Missouri communities hope Rock Island Trail will bring new faces and businesses to rural towns | KCUR 89.3

WINDOR – Kim Henderson designed four modest log cabins tucked a few blocks back from Main Street in this small town about 90 minutes southeast of Kansas City.

“I’ve told people many times — and I still mean it — that I made the cabinets for Windsor more than I did for myself,” Henderson said.

Windsor, with a population of about 2,900, is where the Katy Trail and the 47-mile Rock Island Trail meet. Both are two former railway corridors. One is now a world-famous outdoor recreation attraction. Another is only a quarter complete.

Now a small business owner, Henderson has lived in Windsor for more than 30 years. Katie has seen the benefits the trail has brought to her community.

“It brings people here who would never come to Windsor, Missouri,” Henderson said.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has officially acquired the remaining 144 miles of undeveloped Rock Island Corridor by 2021. The road plan has been in motion for a long time. Henderson looked forward to creating the Rock Island Trail and eagerly followed the maps.

“I looked at the 47-mile dotted line for 15 years,” Henderson said. “I looked at that dotted line… and waited.”

When former Missouri Governor Jay Nixon promised to finish the first 47 miles of the Rock Island Trail before leaving office, Henderson bought two lots near the intersection with the Katy Trail. She started renting out her first cabin in 2015.

“My first guests weren’t even cyclists,” Henderson says.

Maggie Lennox

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Columbia Missouri

A local Amish carpenter built two more cabins for Henderson two years later. She also supplied them with furniture from a family-owned furniture store in Windsor. In the year In 2018, a fourth cabinet was installed, and Henderson quit her full-time job as city manager.

“Kim’s Cabinets” are often tightly packed. She estimates that about half of her guests are cyclists. The rest are families visiting Windsor for funerals or weddings, traveling nurses, Missouri State Fair vendors, construction workers and people traveling through central Missouri.

“I put these in the minds of cyclists,” Henderson said. “…I never thought about how many people I would have now for various reasons, because the cabins are here.

This spring, Governor Mike Parsons announced a historic investment for the Rock Island Corridor: $69 million to convert another 78-mile section into a trail. It plans to use funds from the federal America’s Savings Plan Act.

If the trail is up and running, it will be the longest rail-to-trail in the world, due to its connection to the Katy Trail in Windsor.

But Parsons’ plan did not survive the legislative session. The Senate reduced Rock Island’s budget to $0.

Lawmakers cited the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ delayed maintenance at other state parks and concerns of landowners along the route as reasons for cutting the funding.

Despite the lack of legislative support, communities along the route are moving forward.

Mack McNally leads the volunteers who make up the Missouri Rock Island Trail Team. He said the decision by lawmakers to cut funding is disappointing, but by no means the end of the road.

“We’ve had challenges before,” McNally said. “We will continue to try to help fund the construction of the road.”

The group includes local government officials, business owners, bicycle and pedestrian advocates and anyone else who cares about the completion of the trail. They were inspired by the growth they saw the 240-mile Katy Trail bring to neighboring communities. A 2012 report, the most recent DNR analysis, found the trail brought more than $18 million to the state of Missouri.

“It could mean a huge amount of economic stimulus for the small communities that were left behind after the railroads went out of business 30-plus years ago,” McNally said.

Local volunteers are not the only ones in need of funding. Representatives from the DNR and National Parks Service have stepped in to complete the trail, connecting the community with help.

“The National Park Service is proud to be a partner on this issue and to serve Missourians in this way,” Ashley Newson said. She runs the Rivers, Roads and Conservation Assistance Program for the National Park Service.

Newson spent the summer meeting interested communities along the route, identifying grants and designing routes. Building sections of the road is a big way to generate momentum for the project, he said.

Maggie Lennox

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Columbia Missouri

Finally, it is necessary to connect each part of the road. But Newson said the piecemeal approach shows commitment.

“This is an important part of showing grassroots support to the county or state, like Hay, we’ve developed in all of our cities. Now we just want it to connect in these areas,” Newson said.

Kelly Thompson describes the collection of used books in her downtown Windsor store.

“I’m very serious about the classics. I think you can’t please everybody when it comes to picking up books,” Thompson said. “But if you have the classics, there’s a commonality.

Thompson moved to Windsor two years ago. Her husband Donavan followed a year later. A native of Southern California, he lived and worked in Nevada and Saline County, Missouri.

“We are Missourians at heart,” said Donavan Thompson.

Thompson opened their new shop, The Pour Poet, last month. They sell coffee, tea, pastries, used books and antiques. Kelly Thompson explains the eclectic mix.

“These are all my interests. Everything I have here is my interest.”

Maggie Lenox/Maggie Lenox

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Columbia Missouri

The Thompsons bought several properties in Windsor and plan to renovate and renovate them all. Some of the properties have been left vacant, with newspapers from the 1940s and 50s lying in the trash.

Donavan Thompson had a career in construction and did all the renovations. Many people wondered: Why bother?

“Everybody has told me and it has to be torn down,” he said.

A few months ago, the rear corner of a building was demolished. Thompson took it in stride. He cleaned it and then built a new foundation and wall.

“I will fight to save.”

Kelly Thompson said the trail was a big factor in their decision to relocate and open small businesses in Windsor. While exploring the area, she found a lot of information about the trail.

“And the only place they meet is in Windsor, Missouri,” Kelly Thompson said. “It went ding, ding, ding, ding. You have a winner there.

The Thompsons have plans for a small inn, a restoration shop and office space for the rest of the property.

“There are many plans. It’s going to take some time,” said Kelly Thompson, “but we’re not going anywhere.

As Amish buggies roll down Main Street outside the Power Poet’s front windows, the Thompsons explain how they fell in love with Windsor’s people and character, and they know others will. They believe the Rock Island Trail expansion could breathe life into other small towns along the way.

“There’s a lot of heart in this town. There is a lot of pride. There’s a lot of history,” Kelly Thompson said. “And really, it’s giving him back.”

The existing Rock Island Trail connects to and stops at the paved trail behind Windsor City Park. Across the street is a former railroad corridor so overgrown with brush and weeds that you can barely see the first dozen feet.

Maggie Lennox/ Missourian

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Columbia Missouri

Henderson is passionate about the trail being the next chapter for Rock Island Cities. Trains haven’t run for 40 years and with no access to the interstate, reusing the corridor this way is Windsor’s best bet.

“We’re not going to have big industry again, so small towns have to think outside the box,” Henderson said.

Henderson and other trail advocates insist that a trail improves the quality of life not only for hikers, but also for residents of various small towns. Henderson can attest to the need for shelter and thinks the interstate will attract more facilities to Windsor.

“I mean it’s a great opportunity because we’re a crossroads,” Henderson said.

Henderson’s advocacy for the trails led her to become vice president of the Missouri Rock Island Trail Group. She said small towns cannot disappear because they are “where families and friends come back.”

After witnessing the success of Katie’s Trail firsthand, Henderson hopes for more to come.

“I’ve watched the tracks for a long time, and I know what it does to small towns.”

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