Our town is a city of pride: it is written in the lines of the brick buildings, it is etched into the limestone bluffs, it is the energy that comes from the surging river. We have earned the right to be proud, after all, wasn't it Daniel Morgan Boone who laid out the town? Aren't we named after the president? Didn't we endure the tragedy of the Civil War and the loss of two capitol buildings?
Downtown, there is a myriad of small businesses, cafés, art shops, and consignment stores. They occupy historic buildings built with German architectural designs and steeped in generations of use. A catering business now resides in the 1885 opera house, law offices are located the prison warden's mansion, a coffee house is now where the dentist used to drill teeth.
Each proud structure is like a book that must be read carefully -- a manifest icon of bygone years.
Steamboats used to parallel the Pacific railroad line and the distinctly different modes of transport would race East and West. The Missouri River was the life blood for our city and kept it alive through decades of victory and triumph, tragedy and hardship. There was the war to divide the citizens -- there was the cholera to weaken the people -- there were the politicians trying to move the capitol to a different city. But there was also the coming together of many ethnicities -- the pioneer spirit of immigrants and explorers -- and the building of a God-honoring community.
In 2013, Rand McNally named Jefferson City the most "beautiful small town of the United States." And with good reason! This sturdy little community has earned it with its tenacity and ancient beauty that will only grow better with age. That is why we are proud.
No comments:
Post a Comment