The One That Got Away by Clint Hofer

Author:Clint Hofer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-64424-889-8
Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc
Published: 2019-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

The weather finally cleared on the day that Terri and Glen visited Forest Park. After many days of cloudy skies and rain, the sun broke through at last. Sunday, June 13, was a day so peaceful and still that the meteorological report confined itself to the single sentence: “All quiet on the weather front!”

Terri and Glen agreed to meet at the Jefferson Memorial on the northern edge of Forest Park. Of course, the building was now called the Missouri History Museum, but Terri would always say Jefferson Memorial, which was the name when she was a little girl.

Forest Park is located in the central west end of St. Louis, just a few miles from downtown. Consisting of over 1,300 scenic acres, it is one of the largest urban parks in the nation. In 1904, the park was the scene of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, more commonly known as the St. Louis World’s Fair. Over 1,500 buildings were constructed for the Fair; some of which still stand in the park today.

Forest Park was officially dedicated on Saturday, June 24, 1876, the day before Custer’s Last Stand.

The Jefferson Memorial is a museum of westward expansion. Completed in 1913, the building was constructed with funds from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. The museum was built at the entrance to the 1904 World’s Fair. The Jefferson Memorial is now the permanent home of the Missouri Historical Society. The society’s museum collections, printed and manuscript sources, and pictorial holdings are especially important in the fields of the heritage of St. Louis and the westward expansion of the United States.

Terri arrived at the museum before Glen, and she studied the map of the Louisiana Purchase that was etched into the pavement in the courtyard. She climbed the steep stretch of steps on the north side of the building and entered the loggia between the two original wings of the museum. On the other side of the loggia was the museum addition. Terri still had trouble accepting all the changes that had been made to the museum. The original building, long and narrow, consists of two wings separated by a loggia which canopies Karl Bitter’s statue of Thomas Jefferson. Terri told Glen she would meet him in front of the towering marble figure of the seated Thomas Jefferson. She stood by the statue and waited. When she was a little girl, her parents had taken numerous photos of her standing next to Tom Jefferson. The words FATHER OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE were still there on the base of Tom’s statue.

The Signing of the Treaty, a bronze tablet in high relief, is placed on the east wall of the loggia. Terri walked over to the sculpture which is also by Karl Bitter and represents Monroe, Livingston, and Marbois putting their signatures to the Louisiana Purchase treaty on April 30, 1803. A many-branched candelabrum is on the table and four large books are piled beside it. Monroe stands at the left, behind the chair, while Livingston is seated, his face uplifted.

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