JEFFERSON CITY, MO, AUG. 28, 2018 – Retired Lead Belt miners, mill workers and other lead-company employees will be honored guests during the 23rd annual Mine Open House 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday,
Sept. 8, at Missouri Mines State Historic Site in Park Hills. The special guests will also be on hand to answer questions and describe what it was like to work in the lead mines many years ago. The event is free and open to the public.

The open house celebrates 154 years of large-scale mining in the Southeast Missouri Lead District. Exhibits, presentations and free museum admission will highlight the annual open house. Featured during the event will be a special collection of old miner lamps, some dating back to the late 18th century. Local mining artifacts, photographs and paper items acquired by the museum in recent years will also be displayed.

Industrialized lead mining began in Missouri’s Old Lead Belt in 1864, just as the Civil War was coming to a close. The site’s museum contains exhibits on Missouri geology and mineral resources, a world-class mineral collection and pieces of restored underground mining equipment.

The buildings and machinery have been popular with photographers for decades.  In recent years, a growing philosophy known as “Take only pictures, leave only footprints behind” has taken hold in society.  Ironically, the most wholesome of ideals came from Urban Explorers.  That’s right.  The folks we shoo away from snapping pics of peeling paint in old buildings.  Many visitors may recognize the buildings from art photography featured in galleries around the world.

Missouri Mines State Historic Site is located in Park Hills on the south side of Highway 32 at the Flat River Drive overpass. For more information about the event, call the site at 573-431-6226.

For more information on Missouri Mines state park and historic sites, visit mostateparks.com. Missouri State Parks is a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.