LaGrange buyouts just another chapter in rebirth of stubborn town

LaGrange is reshaped by each battle with the Mississippi River.
It’s a give-and-take war that’s been an accepted fact of life since Godfrey Le Seur set up the first trading post in 1795.
Now, another make-over looms as the community awaits flood buyout offers.
As with other major deluges, last year’s inundation will lead to changes along Main Street.
Some will accept buyouts and others won’t, but one thing is certain.
LaGrange is determined to keep the luster on a commercial district that sits just yards from the lapping Mississippi.
In a town without so much as a molehill to hold back the water, surrender is a stranger and unshakable will is a familiar friend.
A buyout “means we have to re-think things,” said City Administrator Mark Campbell. “It could end up being a good thing,”

Buyout process
Like other places that are mulling buyouts, LaGrange wants the best of both worlds.
Some businesses and most homes in the Lewis County town of 1,000 residents sit on a bluff.
But the historical heart of the community is its flood-prone downtown and the river is its soul.
Keeping them intertwined is a huge concern.
Doing so may mean little more than a move from lower ground on the east side of Main Street to a higher elevation on the west side.
The owners of seven commercial properties have shown interest in a voluntary buyout.
Funding will come from a $502,301 grant awarded to LaGrange recently through the Missouri Department of Economic Development.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is looking at separate buyouts for 13 residential properties.
Campbell planned to open bids for the commercial land appraisals Monday, with work to begin within a week.
The appraisals would take about 30 days. Offers on properties could be made this fall.
Once an owner accepts a buyout, nothing permanent can be built on the land again.
The city would take ownership of commercial property and could use it for a park or community garden.
Campbell sees both sides of the buyout coin.
“Its sad because of the historic nature” of many buildings, he said. “Some of them have been there for a long time.”
But, “in the long run, you could be looking at some desolate buildings if we didn’t go through with the buyout,” Campbell added.

Back in the mix
Two of LaGrange’s biggest employers aren’t looking at buyouts, but have made changes to prepare for future floods.
Moving the Bunge Corp. elevators and Terrible’s Mark Twain Casino would be too costly and impractical.
So, each business has made improvements.
Bunge recently completed construction of a 650,000-bushel steel bin that’s above the 500-year flood level.
As with last year’s flood and the one in 1993, sandbags would be placed around the other steel bin and several concrete silos when the water rises again.
“Everything becomes an island around here,” said Bunge manager Bill Klodt.
Terrible’s has added new exits and done foundation work to improve its casino, which was closed for two weeks by the 2008 flood.
“We’re getting ahead of the game,” said general manager Gerry Smriga. “At the end of the day, we’re more concerned about making sure our customers and employees are not in harm’s way.”
Town & Country Bank also is renovating its building at 100 N. Main.
There also are new sidewalks downtown and electrical setups are in place to build additional old-time street lamps like the ones along South Main.

Eager to return
One business that’s itching to re-open is the Hannibal Regional Hospital medical clinic.
The building at 120 N. Main on the east side of the street has been vacant since the 2008 flood.
LaGrange patients have been sent to the hospital’s medical facility in nearby Canton.
“We do plan to go back in” to LaGrange, said Dean Akerson, executive director for Hannibal Regional Medical Group. “We serve an under-served area up there. It’s important for the people in that area to have a clinic close by.”
The new clinic would be on the west side of Main. The trust that oversees the clinic property is looking at two vacant lots downtown.
“We want to keep it where the rest of the commotion is,” said Roger Cottrell, the trust’s board chairman.

Considering a move
The only thing floating in Peggie Corbin’s shop this summer are the minnows she sells to people who want to go fishing.
Last year, Corbin was literally up to her neck in muddy floodwaters as the Mississippi poured into PC Bait Shop.
Corbin found huge tanks that usually held goldfish, crawdads, minnows and baby carp bobbing around the room.
“I told everybody we had our own indoor pool,” Corbin joked.
The store is at 113 S. Main on the east side of the street across from City Hall. Corbin runs it with her husband, Carl.
Like many business people eligible for a buyout, Corbin is taking a wait-and-see attitude.
“It depends on what we’re offered,” she said. “I don’t think we’ll get enough to make it feasible for us to move. I might be surprised. You can’t really say for sure until you see it in black and white.”
Corbin rents the upstairs apartment and says the monthly income pays the mortgage on the building. So, if the buyout offer is not sufficient, she won’t move.
Even if she does relocate, however, Corbin is determined to keep the bait business open.
“I’ve invested too many years and too much money,” Corbin said. “I’m not going to give up. I’m stubborn.”

Staying put
Tony Jacobs opened his auto repair shop just in time to get washed out by the 1993 flood.
Last year, more than three feet of water swamped the garage at 314 S. Main on the west side of the street.
Still, the 52-year-old veteran mechanic rebuilt, and says he has no plans to move.
“You get to this age and what else are you going to do with jobs the way they are?” he said.
Jacobs, whose shop sits across from the Bunge Corp. elevator, didn’t consider a buyout.
“I just never thought about doing it,” he said. “Maybe I should have.”
Jacobs said it ”takes a big flood” to get into his building and hopes the river won’t rise again until after he retires.
“It surely won’t happen again for a while,” he said. “Of course, you never know. I guess that’s what keeps you going.”
Campbell said LaGrange can count on the Mississippi setting the agenda.
“It may not flood this year,” he said. “It may not flood next year. But it’s going to flood again.”