Voice Of The Village 11/5/2020
The weather was great, nice size crowd, approximately 100 and great creative costumes for the Halloween festivities around the Village Saturday night, October 31st. The Caledonia United Methodist Church held their annual Trunk-n-Treat; several of the local businesses handed candy out in front of their shops, as did Village Hall and at the local Caledonia Fire House from 5:30 until 7:30 P.M. Thank you to everyone that participated and the youth that came out and had a good time.
I was recently asked how long I had been on the Village Board and if I knew who had served the longest on the Village Board. For me, I actually started attending board meetings in 2005 as a resident and chairman of the Bellevue Valley Historical Society, Inc. talking about historical village properties (possible tax credits) and beautification projects; I was first elected to the Board on April 19, 2010 as a Trustee, becoming Legal Secretary & Clerk on January 16, 2012 and first elected Mayor on May 18, 2015. John W. Lucas served the board as Trustee, Legal Secretary & Clerk from 1988 until he retired from the board in 2013 (25 years); he took off a couple years and was re-elected to the board, where he continues to serve. Mrs. Jane Faris served as Mayor for 17 years; 12 years consecutively in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The person that holds the record is Mr. John George Seabourne, who retired from the Board on March 29, 1976 after serving 39 years. He first took office after the election of April 1937 as Village Clerk (Treasurer); his first board of trustees was Robert Bays, John A. Eversole, Ed Hull, and Irvin Montgomery (who resigned having recently moved out of the village making him ineligible to continue to serve on the board). The meetings took place in the back room of Bay’s Grocery Store and his appliance store across the street; later moving meetings to the former Caledonia Elementary School building before moving to the modular building in the Village Park in 1997 and then to the former Eversole House in 2014.
In an article in the former Caledonia Courier newspaper, Mr. Seabourne noted the big accomplishment for the time was getting lights in the Village in the Summer of 1937. Mr. Seabourne was born in 1898 between Belgrade and Caledonia. His family moved into the Village on September 11, 1926. During World War II (1942-1943) the board of trustees met on Saturdays so Mr. Seabourne and others could work at a small arms factory in St. Louis through the week. There have been a lot of dedicated, civic minded individuals serve the Village from the time it was incorporated back in 1874. The first Board of Trustees was appointed by the Washington County Court. I’m happy to be serving with the current board of trustees: Nina Gilliam, John W. Lucas, Debra Bay and Pat Sims and working with Ms Lillian Moses (Office Manager).
DATES TO REMEMBER
The Caledonia Business Association is planning their annual Caledonia Chocolate Walk for November 20th & 21st, 2020, the Black Friday & Small Business Saturday shopping on November 27 & 28th; I will be extending a courtesy proclamation for the local businesses as I did last year at our November 16th regular board meeting.
The Annual Caledonia Christmas Market in the Red Barn & Cookie Walk on Main Street on December 5th, 2020 10 A.M.-4 P.M.; this will coordinate with the annual United Methodist Men’s breakfast (starting at 7:30 A.M.) with Santa in partnership with Bismarck VFW Post # 6947. Through the holidays, there will be plenty of time to check out all the local businesses and purchase those special gifts before Christmas.
Please continue to contact me with comments and suggestions to: MAYOR, Post Office Box 100, Caledonia, MO 63631 or city029@centurytel.net.
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