Quote:
Originally Posted by edgeofhell
Not to be unkind, but I have to state that Moberly is one of my least favorite missouri towns, Its nothing that I can really put my finger on, just a weird vibe I get from it. Its always been the source of insults too. "Nice manners dude, did you grow up in Moberly?" kind of stuff
I was at a wedding reception there that ended up into a jerry springer type brawl! I'm sure it has its good points, but I can't find em..You'll see what I mean when you get there... it kinda feels like you're in the middle of somebody elses family re-union without being invited.
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If you were at a wedding reception you must have known or been connected to people who knew the brawlers, which to me speaks more of your peer group than to the entire city of Moberly.
As far as the 'dude, are you from Moberly' smack, it's a time honored tradition
everywhere to speak of the nearest smaller town with sarcastic disdain. Moberlyans poke fun of Maconites and Huntsvillians, Columbians make fun of Moberlyans, St. Louisans make fun of Columbians, etc. Sounds like you're from Columbia.
Moberly does have a lot of history, if you know where to look. When my Grandfather was born in 1901, Moberly was bigger than Columbia and was the 7th or 8th largest city in Missouri, and it was only 35 years old. A boomtown, if you will. It was established at inception as a major railroad hub and became the main western shop for the Wabash railroad, later the N&W/Norfolk Southern.
In the days before interstate highways and jet travel, everyone traveled by train and Moberly was
the region's version of Atlanta or Dallas when defined as a place to reroute ones destination. For instance, if you were traveling from say, Omaha to St. Louis, chances were you would stop in Moberly and get on a different train or have a layover.
All the legends of Vaudeville played at the local theatres, and it was a very progressive town (for that time) in the area of race relations. A high percentage of the city's males worked for the railroad or one of it's satellite industries. My Grandpa started when he was 14, joining his Dad and five brothers.
It also had a reputation as a very rough place at times, due to the hard living blue collar quality of the town, the transient rail travelers and the various saloons and brothels. The rumpus was generally confined to a one block area west of the Union Station (Depot) and was known as "The Levee." In other words, the railroad area was Moberly's river, and the one block area provided a buffer zone to separate the riffraff from the respectable townfolk in the way an earthen levee protects a town from river flooding.
After WWll, train travel came to an end, and so did that era of Moberly. It's still an important railroad hub, but it's strictly freight now. The city has long since settled into quiet town mode, with most of the Levee demolished over time, finished off by a tornado in 1995, and replaced by modern architecture, devoid of personality.
Other old pictures;
The railyards;
The Wabash railroad hospital;
Here's a picture of the main drag/Levee now that the Depot is gone;
In the old days, this would have been the view, although the photographer would have had to move to his left about 100 paces;
Through it all, the city has continued to churn out it's greatest export - it's 18 year old children - who have spread out across the land and whose presence immediately brightens the environment of any city fortunate enough to have them in residence. Cough.
The hometown to one America's greatest heroes, General Omar Bradley, it is also home to Moberly Area Community College, known the world over as "The Harvard of Little Dixie" a school that boasts the all time winningest Junior College Basketball program in the nation. It is, almost embarrassingly to MU and SLU, the greatest collegiate basketball program in the history of the great state of Missouri. And you could look it up.
I could go on and on, but my football game starts soon and I must get ready.
And, to edgeofhell, if you haven't gone over the edge by now and are still reading the forum, bite me.
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Moving to Moberly, MO; desire to be within 30 miles of Columbia
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