New sidewalks, landscaping spruce up Old Munichburg

The 100 block of East Dunklin Street, the commercial heart of Jefferson City's historic southside "Old Munichburg" neighborhood, received a fresh look with new sidewalks and landscaping, as shown in this Nov. 5, 2015 photo.
The 100 block of East Dunklin Street, the commercial heart of Jefferson City's historic southside "Old Munichburg" neighborhood, received a fresh look with new sidewalks and landscaping, as shown in this Nov. 5, 2015 photo.

A few new things are showing up in Old Munichburg.

The 100 block of East Dunklin Street, the commercial heart of Jefferson City's historic Southside neighborhood, recently got a fresh look with new sidewalks and landscaping.

The cosmetic improvements are a joint effort of the Old Munichburg Association and the Southside Munichburg Community Improvement District (CID).

"It's such a nice block with the Munichburg corner there on the end. This is just bringing it down and making an impact on our neighborhood, and just making a new addition to the area," said Becky Bocklage, Old Munichburg Association president. "There were trees, but it was a very mature block, so the trees were mature and the sidewalk had damaged over time just from normal time damage, and some of the roots had heaved the sidewalk. It was time for some of that to be replaced."

The Southside Munichburg CID, which was organized in 2007 to finance public-use facilities in the area through a special assessment of $2.25 per linear foot of street frontage in the district, funded the new sidewalks, which were put in within the last couple of weeks.

As the sidewalks were under construction, the Old Munichburg Association paid for fresh landscaping along the walkways. The nonprofit organization's primary source of funding is proceeds from the annual Oktoberfest event, which this year was Sept. 25-26.

"It was a great time to partner with the CID on that," Bocklage said.

The association eventually will replace the trees that were removed to make way for the new landscaping, which is set up with height variation among shrubs and blooming plants to add interest, and with plants that provide color over the different seasons, Bocklage said.

"It's all very hardy to be tolerant, as far as not needing everyday water," she added.

The landscaping work should be completed by the end of November, until additional planting can be done next spring.

The Old Munichburg Association plans to add new street signs and banners in the area soon as well, but a time frame has not yet been set. Members of the association voted last October to extend Old Munichburg's boundaries to include more of Jefferson City's south side, and the signage will be extended to that area as well, Bocklage said.