Town comes together for an evening of fun and remembrance
By Stan Schwartz
One-hundred-fifty years ago Vandalia was emerging from the vast Missouri prairie. It was August 1874, Aaron McPike had the town’s charter and was going to present it to those who were first part of this growing community.
That Charter Day was celebrated this past Saturday at the town’s Tri-County Park with the citizens of Vandalia taking in the cool summer breeze and enjoying ice cream, cupcakes, live entertainment and a healthy dose of history about their town.
Local barber, Harold Williams, dressed as Aaron McPike, sat in one of the tents surrounded by historical photos from Vandalia’s past. He would later re-enact that Charter Day from long ago on the stage set by the tennis courts.
McPike was partly responsible for getting the railroad to come through Vandalia, Williams said, cementing its place in history.
“He was quite the capitalist,” he added.
At the start of the opening ceremony, everyone rose for the National Anthem, which was sung by Natalie Gibson, Lori Culwell and Zoey Gibson.
First up was the contest to pick the Little Mr. and Little Miss for the event. Three judges had their work cut out for them.
Alethea, a Vandalia civics club, which was chartered in 1968, sponsored the contest. Club member Joyce Jerman welcomed the crowd to the park and thanked the three girls and two boys for participating in the contest because she knew it’s not easy at that age to get up in front of so many people.
Nash Calhoun was picked at the Little Mr. and Amarah Lopez Valencia was picked, as the Little Miss. Calhoun’s parents are Jordan and Amanda Calhoun. His grandparents are Gary Stubblefield, Sandy Owens, Paul and Michelle Calhoun and Tricia Calhoun. Amarah is the daughter of Victor and Madeline Valencia. Runner up for the Little Miss title was Reese Epperson. Her parents are Jordan and Kylie Epperson. Her grandparents are Jerry and Janet Epperson and Gary and Janine Stephenson. Runner up for Little Mr. was Jensen Allen LaRue. His parents are Brandon and Ronni LaRue. His grandparents are Robert and Nancy Stotler. Second runner up for Little Miss was Adeline Embree. Her parents are Wes and Rebekah Embree.
Jerman also thanked Harry Wallace for helping with the stage, as well as Bob Giltner, who was the emcee for the evening’s events. Jerman also thanked the three judges for the incredibly difficult task it was to choose the winners, although Giltner later told the children that they were all winners.
Jerman noted that the Vandalia Florist donated the flowers for the event.
Giltner thanked the Chamber of Commerce and all the groups who came together to make the day’s celebration possible. The huge number of volunteers and the direct support of numerous sponsors made the evening enjoyable for everyone. He also interviewed Williams as he portrayed McPike.
“He rose from the grave just to talk today,” Giltner said. “What made you decide on Vandalia?” he asked.
“You have to realize, that I’m a capitalist,” he said. “I saw that we were going to make a lot of money here.”
Giltner wanted to know the first place that started in town.
McPike said the most prominent place was where the Vandalia Area Historical Society now calls home along Main Street.
“We met there quite a bit,” he added. The next most prominent building was the LaCrosse building. He noted that in order to build a town, you need lots of lumber.
“We had the railroad line, and the largest lumber company was the LaCrosse Lumber Co. in Louisiana,” he said.
Vandalia’s name came from McPike’s daughter, Sally, who liked the sound of the name.
Later, Paul Ray also welcomed everyone to the park for Charter Day.
“This is a big crowd and a great evening,” he said. “Thank you for joining us.”
This is called Charter Day he said because it was the day the charter was signed making Vandalia a town—Aug. 10 1874, 150 years ago.
He asked for a show of hands of those who were there for the town’s centennial celebration 50 years ago. Numerous hands went up from those assembled in the park.
He welcomed Shari Grote to the stage. She is the one painting the mural of the town’s history on the side of the building over on Jefferson Street. She was also doing some painting in the park that evening. She owns and operates Barn Baby Art, as well as being an art teacher at the Bowling Green R-I School District.
“She’s done a wonderful job on the mural,” he added.
Grote said she was honored to be chosen to paint the mural. She spent a lot of time at the museum looking through items to determine what would go in the mural. She is planning a second one, which will go on the side of the Vandalia Area Historical Museum.
He asked those present to sign the Sesquicentennial banner so that they would have those signatures for the town’s Bicentennial celebration in 50 years.
Ray also asked for everyone to help out by voting on what to name the mural Grote is painting. There were five suggested names and space to write one of their own.
“We need your input,” he added. In addition to that, they had a suggestion box on what they should include in the time capsule they were putting together for the Bicentennial. They were going to open the time capsule from 1974 later that evening.
“We’ll be filling that capsule on Prairie Day,” he said. The celebration would continue in September over an extended Prairie Day, Ray noted.
Mayor Ralph Kuda Jr. came to the stage to give welcome the crowd to Vandalia’s 150th anniversary.
“A lot of people have spent a lot of hours (putting this celebration together),” he said. “We hope you enjoy all the entertainment we have for you tonight.”
Williams as McPike said: “Greetings and salutations. We gather today to celebrate the 150th anniversary, otherwise known as the Sesquicentennial of our fair city of Vandalia, Missour(a).” The articles of incorporation were approved on Aug. 3 of 1874 for a new city in Audrain County.
McPike was born in Henry County, Ky., in 1814. He was the ninth of 12 children. They moved to Indiana, where his parents died of milk poisoning. At age 15, he became an orphan and assumed the responsibilities of his three younger sisters.
“I raised them until they were old enough to take care of themselves,” McPike said. At that time he moved to Marion County, just 6 miles south of Palmyra, where he bought a farm.
By 1843, he was an overseer for a cousin’s plantation in Ashley, Mo. That’s where he learned how to buy, develop and sell land, which was much more lucrative than farming.
He sold his property in Marion County and concentrated on buying land in Audrain and Pike counties. He also raised mules, selling thousands of them to the federal government during the Civil War.
In 1868, he partnered with Perry Curry, to layout the town of Curryville, just a few miles to the east. He bequeathed 800 acres and the mule business to his son, and then partnered in 1870 with Harmon Callwell and Amos Ladd to layout what would become Vandalia, the Queen of the Prairie. It was then that he became a stockholder and a promoter of the Louisiana Missouri Railroad Co.
“I purchased large tracks of land surrounding Vandalia. Then I used my influence to insure that the rail(road) was to come through Vandalia.”
McPike donated the land for the train depot to be constructed in town.
In February 1904, at the age of 90, McPike died.
Kuda said he was just 25 years old in 1974 for the Centennial celebration. Now he’s 75. Life was different back then.
“We had 10 gasoline stations, three bakeries, three new-car dealers, three taverns, two grocery stores, three clothing stores, three hardware stores, and an ice cream parlor,” he said, as well as many other businesses.
A lot of those businesses went away, he added, but the town has turned a corner and is starting to come back
“In the last six years, we’ve got 18 new businesses,” he said. Kuda is in his 11th year as mayor. “We’re trying to make Vandalia a better place for everybody.”
Giltner helped open and unpack the time capsule from 1974 with former owner of The Vandalia Leader, Lora Steiner. She and her husband, Weldon “Pete” Steiner, bought the paper in 1951 and sold it in 2003.
“She and Pete ran the paper for many years,” he said. “I don’t know what we would have done without them.”
The box was stored at the Vandalia State Bank until it was brought to the park and opened.
It contained a lot of memorabilia from that time, including photos and log books. All the items would be taken over to the VAHS museum where they would be put on display.
The Tri-County Aquatic Center opened at 7 p.m. for a huge pool party as the rest of the people enjoyed music by Seth Wade. He appearance was sponsored by Beck’s.
The volunteers, sponsors and participants should be commended for all they did to bring this celebration to life.