Wheels turn slowly to install Truman birthplace in National Parks system

Plans to make the Harry S. Truman birthplace in Lamar part of the National Parks system have taken one more step toward realization with the Jan. 15 passing by the U.S. Senate of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.

Passing of the bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo. and endorsed by both Missouri U.S. senators, Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, and Christopher "Kit" Bond, a Republican, will allow for a three-year study on the feasibility of the federal government taking over the property.

The property is currently managed by the State Parks Division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The National Park Service already owns the Truman home in Independence and the family's farm in Grandview. Both properties are part of the Harry S. Truman National Historic Site. Successful completion of the study and inclusion of the Truman birthplace in the National Parks system would link the three properties together as a whole.

This project has already been more than 10 years in the making and passage of the Omnibus Act will not speed things up much. Once the bill is assigned to a committee and gets through that process, it could be as long as three years before the study is complete.

Passage of the legislation will not have much effect on the city of Lamar. "Probably not at all in the short run," according to Lamar City Administrator Lynn Calton. The whole process has been woefully slow and it has been frustrating said Calton.

The city of Lamar has already done much of the preparative work to get the wheels turning on the project.

Calton said they have done the electrical, sewer, street and curb work and purchased nearby properties as they became available. The state, in turn, has purchased those properties from the city for inclusion in the state park system.

This project is going to be a part of the larger project of revitalizing Lamar. The Truman birthplace already attracts nearly 20,000 visitors to the city each year. Last year, Gov. Matt Blunt named Lamar as one of ten cities to be recipients of the DREAM initiative funding. It is hoped that the two projects together will work to kickstart the economy.

The city intends to move ahead with their plans to use the DREAM funding "to streetscape that part of 11th St. and make it more walkable, so folks that tour the park can walk to the square," said Calton.

They also plan to reconstruct a "ward school" and using the top floor for administrative purposes and the bottom as a media center for tourists.

They also have plans to build a mule barn, since Truman's father was a mule trader. They have a number of authentic items to furnish the barn. Those things can only happen after their next action, which is to hold some public meetings and form some focus groups that will be tasked with providing information to a consulting agency.

Even though there are some big changes in the future of Lamar, nothing is going to happen over night. Calton said he had been watching how things had progressed in Neosho since they had been chosen as a DREAM recipient. Things over there moved rather slowly, he said.

"There's probably not much going to happen for the first year or two," Calton said. "We've still got a long way to go."