As in the past, Missouri is leading the way to new economic frontiers.
Does history —
or at least economic history — repeat itself? In Missouri, that
very well may be the case. For the better part of the nation’s
history, the way west for Americans lay in Missouri. First it was through
St. Louis, which began as a French trading post. It was from here that
Lewis and Clark launched their historic expedition in 1804. In time
the focus of westward migration moved to Kansas City, a jumping-off
point for the Santa Fe and Oregon trails. Perhaps it was the influx
of a no-nonsense, westward-looking population that earned
Missouri its reputation as the “Show-Me” state. They were
a practical, value-driven people, with here and there an adventurer
thrown into the mix. Consider just a few of the progeny given to us
by Missouri: Harry S Truman, Jesse James, Mark Twain, General John “Blackjack”
Pershing, T.S. Eliot and, more recently, Calvin Trillin.
Admitted to the Union in 1821 as the 24th state, Missouri
prospered. Its cities became hubs for river travel, for railroads and
then for highways. Stockyards and packing plants flourished for a time.
Land in every direction was turned over to the production of wheat,
and Missouri stood in the heart of America’s breadbasket. Today
the world’s wheat prices are set each morning in the Kansas City
Board of Trade.
The successive layers of enterprise laid down economic
bedrock that is evident in Missouri to this day. “We have many
basic companies,” says Michael Zuk, vice president, financial services
in the Kansas City office of Fahnestock & Co., Inc., members of
the New York Stock Exchange. “Many of our companies are ‘blocking
and tackling’ companies, providing either components or services
that are often integrated into other peoples’ products. The virtue
in it is that there is generally a constant market for what they manufacture
or what they deliver.”
Sticking to the basics has paid off. Today, with the
11th most diversified economy in the nation, Missouri has a gross state
product of $166.5 billion. Missouri’s exports in 2000 exceeded
$8.4 billion in products and services to more than 180 countries. The
state has 1,180 miles of interstate highway miles, two international
airports, and two major rivers with 1,040 navigable water miles. It
has the sixth-largest highway system in the nation, and the second-
and third-largest railroad terminals in the nation. And, with a population
of 5,600,000, Missouri in the second quarter of 2001 had the third-lowest
cost of living in the nation.
 |
Missouri's Governor
Bill Holden
|
In a way, the state prospered because people who went
west found that Missouri had everything they were looking for, and built
upon it. Today, a great many businesses are coming to that very same
conclusion.
Missouri’s history of building upon its economic
past can be seen as a prologue to its economic future. “We have,”
says Governor Bob Holden, “a highly skilled and productive workforce,
a great quality of life and a pro-business climate that will foster
the growth of the life sciences and other key industries in the 21st
century.”
In life sciences, one important area targeted by the
state for future economic development is plant science. It is a field
that has a place of special prominence and promise in St. Louis. Last
November, teams of researchers began moving into the newly completed
$146 million Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in the St. Louis suburb
of Creve Coeur. Built with the help of nonprofit, academic and government
contributions, the center is bringing together under one roof an array
of researchers focused on plant research that can, by enhancing our
understanding of agriculture, improve the human condition.
The center is named for the late Donald Danforth, former
chairman of St. Louis-based Ralston-Purina Co. Danforth was the father
of former U.S. Sen. John C. Danforth, R-Mo., and Dr. William H. Danforth,
former chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis. The nonprofit,
independent center adds to the growing reputation of the metropolitan
region as a focal point for plant and life sciences. St. Louis, in fact,
is now mentioned as a major center of plant and life sciences, along
with Raleigh-Durham, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C. In fact,
the 12-county metropolitan area, which sits astride the Mississippi
River, is being touted as the “BioBelt,” home to a cluster
of 1,200 firms that are in the business of plant and life sciences.
The emergence of St. Louis as Missouri’s BioBelt
is mirrored on the western end of the state by Kansas City. Like its
St. Louis counterpart, Kansas City is a riverfront community that is
gaining attention for its leading-edge research facilities. Foremost
among them is the $200 million Stowers Institute for Medical Research,
opened a little more than a year ago. It and other research facilities
have led to talk of Kansas City as being a “Biomed Valley.”
In point of fact, the two metropolitan areas anchor
the eastern and western extremes of I-70 as it passes 250 miles through
Missouri, leading to yet another sobriquet: “The Biotech Corridor.”
That’s the term favored in the city of Columbia, home to the University
of Missouri, where ground recently was broken for construction of a
$60 million Life Sciences Center.
The corridor represents a border-to-border economic
silver lining for Missouri. Governor Bob Holden has made it clear that
life sciences is one of the three clusters — along with advanced
manufacturing and information technology — to be given special
emphasis in the state. Missouri last summer set aside $22 million of
its $374 million tobacco settlement for life sciences funding, and plans
for its use are now in the works.
| In Columbia, home of the University
of Missouri, ground was recently broken for construction of a $60
million Life Sciiences Center. |
|
|
With a sound economic foundation in place, Missouri
is laying new economic groundwork from end-to-end. Itties are renovating
and rebuilding. Its corporate citizens are reinvesting in their communities.
Its people are learning the new skills needed by tomorrow’s workers.
And there is, says Joe Driskill, director of Missouri’s Department
of Economic Development, a sense of purpose shared by the private and
public sectors. “I do not know of a time when there has been a
stronger sense of partnership about the opportunities for our future
economic growth,” says Driskill. “I think we have unanimity
in that regard.”
And everywhere one looks in Missouri, the partnerships
and shared sense of purpose are paying dividends.
Next Page
This special section was written by Edward J. Walsh and designed by John Browning for ROP, Ltd.
Produced by James O. Armstrong, president of James Armstrong & Associates, Inc., james-armstrong@worldnet.att.net.
Copyright 2005 - 2008, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
