The city of Pacific, Missouri, has been awarded a $350,000 grant to help buy Lookout on Jensen’s Point off Route 66, reported the Washington Missourian.
The St. Louis County Parks awarded the grant earlier this month. Pacific’s parks and recreation department will use the landmark after the sale with longtime owner Wayne Winchester goes through. The purchase officially was endorsed by the Route 66 Association of Missouri, Friends of the Mother Road and Route 66 Magazine.
Pacific also received a $15,000 grant from the Great Rivers Greenway and $20,000 from the city tourism commission. The Ozark Trail Association also will give 250 hours of supervised volunteer labor to help cleanup and restoration of the site.
The city of Pacific also will spend $65,000 on restoration efforts.
Eventually, the city wants to link the land to several cycling and walking trails.
Jensen’s Point was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The landmark was named after Lars Peter Jensen, the first manager of Shaw’s Garden, aka Missouri Botanical Garden, and president of the Henry Shaw Gardenway Association that designed to beautify Route 66 in that region.
(Old image of Jensen’s Point in Pacific, Missouri, courtesy of 66Postcards.com)