Join us at a new time – 6 p.m. – on Jan. 23 for a talk that will take us through the historic and hazardous legacy of the Orr Street area by Dr. Chris Cady, an environmental scientist with the Department of Natural Resources.
The area at 210 Orr St. is set to become a city park but at one time it was home to a crucial energy source – manufactured gas. Founded in 1875 by Odon Guitar, the plant provided gas before electric plants lighted our streets and interstate natural gas pipelines reached Missouri. Learn about the plant’s connection to the Wabash Railroad and Flat Branch Creek until the plant closed after natural gas arrived in 1932. The plant then faded into obscurity until recently when it underwent an environmental cleanup.