Whether you’re a history buff, preservation expert or just want to learn, the Missouri Preservation Conference has something for you — and today is the last day to save on registration costs.

The 2019 Missouri Preservation Conference is set for June 19-21 in St. Joseph. Why attend? Learning, networking, fun! After today, the full conference cost will go from $230 to $330. A one-day attendance fee will go from $75 to $175. Pick the day you attend, if you like, by checking the schedule at https://preservemo.org/

I attended last year and haven’t quit talking about it since then!

Here are a few of the things I learned at last year’s event, which was held in Sedalia:

• Brownfields: Catherine Jones of the Department of Natural Resources said that even people in the Department don’t always seem to know about the online brownfield finder she highlighted in the presentation, “Redevelopment Resources,” on Thursday of the conference. Here’s a link to a way to find brownfields. https://dnr.mo.gov/ESTART/

Jones is the outreach coordinator for Hazardous Waste Program – Brownfields/Voluntary Cleanup Program for the Department of Natural Resources.

A brownfield in Columbia, Missouri is now reclaimed and has become the Flat Branch Park, which is near the corner of Providence and Broadway, one of our major intersections. The park is beautiful today with rain gardens, a walking path and an amphitheater where movies are shown in the summer. But at one time it used to be the location of gas processing. Plans have been OK’d for an extension of this park to mark Columbia’s 2021 bicentennial.

• The Missouri Department of Transportation allows people to get their own bridge from the state. Bridges that are no longer functional for today’s traffic can be purchased from MoDOT if the buyer agrees to keep liability insurance on it and maintain its historic nature. In some cases, the buyer will move the bridge and I learned that some farmers in southeast Missouri use them on their farms to get across the large ditches in the rice growing area there.

Find historic bridges in Missouri.https://bridgehunter.com/mo/boone/

Need a bridge?  http://www.modot.org/freebridges/