The Parkville Board of Aldermen on Tuesday approved the placing of a driving trail marker showing the path of troops during the Civil War.
The marker will be placed near a fountain at the railroad depot along Hwy. 9 in Parkville.
The board was approached by James Speicher, district director with Missouri’s Civil War Heritage Foundation, to place the marker to commemorate the actions during the Civil War in Parkville.
Speicher said he is approaching four locations in Platte County to place markers. The four places are Parkville, Platte City, Camden Point, and Weston.
According to Speicher, the marker would be placed in advance of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, in 2011.
Speicher said the foundation would purchase the marker and the city would only be responsible for the concrete pad and installation of the sign. Speicher said the sign will cost $1,800 and is covered by the foundation.
Parkville was approached because of their role in the Civil War. In 1864, the confederates came into Parkville and ran the union militia into the Missouri Valley Hotel. They then forced the militia to surrender and some of the militia joined the confederates.
The Missouri Valley Hotel was later turned into the first building for Park College. The hotel was located near the railroad depot approximately where the fountain is located now.
Later in 1864 the confederates moved to Platte City and then Camden Point to recruit more soldiers. Other union forces from Fort Leavenworth heard about the recruitments and crossed the river to Weston and moved to Camden Point.
A battle was then fought at Camden Point on July 13, 1864.
Speicher said his foundation is attempting to place around 400 markers throughout Missouri before 2011.
The board also approved the appointment of Parkville resident Nan McManus to be the new Ward 4 Aldermen to fill the position vacated by Gerry Richardson after he was elected to be mayor.
Parkville will participate in a program through the Mid-America Regional Council, MARC, to purchase aerial photography of the city of Parkville.
Parkville will pay $2,193.98 for the photos, which the city can use for showing exactly where easements and property lines are.
The city’s Public Works department evaluated the situation along Mill Street and estimated that installing handrails along the sidewalk would cost around $27,872. The railings would be mounted to the side of the sidewalk where the sidewalk is more than six inches above the street.
Dan Koch, public works director, estimated that covering the entire length of sidewalk would be approximately 400 feet. Koch also said the city could possibly drop the cost by doing some of the work with public works crews.
Koch will evaluate the cost by using city employees and report back to the board at the next meeting. The cost of railings is not a budgeted item.
