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 coming 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 McBain. The mainline, which ran along the Missouri River, connected to St. Louis, Kansas City, and beyond.

On January 28, 1919, a sumptuous banquet was held in the ball room 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 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 over private and public interest along Flat Branch Creek has 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 women, 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 to 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 Candle Light 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.

On January 22, 1799, John Hiram Lathrop was born in Sherburne, New York. He arrived in Columbia in 1841 to take a job as the first President of the University of Missouri. Lathrop would be hugely influential in the university’s development and in Columbia more generally. He was educated at Hamilton College and then Yale University . As a young man he taught at schools and colleges in New England and, when offered the job in Missouri, was a professor of law, civil polity, and political economy at Hamilton College. When he arrived at the University of Missouri he found an institution that was not yet functioning.

On January 21, 2004, the Ballenger Building in Downtown Columbia, Missouri was placed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its long association with a series of businesses. Over 130 years old, it is located at the northwest corner of 9th Street and Cherry; in 2023 it is one of the oldest continually operating commercial buildings in Downtown Columbia and “reflects Downtown Columbia’s long history as the dominate commercial center in Mid-Missouri. It was built in 1892 for its first tenant, G.F. Troxell Furniture. The basement of the building was constructed over a natural spring, one of several in Downtown Columbia.