Sessions & Schedule

Want to get people on board with supporting historic preservation but don’t know where to begin? The first step in advocating for our historic resources is being able to summarize why we support preservation.

In 2025, the Missouri Association of Counties acquired the renowned Buescher Memorial Funeral Home, located on East Capitol Avenue in Jefferson City, Missouri. The organization secured the property from the City of Jefferson with the intent to rehabilitate the historic structure as its new headquarters. The design approach prioritized preservation of the building’s significant historic character while thoughtfully integrating modern office, meeting, and training functions. After decades of neglect, the property presented substantial challenges, including multiple tons of refuse, abandoned vehicles, and even human remains discovered on site. Faced with these extraordinary conditions, the design team first sought to establish a clear understanding of the structure’s history, condition, and potential. Through the use of advanced digital representation and documentation techniques, the team developed programming concepts and visualizations that allowed stakeholders to better understand the opportunities presented by the 150-year-old landmark. Participants will explore the history and transformation of this unique project while learning how the design team employed innovative diagramming, visualization, and presentation methods to communicate ideas, guide decision-making, and reimagine the future of a once-neglected historic property.

The discussion will showcase when Spencer was founded, the history of the town, all of its past and present owners, and how they kept the current buildings standing after 100 years. We will also showcase the original 1926 concrete road which passes right in front of these buildings, also known as Historic Route 66, as well as our 1923 Johnson Creek Steel Truss Bridge right down the road from us, and the plans for restoring it. The talk will discuss the plans for restoring Spencer back to how it would have looked in the 1930’s and 1940’s, with research for architectural integrity and accuracy, how the buildings were used, and the plans for how we are bringing them back to life. We will also discuss the steps and processes to making this ‘once a shell’ of a building into a vibrant gathering place and tourist attraction, as well as the plans to bring back the business aspect of the town for locals and travelers from around the world.

Three days after their marriage in Nebraska, Emis and Lois Spears, and Emis’s parents, Charles and Lida Spears, set out in two new Model T Fords to find a prime location to start a tourist camp. They traveled as far as Phoenix, which they thought was “overbuilt” with tourist camps, then backtracked to Missouri. In June 1927, Route 66 in Lebanon still was a two-lane gravel road. A block of land, with eight acres and 400 feet of Route 66 frontage, was for sale east of Highway 5. For three days, the Spears family parked in front of that land, counting out-of-state cars. The family determined that enough cars traveled that stretch of Route 66 to justify a tourist camp. That was the birth of Camp Joy, which we believe was Lebanon’s second Route 66 tourist camp, the other being Col. A.T. Nelson’s Top o’ the Ozarks Inn on the west side of Highway 5. Like other overnight facilities in the early days of Route 66, Camp Joy’s original overnight customers slept in tents. The first cabins were built in a “U” with the open end fronting the highway. As business grew, more cabins were built around the outer edges of the property. Camp Joy, later known as the Joy Motel, remained in the Spears family until 1971. After two ownership changes, the motel closed in the early 1980s. Some cabins were sold to a camp; others were rented out full-time. Only one cabin remained when the property was sold again in 2018. The new owner, Lee Sing, donated that cabin to the Lebanon-Laclede County Route 66 Society, whose members restored the cabin to its original dimensions and, within months, moved it to Route 66-themed Boswell Park, where today it is another of Lebanon’s Route 66 tourist attractions.

In 1868, Henry Shaw gifted the land for Tower Grove Park to the City of St. Louis, and it has operated as a public park ever since. Not only is it one of eight National Landmark Parks in the United States, but Tower Grove Park is also home to the world’s largest collection of Victorian pavilions. There are thirteen historic pavilions spread throughout the Park’s 289 acres. Over the years, many of the pavilions underwent various restoration projects just to keep them standing. However, beginning in 2020, six of the pavilions have undergone historic restorations following Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. This presentation will cover two perspectives of the evolution of improvements to pavilion restoration over the course of the Park’s History:
•Part 1 – Overview of pavilion history and how past directors did their best to keep the pavilions standing before historic restoration guidelines were established. The past decisions to replace footings or wood trim may not align with current restoration standards, but they allowed the pavilions to remain in place for enjoyment.
•Part 2 – The current restoration process as we combine best practices from Secretary of the Interior Standards for Preservation and for Rehabilitation. We now have an established design process that not only restores the pavilions to their original design intent but also makes them accessible and structurally sound for generations to come.

Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site is a reconstructed village where Abraham Lincoln spent 6 formative years of his early adulthood. Platted in 1829, the town existed for about 12 years before being abandoned and left to pasture. The centerpiece of Lincoln’s New Salem is the imaginative recreation of the log village. Rebuilt in the 1930s and 1940s as a Civilian Conservation Corps program, the village features historically furnished buildings, including several homes, stores, and tradesmen’s shops, as well as a tavern, school, wool carding mill, and a saw and gristmill rebuilt in original locations.
Restoration of the CCC-era timber construction aims to stabilize, repair, and restore 22 log cabins that have deteriorated due to wood rot, poor drainage, water penetration and saturation, insect/vermin infestation, and other deferred maintenance. The architectural team with historic expertise will share an in-depth process to evaluate, categorize, and establish scopes of work related to stone foundations, log floor, wall, and roof framing, stone and log chimney reconstruction, and wood shake and comb restoration. Restoration techniques covered in the study address the impacts of site and landscape, biological growth, log rot, decay, and protection, repair and replacement of a variety of log construction methods, and use of contemporary materials to minimize adverse effects on the nearly 100-year-old cabins.

Often overlooked or deemed non-historic, imitation building materials are a fundamental part of the American architectural landscape. As preservationists, we must grapple with the fact that in many cases, these “fake” materials are just as historic as materials such as marble, slate, and terra cotta.
This session will explore the history and usage of replacement/imitation building materials. It will include a discussion of the development of imitation materials at the turn of the twentieth century, such as cast concrete block, pressed metal, and linoleum, and discuss modern imitation building materials in an effort to reframe the discussion around these materials.
The session will also explore common replacement materials in historic rehabilitation situations such as historic tax credit projects, and provide information and solutions on appropriate treatments for historic building owners.

See Keynote page for more information.

This session will focus on how the Missouri Department of Transportation complies with Section 106 to receive federal funding for projects involving historic bridges. Out of 25,000+ bridges across the state, 3-5% are “historic” in that they have been determined eligible for or listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The session will cover the historic bridge identification process, bridge eligibility assessments, and programmatic agreements for certain types of bridges. Given that MoDOT’s work can and does lead to adverse effects on historic bridges due to demolition, removal from the original location, removal or alteration of original bridge parts, and introduction of new elements that diminish the bridge’s significant historic features, mitigation efforts are necessary to comply with Section 106. This session will detail the different mitigation efforts used when there is an adverse effect on a historic bridge, including the various levels of documentation, historic bridge research methods and sources, and MoDOT’s Free Bridges marketing campaigns. The session will also include two case studies of historic bridge documentation. One will explore a major river bridge, the 1953 St. Francis Bridge in Dunklin County that crosses the St. Francis River into Clay County, Arkansas, on U.S. 62, which is the only east-west highway that connects Mexico to Canada. The other case study will focus on two rural 1922 bridges built over Bee Creek in Buchanan County. The bridges relate to the Jefferson Highway, one of the early north-to-south cross-country routes. The presenters will discuss the successes and challenges of research for these bridges, compare the criteria used for determining their NHRP eligibility, and situate the bridges in state and national transportation history.

The de Lassus-Kern House in New Bourbon, Missouri, is a lesson in how to read a historic property and appreciate and value a history that is not always clearly expressed. Uncovering the layers of this house revealed a rare French vertical log building that was undiscovered until the mid-1980s. This presentation documents the history of the property through primary resources, oral histories, and family photos; discusses the value of retaining and protecting a property as an artifact while developing a plan for its future use or interpretation; and provides an overview of scientific studies (dendrochronology and archaeology) and how they contributed to the historic context. At the end of the presentation, participants will be invited to consider how to interpret a property and what would be an appropriate period of significance and what material to remove to expose different historical construction eras.

This will be a look at the work done by the State Historical Society of Missouri (SHSMO) to preserve the history of Route 66 in Missouri. Our preservation work includes preserving and providing access to photographs, postcards, maps, blueprints, newspapers, oral histories, film, advertisements, correspondence, and more. Learn how scholars, researchers, preservationists, and history enthusiasts can access the resources available at SHSMO. Highlights will include information on the Quinta Scott photograph collection and highlights of iconic Route 66 locations in Missouri through archival materials.

Historic Tax Credits are only part of the funding stack when rehabilitating any historic building. HTCs are most often paired with Low Income Housing Tax Credits, especially when rehabilitating larger buildings. However, the process of qualifying for LIHTC is complex, and is not well known to many preservationists. In this session, a representative from the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) will discuss LIHTC’s role in repurposing existing buildings. Real estate developers with experience combining HTCs and LIHTC will explain the complexities and nuances involved in both federal and state LIHTC programs, and a preservation consultant will discuss projects in Missouri that have successfully combined these two funding streams.

This demonstration will cover the history of mortar composition in the US and England in the 19th century. Participants will learn about the lime cycle, common aggregates and additives, and the distinction between hydraulic and carbonizing mortars. Participants will also watch a live demonstration on mixing different mortars, lime washes, and plasters, learn about the benefits of using historically appropriate mortars, and where to source materials for recreating them.

The reconstruction of the historic Essen Log Cabin in Wildwood, Missouri represents a unique preservation effort involving forensic reconstruction, historic material conservation, and preservation-focused design. Originally constructed circa 1878 by the Essen family, the cabin was donated to the City of Wildwood in 2015, but was illegally dismantled and stolen before relocation efforts could begin. Although the logs were recovered, the unauthorized disassembly created significant reconstruction challenges because the structure had not been documented prior to removal. This panel session will examine the process of reconstructing the cabin from recovered materials, including the 2019 log-tagging effort, development of reconstruction drawings, preservation decision-making, and implementation of historically appropriate materials and methods. Presenters will discuss balancing accessibility, applicable code requirements, and municipal budget and long-term maintenance considerations, while maintaining the cabin’s historic integrity and rustic character. The session will also explore the City’s decision to place the disassembled cabin on the Wildwood Historic Register prior to reconstruction, allowing the project to utilize historic building code provisions and avoid unnecessary modern systems inconsistent with the structure’s historic appearance and use. Attendees will gain practical insight into preservation problem-solving, reconstruction of historic structures following undocumented disassembly, and the role local governments and preservation professionals can play in preserving community heritage resources.

This session will look at the Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT) project to improve a section of I-64 east in St. Louis and how historic properties were avoided as part of the Section 106 (NHPA) and Section 4(f) (DOT Act) processes. This session will also explore the history of Mill Creek Valley in St. Louis, continued efforts throughout the community to acknowledge that history, and reckoning with the legacy of urban renewal as a current DOT Historic Preservation Professional.

See and hear about historic sites in and around our host city of Lebanon! Stops include Manor Inn on Rte 66 (former Lenz Tourist home), Boswell Park and the restored Camp Joy cabin, and the Benton Stagecoach Stop!

Faux bois, or decorative painting techniques that transform ordinary surfaces into exotic woods, was a hallmark of Victorian interior decorators. Join a master painter as he demonstrates techniques to recreate these historic finishes. Participants will learn how to draw and distinguish different woodgrains, and reproduce finishes using modern and historic techniques.

Preservationists often try to save properties only after they become endangered. This presentation will teach attendees three ways to set up infrastructure to save historic buildings, namely: Historic Tax Credits, Local Historic Designations, and Easements. SHPO staff will walk attendees through these methods.

Throughout history, marble has had a reputation as one of the finest building materials in the natural world. So it comes as no surprise that an entire art form grew amongst painters in mimicking this intricate and fascinating material. Join a master painter as he demonstrates techniques to recreate these historic finishes. Participants will learn how to draw and distinguish different types of marble, their grains and coloring, and reproduce these finishes using modern and historic techniques.