Get Off the Beaten Path: Discover Small Town Missouri

Arnold00:00:00

Small towns, great town squares. You know everybody, they know you. They are fun places to be. And there's a great book out called Small Town Missouri.We're going to talk more about that with the author on St. Louis in Tune. Welcome to St.Louis in Tune and thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders, leaders and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Langston. Greetings to you, Mark.

Mark00:00:41

Greetings to you, Arnold. Good to see you.

Arnold00:00:43

It's good to be seen.

Mark00:00:44

Oh, there we go. Here we go.

Arnold00:00:46

We're on the roll.

Mark00:00:47

No matter where you go. There you are. Okay, we need to stop right now. I know they're gonna cancel the show.

Arnold00:00:55

Who knows if we can make people smile or laugh once a day. I feel that the theme of the show has succeeded.

Mark00:01:06

We've done it.

Arnold00:01:07

Yes.

Mark00:01:07

Okay.

Arnold00:01:08

A smile and a laugh.

Mark00:01:10

So as long as they're not throwing things at the radio.

Arnold00:01:13

That's true. Or turning to another station. We're glad that you joined us today, folks.We want to thank our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, for their support of the show.You can listen to previous shows@stlintune.com please help us continue to grow by leaving a review on our website and Apple Podcast or your preferred podcast platform. Our return to civility today because we need to learn to be civil in our society. Be patient with elderly drivers now.

Mark00:01:40

Oh, yeah.

Arnold00:01:41

I have to admit, sometimes Grandma needs to put it in gear, but it's. And it's usually not Grandpa. It's usually Grandma, is it okay? And I have to consider that someday I will be there.And I don't want someone honking at me or. Come on, Grandma. Get it. Get it in gear.

Mark00:02:00

Use that lever on the left of the steering wheel.

Arnold00:02:02

Yes. That's called the turn signal. Pretend that they're your favorite. Grandma, who baked cookies for you when you were feeling down?

Mark00:02:10

Yeah. Yeah. When I get impatient with drivers and I see it's an older person, a senior, I feel bad that I got upset.

Arnold00:02:18

I do, too.

Mark00:02:18

I do. I really do.

Arnold00:02:20

Especially when you're driving by and it's. I can't see anyone. And then it's just this little old lady who is just. Yeah. Her hands are above the steering wheel. She's looking underneath the dash.Exactly.

Mark00:02:31

Yeah. She should have a pillow under her. Yes, they got a pillow.

Arnold00:02:35

Seriously. My mom used one of those.

Mark00:02:37

I knew this was coming. I know.

Arnold00:02:42

So if you are.

Mark00:02:43

The seat was all the way up.

Arnold00:02:45

All the way up. Yeah. You get in the car.

Mark00:02:46

I know.

Arnold00:02:47

How do you. I can't get in here, so be patient with elderly drivers, folks. That's our return to civility.

Mark00:02:52

Okay.

Arnold00:02:53

Our guest is Caitlin Yeager. She's a lifelong Missourian, which is very unusual. You and I are lifelong Missourians, too, though.

Mark00:03:00

Yes, we are. I guess we are.

Arnold00:03:01

She is program director for the Missouri Humanities Council, and previously she was program manager for the Heritage Missouri Civil War Missouri Civil War Heritage Foundation. She is the author of Small Town Missouri, her debut book. She's written about Missouri history and cultural heritage.She's been featured on podcasts and radio shows, including this one, and has spoken at both state and national conferences. She lives in St. Louis county with her husband. Now, get this, Mark. Two children, two dogs, two cats, and four chickens. Why four chickens?Why not two chickens? You got two. Two.

Caitlin00:03:35

Not enough eggs.

Arnold00:03:38

Welcome to St. Louis in Tune, Caitlin.

Caitlin00:03:40

Thank you.

Arnold00:03:41

Why small town Missouri book? Why do we need a small town Missouri book?

Caitlin00:03:45

I think there's a lot of books out there that maybe feature a particular story, a particular town, particular subject matter. So I don't think it's anything to say that books about small towns don't already exist.But I think this is a great book to find a lot of information in one place, a lot of different featured communities in one place, and really give you a place to go when maybe you've got a spare Saturday, a spare weekend. You're looking to take the kids, you're looking to take a little road trip. That's. This book is full of ideas, it's full of history.And I really like that it ended up being not just a travel or tourism guide, but there are really good stories in here to where even if you're not planning to go take a trip, you're going to find something interesting in here. You're going to learn something new.And I bet there are many towns in here that even lifelong Missourians, like the three of us sitting here, probably haven't heard of or really are familiar with.It really came out of a need to just tell more stories and I really think fill in the gaps of what people may or may not know about Missouri's history, its people, and its places.

Arnold00:04:43

I think that's a really good point that you made. It's filling in some gaps that maybe we didn't even know exist. I opened the book to Marceline.

Mark00:04:49

I got it open right now to Marceline, one of my favorite places.

Arnold00:04:52

Okay.

Mark00:04:52

Well, gone there quite a few times.

Arnold00:04:54

Really? Go ahead, Mark.

Mark00:04:55

Yeah, it's where Walt Disney had his childhood, and they grew up there in a little farm there. And in fact, I think the Disney. Somebody owns it now. The house where they grew up and the thinking tree is out there, but now it's almost gone.

Arnold00:05:12

It's thought itself out.

Mark00:05:13

Yeah. And you weren't supposed to take bark from it, and we did. Police will be here anytime. But we have it on display in one of our armoires at home.But yeah. And they donated some money to Marceline as well. I think. The Disney family did. Yeah.

Caitlin00:05:31

They're very involved to that park. Yeah. It's. They've got actually on the first page of that Marceline, that's the. The barn.It's not the original barn, but it's an exact replica of the barn from Walt's family's property there.And they've really done a great job of making you feel like it's not Disneyland, but it makes you feel connected to the story of Disneyland and why Disney wanted to create the amazing things that he did and keep people dreaming and keep them imaginative. And so much of that was inspiration inspired by his time in Marceline.

Mark00:05:59

Now if you go to Magic Kingdom. Magic Main street on Magic Kingdom, I'm.

Arnold00:06:05

Telling Caitlin they're like a gazillion times. Okay.

Caitlin00:06:09

I can't blame him.

Mark00:06:09

And it's done after that. Main street in Marceline.

Caitlin00:06:13

Yeah. So the feature Main street usa.

Mark00:06:15

Yeah.

Caitlin00:06:16

Is. Yeah. Inspired by his time in Marceline.

Mark00:06:18

See what she said? Yeah.

Arnold00:06:19

Yeah. Well, what's great about this is you've got legends who were born there, obviously of the founding story.I didn't know that there was mining done there. That's some lore. The important industry was mining the attractions there. Events and then some just fun facts that are going on there.

Caitlin00:06:36

Yeah, I think that was really fun because like I said, it's not just a travel guide. It's not just here's your destination and here's some addresses of attractions, dates of events.It really is meant to read like a book, but give you some ideas of what to expect when you're there. And I think Marceline in particular, that's part of what could be a really amazing Highway 36 road trip.That Highway 36 up in northern Missouri is such an amazing scenic highway, but there's so many towns peppered along there, and several that are mentioned in this book that have really great history, really innovative stories of people who came from along Highway 36 and went to do big things, and they formed this alliance called the Highway 36 Heritage alliance, and they work together to promote themselves at the destination area. And so that would be if anybody's looking for a really great. Just few days of a road trip. Highway 36, for sure.

Mark00:07:22

Now, 36. Didn't 36 go from Kansas City to Chicago? Is that the road?

Caitlin00:07:27

I believe there's a road, essentially what it was. But in Missouri particularly, it connects basically Hannibal to St. Joseph.

Mark00:07:33

Okay.

Caitlin00:07:34

And then you can go. So you can go from Kansas city north of St. Joseph and cut across to Hannibal, and then I think go up to Kansas or to. To Chicago.But, yeah, From Hannibal to St. Joseph, it's. That's a great road trip for anybody wanting to explore something a little bit different in the story.

Arnold00:07:46

And what people think is, gee, If I'm in St. Louis and I have to drive up to Hannibal and maybe I want to do a couple other things.It's maybe you drive to Marceline, and then you go west, and then you go east, and you can stay in Marceline and you make it, hit several little small towns, and you're just not coming back the same day.

Mark00:08:03

No, I don't remember a motel in Marceline, but maybe there is.

Caitlin00:08:08

I don't think I've ever stayed overnight. I think I've only ever. It's a little bit long of a day trip, but I have a cutoff if it's less than four hours. I usually try and do it in a day.

Mark00:08:17

Yeah.

Caitlin00:08:17

But it makes for a long day. Yeah.

Mark00:08:19

And I don't think a lot of people just. I'll just wrap it up with this. I don't think a lot of people know that Walt Disney has roots here in Missouri, which is really neat.

Caitlin00:08:27

Right.

Arnold00:08:27

Exactly how did you pick the towns to be in the book?

Caitlin00:08:31

Oh, gosh, I threw a dart at a map. No.

Arnold00:08:33

Now, did some towns say why wasn't my town.

Caitlin00:08:35

Oh, it's legitimately my. I have nightmares about people I know in towns that aren't in the book coming and being like, why is my town not in there? I thought you liked us.But it was a hard process. So Reedy Press gave me some guidelines.For example, our starting point was, okay, so we have to define what a small town is, and we don't exactly define that. It's that we just picked towns with fewer than 25,000 people.

Arnold00:09:00

Okay.

Caitlin00:09:00

Which I still think that 25,000 people is a fairly big town. However, you'll notice if you go through the book, each town's cover page basically has a little circle that has their population on there.And you'll notice that there's really only a couple that even are over 10 to 15,000. So we tried to still keep it fairly small. So even though we say under 25,000, most of them I think are under 10,000. So started with that.One thing I wanted to make sure we had was geographic diversity. So that kind of helped narrow things down. There are some obvious ones that we wanted to make sure we got in there, even if they were close together.Places like along the Missouri River, I think Herman in Augusta, Marthasville.But I wanted to make sure that no matter where you were in Missouri, if you were to pick up this book, you could find a day trip destination or at least several places that you might be able to visit no matter where you are in Missouri. So that helped as well. And then it was all about just doing the research.And I basically had a massive Excel spreadsheet of the towns that kind of fit that bill and then columns for each of the bullet points, the founding story, the events and all that. And I just started filling it in and it ended up being which ones had the most to offer and. Or filled in, like we said, filled in some of the gaps.We had a bunch of river towns, so we wanted to make sure we got some mountainous towns or some places that weren't as represented. So it was a hard process. And I still. I think every time I'm in a different community, I'm like, darn it, they could have been in the book.

Arnold00:10:19

It's part two. That's.

Mark00:10:20

That's what I would say.

Caitlin00:10:21

That's what everyone keeps saying, is that there just has to be a part two or an addition.

Mark00:10:24

I don't know how you don't.

Caitlin00:10:26

I know you're not going to do that.

Arnold00:10:28

It's fun looking at this page, folks. That has the state and then the towns that are in the book, they are listed in bold print, which you give a. Gets a really good flavor of.You did go all around the state. It's tough being where the Lake of the Ozarks is, obviously, because the lake there, and it's hilly and everything like that. Some of these towns.I think I've heard of all of these towns, Mark. There was one that was. I was looking at Hamilton, wasn't quite familiar with Hamilton, and come to find out that it's the birthplace of JCPenney.

Caitlin00:10:59

The JCPenney.

Mark00:11:00

Get out of here. Okay.

Arnold00:11:01

That's the kind of stuff, folks, that you find in these. It's a town of 1690 people there was the Penny's Quilt Shop there.

Mark00:11:11

Wow.

Arnold00:11:11

Some attractions. The Missouri Star Quilt Company. I have heard about that.

Caitlin00:11:14

Yeah, it's. That's a big deal. Yes, It's. They. They call it the Disneyland of quilting.It's just this massive operation, and people come from all over the world to do quilting retreats, to shop for designs, to take classes. Hamilton is a huge destination if you're the largest.

Arnold00:11:29

World's largest spool of thread is located there.

Caitlin00:11:32

Because, of course, now you're talking.

Arnold00:11:34

So that's the kind of things that you will find here. And the founding stories, too. Those are really interesting.The founding father, Alexander Hamilton and Joseph Hamilton, that's who it's reportedly named for.

Caitlin00:11:44

Lots of little stories like that, too.

Arnold00:11:46

Those are the things that often get lost and as small towns have, I don't want to say drifted away, they're actually gaining a little momentum back now.

Caitlin00:11:53

Yeah, I agree.

Arnold00:11:53

Is that what you found when you were doing research about this?

Caitlin00:11:56

I did. I think something that really helped with that. I think my generation, I would say, was a generation that, you know, and I'm from St.Louis, so I'm speaking a little bit out of turn here, but I also. My husband is from a small town, and I've known a lot of people, people from small towns in both my work and from the book.But I think the millennial generation was a generation that really, you know, wanted to get out of their small town, that get out of Dodge, saying.But as they started their careers and started families, what we've seen in a lot of these communities is them realizing that, oh, my gosh, no, I want to raise my family. I want to invest my time and my money and my efforts into my hometown, where that raised me. That's my community. Those are my people. This is my place.And I have that same sentiment. I'm from a big city like St. Louis, and I think that's a sentiment that a lot of people can relate to.No matter how big your hometown is, that you think that you're over it, that there's nothing special about it. You want to see what else is out there. And often when you see what else is out there, a lot of people want to just to come back.Seen it, and they want to come back. Yeah. So I think that's really helped.A lot of people in their 30s and 40s are coming back and establishing businesses in their small towns to reinvest in their communities.More volunteers that are in that age group are taking over for that retiring generation because that was a huge concern that we found when we were, when we've been exploring these towns and talking to people is that that volunteer generation that retired, but didn't really retire, they're full time volunteers.They were nervous that the millennial and the Gen X generation weren't going to have the time that they did to put forth the volunteer efforts, to do the preservation projects, to do the fundraisers, to have the community events.But they are finding that there's a lot of places where they are stepping up and they are realizing the importance of being involved in reinvesting in your communities. And I think that's really helped put small towns, as they say, back on the map.But I think there's just been this resurgence in wanting to explore your place a little bit more. I think Covid helped with that.Something that a lot of these communities have reflected on as I've talked to them, is Covid forced people to stay local. It forced people to support local businesses. When people wanted to travel, they were more comfortable traveling close to home.They didn't have to get on an airplane, they could camp, which I think a lot of small towns have those opportunities for being close to state parks, conservation areas, being close to rivers. A lot of people took advantage of outdoor recreation.So I think there's a lot of different facets that have led us to this point of, okay, small towns have something to offer. You don't have to be a major destination or have a week's worth of attractions. Be a place that can be a destination.And I think that's hopefully something that this book helps to promote.

Arnold00:14:25

I think access now, because of technology makes small towns more accessible. And they don't feel like they're isolated like an island. You feel, oh, the city's got the libraries and all the museums and everything you can.Now with technology, the Internet and everything else you can, boom, you're there, right? So it's not, as an important, I would say, detriment this. Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St. Louis in Tune, we're talking to Caitlin Yeager.She is the author of a new book, Small Town Missouri. Tell us a little bit about what you do at the Missouri Humanities Council.

Caitlin00:14:57

My job at Missouri Humanities, I'm a program director. Missouri Humanities as an entity, is a nonprofit organization. We have a statewide presence. So I work here in our St.Louis office, actually, just down in Midtown. And we have a Kansas City office as well. So we have about half of us here in St.Louis, half of us in Kansas City and Missouri Humanities, basically, as I like to say, two facets. We are a grant making agency, so we give out grants to other Missouri nonprofits, Missouri communities, but we also do our own programming as well.For example, my programming, one of the main projects I do is Small Town Showcase, which kind of is what kind of led me down the path of being involved with small towns. So things like storytelling through podcasts and short films about a lot of the stories that you might find in these books and some others as well.So educational public programming helping to keep Missourians engaged with their communities and with one another, and also helping to support them through grant funding as well. So it's a lot of fun. I'm one of those people that is very lucky that I love my job so much. I love it very much.

Arnold00:15:52

So then you're not working a day in your life.

Caitlin00:15:54

Exactly.

Arnold00:15:57

Did you find some of these seasonal festivals that these communities have, that there's some kind of common thread that runs through them?

Caitlin00:16:05

Yes. The first thing that comes to mind when you talk about the annual festivals, a lot of times it's in the fall, a fall festival.Sometimes it corresponds with a homecoming, sometimes it's a Christmas festival. Right now we're knee deep in a super busy time for those like summer festivals.I think just for work alone, every weekend I've got some festival or something that I'm doing in one of these communities, Pacific's festival coming up next weekend, for example. But oftentimes we hear that it's basically the town reunion.Most towns, I'd say even if they have several festivals, they probably have that one that's the big festival of the year. It brings the most people, it raises the most money, etc.And we often hear that's the time when people plan their school reunions, that's the time when family plans for out of town family members to come and meet up at the festival.It just turns into this big family reunion, school reunion, community reunion, where everybody's coming and celebrating this place that raised them and celebrating being together and reconnecting.And I think that's something that's constant throughout all these communities is the role of a town festival is really bringing everybody together and catching up on what's happened over the last year or several years in some cases.

Arnold00:17:07

Did some of the people that you talk to in some of the small towns have a little hesitancy about, my words, city slickers moving in or this maybe a migration from a more densely populated area to a more sparsely populated area?

Caitlin00:17:25

I don't think so. The Only thing that I've heard more on more than one occasion, on several occasions is not exactly that.It's not being against people from the city coming in or against urban sprawl or anything like that. It's just they don't want to lose their small town atmosphere, their charm, their close knit feeling.So it's this almost this balancing act of small towns wanting to make sure that they're staying relevant and being progressive and developing new opportunities to attract more people, but also not wanting to grow into a big city or lose the culture that they've developed as a small town.Every town I've been in has been completely welcoming and wants people to come experience what they experience, but they don't want to lose their atmosphere of being a small town, their identity. So I think that's more, more the attitude more than anything.

Arnold00:18:14

I think something you mentioned, I thought was great was the recreation destination. Some of these towns because they're by state parks and trails and rivers and that kind of thing.I think that is a something that's probably a vibrant part of their economy and that's what keeps them going. So I guess there are some hidden gems that. And I don't want you to maybe you probably have towns that you like more than other towns.But what was a town that surprised you? I know you mentioned and maybe I'm going to steal your thunder here, I know you mentioned Pacific, but what was a town that surprised you?Maybe you hadn't heard of it or maybe I'm going to give you several kind of things to think about here. You were like wow, I didn't know that was there or wow, they do that kind of industry there. Or wow, this is just a gorgeous place.

Caitlin00:19:05

Oh my gosh.

Arnold00:19:06

It's probably several of them.

Caitlin00:19:08

It is several. And I think it. When this. Because variations of this question gets asked a lot, I think it just depends on what you're looking for.I think for me, I grew up knowing St. James, the town of St. James because of what St. James Winery.Like everybody else seeing the bottles of wine in the grocery store and seeing it along Highway 44. But St. James is a beautiful town with a really rich history. Actually that whole area, if you talk about St.James in Cuba and Steelville, it's beautiful. They've got the rivers out there, beautiful. Merrimack Spring park has some of the most crystal clear spring water I've ever seen.So I think people often think of a place like St. James as oh, you go there to go to the winery.But I think when you get off of 44 and actually go into the town, there's a really great burger place called Rich's Famous Burgers. Absolutely amazing. Go down.

Arnold00:19:55

Are they smash burgers?

Caitlin00:19:56

They're smash burgers, yeah.

Arnold00:19:58

Gotta check it out.

Caitlin00:19:58

Yes, absolutely.

Mark00:20:00

I'm going.

Caitlin00:20:01

And then, yeah, you go into Merrimack Spring park and you spend the day and it's beautiful and you get some nature and trout fishing. And you can go to the neighboring communities like Steelville. It's the floating capital of Missouri.It's got the great Huzzah River Resort down there. Tons of other outdoor recreation. Cuba's got really great history, too, all the murals downtown.So I think that area of Missouri, which tends to be that pass through area along Highway 44, it really. I hope this book entices people to just pop off the highway for a few minutes and just explore just a little bit.So I think that area of Missouri was one that. You know that there's stuff there, but you got to dig a little bit deeper and go beyond what the obvious destination is.

Arnold00:20:35

They have a national cemetery there also.

Caitlin00:20:41

Yeah, that's right.

Arnold00:20:41

They also have a.

Mark00:20:43

You're a wealth of information driving back and forth.

Caitlin00:20:46

Why do you need me?

Arnold00:20:46

You see these things. Isn't there a vacuum Museum there, too?

Mark00:20:50

A vacuum.

Arnold00:20:51

Vacuum Museum.

Caitlin00:20:52

It's somewhere down there. I don't. Yeah, I don't want to misspeak. I don't know. I've heard of it. There's been a billboard. I don't know if it's still open.

Arnold00:20:59

Okay.

Caitlin00:20:59

But it existed at some point. It might still exist. So apologies to the Vacuum Museum. If you're listening, that.I don't mean to misspeak, but look it up, because it did exist at one point and it may still exist. But yes, a vacuum museum.

Arnold00:21:10

And that's another way to get to the Lake of the Ozarks is to get off at the St. James X. Go up the back way.

Mark00:21:15

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's one of our favorite ways. Why did you not. It doesn't look like any of the lakes, Truman.Lake Ozark, some of the cities around there, down in Branson, around there, you didn't feature any of those cities. Was there a reason for that?

Caitlin00:21:28

Not a really purposeful reason. I think when I think of Lake Ozark, I think it's. People know it.And yes, there's a lot of little communities around there that want people to know that their identity is more than just the lake. But I really wanted to make sure that I got off the Beaten Path and told stories that were a little bit more unexpected.I think when you think of Missouri, I think people do tend to think St. Louis, Kansas City, Mizzou.

Mark00:21:53

Yeah.

Caitlin00:21:54

And Lake of the Ozark. So I was trying to get off of the obvious.

Mark00:21:57

Yeah, I get it.

Arnold00:21:58

Yeah, that makes sense.

Mark00:21:59

Yeah.

Arnold00:22:00

It's a great book. And the pictures in here are. Are stunning.

Mark00:22:03

Love it.

Arnold00:22:04

You've got some presentation and book signings coming up. You just completed a boatload. You're going to be in Pacific, Missouri, June 21. And that's not going to be at the visitor center.

Caitlin00:22:16

Correct. So we just. That was a very recent change. They're actually doing.I'm going to make sure I get this title right because it's the first time they're doing this festival. It's a long title. The Route 66 barbecue battle and Blues Festival. We're just gonna put it all together.Route 66 barbecue and blues, all in one festival. It's the first time they're doing it. They're doing it out at Liberty Field in Pacific.And instead of doing a signing and selling event at the visitor center, I'll have a little booth there next to their information center. So if anybody's come down to Pacific, it's. That's a great town. You mentioned Pacific, but it's 25 minutes away. You've got no reason to not go. Go on.Come on down to Pacific this weekend.But then, yes, after that, we've got a next week I'll be doing an actual presentation, information, informational presentation, signing and selling event at Kirkwood Public Library next Thursday.

Arnold00:23:00

So that's June 26th from 7 to 8pm and then Saturday, July 19th from 11am to 3pm in Perryville at the Read the Room bookstore and some future ones at the Arnold Public Library in September. And where can people get information about these book signings and presentations if they like?

Caitlin00:23:20

So I try to keep my. I have an official author Facebook page now because I realized I just got to separate it. But so my Instagram and Facebook are Aitlyn YeagerAuthor.Look at the book for the correct spelling of both of those names because they are both very commonly misspelled names. But Aitlyn yeagerauthor. So I try to keep those pretty up to date with upcoming events.But as far as the book itself, Ready Press does a great job of keeping that updated. So readypress.com and you can buy it. Honestly, I think it's. It's everywhere at this point.It's pretty amazing, but it's you can buy it at Barnes and Noble, Target, Amazon. A lot of local bookstores here in St. Louis have it.

Arnold00:23:54

Even local grocery stores.

Caitlin00:23:56

Yes, the schnooks on Arsenal down the street there. A friend sent a picture.

Arnold00:24:00

Yeah.

Mark00:24:00

Yeah. And what did you call it? It's Bookazine.

Caitlin00:24:04

Sure. We'll call it a Bookazine. It's a book, but it's a cross between a book and a magazine.

Mark00:24:08

Yeah, but I. Yeah, it's better than a magazine. But it.

Arnold00:24:11

Yeah, not quite a book, but better than a magazine.

Mark00:24:13

Yeah. I love it though. I do like it.

Arnold00:24:15

It's great.

Mark00:24:16

Yeah.

Arnold00:24:16

Caitlin, thanks for coming in today.

Caitlin00:24:18

Thanks for having me. Yeah.

Arnold00:24:19

We will post that information on the podcast page, folks, so you can check that out. It's A and that's C A, I, T, L, I, N, Y, A G, E, R. Author. You all know how to spell author, I hope.

Mark00:24:34

Yeah.

Arnold00:24:34

So this is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston. We will be right back. Don't go away. As strange as it may sound, at Better Rate Mortgage we love talking to people about mortgages. Everyone in St.Louis promises a better mortgage rate. But what you really need to turn that perfect house into your dream home is a better mortgage.At Better Rate Mortgage, we open the door to so much more. So where are you in the home buying process? Researching, maybe wondering how much you can afford? House hunting.Get a pre approval from Better Rate Mortgage Ready to buy. Our team is ready to make your mortgage process fast and easy.Whether you're purchasing your first home or taking cash out to make your dream home even dreamier. Our door is open. Come on in and get started. Today. We'll show you how.Call Sean directly at 314-375-3293 or online@betterratemortgage.com Remember, at Better Rate Mortgage, a better rate is just the beginning. Betterratemortgage.com MLS ID 2401335 and equal housing.

Caitlin00:25:51

Lender.

Arnold00:25:54

This is Arnold Stricker of St. Louis in tune on behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation.In 1857, the Dred Scott decision was a major legal event and catalyst that contributed to the Civil War. The decision declared that Dred Scott could not be free because he was not a citizen.The 14th Amendment, also called the Dred Scott Amendment, granted citizenship to all born or naturalized here in our country and was intended to overturn the US Supreme Court decision on July 9, 1868.The Dred Scott Heritage foundation is requesting a commemorative stamp to be issued from the US Postal Service to recognize and remember the heritage of this amendment by issuing a stamp with the likeness of the man Dred Scott. But we need your support and the support of thousands of people who would like to see this happen.To achieve this goal, we ask you to download, sign and share the one page petition with others. To find the petition, please go to dredscottlives.org and click on the Dred Scott petition drive on the right side of the page.On behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage foundation, this has been Arnold Stricker of St. Louis Intune. The United States has a strong tradition of welcoming newcomers and refugees.The welcome Corps is a new service opportunity for Americans inspired to welcome those seeking freedom and safety and in turn help strengthen their own communities. Welcome Corps is a public private partnership that is inspired by what Americans represent to so many around the world. A beacon of hope and refuge.All it takes is a helping hand. Are you ready to learn more? Contact the International Institute of St. Louis@infoistl.org or call 314-773-9090.That's infoistl.org or call 314.773-9090. Welcome back, folks, to St. Louis in Tune. Mark, what a great book.Small Town, Missouri Legends, Lore and Attractions in the Show Me State by Caitlin Yeager.

Mark00:27:58

I really like it. There's some great stuff in there there. Really? And I was perusing through it as well while you all were talking and there's some great.The very first city I think they have in there.

Arnold00:28:11

Yes.

Mark00:28:11

I have to go back and grab it. Is it Arrow Rock?

Arnold00:28:13

Arrow Rock in Saline county, which is out west.

Mark00:28:16

And how many people are in that town?

Arnold00:28:18

59.

Mark00:28:19

There you go. That's a small town.

Arnold00:28:21

That's out by Blackwater. You see some signs. We drive 70 frequently when we go to Kansas City.Obviously you drive 70 when you go to Kansas City, but can't wait till there's some historic areas. And it's these small areas, especially along the river.

Mark00:28:33

Right.

Arnold00:28:34

Really cool.

Mark00:28:34

It's amazing. Yeah, it's pretty. It's a neat book. I. I would. I'm all about. Yeah, you should pick that book up.

Arnold00:28:41

George Caleb Bingham.

Mark00:28:42

It's a fun.

Arnold00:28:43

Had deep roots at Arrow Rock. I didn't know that. Had no idea. Missouri artist.

Mark00:28:47

Oh, I'll be darn.

Arnold00:28:49

The oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi.

Mark00:28:52

An Arrow Rock.

Arnold00:28:53

Yes, the J. Houston Tavern.

Mark00:28:56

Who knew that?

Arnold00:28:56

Who knew that?

Mark00:28:57

See, if you're going to go to Arrow Rock, you'd want to go to that Tavern.

Arnold00:29:00

Yes.

Mark00:29:01

And have something there. I wonder if they.

Arnold00:29:05

You'd want to know all about this.

Mark00:29:06

I would want to know all about that.

Arnold00:29:08

Wow.

Mark00:29:09

I'd want to see how they did.

Arnold00:29:10

Very cool. For those who are watching on YouTube and Facebook Live, there it is right there.

Mark00:29:15

Yeah. Small town, Missouri.

Arnold00:29:16

This is the. Would you call it Bookazine?

Mark00:29:19

Bookazine, yeah. Yeah.

Arnold00:29:21

You've invented a new word.

Mark00:29:22

Bookazine. Yeah, Bookazine. But it's. Yeah, it's kind of magazine ish.

Arnold00:29:27

Yeah.

Mark00:29:28

But it's thicker and it's built better.

Arnold00:29:31

It's something that you could take in the car. And it's not going to take up a lot of room.

Mark00:29:35

No.

Arnold00:29:36

And it's pop it in a backpack.

Mark00:29:37

And it seems like most of the cities have got just like one or two pages. It's not. It's not a big hard read.There's a couple that have three or four pages, but that's about the max, I think, is like four pages for one of the cities in there.

Arnold00:29:51

Yep.

Mark00:29:51

I'd love to see one with St. Louis county is weird as far in many ways, but one way is. I think we're one of the.There's maybe two, I think, communities that have all these small towns that are cities. They're not city. They're towns. They're cities that make up St. Louis County. I think there's 92. It varies. 92 municipalities, municipalities and.And I would love to see something that kind of talks about each one of those municipalities before they all go.

Arnold00:30:18

Away in one big county again.

Mark00:30:21

When I was mayor, we tried to combine three communities. We looked at doing Richmond Heights, Maplewood, and we talked about Clayton and we even called. We had a name for it, Claywood Heights.

Arnold00:30:32

Ooh, that's cool.

Mark00:30:34

And it was not going well. The people of each one of those cities have their own identities.And the police department that each city, Little municipality has, it means a lot to the people in that city.

Arnold00:30:46

See, that's the issue because in the city of St. Louis, there's lots of different neighborhoods.And if you can compare that, the county has these municipalities and they're their own form of government. They have their own, generally, police and fire departments, but in the city, they're neighborhoods. But there's one police, there's one fire.

Mark00:31:03

That never show up. I didn't say that. Or they do, but it's.

Arnold00:31:07

I was thinking it three hours away. No, but that's true. You try to do some combination, but somebody's going to lose a job.And they all have Their I'm going to pick on the fire department here, which they're very thankful for, the fire department, don't get me wrong. But you have to have this battalion chief and then some other chief and how big is the place?

Mark00:31:26

I'll get letters about this. But we looked at putting together a fire department which was cooperative.

Arnold00:31:32

Right.

Mark00:31:33

Instead of a district because the city, the municipality, honestly, and I'm not saying anything bad about districts because heaven forbid, but the districts, they have a three person board or something. And so the city has no real input into the. What's going on with that.So that was something that we worked on trying and I think it's consolidation of services. What we found in our research is a city of 30 to 35,000 people is what works best for trash for. So we talked about economy of scale.Yeah, exactly, Arnold. And so we talked about combining like the parks departments, the street departments, make it the central corridor street department.And then we all chip in and whoever has like this, like Richmond Heights has a great garage or Maplewood has a great garage. They have. So you could combine these services. You don't care who fills up your. No, you know the holes in the.

Arnold00:32:30

Street as long as it gets filled up.

Mark00:32:32

That's right. But you can do it and do it cheap, cheaper.But the real rub was that police department and the fire department people really appreciate that a whole lot. And we talked about we'd have one chief that would be over three or four different communities and that was. There's a lot of politics there.But there were, I have to say there were some firefighters chiefs that said no, that for the greater good of these communities, I will step aside and you can have one chief.

Arnold00:33:02

That's good because a lot of times it's based upon salaries or your pension or how much they're contributing into all of those different kinds of things.

Mark00:33:11

Well, yeah, let's just say $150,000 for a chief. I'm just, I think some of them are more than that. Every mile you've got another chief and that's another.So you could save so much money and you could still give good services as well. But people in St.Louis county enjoy, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, they enjoy their small town being Maplewood, Richmond Heights, what a Ferguson.

Arnold00:33:36

And in some small bergs there, there's one police car and a town council.

Mark00:33:43

Now I am, I am happy because a group of the mayors got together and we tried to do this. I'm not happy with the way St. Louis county did this. I can't believe I'm going down this road. But the North County Police cooperative, it's good.But what St. Louis county decided they wanted to do a tax, a law enforcement tax, and it was done wrong. And who's going to vote against that tax? St.Louis county still takes the lion's share of that money. Now, when the mayors had. When I was a mayor and we got together, we wanted to do. St. Louis county did not do a law enforcement tax.We called it a public service tax. You can do a fire tax. We'd levity fire tax to pay for our fire tax, trucks and stuff like that. But the, the law enforcement tax, St.Louis county takes way too much of that money. And we as mayors wanted to do a law enforcement tax for St. Louis and then contribute a lion's share of that money to north St.Louis county and to areas that could not do good policing, because that was the problem. They didn't have the Walmarts. They didn't have that tax revenue coming into their city. And so there are. There were some.There are some good Mayors in St. Louis county that really wanted to do something to help help North County. And the cooperative is a great step in that direction.But I don't think they're getting enough money from Sam Page's idea of let's do. Maybe it wasn't Sam Page. I think it was the guy before.

Arnold00:35:11

Him, the guy who went to jail.

Mark00:35:13

Yeah, but you don't want to. And it was really hard because I was like, I want to come out against this. That. It's a. It's. The idea is fantastic.But the way they structured it was wrong. But who is going to want to vote against a police department? But that was the. I'm telling you, St. Louis County Police.And they do a fantastic job, don't get me wrong. And they need funding as well. But if I even did their. I'm sorry, I'll try to wrap it up.I even did their calculation how they calculate where the money goes based on your population. If you go to the unincorporated part of St. Louis county and you look at that population, they have gotten twice as much as that calculation says.So I was like, oh, man.

Arnold00:35:55

What's interesting, you're talking about an unincorporated area in St. Louis County. You're talking Wildwood out in Baldwin, some of those areas.

Mark00:36:03

And they need that money too.

Arnold00:36:04

Right.

Mark00:36:05

And I don't think anyone wanted. It's just they were. St. Louis County's a little greedy with that particular tax that maybe that's one.

Arnold00:36:14

Reason they have some financial issues right now.

Mark00:36:16

That's why I want to. Always wanted to run for the county councilor just to fix those kind of things. What's wrong with you people?Come on, quit trying to pull one over on the public. It just drives me crazy. Drives me crazy. No, I'm getting too old to run anyway. It's a.

Arnold00:36:32

You're never too old to run.

Mark00:36:33

But those are the. Yeah. And I'm very proud of the mayors that wanted to try to help north St. Louis County.

Arnold00:36:38

You have to look beyond your own community to those as you were stating, to those that don't have some of the things that bring revenue in and to my words, level the playing field a little. I know Chesterfield's really upset about that. A lot of their money goes out of Chesterfield. But that's part of. If you've been given much is required.Right.

Mark00:36:58

So yeah, there was like we knew of one or two policemen that. That had issues and they would roll from department to department about the time that, you know, they're per.I don't know, their 90 days was up when they. They'd moved to another department and that they knew about it up there. They just needed police though, and they couldn't afford police.

Arnold00:37:18

So you. That's what you take.

Mark00:37:20

That's why the North Carolina cooperative is good.

Arnold00:37:22

Yeah.

Mark00:37:23

They're able to pay anyway.

Arnold00:37:24

It is.

Mark00:37:24

Okay. We'll still go on.

Arnold00:37:25

Well, Mark, some mental floss here.

Mark00:37:28

Something to break up.

Arnold00:37:29

It's our new seriousness. Yeah. Portion of the show. Here are some bizarre items that were sold by Sears in 1902. Okay, now, you ready for this?

Mark00:37:40

No, but go ahead.

Arnold00:37:40

There was Dr. Rose's French arsenic complexion wafers. These were. These poisonous wafers were advertised as being, quote unquote, simply magical for the complexion.Their most striking effects being brought about by their steady use. So they were guaranteed to improve even the coarsest and most repulsive skin and complexion, especially if you're in the lurid pallor of death.Then there's the toilet mask. You get this at Sears. At first glance, a toilet mask doesn't sound so bad. But this mask doesn't use soothing cucumber extracts.It's an acid cured rubber mask coated with healing agents meant to eradicate freckles, liver spots and other facial blemishes. So why would you need micro. Microdermabrasion when you can just use trace amounts of acid?

Mark00:38:36

Oh my.

Arnold00:38:38

Let's see. Spirits of turpentine. This elixir was ingested to kill Intestinal parasites, and hopefully not the human host.So turpentine has been used, obviously, to clean things, clean paint off of things. But it still has some modern medicinal uses, but usually in chest rubs, like Vicks, for example, and not drinkable medicines.Then there was the kerosene emulsion. Used as an insecticide on crops and animals.This product promises to kill, quote, plant lice, red spiders, scales and mealybugs, unquote, among other pests. Then you could also buy a castrating knife, which was used for veterinary purposes.And it came with your choice of 1, 2, or 3 blades of varying sizes to meet all of your gelding needs. You could buy a Heidelberg electric belt. I remember seeing these in comic books.You know, in the back of comic books, they always had these ads for these things, like the X ray glasses.

Mark00:39:43

Oh, yeah, yeah. Did you ever get those?

Arnold00:39:44

I never did.

Mark00:39:45

I don't think they ever worked.

Arnold00:39:47

No. And they also had the electric belt. This is suffering from. I'm going to read from the article.Suffering from nervous disease, infertility, a weakness peculiar to men. Then this electric belt may be for you. In cases of sexual weakness, a cure is certain.This belt promises the best, most reliable, most harmless, yet powerful, cheapest cure possible. Just shock yourself back to health.

Mark00:40:09

Okay, we'll do that then.

Arnold00:40:11

You could even get a set of. Of McKinley assassination slides. You could order a lecture set of slides for your stereophone.A home slide projector depicting realistic views of the assassination, including images of McKinley's attacker taken within 10 minutes of his capture by the police. The Stereo Opticon. Stereo Opticon. Excuse me.

Mark00:40:36

Wow, that's scary. That's scary.

Arnold00:40:40

So just think, folks, we've come a long way from 1902 Sears and Roebuck catalog.

Mark00:40:47

Yeah. I want a pair of those X ray glasses, though.

Arnold00:40:51

I wonder if they still make them.

Mark00:40:53

Got to find them. Check it out on ebay.

Arnold00:40:56

Maybe they have in the comic books.

Mark00:40:59

I remember those. And they just said X ray vision.

Arnold00:41:02

On it.

Mark00:41:05

And then a little hole because you can look through. I think it was mainly just for the impact of it.

Arnold00:41:10

Now, Mark, do you have any days of the day?

Mark00:41:12

I got a couple if you want to hear them. It's national eat your vegetables day for granted. Lodge?

Arnold00:41:18

Yeah?

Mark00:41:18

Do you eat your vegetables? I don't.

Arnold00:41:20

I do. I love vegetables.

Mark00:41:21

Clean your kitchen vents day. There's a good one for you.

Arnold00:41:24

Yeah, I know.

Mark00:41:26

Let's see. Oh, a global garbage man day. How long do you. Yeah. Gosh. What do you do without. Oh, I've lost everything.

Arnold00:41:34

Global Garbage Man Day.

Mark00:41:36

That's right. You should pick it up all.

Arnold00:41:38

Picking up the garbage.

Mark00:41:38

Gosh knows what would happen without that.

Arnold00:41:40

Oh my gosh. It'd be a stinking place.

Mark00:41:42

Nurses Assistant Day. That's a good one.

Arnold00:41:45

That is a good one.

Mark00:41:45

Let's see there. I. Hold on. I'm sorry, there's not a whole lot. I'm happy to report there's not as many as I. I thought there would be today.No, I think that's about what I got. Let's see. National Mascot Day. Oh, yeah. Today is National Mascot Day. Did you know that?

Arnold00:42:03

National mascot.

Mark00:42:05

Yeah, Fred Berg.

Arnold00:42:06

Yes.

Mark00:42:06

It's his day today.

Arnold00:42:07

And apparently Fredberg won the. Was it the baseball competition?

Mark00:42:13

Did he? Yes. I believe that we are very blessed to have him in. In our midst. He's fantastic. And I think. I'm sorry, I'm having computer problems here.It's just not cooperating with me this morning. Here we go. I gotta. I don't know if I have any more. Nope, I have no more.

Arnold00:42:32

I have some humor that I've been saving.

Mark00:42:34

Good. It's about time.

Arnold00:42:35

Remember the show, folks. It's about helping people smile and laugh. So you've been to the doctor sometimes and they make you wait in the waiting room.So the doctor said to me this morning, I'd like to talk to you about your weight. And I said, it was 25 minutes, but at least the chairs were comfy. And he was talking about the weight of the individual.

Mark00:42:55

I like your answer better.

Arnold00:42:58

Did you know that the gender neutral term for sugar daddy is glucose guardian?

Mark00:43:08

You hurt so bad.

Arnold00:43:12

So I was told that after a vasectomy, I wouldn't have kids anymore. Imagine my shock when I went home and they were still there.

Mark00:43:18

Oh, my God. That's bad. That's very bad.

Arnold00:43:25

Two weeks ago, I told kids at school to write an essay titled if I were a Millionaire. Everyone was writing except a girl who leaned back with her arms folded. What's the matter? I asked. Why aren't you writing?I'm waiting for my secretary, she replied. I scored her 10 out of 10. And did you know that sometimes this is. A vessel had been attacked by.Somebody had been attacked from a planet by a vessel from the planet Omega 3. Thankfully, the damage was only superficial.

Mark00:44:06

Omega 3. Okay.

Arnold00:44:08

And Mark, I know you love dad jokes, but where do you keep all your dad jokes? In the database.

Mark00:44:24

Wow.

Arnold00:44:24

Now these are.

Mark00:44:25

You hear why the duck was arrested? Because he was selling quack. Okay, where that came from.

Arnold00:44:34

Here's some euphemisms. And diphemisms. Euphemisms are.They describe something that's unpleasant and diphemisms do the opposite, making neutral or positive things sound worse. So passed away instead of dead. Pre owned instead of used. Let's see. Chronologically gifted instead of old. Past. Gas instead of the F word.Correctional officer instead of prison guard. Downsizing instead of layoffs. So here's the other one. The opposite would be croaked instead of died. Kicked the bucket instead of passed away.Freak show instead of unusual performance or talent. Toilet instead of restroom or bathroom.

Mark00:45:25

Okay, like these.

Arnold00:45:29

Cattle class instead of economy seating.

Mark00:45:32

Cattle class.

Arnold00:45:33

I've never heard that one. How about old hag instead of elderly woman?

Mark00:45:39

Okay.

Arnold00:45:43

Very interesting there.

Mark00:45:46

Okay, some rough stuff there.

Arnold00:45:48

And I guess we will leave you folks with this fact of the day. Even if a bear is wearing shoes and socks, he will still have bare feet.

Mark00:45:57

Oh. Oh, I like that one.

Arnold00:46:02

That's all for this hour. Thanks for listening.If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen to additional shows@stlntune.com consider leaving a review on our website, Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, or your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and continue to grow.Thank you to Bob Berthiselle for our theme music, our sponsor, Veterate Mortgage, our guest, Caitlyn Yeager and co host, Mark Langston. And we thank you folks for being a part of our community of curious minds. St.Louis in tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US Radio Network. Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy, and let your light shine. For St. Louis in Tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.

Mark00:46:48

Sam.

Caitlin00:47:14

It.