Welcome to a special little bonus episode of River Town, from The New Territory Magazine, KBIA, and the Missouri News Network.
For this "extra" episode, we’re taking a trip to Marthasville, Missouri, to visit the 128-year-old Peers Store— it's a historic landmark with a wide front porch that looks out to prairie land along the Katy Trail.
And it’s a gathering place - a place to take a rest from a long bike ride, fix a tire, grab a cold drink, buy some art, or ... just hang on the porch. The general store is owned and looked after by a group called Magnificent Missouri, and conservationist Dan Burkhard.
Our team recently hit the road – destination Marthasville – and producers Maggie Turner and Janet Saidi talked with musicians, bikers, artists and conservationists, all gathered on a recent hot Saturday afternoon.
Here are some of the sights and sounds from our visit.
Transcript:
Dan Burkhardt: And we are here today because the Peers Store is our focal point, our way that we connect with people who are riding the Katy Trail, live in the area, and talk about conservation, preservation and history of the Missouri River Valley.
[Music Transition]
Burkhardt: This store was a unique place. Because when it started in 1896, this area that were in the middle of was full of houses, a couple of manufacturing companies were here, there was a plow manufacturing company here and peers. And it was a very active, very vibrant place.
Rick Funcik: I mean, the the water is moving from here to there, it started somewhere in the Rockies and it's on its way to Louisiana. And the river is what allowed towns like Martha's Ville and Herman all to be established. Because the river connects, you know, people and commerce up and down. And then when the railroad happened, these towns flourished.
Burkhardt: Unfortunately, during the flood of 1903, the river that used to be just about 200 feet in front of the store shifted South two miles. And so the riverfront characteristics of the pier store went away. And it still had the railroad, the KT railroad. And then later in the 20th century, the KT railroad went away. So Peers kind of lost its reason for being here. And the store though continued to be a place that local people came and gathered.
Rhema Butcher: Today we are riding our bicycles on the Katy Trail. I'm here with a couple of my girlfriends from Austin, Texas. Today's a little bit hot. But we got up really early because we're doing a century today. So it's been it's been exciting. It's been physically exerting but it's been really beautiful as well.
Burkhardt: I thought I want to spend my time making the Katy Trail and making the land along the Katy Trail better because there's nothing like it in America, it's one thing that Missouri has, that's truly unique. And it truly connects people in a very, very diverse and interesting way.
Cathie Schoppenhorst: At the beginning of the pandemic, I started walking the trail. And I did 1000 miles that year and the next year, and walking in three to five-mile sections, and people would say, well, Aren't you bored? No, I am not bored, because it is constantly changing. There's different wildflowers, there's different wildlife. There's different geological features, like the bluffs and the springs that go under the trail or along the trail. And it just helped me get through the pandemic to be able to be out in nature.
Butcher: The Katy Trail, the way it's maintained and groomed is super impressive to us. I love that there's depots with bathrooms and running water and some of them even have stationary tools. So if we needed to work on our bikes, we'd be able to do that as well. All of the people that we've met have been really friendly. That's something we've been saying like oh, Missourians are so friendly.
Janet Saidi: And the Katy Trail basically makes for a happy marriage as well.
Sue Rap: Ah, well, yeah. After how long has it been—
Charlie Rap: Oh we wouldn’t be able to live without it.
Sue: I guess. I guess we've been biking it for 20 years, and we've been married. How long?
Charlie: Be 60 in October next year.
Sue: Yeah. 59 years.
Saidi: Congratulations.
Sue: Thank you.
[Music Transition]
Duane Edward: Living right around the corner and not having a whole lot to do. So on a Saturday afternoon, I come down and listen to music.
[Music Transition]
Steve Fowler: It’s historic to play on a building that was built way long time ago. It still has the original look and feel. I can play music and look out and look at the heels and I can look at the prairies. I can look at nature except when a car goes by.
Funcik: As what we're trying to kind of recreate is the sort of music that might have happened on this general storefront porch 100 years ago, very impromptu very informal, friendly. Musicians, of course, or, you know, they're they interact with the audience members that are not up on a stage waiting for applause.
Fowler: And play music at that and meet new people and tell new stories and learn new stories from them at the same time. So we told somebody earlier today, we're supposed to be here entertaining, telling stories. I've learned more since I've been here than we've given out. I'm sure of it.
Edward: It's like I say that the music here. There've been times I've been the only one. But the good part is I get to talk with the musicians and learn how they produce music. And they don't feel the need to have to be perfect. So they try different things that they wouldn't normally do. Which is a neat thing, because they get to experiment.
Fowler: Even though I don't know the people here, I kind of feel like after a few minutes of talking with them, you feel you know, you have something in common. Whether it's music or just the values of trying to keep places like this going.
Tina Casagrand Foss:
Thanks for listening to this bonus episode of RiverTown, from the historic Peers store in Marthasville, Missouri.
Special thanks to the many voices in this episode - including Magnificant Missouri president Dan Burkhardt - also Rick Funcik, Rhema Butcher, Cathie Schoppenhorst, Sue and Charlie Rap, Duane Edward, and Steve Fowler and Jerry Wilson, the musicians behind the band “The Burma Shavers.” whose music we’re hearing right now.
Thanks to Maggie Turner for producing this episode.
I’m Tina Casagrand.
River Town is a project from KBIA, The New Territory and the Missouri School of Journalism’s Missouri News Network.
You can hear the full episodes of River Town wherever you get your podcasts.
See more River Town stories, videos, photography, and audio at the Missouri News Network's River Town site and at The New Territory Magazine.
Music for this episode audio was from the Burma Shavers and from Terry Gadsden and Frederik Kinck-Petsen | De Wolfe Music.
