The Long Road to Moberly, Missouri

The two fellows at the Randolph County Historical Society, whom I met with Saturday morning in Moberly, Missouri, made the nearly 5-hour drive down so worthwhile. I poured through directories, photos, and various records until I hit upon the golden prize - railroad records from the Wabash railroad.

Moberly Train Station - Rail Side
Sadly, torn down in the 1990s

Seems about 20-something years ago, after the railroad offered the town the train station for $1 and having said offer turned down, the building sat unused for seven years and then it was decided it would be torn down. History-minded citizens raced into the building and purloined every piece of paper they could get their hands on to rescue the records from the bulldozer. They ended up at the Historical Society and lack of manpower has meant none of those records have been gone through. Until Saturday - in small part. Some records for my relatives were found but I have a feeling so much more is there to be found.

Bordello Bedroom

I got a special tour of the replica bordello room on the 3rd floor. Apparently, the cat house district thrived in Moberly across from the police station for a long time. I also picked up a copy of "Madams, Painted Ladies and Johns" written by a local history professor so I could learn more.

War Veterans Memorial

After visiting the Oakland Cemetery I wanted to scream. They have a little information booth, but it's a huge cemetery, the records of burials are incomplete and finding your way down the multiple additions is impossible without a non-existent map in hand because rows are not marked. The only guide is a large map on the wall of the info center, which I had to keep driving back to so I could get my bearings. Fortunately, my records are now complete on that front - after a way-too-long search.

General Omar Bradley was born in Clark, MO, just down the road from Moberly. In the same park space in Moberly, they honor veterans of all wars - including the battle K-9s. It's a nice little site, but I stumbled across it by accident. The Chamber doesn't seem to be interested in making it easy to find things to see and do in town.

Moberly is also home to a number of architecturally interesting buildings.

Built in 1913, the 4th Street Theatre opened on February 9, 1914 as a 1,000-seat vaudeville and movie house. The beautiful theatre was elaborately decorated with much gold leaf, rich in coloring and velor curtains. It had rich mahogany swinging doors, wainscoting of white marble, ornate terra cotta trimmings in beautiful colors. Alterations were carried out in March 1924 by architect Carl Boller of the Boller Brothers architectural firm, and the theatre reopened on April 25, 1924. Alterations included the enlargement of the balcony. Last operated by B & B Theatres, they had renamed it Cinema, and they closed the 4th Street Theatre in March 1997.

Most of the terra cotta is intact and is being restored. It had a free standing ticket booth in the entrance way which will be restored. The stage, dressing rooms and orchestra pit are still there.

Contributed by Carolee Hazlet, Michael Childers, Cinematreasures.org

The Municipal Auditorium was built in 1939 and is purely art deco in its design. It is still in operation.

As in many smaller cities across the country, Andrew Carnegie bestowed money upon the town to build a library. This Carnegie library, like many, also needed to be enlarged. Unlike many unsightly and poorly planned additions, the addition on the Moberly library looks and feels much like the original building. Wish I'd been able to shoot the whole thing.

I hope to have the time to publish some of my findings in the coming weeks. The weather has been great, so the traveling has been easy and the simple fact that is being made abundantly clear to me is if I want the real story on these people of the past, I have to go there.