It’s no secret that Mexico is chock-full of history.
In an effort to get people moving in a fun and engaging way, the Audrain County Health Department began hosting walking tours all …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, or you are a print subscriber who had access to our previous website, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you have not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
If you are a current print subscriber and did not have a user account on our previous website, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
It’s no secret that Mexico is chock-full of history.
In an effort to get people moving in a fun and engaging way, the Audrain County Health Department began hosting walking tours all throughout Mexico that highlighted its history along the way. The seven-month program, known as History Takes a Walk, will run from April through Octo- ber, kicking off the 2026 season with its first tour on April 21.
According to Chris Newbrough, ACHD emergency planner and public information officer, the idea was based on an article in the Missouri Conservationist about similar walking tours in Kansas City.
The Kansas City tours, Newbrough said, are two and a half hours long, but these local walks are much shorter.
“Here in Mexico, they are a mile and a half — hour and a half,” he said. “It’s not a strenuous walk; we take our time.”
The first tour of the year will be the East Lib- erty Street tour.
"We’re going to be going from the black bridge at Clark Street, east down East Liberty Street to the Kirk-Ekern State Farm Insurance and turning around and walking back — talking about all the history along East Liberty Street.”
Newbrough said there are a number of new tours coming up this year and others will be familiar to those who participated last year.
Another route Newbrough highlighted this year was the Clark Street tour, which starts at Hardin Park, goes down Love Street and loops around the square.
“Mexico has so much history that people don’t know about and it’s so cool to try and bring that to life,” he said.
This year will also feature three bike tours. The themes for these bike tours will be interesting
doors around town, the parks and local schools.
“One of our members of our committee is Will Roundey, and he is a huge cyclist,” Newbrough said. “I think the average is six and a half miles. Again, non-strenuous, just a fun time to get a little exercise and learn some history.”
In its first year, Newbrough said the program took off and exceeded his expectations.
“I was hoping we’d get five to six people,” he said. “We had to cap it at 20 people per program because we didn’t want to be too loud in the neighborhood, we didn’t want traffic concerns or anything like that.”
Since the first walk, ACHD has split each walk into two groups led by volunteer tour leaders that include Jason Lamb, Tony Robertson, Roundey, Jim Dye, David Maupin, Tad Dobyns, and Newbrough himself.
Not only do these volunteers lead the tours, they also help prepare and research each route.
For more information regarding tour dates and planned routes, visit the ACHD website and Facebook or see the monthly flyers that will be posted in The Mexico Ledger. To RSVP, call the Audrain County Health Department at 573-518-1332.
“It’s a really cool learning opportunity while you’re getting some exercise,” Newbrough said.
