WINDSOR — In this small town 90 minutes southeast of Kansas City, Kim Henderson cleans up four modest log cabins a few blocks off Main Street.
“I’ve told people many times,” Henderson said.
With a population of about 2,900, Windsor is where the Katy Trail meets the existing 47-mile Rock Island Trail. Both are two former railway corridors. One is now a world-famous outdoor recreational attraction. The other is only a quarter completed.
Henderson is now a small business owner and has lived in Windsor for over 30 years. She has seen the benefits Katy Her Trail has brought to her community.
“We bring people here who never came to Windsor, Missouri,” Henderson said.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has officially acquired the remaining 144 miles of the undeveloped Rock Island Corridor in 2021. Planning for the trail has been in the works for a long time. Henderson is eagerly awaiting the creation of his trail on the Island and is following his map outlining in anticipation.
“I’ve seen 47 miles of dotted lines for 15 years,” Henderson said. “I saw the dotted line…and I waited.”
When former Missouri Governor Jay Nixon promised to complete the first 47 miles of the Rock Island Trail before leaving office, Henderson purchased two properties near where the Katy Trail intersects. She started renting out her first cabin in 2015.
“My first guest wasn’t even a cyclist,” Henderson said.
Maggie Lennox
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Two years later, local Amish carpenters built two more huts for Henderson. She supplied them with merchandise from a family-run furniture store in Windsor. With his fourth cabin installed in 2018, Henderson quit his full-time job as a city manager.
“Kim’s Cabins” is often fully booked. She estimates that about half of her guests are cyclists. The rest are families visiting Windsor for funerals and weddings, itinerant nurses, Missouri State Her Fair vendors, construction workers, and people traveling through central Missouri.
“I let cyclists think about these things,” Henderson said. “…I never imagined how many people would come for any other reason now, because the cabin is here.”
Zero $69 million
This spring, Governor Mike Parson announced a historic investment in the Rock Island Corridor. Another $69 million for him to convert a 78-mile section to trail. He planned to use funds from the federal American Relief Plan Act.
When completed, the trail will intersect with Windsor’s Katy Trail, making it the longest rail-to-trail route in the world.
However, Parson’s plan did not pass Congress. The Senate has cut Rock Island’s budget to $0.
Legislators cited the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ delay in maintaining other state parks and concerns from landowners along the corridor as reasons for the funding cuts.
Communities along the trail are moving forward despite the lack of legislative support.
Mac McNally leads the volunteers that make up the Missouri Rock Island Trail group. He said lawmakers’ decision to cut funding was disappointing, but by no means the end of the road.
“We’ve faced challenges before,” says McNally. “We will continue to help raise funds to build the trail.”
The group is made up of local officials, business owners, bike and pedestrian advocates, and anyone who cares about trail completion. They are motivated by seeing the growth the 240-mile Katy Trail has brought to neighboring communities. His latest DNR analysis, his 2012 report, found that Trail made Missouri more than $18 million for her.
“This could mean an enormous economic stimulus for the small communities stranded on the roadside after the railroad stopped running more than 30 years ago,” McNally said.
Local volunteers aren’t the only ones seeking funding. Representatives from the DNR and the National Park Service participated to connect the community with grants and complete sections of the trail.
“The National Park Service is proud to partner on this cause and serve the people of Missouri,” said Ashley Newson. She works with the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program. .
During the summer, Newson helped interested communities along the trail hold meetings, identify grants, and design trailheads. She said building a section of the trail would be a great way to build momentum for the project.
Maggie Lennox
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columbia missouri
Ultimately you have to connect each section of the trail. But Newson said each approach shows commitment.
“This is a key element to gaining grassroots support and demonstrating to counties and states. Only,” Newson said.
Possibility of revitalizing rural communities
Kelly Thompson describes the collection of used books in her store in downtown Windsor.
“I’m pretty good with the classics,” Thompson said.
Thompson moved to Windsor two years ago. Her husband, Donavan, followed a year later. A native of Southern California, she has lived and worked in Nevada and Saline County, Missouri.
“We are Missourians at heart,” said Donavan Thompson.
Thompson opened a new shop, The Pour Poet, last month. It sells coffee, tea, pastries, used books and antiques. Kelly Thompson explains the eclectic mix.
“These are all my passions. Everything here is my passion.”
Maggie Lennox/Maggie Lennox
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columbia missouri
The Thompsons have purchased a number of properties in Windsor and plan to renovate and restore them all. Some of the properties have been vacant for so long that you’ll find newspapers from the 1940s and his ’50s strewn about.
Donavan Thompson has a career in the construction industry and does all renovations. Some wondered: why bother?
“Everyone says it’s derelict and needs to be demolished,” he said.
The back corner of a building collapsed a few months ago. Thompson took it boldly. He cleaned it up and then built a new foundation and walls.
“I will fight to save it.”
Kelly Thompson said trails were a big factor in their decision to move to Windsor and open a small business. I found.
“And the only place they meet is Windsor, Missouri,” Kelly Thompson said. “It’s become ding, ding, ding, ding. You’ve got a winner out there.”
The Thompsons plan a small inn, restoration shop and office space on the remaining property.
“I have a lot of plans. It will take some time,” said Kelly Thompson.
As their Amish buggy rolls down Main Street just outside The Por Poet’s front window, the Thompson’s explain how they fell in love with the people and personalities of Windsor, and so do others. I know deaf They believe the Rock Island Trail expansion will bring other small towns along the route to life.
“This town has a lot of heart. A lot of pride. A lot of history,” said Kelly Thompson. “And honestly, it’s really about getting it back.”
end, for now
The existing Rock Island Trail joins and stops at the paved road behind Windsor City Park. Across the road is a former railway corridor, overgrown with shrubs and weeds barely visible beyond the first 12 feet.
Maggie Lennox / Missourian
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columbia missouri
Henderson is passionate about making the trail the next chapter in Rock Island township. Reusing the corridor in this way is Windsor’s best bet, as trains have been impassable for him for 40 years and there is no interstate access.
“We’re never going to have big industry again, so small towns have to think outside the box,” Henderson said.
Henderson and other trail proponents are adamant that the trail will improve the quality of life not just for travelers, but for residents of the small towns the trail bisects. We think that the criss-crossing trails will attract more comfort to the Windsor.
“We are at a crossroads, so this is a huge opportunity,” Henderson said.
Henderson’s claim to the trail led to her becoming Vice President of the Missouri Rock Island Trail Group. The small town can’t go extinct, she said, because it’s “a place for her family and friends to return to.”
Henderson wants more to come after witnessing the success of Katy Trail.
“Having seen the trails for so long, I knew what a small town could do.”
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