Marvellous Missouri

Our trip from Springfield, IL to Missouri was in a down-pour that lasted at least five hours.  When we arrived at the beautiful Cottonwoods RV Resort in Columbia, Missouri it was freezing cold and very wet.  The staff at the office said they normally had their flowers blooming at this time but it's been too cold and wet but thank goodness no flooding around here.

We are 30 miles from Jefferson City, the Capital and 20 miles from Fulton, Missouri so we decided that our first tour will be in Fulton where we want to visit The National Churchill Museum.

It looks like Sir Winston is blessing Tony but from the plaque below we learned that - with a downward thrust of his arm, he was warning the world that  "An Iron Curtain Has Descended".

It was in 1946 when Winston Churchill and President Harry Truman visited Westminster College in Fulton for Churchill to deliver his famous "Iron Curtain" speech.  Churchill was awarded an honorary degree from Westminster College the following day.

This is part of the Letter of Invitation sent to Winston Churchill by the President of Westminster College with a footnote of encouragement from President Truman.  Just in case you cannot read the footnote, he wrote "This is a wonderful school in my home State.  Hope you can do it.  I'll introduce you.  Best regards"

The event of the Speech is commemorated with statues, plaques and a museum containing Churchill memorabilia and exhibits sighting WWII and events in Britain at the time.  A huge highlight of the memorial is the Church of St. Mary Aldermanbury that was designed by Christopher Wren in the 17th century and shipped in pieces from London to Fulton in 1966.

The Museum is under the church and is quite remarkable because the exhibits are in bunker-like rooms.  The sights and sounds of the war, especially the Battle of Britain in the skies over London and Liverpool, were quite frightening and very well done in the Museum.  We watched and felt moved by the film "Churchill's Finest Hour" about Churchill leading Britain through WWII - it was narrated by world-renowned newsman Walter Cronkite.

The church was serene and peaceful - it is used by the students and faculty of the college but also for weddings and meetings by the people of Fulton.

Even the original prayer cushions were shipped over from London.

Another highlight is the sculpture created from a section of the Berlin Wall by Churchill's granddaughter, Edwina Sandys in 1990 to symbolize free passage from East to West.

Other great Leaders have given lectures at Westminster College, such as Margaret Thatcher in 1996 on the 50th anniversary of Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech and Ronald Reagan who dedicated the Berlin Wall sculpture in 1990.

We spent just over three hours in and around the Museum and were chuffed that we had learned of its existence as we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Our tour of Jefferson City, named after the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, started early the next day.

In the Capital City of Missouri, we hope to visit the Capitol Building, The Governor's Mansion, Arries Pizza Palace (recommended to us for lunch), the Lewis and Clark Monument and Jefferson Landing.  As we drove into Jefferson City we saw the Capitol Building high on a bluff from the highway but as we got closer to the building we saw nothing but children, loads of them!!

It's a beautiful building that was constructed between 1913 - 1918 and is the fourth State Capitol for Missouri.  The first was in St. Charles (1821-1826); the second moved to Jefferson City but was destroyed by fire in 1837; the third was erected on the grounds of this fourth Capitol but it got struck by lightning and burned down in 1911.  The present building is constructed of limestone and is ten times the size of the previous one.  The dome towers only 262 feet above ground level but 400 feet above the Missouri River.  On top of the dome is a statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of grain and agriculture - Missouri is a strong agricultural state.

Fortunately for us, all the children we saw were now leaving the building but when we asked about the next tour, the guide told us she was waiting for a group of 40 children but we could join them!  We decided to do the self-guided tour and she suggested we visit the House Lounge on the 4th floor as there is a mural we should not miss.  We thanked her and started our tour.

The first floor has the Missouri State Museum so we wandered through exhibits and read about:

Slavery in Missouri and The Changing Roles of Women during the Civil War.  Just like Kentucky, Missouri was divided on the abolishment of slavery.

As we always look up, we saw the gorgeous ceiling in the rotunda and the outstanding stained glass in the House Chamber.  The House and Senate are in session so the place is crowded.

Here is the House Chamber, legislators are sitting or standing around all talking it seems at once and when a vote is to be taken they rush back to their seats to press the appropriate button so their names light up on the board.  While we watched and listened, we saw people wander out to get some lunch then bring it back to their desk - they didn't listen to the speeches on what they were voting for, weird!!

All around the second floor there are numerous busts of famous Missourians.  We photographed only four: here is Betty Grable from St. Louis, Missouri; Ginger Rogers from Independence, Missouri; Bob Barker of The Price Is Right game show on TV, although he was born in Washington State he came to live in Springfield, Missouri when he was a young boy so is deemed a Missourian; and, Walter Cronkite (who narrated that film in Churchill's Museum) from St. Joseph, Missouri.  The bust for Walter does not show that he died in 2009.

We made our way to the fourth floor to check out the House Lounge and were pleasantly surprised that the tour guide was there without the group of 40, aarrh!  She was waiting for us to give us the 20 min presentation she does on the Mural.  How nice is that?

The three of us sat in comfy chairs while the tour guide with her pointy light, pointed out numerous things about the mural.  Firstly, the House Lounge was used by the legislators before they got their own offices and when the artist, Thomas Hart Benson, was commissioned in 1935 for $16,000 to paint this mural, that covers three walls, the legislators expected him to paint pictures of the politicians.  Instead he painted "A Social History of  Missouri" and when 18 months later in December 1936 the mural was unveiled, it was deemed controversial.  If you look closely at the second photo of the mural you can see a women cleaning a baby's bottom and in the background to the left there is a slave- auction going on.  The artist also included faces of people he knew, for example, there is a lawyer trying a case and the face of the lawyer is that of his father who was a lawyer.

We were very impressed with this piece of art that took eighteen months to complete.

As we left the Capitol building we noticed the many fountains which were interesting: the Fountain of Arts has four figures around the centre pillar - Architecture, a male, is the father of all arts; Sculptor, a male, has his chisel and hammer to free his idea from the encumbering rock; Painting, a female, has her palette and brush poised; and, Music, a female, holds her instrument as she catches the strains of harps in the distance.  Wonderful!

The Fountain of Sciences has four figures around its central pillar - Geometry, a male, is the oldest and noblest of the sciences as he holds his compass and sphere; Geology, a male, is studying the crystals that he has broken; Chemistry, a female, holds her lamp of investigation as she studies her test tube; Astrology, a female, holds her astrolabe while gazing into the distant stars to read the horoscope of man.

This is the fountain of arts.  The fountain of sciences can be seen in the first photo above of the Capitol building.

When we left the Capitol building we headed over to the Arries Pizza Palace that was recommended to us for lunch.  It was crowded with twelve or fourteen people standing in line ahead of us.  Fortunately, they were a large group or two so when we said there was just two of us, we were ushered to a table immediately.  We enjoyed a buffet of Greek foods that included pizza and we were stuffed!!

After lunch we needed to get to the 1:00pm tour of the Governor's Mansion so we almost ran there only to find we were joined with a group of school children from a private school in St. Charles about 100 miles east of Jefferson City.  Apparently, they started their day at 7:30 am this morning.

The four storey mostly brick Governor's Mansion was built in 1871 for a cost of $74,950.  The top floor has dormer windows, decorative cornices and filigree iron with its geometric pattern.  The Second Empire architecture is characterized by the slate tile mansard roof popular in the 1860s to 1890s.  Thirty-five Governors have lived in residence here.  The current Governor is Jay Nixon and his wife Georganne Wheeler Nixon.

We were welcomed by a volunteer guide dressed in period costume.

Here is the guide in a burgundy dress and here is Tony among the children.

The Mansion has portraits of all the Missouri First Ladies and here is an example of some portraits in the Hall.

This free-standing staircase (only attached to the wall) exemplifies the beautiful hand-carved, black walnut banister and balusters.

Some lovely sterling silver - here is a silver punch-bowl from the USS Missouri.

As ever, Lin is interested in the chandeliers and this one caught her eye.  It is in the Library and can be pulled down to the table underneath it so you can have light while reading a book.

At the back of the Mansion is the Carnahan Memorial Garden that was named after Governor Carnahan when he died in 1930.  This photo gives a wonderful view of the Capitol.

Here is the Lewis and Clark Monument in the grounds of the Capitol Building.  The Monument pays tribute to the Group that scouted the Missouri River and found a viable route to the Pacific Ocean in June 1804.  That Group includes Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the expedition leaders; York, Clark's man-servant, George Drouillard, a French-Canadian Shawnee guide and translator, and, Seaman, Lewis' Newfoundland dog.  Lin is patting the dog!

Our last tour was to the Jefferson Landing State Historic Site where two buildings still stand and are believed to be the oldest buildings in Jefferson City.  Built in the late 1830s the Lohman Building is a three-storey limestone structure that was a combination Inn, Store and Warehouse, serving steamboat passengers.  It now houses exhibits on transportation in the nineteenth century.  We watched the film "Welcome to the State Capitol" again with hordes of children.

Here's Tony in the Lohman Building Museum

 



The other building in the Landing is the Union Hotel where the Amtrak station is located on the first floor.  Upstairs is the Elizabeth Rozier Art Gallery but we didn't visit it because it was full of children screaming and shouting.  No thanks!!

So we went back to the Governor's Mansion where we had parked the truck and saw another load of children piling into the Mansion for the 3:00pm tour.  We gratefully drove "home".

The next morning we left Columbia, Missouri heading to Texas but stayed overnight in Fort Smith, Arkansas.  It unbelievably rained all day while we travelled to Fort Smith then it rained much of the day as we drove to Texas but once we crossed the Texan border, the sun miraculously came out and the temps went up from 50s F to the low 80s F.  Now that's the way it should be.

We are now settled in the Shallow Creek RV Resort to get Harvey organized for his rest in his covered-storage place.

Just today we noticed the wonderful wild flowers of Texas on the side of the highway.  Lin couldn't resist picking some and inserting them into a heavy book to press them.

Wild flowers of Texas

We plan on leaving Harvey in his space on Thursday, May 2nd 2013 and start our journey home to Saskatoon.

This is the end of  Our Blog for this time.  We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed putting it together.  We've had an amazing Adventure visiting four more Capital Cities and enjoying the sights and sounds each had to offer.  But it is time to go home even if there is still snow on the ground!!

Bye for now.

Informative Illinois

Our stop in Illinois is in Springfield, a city all about Abraham Lincoln and The Civil War.

From these plaques it appears that Abraham Lincoln came from a poor life with poor education but made it all the way to the White House.  We've got a lot to learn about this beloved man.  In the meantime..........................................

Our campground is huge and very lovely.  "The Double J Campground" is run by a young couple who were excited to expand the facilities by adding another pool.  There are two pavilions, a basketball court and a large lounge with a large screened TV and movies.  A rally had arrived just before us and had a number of fire pits lit with lots of people hanging around.  We met one couple who told us they had to move from the local KOA campground because it was flooded.  Yes, we've had lots of rain in the Midwest but fortunately for us so far as we tour around we've had really good weather - cool but dry.

Our touring started on a Sunday as we made our way to downtown Springfield but soon learned that nothing opens until Noon on a Sunday.  So we walked around and got our bearings for what we wanted to see:  The Capitol, the Old Capitol, the Governor's Mansion, one of the historic homes that are listed on the National Register and, Lincoln's Homestead which is also on the National Register.  In the meantime, we wandered around and found The Old Capitol alongside which was the Lincoln Plaza where we found the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office where Abe practiced  with his partner William H. Herndon from 1843 to 1852 before running for office as a Senator.



Tony is almost six feet yet Abraham Lincoln looks much taller at 6ft 4 inches.  These bronze statues are of Abe, his wife, Mary and their first son, Robert. The law office is in the background.

The Old State Capitol is just up the street from the Lincoln Plaza but it was closed today.  Not deterred, we walked around it and both agreed that it was way too small.  However, Abraham Lincoln tried several hundred cases in the Supreme Court here, borrowed books from the state library and on May 3 and 4, 1865, Mr. Lincoln's body lay in state here before his burial in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Here's Lin with Abe sitting in the Union Plaza.  Today it was bright but cool hence Lin had her fleece on.  In the background is the Train Depot at which Lincoln's body arrived by train after a long trip from Washington, D.C. stopping at various cities along the route in 1865.

We noticed across the street from Union Plaza, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum but this Library is not on the official list of Presidential Libraries (run by the National Archives) that we have been following and have been to nine of the 12 (One more will be added to that list, George W. Bush's in Dallas on May 1, 2013).  So we'll be thrilled to visit Abe's Library and Museum tomorrow, not today as we are off to the Capitol now.

This is the view of the Capitol from Capitol Avenue.  The building is a combination of Renaissance Revival and Empire style.  The dome, which at 405 feet high exceeds the height of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., is covered with zinc to provide a silver-like facade which is not affected by the weather.

Here's Lin with Lincoln's statue.  The grounds are lovely and we made our way around to the side of the building for our tour which we are looking forward to.

We should have known something wasn't going to be right on our tour of the State Capitol after Lin approached the tour desk to have her State Capitol book stamped - the tour guide was on the phone and a little miffed that Lin waited with her book open at the Illinois page.  With a huge TUT, the guide said into the phone "I'll have to call you back".  She then without a word erratically stamped Lin's book then said "The tour starts at 1:00pm".  It was 12:50pm so Lin walked back to where Tony was standing in the middle of the Rotunda. 

Just before our tour Tony took this photo of Lin and the statue in the centre of the Rotunda which originally welcomed people to the Colombian Exposition in 1893, sculpted by Julia Bracken. (We found that info in the self-guided tour booklet not from the tour guide!!) 

At precisely 1:00pm the guide walked from her desk to the elevator and in a loud voice said "The tour starts on the 4th floor"  So twelve of us herded into the elevator with her.

Exactly 18 minutes later we returned to the Rotunda - it was the fastest tour we have ever taken of a State Capitol.  The guide, a black woman with a strong accent spoke rapidly about each area of the tour without any questions - who could think of questions that fast - we almost ran from the House Gallery, the Senate Gallery, the Old Supreme Court, then to The Hall of Governors where we noticed immediately that the previous Governor, Rod Blagojevich, did not have a portrait on the wall - not shocked as he was the Governor found to have tried to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Obama and went to jail for it!!  Thank goodness we grabbed a Self-Guided Tour Booklet before being told the tour was done.  From that we learned that Chicago was deemed the Capital City in 1871 but then the Great Chicago Fire occurred in October 8 - 9 so Springfield remained the Capital and got a new Capitol Building that was finished in 1877 at a cost of $4.3 million.

A view from up top.  There are many bronze statues of famous State Legislators such as Richard Barr, a Senator for 48 years; Lottie O'Neil, the first female State Representative; Adelbert Roberts, the first African-American Illinois Senator. 

This frieze surrounds the 3rd floor rotunda view, it represents early Illinois history from Native Americans through the Abraham Lincoln-Stephen Douglas debates in the Capitol.

Lin loves chandeliers and this one is a beaut.  It's made from Czechoslovakian crystal, is 17.5 feet long and weighs 750 pounds.  Wow!!

This is the gawdy entrance to the Governor's Office - of course, he's not here right now as it's Sunday.

After the tour, Lin asked if we could go on our own self-guided tour but the guide told her that only the first floor was open to the public.  So we decided to leave from the other side door.

We were glad we left the Capitol by the other side door as we would not have seen this wonderful Memorial to Firefighters.  Created in 1993, the memorial depicts four life-size bronze figures of firefighters in action.

After that rushed tour, we were amazed with the two-hour tour of the Dana-Thomas Historic Home built and furnished by the famous architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) between 1902 and 1904.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos inside the house.

The beautiful brick house was built for Susan Lawrence Dana (1862-1946), the wealthy daughter of a mayor of Springfield and an activist for women's rights.  The wide house has varying heights and levels with huge rooms for entertaining a large number of guests including the then Governor and High Society.  There is an indoor terra-cotta fountain that is gorgeous.  The furnishings look like they were made of teak wood but are actually made of white oak.  We walked through the whole house - it is huge with 35 rooms that contain more than 100 original pieces of furniture - it has numerous balconies and alcoves. The most beautiful feature of the house is the art-stained glass in 250 of the windows except those in  the Kitchen where, of course, the Mistress of the house would never go!!

This is just one section of the Home but if you can imagine each of those windows are covered with intricate art-glass that looks like crystal drops stuck to the window.  They are beautiful. 

Mrs. Dana had a very sad life in that she lost her first and second husbands to typhoid and her two small children to tuberculosis.  She eventually whittled away her fortune and got sick herself.  She had to move into a Care Home for four years before she died.  She owed $5,000 to a bank for her home so Thomas Publishing Company purchased the home in 1946 and paid $12,000 as well as the $5,000 bank loan.  The Company used the home for offices and entertainment for 35 years before selling it for $1 million to the State of Illinois to be registered as an Historic Home Site.

After leaving this home we headed over to the Lincoln Homestead Visitors' Centre where we watched a very interesting orientation film with an actor playing Lincoln that you'd swear was really him.  After the film, we joined a small group to tour Lincoln's home.

This is where Lincoln spent 17 years of  his married life in Springfield before leaving for Washington in 1861.  The house was surprisingly large with five bedrooms, a front and back parlor with doors to close off one parlor from the other.  The house was enlarged in 1855 to a full two-storey house.
 

Here the tour guide walks us through the home.  This is the front parlor where |Lincoln learned he was nominated as the candidate for President by the Republican Party in 1860 when committee members travelled to Springfield from Chicago to notify him. 

Mary Todd was a well-educated women from a prominent Kentucky family.  She married Abe in 1842 and had four sons, Robert the only son who grew to adulthood (1843-1926); Edward who died of an illness in the Springfield house five weeks before his fourth birthday (1846-1850); William who died in the White House from a lung infection when he was 12 years old (1850-1862); and Thomas, known as Tad because he looked like a tadpole, died when we was eighteen and left his widowed mother desolate (1853-1871).  Mary never recovered from Tad's death although she and Abe had been plunged into profound grief over the deaths of their other sons, it was Tad's death that left Mary with mental problems.  The oldest son, Robert, was away with the Military so could not help his Mother until she was charged with being insane at which time Robert took his Mother to Michigan for treatment.  When Mary died in 1882 she was buried in Lincoln's Tomb where her three boys were buried with their Father.  When Robert died in 1926, he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

This is the street view from Lincoln's home.  Each home in the Lincoln Home National Historic Site is plaqued with information about the neighbours who interacted with the Lincolns. 

The next day, we drove downtown again for our visit of the Presidential Library and were we thrilled.

We spent close to three hours touring the Library which is of the calibre of the other Libraries on the National Archives List - we guess the only thing missing are the Presidential papers.

Inside the Museum is a partial reproduction of the 1860's White House,  here's Lin with the Lincolns' statues outside of the White House.

In the front foyer of the Museum there are two movie theatres - one with holographic and special effects, a replica of Lincoln's boyhood cabin where his family lived in one room, and, the White House which houses the museum.  It was dark in the museum so we could not take any photos but it was remarkable to walk through the state-of-the-art facility of Lincoln's lore and legend.  His famous stovepipe hat; the original hand-written Gettysburg Address; the evening gloves in his pocket the night he was assassinated; and, the quill pen used to sign the Emancipation Proclamation were all on display.

Tony could not resist getting involved in the conversation of these two soldiers as a passerby looks on.

The start of The Civil War

Lincoln certainly had to have personal strength and courage on the challenging road to greatness but he was struck down by gun shot fired by John Wilkes Booth at the Ford's Theatre in Washington on the evening of April 14, 1865 while watching a performance of "Our American Cousin", a comedy - and all because he wanted to abolish slavery and make all the States into one country that is United.

The Lincoln Tomb is in the Oak Ridge Cemetery which is not far from the downtown of Springfield.  It is a solemn and peaceful place - the Tomb is constructed of granite and at its centre is an obelisk that rises to 117 feet.  It is surrounded by four statues representing the four Civil War Union services - infantry, artillery, cavalry and navy.  The bronze head of Lincoln shows many people have rubbed his nose which gives good luck!

Lastly, our tour of Springfield brings us to the Governor's Mansion (known as the Executive Mansion) but it is only open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays so as it is Monday today, we cannot see inside.  The Mansion is made of red brick Italianate-style and has been the official residence of Illinois Governors since 1855.

So thanks Springfield, Illinois we had a blast visiting your city and have really enjoyed in-depth learning about Abraham Lincoln's life, visiting historic sites and stepping back in time to walk through charming neighbourhoods.

We are off to Jefferson City, Missouri as our last stop on this Adventure Tour of the Mid West States.