It amazes me that so much world history is available us in Missouri. I understand there are places to learn about our state: we are Missouri. I get that there is American history here: we live in the United States, and much of Missouri history is also national history. The idea that we can witness world history right here in our state is astounding.
We send our sons and daughters overseas to fight battles with global ramifications. We dispatch our citizens to broker peace and trade agreements. But to think that world history can also be seen in our part of the country is pretty impressive.
For instance, tucked into the center of Fulton, Missouri (named for Robert Fulton, developer of the first commercial steamboat) is a majestic stone building (pictured below). The building is known as the Church of St. Mary Aldermanbury. The structure was first mentioned in 1181. That information alone causes one to wonder, doesn't it? Here, in a state that didn't exist as such until 1921, sits a structure built in the 12th century. How is such a thing possible?
The timeline begins with the church's mention in 1181 and its subsequent burning in the Great London Fire in 1666. After rebuilding, the structure was also bombed by Nazi Germany in World War 2 in 1940.
We send our sons and daughters overseas to fight battles with global ramifications. We dispatch our citizens to broker peace and trade agreements. But to think that world history can also be seen in our part of the country is pretty impressive.
For instance, tucked into the center of Fulton, Missouri (named for Robert Fulton, developer of the first commercial steamboat) is a majestic stone building (pictured below). The building is known as the Church of St. Mary Aldermanbury. The structure was first mentioned in 1181. That information alone causes one to wonder, doesn't it? Here, in a state that didn't exist as such until 1921, sits a structure built in the 12th century. How is such a thing possible?
The timeline begins with the church's mention in 1181 and its subsequent burning in the Great London Fire in 1666. After rebuilding, the structure was also bombed by Nazi Germany in World War 2 in 1940.
In 1946, English Prime Minister Winston Churchill (represented by a stylized stature, above) delivered his famous "Iron Curtain" speech in Fulton, Missouri, and in 1966, the destroyed church structure was relocated from London, England, to Fulton and rebuilt stone-for-stone. The building is truly a regal one.
One must also appreciate the unsightly representation just a few feet away. Pictured below, a nice section of the Berlin Wall stands in ugly contrast to the regality of the church building. The wall is real, still sporting its graffiti just as it did when it divided the east from the west in Germany after the war. The wall has been cut away in quazi-human shapes and given the name "Breakthrough". Standing to the side of the wall, again, is a stature of Winston Churchill, greeting the rising sun while leaning his large frame upon a humble cane.
