Last evening, June 8, 2021, Missouri Preservation’s Director Riley Price presented the Missouri Preservation’s 2021 Honor Awards using the online program Zoom. Not letting any “technical difficulties” slow her down, the Awards Ceremony that has been held in Missouri’s Capitol’s Rotunda for years, was beautifully done! The Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation 2021 Honor Awards Ceremony recognizes achievements made in the field of Historic Preservation around the state, and I was thrilled to see the Special Business District Commission of the City of Saint Charles Missouri receive the Overby Award for its Historic Main Street Tour. Watch the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFpfAJjDtcM
The Overby Award was established to recognize published works that contribute to the documentation and interpretation of Missouri’s architectural history. It honors Dr. Osmund Overby, Art History Professor Emeritus and former head of the historic preservation program at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Dr. Overby was a founding member of Missouri Preservation, lifetime board and advisory board member and a nationally recognized leader in historic preservation.
The City of Saint Charles’ Special Business District Commission received the 2021 Overby Award for its’ Historic Main Street Tour [Click Here] which uses the modern technology of GIS Mapping to virtually share the history of 150 of its’ buildings and sites. The user can access the Historic Main Street Tour either via desktop computer or their mobile device.(On some mobile devices if the user saves the link as an icon, it becomes an app.)
As the Project Coordinator Sharlotte Worthington explains “this allows us to share our history with the world” which can be updated as new discoveries are made. Research and editor for the Project was Historical Consultant Dorris Keeven-Franke. The Historic Main Street Tour allows the user to access each address and read the history of the property and view historic pictures of buildings on that site. The project was several years in the making, as each property was researched diligently and went past what was sometimes the “local lore” of previous publications.
This project was the culmination of an entire teams’ work! The Historic Downtown Association and Penny Pitman, the South Main Preservation Society and Holly Haddox, State Historical Society of Missouri, Randy Schilling, Darren Stross, Steve Powell, Venetia McEntire, Justin Watkins and the St. Charles County Historical Society should all be acknowledged for their contributions. My special appreciation goes to the entire Special Business District Commission, both past and present, and the Community Development Department Staff and the Communication Department Staff of the City of St. Charles. A special thanks and acknowledgement goes to Sharlotte Worthington, Randy Schilling, Beth Norviel and Robert Bettis who provided an extraordinary and tremendous amount of support.
For more about Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation Click Here
Dorris Keeven Franke 
One response to “Historic Main Street Tour receives Award”
Reblogged this on My Stories of St. Charles and commented:
Missouri Preservation honored the City of St. Charles Special Buisiness District with its 2021 Honors Awards for its Historic Main Street Tour which educates the reader with the history of 150 buildings that line this Missouri Main Street where the Boone’s Lick Road begins…to read Dorris Keeven-Franke’s entire post