Mueller Plants Seeds For Bicentennial Events For County In 2021

Local historian Bob Mueller visited with the Ste. Genevieve County Commission during last Thursday’s Commission meeting to discuss two different historical projects.

Mueller showed the commissioners an example of the signs that will mark the path of the Plank Road, a toll road made of wood that connected Ste. Genevieve to Farmington, Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob during the 1850s.

Mueller said the route followed along what is now Lime Kiln Road, to what is now Highway 32. It was in operation from 1853 through 1859.

He also discussed Missouri’s bicentennial in 2021, giving the commissioners a list of possible activities.

Among them is a “birthday” party on August 10, the 200th anniversary of Missouri being admitted to the Union. Activities could include signs on houses that were here in 1821, dancers and singers performing historic songs, the publishing of a pamphlet on the county’s contribution to statehood, an art contest, the planting of trees, and more.

Also discussed was a statue or marker honoring the area’s first congressman, John Scott, whom Mueller said rode his horse from Ste. Genevieve to Washington, D.C., to deliver Missouri statehood documents.

See complete story in the March 6 edition of the Herald.