On January 9th, 1892, the greatest catastrophe to ever transpire in Columbia occurred when an extraordinary fire at the University of Missouri consumed Academic Hall. Far more than a building was lost, but through heroic effort, a few artifacts were saved. The disaster nearly resulted in the university moving from Columbia. Instead, a renaissance occurred through the leadership of a few men, and an act of profound historic preservation gifted the school and city their most iconic symbol.

On January 13, 1816 the Missouri Territory General Assembly passed a law creating Howard County. Larger than Switzerland in area, it included all of the land that is now Columbia and even parts of the future state of Iowa. It was still five years before the Missouri Territory would gain statehood in 1821, but in the 1810s, pioneers from Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee settled en masse over an area of Mid-Missouri they called the Boonslick. The area was named after a salty natural spring that was used, beginning in 1805, by the sons of Kentuckian-Missourian frontiersman Daniel Boone to manufacture salt, a vital resource on the frontier.

On January 7, 1949, the Associated Press reported that four Columbia men had been sentenced by the Boone County Circuit Court for “homosexual activities.” A fifth man, Emery Kennedy Johnston, had already been sentenced. E.K. Johnston, a professor who had been acting dean of the Missouri School of Journalism, was charged with being the leader of a “homosexual ring” based out of his home in the Frederick Apartments on University Avenue.

On February 6, 1882, the Columbia Milling Company was incorporated with General Odon Guitar as president. Agriculture was the main business in Columbia and Mid-Missouri for most of their early history. Grist mills and grain elevators were an important business in Columbia and the surrounding farms would bring corn and wheat to be ground into flour. Many of the early grist mills were along creeks and powered by water. Grindstone Creek is named after the rock outcrops along its course that were used to carve grindstones for the mills.

On February 5, 1929, the First Christian Church in downtown Columbia opened up bids for the construction of a new educational building adjacent to their church building on 10th street. Eugene Groves, a Denver based architect designed the building and the corner stone was laid on May 5, 1929 and it was completed and dedicated on December 8, that same year. The congregation would later name the building after church leaders Dr. Clarence E. Lemmon and his wife. In 1991, First Christian Church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On February 4, 1929 the Columbia Missourian reported on a meeting of University of Missouri athletic officials to discuss the urgent need for a field house. Rothwell Gymnasium (1906) and McKee Gymnasium (1922) were at capacity and the growing university needed a larger area, especially for basketball. Plans moved quickly and on February 8, 1930, Brewer Fieldhouse was dedicated during a MU vs. KU basketball game attended by 4,500 people. The fieldhouse was named in honor of Chester Brewer, who served at different times as athletic director, and as head coach of football, basketball, and baseball.

On February 3, 1862, an order was issued by the Union Army requiring the president, professors, curators, and other officers of the University of Missouri take an oath of allegiance to Missouri and the Federal Government. Major General Hallack’s order stated that “this institution having been endowed by the government of the United States, its funds should not be used to teach treason or to instruct traitors.” Refusal was allowed, but if those named “shall thereafter attempt to obtain pay, or perform the functions of such office, he will be tried and punished for military offense.”

On February 2, 1978, the Columbia Missourian reported that the University of Missouri Lab School would close; it was over 110 years old at the time and budget cuts were blamed. For most of its history it was a combined elementary and high school on campus, commonly known as University High or U-High. At the time of its closing in 1978, there were 180 students enrolled in grades 1-6; the high school had already been shuttered in 1973. The school was a venue for teacher training, educational experimentation, and application of new teaching techniques.

On February 1, 2007, the Columbia Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery was established in the 1820s just before or during, the founding of Columbia in 1821. At first it was a simple common burial ground, but in 1858 the Columbia Cemetery Association expanded the area into a more formal cemetery. The Columbia Cemetery of 2023 spans 26 acres and now includes three smaller cemeteries with separate, but closely related histories.

On January 31, 1921, Beulah Ralph was born in Hardin, Missouri. Beulah moved to Columbia as a child and graduated from the black only Douglass High School in 1945, at a time when public education was still segregated by race. After graduating she returned to Columbia Public Schools and Douglass as an employee. For 20 years she was a school secretary at her Alma Mater. Her almost sixty year long career as an educator would span the period of desegregation, a process she helped guide the district through.

On January 30, 1857 the Boone County & Jefferson City Railroad Company was incorporated in the state of Missouri. The company’s goal was to construct a railroad from the proposed North Missouri Railroad in northern Boone County through Columbia to the Pacific Railroad in Jefferson City. After being put on hold during the Civil War, the line was completed in 1867. Although the line from Columbia to Jefferson City was never constructed, the railroad from Centralia to Columbia was the city’s first rail connection. In 2023, it is known as the COLT Railroad and is Columbia’s only active railroad.

On January 29, 1979, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad Depot was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1908-1909 and served as the terminal for the 8.5 mile Columbia spur of the M.K.T. Railroad which connected downtown Columbia to the mainline of the railroad at McBaine. The mainline, which ran along the Missouri River, connected to St. Louis, Kansas City, and beyond. The M.K.T. spur to Columbia was completed by 1901. It was the second railroad in Columbia

On January 28, 1919, a sumptuous banquet was held in the ballroom of the Daniel Boone Tavern on Broadway. The occasion was to celebrate E.W. Stephens’ 70th birthday. Stephens was the leader of the effort to erect the Daniel Boone Tavern, which opened in 1917. It is not an exaggeration to claim Edwin William Stephens is the most consequential figure in Columbia history; he is rivaled only by the earlier James S. Rollins, father of the University of Missouri.

On January 27, 1985, Rock Bridge High School announced it was erecting a new sign to help people find the 11 year old high school. The Columbia Missourian reported (on page 11) that the building was “hidden by a mass of trees” and PTA Treasurer Georgianna Garst said “there is a history of complaints from people who unknowingly pass by it.” Rock Bridge High School was built after overcrowding at Hickman High School in the 1960s. In 1968, the Columbia Board of Education purchased 42 acres on south Providence Road, although the site was just inside recently expanded city limits the board was criticized for choosing a location so far outside of town. When construction began in 1969 and for some years after, the school was surrounded by corn fields and other agricultural land.

On January 26, 1980, the Columbia Missourian published a two page special report on a proposal to redevelop the area along Flat Branch Creek, south of Broadway, into a hotel, convention center, retail, residential, and business center. The Flat Branch Project, as it was known, was the focus of intense debate among leaders, businesspeople, and Columbians in general. The project was sparked when rumors began to fly of a separate project to build a large regional mall. The Flat Branch Project was defeated by voters in April of 1980. The rumors were true and in 1985 the Columbia Mall opened near Stadium and I-70. The battle between public and private interest along Flat Branch Creek continued for decades.

On January 25, 1871, a statue of Abraham Lincoln was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol rotunda. It was sculpted by a teenage woman, Vinnie Ream, who was the most famous early alumna of the school now known as Columbia College. Then known as Christian College, Ream studied art there from 1856-1859. While in Columbia her talent was noticed by James S. Rollins, father of the University of Missouri and trustee of Christian College. Ream and her family moved to Washington D.C. in 1861 after the civil war broke out and Rollins was elected U.S. Representative from Missouri in 1860. Rollins would connect her with President Abraham Lincoln.

On January 24, 1929, the Columbia Missourian announced the construction of a new building for the Columbia Telephone Company at the northwest corner of 7th and Cherry streets. The telephone was patented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 and the first one in Columbia was installed by University of Missouri Professor of Physics Benjamin E. Thomas in the 1880s or 1890s. It ran from from Boone County National Bank at Broadway and 8th Streets to the home of I.O Hockaday at University and College Avenue. By 1896 there was a small “telephone exchange” of less than 100 telephones. J.A Hudson, who had been in the newspaper business, bought the exchange in 1897. As president and general manger of the Columbia Telephone Company he would grow the business to about 2,000 telephones by 1913.

On January 23, 1982, the Missourian published an interview with a 93 year old Mary McKee, who came to Missouri in 1923 to head the Women’s Department of Physical Education at the University of Missouri. McKee was interviewed at Candlelight Lodge, a retirement community in Columbia, where she had been living for three years. Former Dean of Students Jack Matthews was quoted saying “she is a national figure in the field of education.” He had first hand experience, he had been her student in 1923. McKee was a major influence in the development of physical education at the university. She had arrived with enthusiasm and a desire to improve things, for women and men.