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One of the final pieces of the Lewis and Clark bicentennial in western Iowa is finally falling into place — a half-decade after the national commemoration of the 1804-06 Army expedition up and down the Missouri River.
The Iowa Natural Resources Department agreed last week to join Monona County in an estimated $1 million in construction contracts to finish a $5.4 million interpretive center at Lewis and Clark State Park near Onawa.
Construction of the 15,300- square-foot Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center at Blue Lake stopped in 2004 when money dried up and the contractor sued the local Friends of Discovery nonprofit group.
Three Monona County officials revived the project during a meeting last week with Natural Resources Department commissioners in Des Moines. The delegation included County Attorney Michael Jensen, County Board member Stan Skow and Sara Struble, county economic development director.
The three recounted the history of the stalled project, the monetary commitment from the county and the upstream struggle to keep the project moving forward and to see it to completion.
Commissioners voted unanimously to help complete the center. The department will provide all funding and administer all construction, Struble said. The department and the county will share the center's profits.
Struble said the delegation was grateful for the department's support.
“Monona County will no doubt have a showpiece to attract tourism dollars that will boost the local economy and quality of life for its residents,” she said.
The center was the brainchild of the Friends of Discovery, which hoped to capitalize on tourism and interest generated by the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the first overland expedition undertaken by the United States to the Pacific coast and back.
Construction started in 2003 but fizzled in 2004. Work resumed in late 2005 after Monona County secured a $400,000 loan and the Friends group picked up two grants.
The $745,000 total was enough to finish the exterior of the building before the winter of 2005-06. Fundraisers were planned to come up with an additional $1 million before the facility's interior could be finished and displays installed, but the project was not completed.
The Onawa facility would join Lewis and Clark centers constructed at Nebraska City and Sioux City, Iowa, to commemorate the expedition.
Lewis and Clark State Park hosts an annual festival marking the expedition. The park is famous for its fleet of replica vessels used by the explorers.
Contact the writer:
444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com
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