It wasn’t a single destination that spurred Jack Snelling to spend 10 days this month driving more than 4,300 miles around Missouri. Completed on June 3, his route took him to the site of every historic county courthouse in the state — all 115 of them.
The trip “grew out of my love of researching and learning more about Missouri's historical highway system,” Snelling told St. Louis on the Air.
The system of roads crisscrossing the state, which predated the federal highway system, was created “to connect all of the courthouses to each other,” Snelling explained. “For example, connecting St. Charles to Warrington to Troy, all the way up the Mississippi River and down. And those later, of course, became the highways that we know today.”
Snelling posted photos of his journey on Facebook, attracting more than 200 comments and hundreds of shares.
“It really showed me that the people in the state are really and truly proud. … And they're proud of the places where they grew up,” he said. “I heard so many really interesting stories of what their families had done, where they'd grown up [and] the different courthouses they'd been in.”
Snelling completed his journey earlier this month. In all, he drove 4,347 miles. He has posted his route and photos of the courthouses he visited on Facebook.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Ulaa Kuziez is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
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