Chesterfield's 25-Year History In 7 Minutes

With stirring music and sharply edited interviews, a newly released video races through the 25-year history of the city of Chesterfield in seven minutes.

The video released on Wednesday on the city's YouTube channel starts at the beginning, with the earliest organizers pounding the streets to collection petition signatures, follows through the Flood of '93 that swallowed the valley, and into today with new businesses such as the American Girl store moving into town.

"Dierberg's wanted the corner at River Valley Drive and Olive," starts Doug Beach, the city's first judge. Cut to Barbara McGuiness, founder: "...and we just pretty much came unglued and said we just can't have this."

"That was the first time we kind of came together as a group," Beach says in the video.

The video also debuted on the city's 25th anniversary website, according to Libbey Malberg-Tucker, assistant city administrator for community services and economic development. The video cost $7,000 to produce and the cost was covered by sponsors of the anniversary celebration.

"This is the shorter seven-minute version, and when we heard all of the great stories and memories, we decided to capture a longer 20-minute version that we hope air on public television and HEC-TV," Malberg-Tucker said. 

The video features archival video of the celebration in 1988 when residents voted to incorporate the second time the issue was put before voters.

"The chance to help shape something and create something where nothing exists, that was really unique and something that really appealed to me," Mike Herring, the city's first and only city manager, recalls on the video.

Click on the video above to watch the recollections of some of the city's founders.

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