Radar Museum Planned for Campbell Hill Summit


The Air Force Radar Museum Association has got permission to build the National Air Defense Radar Museum atop one of the former radar buildings atop Campbell Hill. The radars in Bellefontaine were part of the 664th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron. The museum is to be located in a building that house an FPS-26 radar. Gene McManus attended the Highpointers 2011 convention at Campbell Hill and describes plans in the video.
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Longacre Memorial in Jack’s Glade on Taum Sauk


The club-owned Longacre Memorial is in Longacre Glade on Russell Mountain on the approach to Taum Sauk in Missouri.

The site is on property formerly belonging to club-founder Jakk Longacre and where he wanted a highpointing museum. It is across from his former home. His daughter Laurie donated the land to the club after his death in 2002 after considerable consultation with Jean Trousdale and Tim Webb.
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Highpointers Club Exhibit at Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum in Golden

Be sure to see the Highpointers Club permanent exhibit at the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum (BWAMM) in the American Mountaineering Center at 710 10th Street in Golden, Colorado.
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United Airlines Article on Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum

United Airlines Hempisheres Inflight in an article headlined “Three Perfect Days: Denver” pays tribute to the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum in Golden which it says “home of the world’s largest alpinist library. Guide Dave Turk has a story for every item in the museum, including the ice pick that saved five men from plummeting off of K2.” The museum features a Highpointers exhibit among its other cool features.

Jakk Longacre Plaque Unveiled for Missouri Memorial


A bronze plaque honoring club founder Jakk Longacre was unveiled at the 2005 convention in New Hampshire.
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Results of Survey for Forming a Non-Profit Foundation

[Published in Apex to Zenith #55 – Fourth Quarter 2001]
By: Diane Winger

In the last issue of Apex to Zenith, which was mailed to 1,295 Highpointer households, members were asked to complete a survey about the proposed Highpointers Foundation. 201 surveys (16%) were returned by the deadline.

Things were reminiscent of the Florida Presidential vote re-counts, as Diane Winger struggled to interpret some of the more creative and unique ways of filling out the surveys. She found no “hanging chads,” but was challenged to accurately average survey results when a few respondents chose to write short dissertations on each question (Q: “How much would you be likely to donate?” A: “Well, that depends on a number of factors. The following 10 points illustrate the possibilities…”). Using her “best judgment” in interpreting some creative and a few mysterious survey answers, Diane offers some observations about the feedback received from participants.

Reflecting the diverse population of Highpointers, survey responses showed a range of opinions that were all over the board. Some opposed the Foundation in any form. Others supported some of the potential Foundation goals but not others. However, many people responded with great enthusiasm for building a museum, educating the public about highpoints, trail maintenance work, acquiring easements across private property, and encouraging conservation efforts in the vicinity of highpoints.

We asked 4 questions about financial support of various projects. The average donation toward creating and operating a Highpointing Museum (no location specified) was about $134. The average initial donations listed for trail maintenance and acquiring easements were $48 and $55 respectively. When asked how much you might donate on an on-going basis (perhaps annually) to the Foundation, the average response was about $41 (per year). Clearly, among those answered these questions, the museum concept had the strongest financial support of the options listed.

Overall, initial donations to build a museum in Missouri totaled $25,800. Total Trail Maintenance donations added up to $9,170 and money for acquiring Easements came to $10,470. On an annual basis, respondents offered $7,750 per year in donations toward the proposed Foundation.

This chart illustrates the support for building a museum in Missouri, educating the public about highpoints, and encouraging conservation work near highpoints. Conservation received the strongest support from participants, followed by the museum. Education was slightly less popular.

Enthusiasm ran high for a museum in Missouri, near Taum Sauk. When asked to rank several possibilities for creating a Highpointing Museum, building one in Missouri was strongly preferred over the other options listed. Other choices were: build a museum in some other location; display Highpointing items in an existing museum; display Highpointing items at our Annual Conventions; or create a traveling museum of Highpointing items and set up showings in numerous states.

Some people pointed out that building a museum in Missouri should not preclude also bringing items to our Conventions or creating a traveling museum.

Next, under the heading of “Show me the money,” we looked at how much money people were willing to donate for a museum and compared that with their 1st choice of where/what sort of museum should be created. People who preferred building and operating a museum in Missouri were willing to donate more (an average of $186 each) than those people whose 1st choice was to developing a museum in some other location (an average of $100 each), or any other option given.

Once person responding to the survey offered an extraordinarily generous donation for creating a museum, and strongly preferred the Missouri location. Without his financial support, the numbers in this graph change dramatically, with the average donation for Missouri dropping to $92, placing it in 3rd place.

It was interesting to note that, despite the general enthusiasm for building a museum in Missouri, most people thought they would visit it only 1 or 2 times in their lifetimes. 22% of those who answered this question thought they’d visit more often.

What happens now? A group of people have volunteered to be on the Board of Directors for the proposed Foundation. Some of the Highpointers Club members who sent in their surveys have also volunteered to help out. These people will have to look at the level of support for the various proposed Foundation goals, and determine what is feasible to achieve both on a financial basis as well as a people-power (read: VOLUNTEER) basis. They will be given all of the ratings, rankings, and comments from the surveys so they can consider the information we’ve gained from this initial set of questions.

Thanks to everyone who participated for sending in your opinions on this concept. Watch this newsletter for updates.

National Highpoint Museum

The museum would be built near this property on Taum Sauk Mountain. It would be open to the public.

The Highpointers Club is attempting to raise funds for the National Highpoint Museum to be built on the flank of Taum Sauk, Missouri. The museum will house memorabilia from the 50 state highpoints.

The funding effort is still being formulated. If you donate $60, you will also get a bound copy of all “Apex to Zenith” newsletters through 1998. See the HP Merc to find out more.

Richard Moore [ricm@world.std.com], a highpointing architect from Massachussets has prepared the following proposal:

Budget: $100,000/4432 sf = $23/sf. This could easily triple even with a grant for the roof system. These estimates do not include land costs. Club founder Jakk Longacre has offered to donate the land for the museum.
Site Features: Ozark Trail Connector
Building Footprint 52 ft x 79 ft (allocations should be made for future curator’s residence and/or member dorm.
Building Architecture: National Park Rustic
Building Features:
  • Climbing wall: integrated onto North wall
  • Viewing deck: elevated deck may be needed to see above tree line. This may create awkward design.
  • Structure and roof skin: steel framed Butler building w/translucent photovoltaic shingle system (Atlantis Energy) 40 kW solar power, 17% light transmittance, potential for grant money for this type of roof system
  • Composting closets: Clivus Model M-35, basement required below restrooms, the higher costs here will be offset by savings in not installing septic system.
  • Greywater system: Clivus LPF-20 filter & sump pump for lavs and future showers
  • Heating system: wood chip gasifier (HB Smith) or Polomapac Ultra-Efficient gas-fired boiler w/side wall vent (no chimney)
  • Daylighting: primarily thru roof translucent shingles, albeit indirect light, effect on displays needs to be studied, additional windows may be required.


Entrance to the museum would be from the east (right). Visitors would be greeted with a 7×10 foot highpoint map. On their right (north) would be the highpointers list of accomplishments. On the south would be a map of the local area. A 38-seat Lyceum audio visual theatre would be in the middle on the right. A climbing wall would be on the northeast corner. Visitors would pass exhibits en route to individual state cubicles on the left. The restrooms would be the upper left (northwest corner out of range in this view). A deck on the west side would allow visitors to gaze on Taum Sauk. For a more detailed Adobe Acrobat view click here.


The museum would be just south of state route leading to Taum Sauk. A connecting trail to the Ozark Trail would go off the southeast corner. For a more detailed Adobe Acrobat view here.