By AP/KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – Money for a new federal courthouse in Jefferson City is closer to approval. A U.S. Senate committee has signed off on $66 million to pay for the building.
If the money gains final approval, construction could begin next year at the site of the old Missouri State Penitentiary. The project would be finished by 2011.
The federal courthouse fits into large-scale plans for the former penitentiary site. Ten of the original buildings at the site will remain standing during renovations.
The Missouri State Penitentiary was opened in 1836 on the bluffs of the Missouri River, a few blocks east of the state Capitol. Inmates were moved in September 2004 to a new prison on the eastern edge of Jefferson City.