Due to heavy rain in this morning’s thunderstorm, the first part of the downtown walking tour was more of a “visual walking tour.” The judges met with Deb Sheals, historic preservation consultant and Carrie Gartner, executive director of Downtown Columbia Association. They discussed historic structures and preservation efforts in Columbia, most specifically the canopy across storefronts that was removed from the downtown area in 2006. Sheals said the removal of the canopy helped make it possible to get downtown listed on the national historic register. It also helped increase visibility of store fronts.
After the meeting, the storm had passed. We rode to Wabash Station to meet Marie Hunter, manager of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs. She discussed the newly refurbished station as well as the city’s Percent for Art program. One point of interest was the paintings on the wall with the ticket window; they help bring history into the station. On the left side the paintings show the station as it might have been when it was still a train station. On the right, the paintings show the station as it is today.
After visiting Wabash Station, we drove to the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts, where David White, director of the theater gave the judges and myself a tour.
The theater has been almost completely restored in the past 10 months. He highlighted the historical restoration of the original crown molding, the marble floor in the lobby, original paint colors and the history lounge.
The lounge contains seats from the old theater, a call board cut from an original wall backstage, some original floorboards from the stage, and original breaker boxes and a spotlight. In addition, there is a digital wallpaper of a mural that used to be 24-feet high.
Our tour took us through the entire theater, from the digital organ above the stage to the star dressing rooms beneath.
As we walked into the theater, Riley gasped.
“Wow,” she said.
“Now you know what I’m talking about,” White said.
— Rebecca Legel
