BELLE —“A journey of a 1,000 miles begins with just one step,” Rep. Bruce Sassmann, R-61st District, said as he addressed nearly 75 people in attendance at the Missouri Rock Island Trail State Park groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday.

The 1 p.m. event on May 31 was held on the trail behind Zumwalt’s Feed Mill, with a reception to follow inside the former MFA Building.

Several former members of Missouri Rock Island Trail Inc. (MoRIT) — now known as Friends of the Rock Island Trail (FoRIT ) — attended the event. These individuals were among the original advocates for the railbanking process and the eventual donation of the former rail line. Among the roster of FoRIT members are Belle Alderman Steve Vogt and former alderman Richard Huse.

Vogt began the ceremony by outlining the sites Belle offers to the trail, including OutKast Sports Complex, a much-anticipated future flag park between the trail and Belle Avenue, the restored mill, the caboose and the world’s largest cowbell — to name few.

“This trail is going to be the heart of Missouri, going through so many communities,” Sassmann told the crowd gathered along the trail.

Sassmann added that the idea of rails to trails isn’t new.

“There’s a bike ride in Iowa, the Great Annual Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, that has been going on for 51 years,” Sassmann said. “They expect 25,000 people this year. In one community, they left $50,000 to rebuild a building that was destroyed. It doesn’t take much to raise $50,000 when 25,000 people are coming through your community.”

Sassmann was also happy to note that the ends of the Katy Trail and Rock Island Trail will meet to form a 450-mile loop across the state.

“This is a historic moment,” he said. “A really historic day.”

Several shovels and hard hats were lined up on the trail to signify the groundbreaking event. Vogt introduced fellow Alderman Jeanette Struemph, former aldermen Kevin Guffey, Ken Stanfield and Huse. The city’s former court clerk, who was also a grant writer, Barbara Schaller, was also recognized. Alderman Rebecca Withouse was also in the crowd, but was not mentioned.

Vogt invited Struemph, Guffey, Huse and Schaller to come forward for the groundbreaking pictures and ceremony.

“I never thought I’d live to see this,” Huse said as he made his way forward and stood to balance a shovel of dirt.

The crowd snapped photos of the local officials with Sassmann and Missouri State Parks officials.

“I think the trail will be as much a boon to our town as it was in 1901,” Vogt said.

A second photo was arranged for all MoRIT/FoRIT members, including several who have been trail supporters from the very beginning, including Chryssa Niewald, Lolle Boettcher and former MoRIT Director Greg Harris, to name a few.

Niewald once told people at a town hall meeting that she would like to be on the trail one day, but she’d probably be in a wheelchair.

“Well, I’m not in a wheelchair,” she said happily.

Boettcher, an active cyclist and former school teacher, said with the trail finally opening she was no longer breaking the law by using it.

“My hearts kinda skippin’ a beat, but now I’m holding my breath because I want to see the momentum,” Boettcher said. “Finally, it’s like wildfire. It’s catching and it goes west.”

She realizes that many of the organizations that are against the trail represent farmers with land along the corridor.

“This would be a good time to showcase the hard work and ethics of our farming community, and without that commitment to the land, which we can see at 6 a.m. in the morning or at night combing hay before the rain comes, if it wasn’t for that, we wouldn’t be known as the breadbasket of the world. Instead of pushing back, use it to get the message out to all of the suburban communities how dependent we are on that work ethic.”

If it’s not open for people to see it in action, Boettcher says they will never know.

“They want to see it in action,” she said. “I just want the world to know what I and many of us already know. There is beauty in the cities, there’s beauty from every side of this state to the other. It won’t be a thing where people want what you have necessarily, they just want to appreciate it. This is a good way for that to happen.”

Harris, the former MoRIT director, retired board member and now active volunteer, was glad to see his efforts in the trail finally pay off.

“This is a day that we’ve all been looking forward to, so many of us for so many years, and it’s exciting to see it finally happen,” Harris said. “It’s really just the first step of what it will be — the fourth longest rail-trail in the United States, connected to the longest rail-trail in the United States.”

Harris, who has been a trail supporter since he was contacted by Darwin Hynman about the Katy Trail in the 1980s, served for six years as the director of MoRIT.

“I am super excited to be here and see it all happening,” Harris said. “I can’t wait to be on it.”

Belle was the last stop along the corridor on Friday as Gerald and Owensville celebrated the openings of their section of the line earlier that morning. Supporters expressed excitement in seeing the next phase — connecting Gerald, Rosebud, Owensville, Bland and Belle — in the future.