Wilson’s Creek Celebrates Additional Land, New Film
By Deborah Fitts

REPUBLIC, Mo. — Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield will soon see the addition of 42 acres to its holdings, thanks to the support of a friends group and a $450,000 federal appropriation.

 “We’re real excited,” said park Superintendent Ted Hillmer. “This is a piece of very historic property.”

The park also launched a new visitor center interpretive movie in April, the first new film in more than a quarter-century — again thanks to the Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Foundation.

The tract of land, which had been slated for residential development, borders park-owned land at the west side of the battlefield. It includes the intersection of two wartime roads, the York Road and the Wire Road (so named because the telegraph ran along it). The property is open pastureland.

The parcel also includes the site of the wartime Guinn House. Last fall students from Missouri State University undertook archeological work that determined the structure’s location.

Hillmer hailed the involvement of the foundation, the park’s nonprofit support group. The organization stepped in to buy the land last June, acting more quickly than the federal government could. The property is within a 615-acre boundary expansion approved by Congress in 2004.

April McDonough, the foundation’s executive director, said the group paid $436,000 for the tract. The seller was the developer of the Terrell Creek housing development planned on additional land outside the park boundary.

The foundation put nearly half the purchase price down, and financed the rest with the developer. Other monies came from donors and fundraising efforts. The loan will be paid off when the federal funding comes through, which Hillmer predicted for late June or early July. He cited the assistance of Congressman Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) in securing the funding.

The foundation bought 157 acres from the same developer a couple of years ago, and sold it to the park almost immediately.  McDonough said the new 42-acre tract is contiguous to the earlier purchase, and that the developer had decided last year to sell his remaining land inside the park boundary.

Development pressure is growing in the area, according to McDonough. The battlefield lies between Republic, to the northwest, and the community of Battlefield, to the east.

Hillmer said that depending on funding, the park will build trails and wayside markers to open the new property to the public, perhaps in “another couple of years.”

Meanwhile, the new park film debuted April 13. It replaces one nearly 27 years old, which featured still shots with captions.

 “It’s completely different,” Hillmer said of the new movie, which runs at the park every half hour. “It’s live action, with reenactor footage, high-definition and surround-sound.” He said the film would help the park’s goal of attracting young people.

The foundation donated more than $100,000 toward the movie, which was produced by Wide Awake Films of Kansas City. A local company, BNSF Railway, provided $50,000 to the foundation for the project.

McDonough praised Wide Awake, which she said donated part of the cost of the film. They shot some of it on location last August, bringing with them reenactors, cannons and horses.

The foundation, formed in 1950, has 350 members. “They’re a great group to work with,” Hillmer said.

In a related matter, Hillmer noted that Blunt has legislation before Congress to fund a three-year study to determine whether to add the Newtonia battlefields as a unit of Wilson’s Creek or independent national park unit. The 150-acre site lies a little over an hour by car southwest of the park.

The First Battle of Newtonia on Sept. 30, 1862, saw Federals attack Confederates, then retreat. It is thought to be the war’s only battle in which American Indian units opposed each other.

The Second Battle of Newtonia on Oct. 28, 1864, took place when two Union cavalry brigades attacked Sterling Price’s forces that were retreating from Missouri. Union reinforcements pushed Confederates back and both sides withdrew.

The battle at Wilson’s Creek, Aug. 10, 1861, was one of the earliest of the war and the first fought west of the Mississippi River. Of the 615 acres included within the park boundary four years ago, Hillmer said about half has been purchased for the park so far, all from willing sellers. He said visitation is down so far this year, but typically totals around 167,000.