Join our Mailing List!
Please click the link below to sign up for your community paper mailing list. Stay up to date with all the events going on in your community as well as the latest news.Sign Up Today!
County society receives award
By Michael Westblade
The Platte County Historical and Genealogical Society was recently awarded a 2008 governor’s humanities award for their book, “The History of Platte County, Missouri — A Proud Legacy.” The book, published in 2006, chronicles the history of Platte County and its people.
Seven other individuals and organizations also took home a governor’s humanities award this year, two for historical books.
The several hundred page tome of the county’s history was the culmination of the work of a core group of about eight historical society volunteers over the course of five years, pouring through records and documents in a small room in the back of the old community center in Platte City.
In addition to the work of the volunteers on topics like the history of tobacco farming in the county and the history of the airport, the book includes a general history of the county written by Bill Worley, an adjunct professor of history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
The book also includes family histories written and submitted by Platte County residents, compiled and edited by the volunteers.
Not many people still know the history of the county, said LaVerne Taulbee an archivist for the historical society, and that’s something she’d like to change with this book.
“My goal is to just preserve the history of the county for people because the history of our county is so exciting,” she said. “I can’t tear myself away from it.”
Platte County has a history fit for film, Taulbee said, with historical highlights including civil war showdowns and Old West style gun battles among other things.
Sylvia Miller, one of the volunteers who helped put the book together, said she hoped people could read the book and get the same experience she got while pouring through the county’s history.
“We promote this history in the hopes that young people will someday be able to read about it and we can recreate it as real as when we read a document we salvaged,” she said. “It’s the gift of heritage.”
But when it comes down to it, Miller said the book is just one way of honoring the people who built the county.
“We need to appreciate the people who worked hard to make our county what it is today,” she said. “(The book) is a way of saying thank you for that great effort and making sure people appreciate what we have.”
The society doesn’t have any more books planned for the future, but they have some ideas and Debbie Wilhite, a volunteer who helped put the book together, said the society doesn’t plan to stop pouring through the history of the county any time soon.
“We’ll probably die before this thing is done,” she said.
Where to get the book:
“The History of Platte County, Missouri — A Proud Legacy” is $85 and can be purchased at Platte County Historical & Genealogical Society archives in Platte City, or at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mopchgs, or through the Platte City Chamber of Commerce.
Staff writer Michael Westblade can be reached at 389-6636 or michaelwestblade@npgco.com.
printable version
e-mail this story
Seven other individuals and organizations also took home a governor’s humanities award this year, two for historical books.
The several hundred page tome of the county’s history was the culmination of the work of a core group of about eight historical society volunteers over the course of five years, pouring through records and documents in a small room in the back of the old community center in Platte City.
In addition to the work of the volunteers on topics like the history of tobacco farming in the county and the history of the airport, the book includes a general history of the county written by Bill Worley, an adjunct professor of history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
The book also includes family histories written and submitted by Platte County residents, compiled and edited by the volunteers.
Not many people still know the history of the county, said LaVerne Taulbee an archivist for the historical society, and that’s something she’d like to change with this book.
“My goal is to just preserve the history of the county for people because the history of our county is so exciting,” she said. “I can’t tear myself away from it.”
Platte County has a history fit for film, Taulbee said, with historical highlights including civil war showdowns and Old West style gun battles among other things.
Sylvia Miller, one of the volunteers who helped put the book together, said she hoped people could read the book and get the same experience she got while pouring through the county’s history.
“We promote this history in the hopes that young people will someday be able to read about it and we can recreate it as real as when we read a document we salvaged,” she said. “It’s the gift of heritage.”
But when it comes down to it, Miller said the book is just one way of honoring the people who built the county.
“We need to appreciate the people who worked hard to make our county what it is today,” she said. “(The book) is a way of saying thank you for that great effort and making sure people appreciate what we have.”
The society doesn’t have any more books planned for the future, but they have some ideas and Debbie Wilhite, a volunteer who helped put the book together, said the society doesn’t plan to stop pouring through the history of the county any time soon.
“We’ll probably die before this thing is done,” she said.
Where to get the book:
“The History of Platte County, Missouri — A Proud Legacy” is $85 and can be purchased at Platte County Historical & Genealogical Society archives in Platte City, or at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mopchgs, or through the Platte City Chamber of Commerce.
Staff writer Michael Westblade can be reached at 389-6636 or michaelwestblade@npgco.com.