June 20-Learn about Columbia’s unique architecture, other events
On June 20 learn about the forces that created our unique architecture. On July 22, we’ll offer the free Brick Streets Tour again. On July 25, learn about African-American horticulture teacher Henry Kirklin who had to teach outside due to racial segregation.
7 p.m. June 20: A presentation on Columbia’s unique architecture in the Columbia Public Library - Free and open to the public
Matt Fetterly, a local historian, will explain the historical forces behind Columbia’s architecture. Learn about the shifting architectural tastes of Columbian, what we share in common with the rest of the nation and what makes Columbia one of a kind. We’ll take at Federal, Victorian, and Mid-century Modern styles and talk about our historic preservation successes and failures of our past.
An eighth-generation Boone Countian, Matt is an alumnus of Hickman High School and the University of Missouri. He’s accumulated a collection of more than 170 books about Columbia and Boone County. He’s especially interested in Black, indigenous, LGBT and cultural history as well as architecture, music, art, theater, and cemeteries.
Matt is also a professional percussionist and musical theater musician who has worked at the Arrow Rock Lyceum since 2012.
10-Noon, p.m. July 22 Brick Streets Tour
Patrick Earney will reprise his Brick Streets Tour with a walking tour exploring the stories surrounding Columbia’s founding and its unique brick architecture. This approximate 2-mile, 2-hour stroll will start in front of The Broadway Hotel on Broadway. Learn about the what, how and why of Columbia’s brick streets, brick making and brick construction. The tour is free but reservations are required for this ticketed event
7 p.m. July 25: Billy Polansky of the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture will discuss the Henry Kirklin. All of CoMo Preservation’s monthly meetings are free and open to the public.
Billy is the executive director of the Center and has been one of the leaders in the effort to recognize Kirklin’s importance in Columbia’s history.
Kirklin was born into slavery in 1858 and freed five years later. He went on to become a successful businessman, farmer and educator. As a young adult, he worked as a greenhouse supervisor at MU’s horticulture department. A supervisor noticed his talents and asked Kirklin to teach propagation and pruning to the university students — but because of the racial segregation laws at the time, Kirklin was forbidden to enter MU’s building, leaving him to teach the students outside. He went on to develop a successful business growing fruit, vegetables and plant starts. Kirklin was known to remark he was “the only negro who ever taught at the University of Missouri,” according to https://buildthistown.org/kirklin. This source notes that the assistant secretary of the Missouri Board of Agriculture in 1913 said Kirklin had been “pretty near a teacher, even if his name was not on the faculty directory.” Kirklin died in 1938 at age 80, but until 2020 his grave was unmarked.
At the July 25 meeting, Polansky will share the story of how Kirklin’s legacy is being continued.
