Hear Rachel Senzee speak about how Jefferson City officially recognized a neighborhood that no longer has a physical presence as a “Historic Legacy District.” At the foot of the hill at Lincoln University's Lafayette Street entrance was an area known as the Foot. Here Black residents invested in and owned their own businesses and developed places of worship, a park, a community center and a pool. However, much of this area was demolished as part of the 1950s and 1960s urban renewal process and with construction of Highway 50. Senzee, Jefferson City’s Neighborhood Services Supervisor, and others including the Historic City of Jefferson worked to find the right way to acknowledge this part of Jefferson City’s history. Cosponsored by CoMo Preservation. [Photo by Eileen Wisniowicz/News Tribune photo: Glover and Arthur Brown pose next to the Historic Foot District plaque on Friday, Oct. 7, 2022 in Jefferson City.]

Rachel Senzee is the Neighborhood Services Supervisor for the City of Jefferson. Neighborhood Services manages housing, redevelopment, historic preservation, federal initiatives and sustainability programs. Senzee has 15 years of experience in the fields of grants management, historic preservation, project management and community engagement. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Southeast Missouri State University and a master’s degree in public history from the University of Arkansas – Little Rock.

This event is co-sponsored by the Daniel Boone Regional Library.

All CoMo Preservation’s monthly events feature a guest speaker on historic preservation and/or historic properties and are open to the public and held in the Friends Room at the Columbia Public Library.