Newburg celebrated a new milestone on Friday, December 10, 2004 with the purchase of 27 acres of land from the BNSF Railroad. Citizens and Newburg supporters from around the country celebrated the purchase by sharing stories of success and cutting a ribbon at The Houston House. Guest included Mimi Garstang, from USGS in Rolla, Jim Belcher, Brownfield Section Chief, guests from Kansas State University, and Karl Burgher with Fairmont State College, in Fairmont, West Virginia.
Kerry West, Bank of Newburg, presented a check to Newburg Mayor Jim Poucher for the purchase of the land. This purchase by the City of Newburg will begin the Brownfield (TAB) program that assists communities in cleaning and redeveloping properties that have been damaged or undervalued by environmental contamination. To purchase the land and pay for its remediation and re-development, there are environmental studies to complete, possible environmental clean-ups to undertake, and fundraising to do. The land purchased from the railroad will be converted to community use.
The University of Missouri was also instrumental in this project. Arlan DeKock, Dean of the School of Management and Management Information Systems, was contacted by the Phelps County Community Partnership to determine if there was a faculty member who might be interested in working with the Newburg project. Dr. DeKock invited Dr. Karl Burgher to investigate. Burgher has worked extensively to support Newburg and Marvin Helms, Newburg Caring Communities Coordinator. Burgher left UMR recently, to become vice president for research and contracts at Fairmont State University, but he has continued his involvement. “Not a week goes by without a call from Karl,” Helms offers. For Burgher, it’s all about vision: “My role is to get as many people as possible excited about the vision. I want them to participate in Newburg’s transformation and then experience the difference five or ten years down the road.”
Burgher’s greatest contribution to this town’s revitalization may be the way he entices outside resources and expertise. He has become Newburg’s traveling ambassador, talking up the revitalization project with colleagues around the country and inviting them to participate. Because of Burgher’s efforts, partners now include Kansas State University, The University of Maryland, Michigan State University, Missouri’s Brownfields Voluntary Clean-up Program, Montana Tech University, Fairmont State University, and, of course, UMR. Each partner brings a skill set and responsibility for undertaking specific tasks in the project.
Frank A. Fear, Professor, Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies and The Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program, Michigan State University, recently wrote an article about Newburg entitled; Standing Together as Stewards of Place: Community Engagement in Newburg, Missouri. Dr Fear writes:
“Perhaps most of all, in Newburg we find people who are stewards of place. They not only understand the sanctity of community, they are agents of it. Stewards of place enable others to experience the most fundamental of all communal aspirations—living in the place you prefer with the people you love.”