All library locations will be closed Friday, October 16 for a staff development day.
Join the Boone’s Lick Road Association for a presentation by genealogist and public historian Dorris Keeven-Franke. Learn the important history of the "Big Road," those who traveled it and those who built towns along it, and how it contributed to our culture and heritage. See how the route changed according to society’s needs and what remains today of our state’s first major roadway. Adults.
With the Louisiana Purchase and westward expansion in 1804, Americans flooded the new frontier by using early trails that buffalo and the Osage Nation had used for years. By the time Missouri became a state in 1821, the residents were clamoring for surveyors to lay out better roadways for stagecoaches and caravans. The “Big Road,” as it was called by early travelers, was originally a trail used by the Boone and Morrison families, to reach their all-important salt lick in Howard County. As thousands of families from the East and from Europe came to Missouri, the route was used to reach the Boone’s Lick region, the Sante Fe Trail and points further west.
Dorris Keeven-Franke will share the important history of Boone’s Lick Road, starting with the importance of salt licks for early settlers and how salt was made. You'll learn about the towns along the route, the people who lived there and their culture and heritage, as well as how the route changed to meet society’s needs. And you'll discover what remains today of our state’s first major roadway. This program is filled with maps, photos and traces of the places and cultures that still share the stories of the road today.
About the presenter: Dorris Keeven-Franke loves to share the more difficult stories that help us understand our history and who we are today. She has been writing those stories and sharing her programs for nearly thirty years. An award-winning author, she is also a professional genealogist, archivist and public historian. She spends her time volunteering at Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum and is involved in several local history organizations and Civil War roundtables. She is actively involved with the NPS National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom by documenting stories of freedom-seekers.
This public presentation is co-sponsored by the Boone's Lick Road Association as part of their annual meeting.
