SMALL TOWN OF KIMMSWICK THRIVES ON TOURISM

KIMMSWICK -- While some of America's small towns are barely surviving, Kimmswick is thriving.

The Mississippi River town in Jefferson County has salvaged its past and developed itself into a popular stop for tourists.

Situated a few miles east of the Mastodon State Historic Site off Interstate 55 in Jefferson County, Kimmswick has a population of 136.

The town has 28 shops and restaurants, including Grandma's Parlor and Tearoom. At that shop, visitors can savor a Victorian style four-course meal and learn to steep tea the way it was done in the 1890s.

The town has two bed-and-breakfast establishments. It even has a visitors center.

Kimmswick was founded in 1859 by Theodore Kimm, a German immigrant. The town grew into a thriving river and rail center.

By 1875, the town had close to 2,000 residents, said Joanne Orr, who runs the Kimmswick Visitors Center.

"We even had an amusement park on the north end of town," said Orr. Visitors would come to Kimmswick by riverboat and train.

"When the trains stopped running and the riverboats stopped coming, the town died," said Orr.

In the 1960s, the town was barely a memory. But in the 1970s and 1980s, Kimmswick resurrected itself as a tourist site with charming shops and restaurants housed in historic buildings.

Alderman Hank Goehring said the houses in Kimmswick date as far back as 1858 and as late as 1995.

There town also has a 1770-era log cabin, which was moved there from a site north of Arnold.

Goehring said the town thrives on tourism, much of it from St. Louis area visitors. But Kimmswick also regularly sees visitors from Cape Girardeau and other communities in Southeast Missouri.

"Without our stores and shops and visitors, we wouldn't exist," Goehring said.