Recognizing a Lost Past

Lessons From Jefferson City’s Legacy Historic District

Presenter Rachel Senzee will discuss the official recognition of Jefferson City's Foot District, a neighborhood that no longer has a physical presence, as a “Historic Legacy District.” This area was the heart of the Black community, where residents owned their own businesses and developed places of worship, a park, a community center, a pool and more. Co-sponsored by CoMo Preservation. Adults.

Presenter Rachel Senzee will speak about how Jefferson City officially recognized a neighborhood that no longer has a physical presence as a “Historic Legacy District.” At the foot of the hill at Lincoln University's Lafayette Street entrance was an area known as the Foot. Here Black residents invested in and owned their own businesses and developed places of worship, a park, a community center and a pool. However, much of this area was demolished as part of the 1950s and 1960s urban renewal process and with the construction of Highway 50. Senzee and other individual and groups, including the Historic City of Jefferson, worked to find the right way to acknowledge this part of Jefferson City’s history. Co-sponsored by CoMo Preservation.

Rachel Senzee is the neighborhood services supervisor for the City of Jefferson. Neighborhood Services manages housing, redevelopment, historic preservation, federal initiatives and sustainability programs. Senzee has 15 years of experience in the fields of grants management, historic preservation, project management and community engagement. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Southeast Missouri State University and a master’s degree in public history from the University of Arkansas – Little Rock.

CoMo Preservation is a nonprofit organization with the mission to preserve the historic architecture of Columbia, Missouri.

Adults.

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