Mastodon State Historic Site officials want the public to know something important about the Imperial attraction.
“We’re still open,” said Josh LaMouria, the site’s interim superintendent.
Apparently some people think the site is closed because of the nearby project that has a section of Seckman Road closed between the West Outer Road and the entrance to the Mastodon Picnic area.
In addition to the historic site’s lower section, or picnic area, at 1800 Seckman Road, it includes an upper section called the Museum Area at 1050 Charles J. Becker Drive with another entrance off that road.
The Seckman Road improvement project started last September and is expected to run through this fall, but Seckman Road should be reopened for two-way traffic beginning Aug. 19, even though the contractor will still have some work to finish, Jefferson County Public Works Director Jason Jonas said.
LaMouria said that while everything the historic site offers remains accessible, getting to the Picnic Area can prove challenging and has affected the number of visitors to the site.
“I compared (visitor numbers) June 2022 and June 2023 to June 2024 so far,” he said. “That includes visitors from June 1 to 19 (the latest data available the day of the interview).
“In that period in 2022, the Picnic Area had 47,944 visitors. (From June 1-19) in 2023, it had 38,926. This month, there’s been 18,320. Visitation to the Picnic Area this year is a little less than half of last year (for June 1-19).”
LaMouria said the decrease in visitors to the Picnic Area from 2022 to 2023 had more to do with the unusually high number of visitors in 2022 due to a “COVID bounce” that had people antsy to get out and about after largely being confined to their homes during the height of the pandemic.
He said officials use a formula based on vehicle counts to determine the number of visitors.
Since most visitors who come to the site from outside the immediate area take a route that includes I-55 and the West Outer Road, they’re confused by the closed section of Seckman Road, which probably has led to the lower visitor count this year, LaMouria said.
The Museum Area is not affected by the Seckman Road renovations, he noted, adding that the number of visitors to the Museum Area hasn’t been affected by the road work.
He said the museum had 10,990 visitors from June 1-19 in 2022; 10,440 during the same period in 2023; and 11,448 this year.
“Our actual visitors to the museum is a little higher than the last couple of years,” he said. “But, if you subtract the number of people who come in just asking for directions to the Picnic Area, it’s all about the same."
Historic Site employees offer those seeking directions to the Picnic Area the following written instructions: “1. Take the West Outer Road north to left on Vogel Road in Arnold,. 2. Take Vogel Road to left on Old Lemay Ferry Road. 3. At the roundabout, take Seckman Road East (left). 4. Proceed to the Picnic Area entrance at 1800 Seckman Road.”
During the Leader’s recent interview with LaMouria, he timed the drive to take that route from the Museum Area entrance to the Picnic Area entrance at about 14 minutes.
Lots to do
He said that while getting to the Picnic Area takes more time, he believes the trip is worth it.
“We’ve got three big things at the site,” he said. “We’ve got the museum. We’ve got hiking trails. We’ve got pavilions and the creek (in the Picnic Area).”
There are hiking trails both in the Museum Area and the Picnic Area. The Picnic Area also offers a playground. Rock Creek runs along the Picnic Area.
Christina Rankin of St. Louis and her son, Nolan, 2, play in the creek at Mastodon State Historic Site. Visiting the park for the first time, they received directions from the visitors center to take the detour to the creek.
“A lot of people who ask for directions are looking for the creek,” LaMouria said.
He said the site also has lots of programs and special events scheduled, like “Mondays at Mastodon,” a free summer program for elementary-age kids that offers a variety of activities at 11 a.m. July 1 and July 15 at the Picnic Area and July 15 and Aug. 12 at the Museum Area.
Upcoming events include Fossil Frenzy from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 8 at the Museum Area and a Nature Bingo Hike at 2 p.m. July 13 at the Picnic Area.
A recent visitor to the site praised the facility.
“I live right down the street,” said Katie Ehlen, 37, of Imperial who recently took her twin 3-year-olds to the Picnic Area playground. “I like (the site) for a multitude of reasons. The playground has things for smaller and bigger kids. My kids like coming here.”
Site has important historical significance
The site’s longtime superintendent, Ken Smith, is getting ready to retire July 1, and LaMouria has been the site’s interim superintendent since May.
A decision hasn’t been made yet about who will take over as superintendent when Smith retires, LaMouria said.
“I’ve been here about six years, working in maintenance first, then as assistant superintendent,” he said.
LaMouria said Jefferson County residents may not fully realize what a special place they have in Mastodon State Historic Site.
“We get quite a few out-of-town visitors,” he said. “We’re kind of unique as a historic site. We not only have the historical aspect, but we have day-to-day use aspects with the Picnic Area and creek.
“This is the first place where they made the connection of humans and Ice Age animals.”
According to previous news reports, the path to linking humans and the large elephant-like mastodon goes back to 1839, when a St. Louis museum owner named Albert C. Koch learned about something of interest south of St. Louis in what eventually became known as the Kimmswick Bone Bed. He collected bones at the site and tried to assemble them into the skeleton of a creature, but did not do it correctly.
He took his creation on tour to Europe, where the British Museum purchased it and put it together correctly.
Other scientific endeavors returned to the Kimmswick Bone Bed, and over the years dug up more mastodon bones. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which bought 418 acres containing the Bone Bed in 1976, sponsored several excavations in ensuing years.
The historic site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
In the 1970s, the state announced plans to expand I-55, and a group of Jefferson County residents calling itself the Mastodon Park Committee banded together to protect the Bone Bed. After later acquisitions, the site now covers 431.14 acres.
The site also oversees the Sandy Creek Covered Bridge State Historic Site north of Hillsboro and the Gov. Daniel Dunklin Grave State Historic Site in Herculaneum.
For more information about Mastodon State Historic Site, call 636-464-2976.
“If they go to mostateparks.com, it’s got a Park Status Viewer that shows any closures or other park status in the state,” LaMouria said.
Seckman Road project
The Jefferson County Public Works Department began work in September 2023 to improve the heavily traveled 1-mile stretch of Seckman Road between the West Outer Road and the western entrance to the historic site.
The overall road project includes leveling off a hill that crests in front of the main entrance, realigning the entrance to make it perpendicular to Seckman Road for improved sight distances, adding a left-turn lane for westbound traffic to enter the site, adding shoulders and raising the road out of a 100-year flood plain.
PCX Construction in Arnold was the lower of two bidders for the job at $4,207,375, with federal funding paying for 70 percent of the work and 30 percent coming from the county’s share of a countywide 1/2-cent sales tax for road and bridge improvements.