TWA was the first airline to introduce an all-cargo service across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1959, TWA entered the jet age by flying passengers non-stop from San Francisco to New York via a Boeing 707, followed by a flight from Los Angeles across the North Pole to London. Kansas City's economy reaped the benefits of TWA's success and growth. Kansas City's 687-acre Municipal Airport served up to one million passengers annually, serving TWA along with such airlines as Continental, Delta, and Ozark. As TWA grew, its office and maintenance space at the airport proved insufficient, pushing TWA to open additional offices in downtown Kansas City. In 1964, TWA established its national administrative headquarters in New York and transferred its senior executive staff from Kansas City to New York. Also, in the 1960s, TWA moved its flight hub from Kansas City to St. Louis. Still, TWA's employee numbers more than doubled from 1958 to 1968, and it stood as Kansas City's largest employer during the early 1960s. The company modernized and streamlined its ticketing, sales, and public services departments in the late 1960s, and the airline became the first to offer all-jet service on both domestic and international routes. Also, by the late 1960s, Kansas City began developing and constructing Kansas City International Airport. TWA catered to more than twelve million passengers who flew fourteen billion passenger miles on TWA, and cargo volume rose thirty-three percent over the previous year. TWA's all-jet fleet numbered 170 aircraft. In addition to occupying thirty percent of the new airport's terminals, TWA's facility growth at the new airport included the expansion of its international overhaul and maintenance program, construction of giant hangers for recently purchased Boeing 747 and supersonic transport jet planes, and the central administrative building. Furthermore, TWA also started the process of building the now-historic office building near the new airport. By July 1968, TWA budgeted $90 million in new construction projects in Kansas City for completion in 1971, amounting to a community investment by TWA of more than $115 million. The now-historic TWA Administrative Offices opened in 1972, and four years later, the company reported a profit of $30 million; economists calculated that TWA contributed more than $200 million annually to the Kansas City economy.Rising fuel costs and inflation during the late 1970s, followed by the deregulation of the airlines, took its toll on TWA and led to its decline. By the early 1990s, mounting debt, bad corporate deals, and another round of rising fuel costs and associated economic decline finally ended TWA's long run of dominance and led to two bankruptcy filings. However, TWA continued to lose money, leading to its sale in 2001; American Airlines purchased TWA. The building survives as a reminder of Kansas City's rise to an international airline hub, anchored by TWA and its immense success

Trans World Airlines (TWA) established its home in Kansas City during the 1930s, and the airline built its now-historic TWA Administrative Offices Building from 1968 to 1972 to use as its corporate headquarters. TWA, a leader in international travel and an airline giant in the 1960s and 1970s, constructed the building with the impression that Kansas City and its International Airport would experience robust growth. More than 2,000 people worked in the historic TWA Administrative Offices Building at the company’s peak, a time when TWA was Kansas City's largest employer and contributed roughly $200 million annually to the local economy.

TWA Administrative Offices Building 

Promising the opportunity to "drive to your gate," many expected the novel design of the 1972 terminals at Kansas City International to become the standard. However, that same year, a series of hijackings led to the creation of security checkpoints at airports nationwide. Following additional security measures after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the slender circular design of the airport's three terminals required multiple security checkpoints. The need to divide the passenger terminals into a secured side and a side with security, check-in, and baggage claim limited airside passengers to a narrow corridor after passing through security. Kansas City officials began to explore the possibility of a new terminal with a central security checkpoint that would allow passengers to move throughout the airport after passing through security instead of being confined to a waiting area near their gate.After several years of planning, a $1.5 billion single terminal plan was approved. During construction, MCI operated out of Terminals B and C while Terminal A was demolished to provide space for the new single terminal. Kansas City residents celebrated the completion of the largest construction project in the city's history in February 2023, with thousands touring the new terminal before its grand opening.<h3>One Percent for Art Program and Public Art in Kansas City</h3>As a public building, the new terminal was part of the city's "One Percent for Art" program, which requires that one percent of the total construction cost of a public building be dedicated to public art. The artwork commissioner for the new terminal and parking garage was installed in 2023. Those who take the tour of the airport in Clio can hear from many of the artists whose works are available on the post-security side of the airport along with those who were part of the effort to create the history exhibit. For example, the Clio entry within this tour for Leo Villareal's fountain includes an overview by David Wayne Reed, who helped select artists and works. From his perspective, this work and the city's program to support visual arts makes the terminal a public museum that also just happens to feature arrivals and departure.The airport is one of numerous public buildings that incorporate public art. The 1925 city charter established a Municipal Art Commission to approve works within public buildings. That law also prohibits art from being removed from a public building without the approval of the commission. City ordinances passed in 1970 and 1992 created a fund to support art. In 1986, city leaders approved the One Percent for Art Program, which required one percent of the total cost of new construction and remodeling projects at city buildings to be set aside for public art. The new airport terminal incorporates a few works from the previous three terminals, including numerous terrazzo floors and tile medallions.<h3>History of Aviation in Kansas City</h3>The first powered flight in the metropolitan area occurred in 1909 when Charles Hamilton demonstrated his aircraft in a field within what is now Overland Park. Two years later, suburban developer and streetcar operator William Strang built a runway complete with hangars and a grandstand that later included a small aviation school. After World War I, several parts of the metropolitan area were home to airfields, and the city had eight schools or airfields by 1930. Kansas City's first public airport was dedicated in 1927 and operated as Municipal Airport at the present location of Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport. The dedication included a speech by famed aviator Charles Lindbergh. Lindbergh remained a key figure in Kansas City aviation, helping to map out the “Lindbergh Line” for airline Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) in 1929, which offered a coast-to-coast, 48-hour route blending air and rail travel. TAT merged with Western Air Express, and the combined companies formed a new airline, which would become Transcontinental and Western Air. By the 1950s, the company changed its name to Trans World Airlines and was known globally as the "Airline of the Stars." TWA chose Kansas City for its new headquarters in 1931, thanks largely to the influence of Lindbergh and Lou Holland and the support of city leaders.The years that followed saw the creation and expansion of nearby Fairfax Airport which operated across the Missouri River. Both airports were located near downtown Kansas City and were home to passenger service and military operations along with manufacturing and maintenance facilities. TWA’s maintenance overhaul base was located at Fairfax Airport. A 1951 flood damaged Fairfax Airport, while the location of Municipal Airport on a peninsula along the Missouri River limited the airport's potential to serve the larger aircraft of the coming jet age by the 1960s. By this time, Kansas City had become a base of operations for Trans World Airlines, which operated maintenance facilities at Platte County's Mid-Continent Airport. Braniff Airlines also used Mid-Continent as a hub while most other passenger flights flew from downtown's Municipal Airport. Following numerous concerns about the short runways at Municipal Airport, Kansas City voters approved a 1966 bond measure to vastly expand Mid-Continent Airport, which reopened as Kansas City International Airport in 1972.

When Kansas City International Airport opened in 1972 at the former location of Mid-Continent Airport, it featured three curved terminals with gates that were only 75 feet from the roadway. With three runways and dozens of gates, along with the growth of Kansas City-based airlines like Braniff and TWA, residents were optimistic that their city would become one of the nation's largest airline hubs. Instead, the jet age made midwestern stopovers a thing of the past, and the airport's three terminals never reached their designed passenger capacity. With increased security measures, the once-convenient and car-centric three-terminal design proved untenable as it required multiple security checkpoints and passenger waiting areas. A new single terminal design was constructed between 2019 and 2023. The single terminal design eliminated the ability to "drive to your gate," a central selling point of the 1972 design. However, the new terminal makes it possible for travelers to move throughout the entire airport after passing through a central security checkpoint. The new terminal is also filled with work from local artists under the city's One Percent for Art program.

Kansas City International Airport

Canadian native John Alexander Low Waddell (1854-1938) studied in Ottawa, Canada, before receiving his Civil Engineering degree in 1875 from New York's Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He later received his Masters (1882) and Ph.D. (1908) in Engineering from McGill University in Montreal. In between his academic pursuits, he worked for the Canadian Pacific Railroad (1876-77), Chief Engineer for Raymond and Campbell Bridge Builders of Council Bluffs, Iowa (1880-1882), as a professor of civil engineering at the Imperial University of Tokyo. For his service in Japan, the Emperor awarded him the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Rising Sun in 1885. He returned to the U.S. in 1886 and subsequently established a practice in Kansas City, Missouri, as a bridge designer and consultant, where he evolved into one of the nation's most lauded bridge engineers for nearly a half-century.During his fifty years of engineering, Waddell occasionally formed business partnerships, but his reputation soared as one of the world's leading bridge builders and engineers. In addition to bridges in the United States and Japan, Waddell also designed bridges in Canada, Mexico, Russia, China, and New Zealand. In the U.S., he built several significant railway bridges, including bridges across the Colorado River, Missouri River, and Chicago River. Indeed, his South Halsted Street Bridge over the Chicago River stood as the nation's first long-span, vertical-lift bridge. Also, in Chicago, Waddell served as the consulting engineer on the construction of the city's infamous Elevated Railroad System (the "el").In Missouri, notably in the Kansas City area, Waddell built several functional and decorative bridges. He also developed materials for use in large-span bridges, pioneering the use of nickel steel in girders subject to heavy stresses. Waddell also wrote several books, starting with The Designing of Ordinary Iron Highway Bridges (1884), where he heavily criticized the practice of low-bid, non-standardized bridge construction in the United States. His second book, A System of Iron Railroad Bridges for Japan (1885), ostensibly led to the Waddell "A" Truss Bridge design. Waddell developed his "A" truss bridge to meet the need for a reliable, easily-erected, inexpensive, short-span railroad bridge. The "A" comes from the two, high main trusses connected by top bracing, which gave the bridge its characteristic "A" shape. Functionally, the design addressed the stress and vibration problems intrinsic to the more commonly used pony truss forms (Waddell recommended against pony trusses in A System of Iron Railroad Bridges for Japan) around the turn of the twentieth century. Waddell developed the method in Japan, where it was widely used, but then he perfected it in the United States. The historic Waddell "A" truss bridge in Parkville sat originally in Trimble, Missouri when it opened in 1898 as the Linn Branch Creek Bridge. The bridge carried the Quincy, Omaha, and Kansas City Railroad until 1939. The bridge received a facelift in 1952 and transitioned into a segment of State Route 4, which remained its purpose for nearly twenty-five years. However, when the U.S. Army Corp built the Sraithville Dam, the bridge had to be removed. In 1987, the Linn Branch Creek Bridge was relocated and reassembled and relocated in Parkville, Missouri.The Waddell "A" truss is generally regarded as a transitional phase in bridge design as rapid technological advancements quickly rendered the "A" truss obsolete. By 1916, Waddell himself pronounced the "A" truss design "antiquated." But the demise of the "A" truss did not spell the end for Waddell, who continued to head bridge projects, publish books and journals, and give lectures on engineering throughout the first three decades of the twentieth century. Waddell also received honorary degrees from several U.S. universities and the Imperial University of Japan.

One of only two "A" truss bridges still standing in the U.S., Parkville's Waddell "A" Truss Bridge was constructed in 1898 as the Linn Branch Creek Bridge for the Quincy, Omaha, and Kansas City Railway. Now serving pedestrians, the bridge was converted from a railroad to a highway bridge in the 1950s and then moved in the 1980s to English Landing Park. The bridge is architecturally significant for a variety of reasons, including its connection to John Alexander Low Waddell, a master bridge builder who enjoyed an international reputation as a teacher of engineering. Wadell was also a practicing professional engineer and an author who designed Chicago's Elevated ("el") Train, California's Atlantic and Pacific Railway Bridge (1890) across the Colorado River, and the 1893 Missouri River Railroad Bridge in East Omaha. Wadell also designed bridges in Japan, Canada, Mexico, Russia, China, and New Zealand.

Platte County and Surrounding Area Driving Tour

McCormick Distilling Company

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources