government cheese caves kansas city

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The great cheese giveaway began today in California. We use to plug through that bunghole to get our sample. But that does not mean the government had fixed the problem. Out of 25 buildings, a whopping 24 were saloons. Anyway, whats weird is that Peters talks about working beneath Park University in a limestone cave. In the 2000s, you could still take an official tour and potentially find a way in for a D.I.Y. MALONE: This is a cave full of cheese in Kansas City. At a time when American families are under increasing financial pressure, their Government cannot sit by and watch millions of pounds of food turn into waste, Reagan said in a written statement. It's going up because the government MALONE: And do you - you hear of it. As with any commodity, the demand for dairy fluctuates, yet the nature of dairy production makes it challenging to quickly ramp up or down production in response. There were 40-pound blocks and 500-pound barrels. Search Query Show Search Podcasts & Shows The new iteration of J. Rieger & Co. and what would become a tasting room, lounge, speakeasy and outdoor beer garden began taking shape in 2014. Why Did the U.S. Government Amass More Than a Billion Pounds of Cheese? The third cave is much smaller and contains a natural spring that often sends clean water running over the ground. Sign up for KCUR's Creative Adventure Email, Kansas City's new airport terminal carries on the legacy of a 10-year-old who fought for inclusivity, Want to explore Waldo? Like, are you the most picky cheese-eater in your group of friends? But I am in favor of giving farmers an equal break. While many of the caves feature paved roads and utilities, other areas consist of dirt floors and uncontrolled entrances. Weve looked and looked at ways to deal with this, but the distribution problems are incredible, a USDA official was quoted as saying. Youve heard about the subterranean chamber beneath the land near Worlds of Fun, right? How we got to this point is a long story, and it starts during a national dairy shortage in the 1970s. So to prevent this, the government said, look - if we're going to buy your cheese, first, you have to meet with Bob. In a blog post by writer Libbie Bond, the Deans are described as among the first in America to visualize abandoned mines as commercial real estate.. On a given day, kids scramble over its playground, neighbors walk their dogs through its green acres, and teens meet for pick-up games on its soccer fields and volleyball courts. Since that requires capital, the dairy industry starts consolidating, says Andrea Wiley, author of Re-Imagining Milk. While the government-owned cheese hoards of the 1970s and 80s are largely a thing of the past, the U.S. has still never really figured out what to do with its excess dairy. They believe it was once part of the historic Heim Brewery, whose East Bottoms bottling plant theyd been renovating. And the Ronald Reagan team was stuck dealing with these caves full of cheese. If you loved visiting this stunning spot, take a trip to Fisher Cave in Meramec State Park. NOVAKOVIC: (Laughter) Well, that was the unintended consequence that was fun, but the bite came in terms of how much it cost for that opportunity. What is cave cheese? San Francisco is 1 of 3 cities in which needy people lined up to get the surplus cheese. Let us know. Since 1916, when James Lewis Kraft patented American cheese, the U.S. had the technology to create a cheese product that could last for years. The mine naturally maintains temperatures between 65 and 70 F year-round, making it a great space for a lot of different types of businesses. MALONE: And then within five years, the government was spending billions of dollars filling caves with cheese that they could not get rid of fast enough. And welcome to PLANET MONEY. Its first FRC opened in 1997 beneath Lee's Summit, and another opened in 2003 under Lenexa. Cheese-makers buy more milk. Heap the flour on your countertop and make a well in the center. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: A state official estimated 300,000 people will get a taste of today's cheese. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. PublishedSeptember 7, 2018 at 7:20 AM CDT. The USDA has a large presence in Kansas City, Missouri, and when it found itself with millions of pounds of surplus dairy and needed a safe, climate-controlled place to put it all, it started to search locally. But thats not all that was uncovered. To the cheese cave. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MARTHA & SNOOP'S POTLUCK DINNER PARTY"). There was an incredible press conference where Agriculture Secretary John Block went before reporters and held up a giant hunk of cheese like it was a national emergency. Karen's doing the dance. The New York Times declared that the bill would give poor Americans a slice of the cheese surplus.. The Country Club Plaza. I started in 1967 with the USDA, and I was hired as a cheese grader. Limestone mine in the bluffs above the Missouri River in Kansas City, MO, US, Learn how and when to remove this template message, United States Environmental Protection Agency, National Archives and Records Administration, "SubTropolis | Industrial Space for Lease in Kansas City", "Bloomberg.com 2015-02-04 Welcome to Subtropolis The Business Complex Buried Under Kansas City", "Archives.gov 2018-02-26 Kansas City, MO Federal Records Center", SubTropolis Technology Center home site (Hunt Midwest), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SubTropolis&oldid=1140599869, Buildings and structures in Kansas City, Missouri, Articles lacking in-text citations from January 2020, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia cave articles with unreferenced coordinates, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 21:12. In fact, he remembers the exact room it went into. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The four are Onondaga Cave and Cathedral Cave at Onondaga Cave State Park, Fisher Cave at Meramec State Park , and Ozark Caverns at Lake of the Ozarks State Park. Starting in 1995, a government nonprofit has promoted a pro-dairy policy - in direct opposition to the Department of Agriculture and government nutritionists. KCUR serves the Kansas City region with breaking news and powerful storytelling. Ashley Day. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider You just have to follow us on Instagram. ANDY NOVAKOVIC: Exactly. So getting people to do it was always a challenge. (SOUNDBITE OF DROP ELECTRIC SONG, "WAKING UP TO THE FIRE"). Developed by late Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt via Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development, Inc., it has trademarked the phrase World's Largest Underground Business Complex. But the surplus was growing so fast that 30 million pounds barely made a dent. (Dean Russell/Here & Now) This article is more than 4 years old. Government Cheese Over the years, the government has gravitated toward one method of unloading dairy surplus: giving it to the poor. By: Anne D Springfield and Kansas City are not even near each other, and 435 is no where near Springfield, this article is quite confusing. According to USDA statistics, the average American eats 34.1 pounds of cheese every year and is projected to eat 36.5 pounds by 2024. This restaurant serves wood-fired fare served in a natural cave with a live spring. NOVAKOVIC: Butter was one, nonfat dry milk and cheese - and in particular, cheddar-type cheese. I am in an old, converted limestone mine. With the economy spiraling, President Jimmy Carter promised to raise the collapsing price of milk, saying, Im giving dairy farmers an equal break., In the late 1970s, when energy prices went crazy and there was this unbelievable period of inflation, things got a little out of control, Novakovi says. Sprawling beneath 31st Street (and beyond) for more than two million square feet, the nations first subterranean business park was blasted into existence by prolific businessmen Lester Dean Sr. and Lester Dean Jr. We say blasted because in 1973, the duo expanded an existing mine on the property using what else? ASCHEBROCK: You. It's got its flaws. A set of caves along Interstate 435 offered a convenient cold-storage option. It's only about a 3-inch-in-diameter hole. ASCHEBROCK: But then we had the issue of storing the stuff. does st martin parish have school tomorrow. MALONE: This footage is amazing - just massive crowds of people being handed bricks of cheese. Leilas Hair Museum, located in Independence, is one of the most unusual places in Missouri. Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. DUFFIN: And this is what people will remember as government cheese because when a government starts to give away hundreds of millions of pounds of cheese, people notice. This is Dan Callahan. Springfield Underground, an Erlen Group Company is a commercial industrial park with the advantage of underground storage. NOVAKOVIC: (Laughter) That was the unintended consequence that was fun. And it is also very cold - good for the government cheese, though. The former limestone mines house about 400 businesses, many of which specialize in storage or warehousing because they are protected from extreme weather and can boast stable, year-round temperatures and humidity. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE"). BOB ASCHEBROCK: Yes. They also house a massive frozen-food storage complex, a paintball business, and a US Postal Service facility that stores and distributes new stamps. Have you seen these caves before? It's deteriorating. I dont even need a coat in the winter.. Weve written about the 8th Street Tunnel before, and who can blame us? A slice of Kraft cheese is going to be less about. MALONE: And so our country has a tradition of programs to help farmers. Other facilities like SubTropolis exist although not on the same scale, such as the abandoned mine in Butler, Pennsylvania used by Corbis and the US Federal Government for secure storage. SubTropolis is a ginormous man-made cave in the bluffs above the Missouri River in Kansas City. And to be fair, it was processed cheese kind of like a brick of Velveeta. NOVAKOVIC: We took a small amount of money from every dairy farmer, collected on every pound of milk they sold, and we created the National Dairy Board. Even after the demand for dairy declined in the wake of World War II, the program functioned reasonably well for years. JUNOT DIAZ: Clear the government cheese from the refrigerator. The bunker complex was a secure U.S. government storage facility from World War II until 2013. 1. NOVAKOVIC: You've got two levers you can pull on. Grab a latte at the birthplace of modern American skateboarding. Do you or does someone you know work at SubTropolis? Deep under Springfield, Missouri, lies a cheese cave of industrial proportions, a 2-million-square-foot refrigerated warehouse called Springfield Underground.Since 2008, Kraft Foods has rented . He says the government was buying powdered milk, butter and cheddar cheese - only grade-A cheddar, though. Callahan says it took up about a half an acre of space. The best hidden gems and little known destinations - straight to your inbox. Either one should get you a higher price. Kansas City even has special ordinances that govern the use of underground space, including how the roofs must be supported, and about 3,000 to 4,000 people work full-time in the cave system,. In 1949, the Agricultural Act allowed a government agency to buy up dairy products to stabilize prices. Many companies are looking at ways to utilize the hundreds of millions of square feet created in this manner for everything from mushroom farming to crude oil stockpiling. The second lesson is you got to pay attention to the unintended consequences because they can come back and bite you and bite you hard. 1 flavor defect he had to look out for was acidity. With temperatures maintained at 25F and 35F, staff have nicknamed the space the "Ice Cube." YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. Youll have to climb down to get to it, led mysteriously by a sequence of ramps and labyrinthine walkways. glimpse into the void but a modern-day viewing is near-impossible. SubTroplis is definitely one of the most incredible underground places in Missouri. When Hamilton and partner Sean Smith purchased the property in 2021, they also found a locked safe and penny tile beneath green carpeting. KCUR serves the Kansas City region with breaking news and powerful storytelling. MALONE: So it's 1977. Kraft Cheese Cave, Springfield. Oh, yeah. Nevertheless, dairy surpluses still very much exist. The Federal Government stores tons of surplus cheese and other dairy products in the mines. MALONE: There will be a cave in Kansas City, a van down by the river and a touching exchange between Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg. OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. The United States Postal Service and the United States Environmental Protection Agency lease spaces within SubTropolis, the United States Postal Service for its collectible stamp operations and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their Region-7 Training and Logistics Center. It has a grid of 16ft (4.9m) high, 40ft (12m) wide tunnels separated by 25ft (7.6m) square limestone pillars created by the room and pillar method of hard rock mining. Government buys more cheese. MALONE: Right. Each year, several foot races are run in the cave system. You can do something to make demand greater, or you can do something to make supply less. ASCHEBROCK: And that's what you grade. While the popular cheese has changed a lot since then, from access limited to royalty in 1625 to the confinement of "government cheddar" during World War II, the caves are constant . So the thing that the government was concerned about is what's called commercial displacement. About 3.2 acres of available space are added each year as active mining continues. It doesn't take long to see the three caves, but once you're here, you'll spend a long time looking and exploring. The 55,000,000-square-foot, 1,100-acre underground storage facility is believed to be the worlds largest site of its kind. NOVAKOVIC: To persuade farmers to produce less. DUFFIN: Nevertheless, when Carter got elected, he goes all in. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: The great cheese giveaway began today in California. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: That's government cheese. ASCHEBROCK: Now, I'm not sure if you know - if you've ever seen a 500-pound steel barrel of cheese. Before that, he was a reporter for WNYC's Only Humanpodcast. We don't do milk quotas - no Lever 1. I was hired as a cheese grader. While the humble cheese factory looks like any other food processing factory dotting a city's industrial zone, hidden underground is a vast and fiercely guarded network of 13 caves, stretching a . G. DEP: (Rapping) Can't buy trees with government cheese. An eye-opening journey through the history, culture, and places of the culinary world. CALLAHAN: So it'd be all the way to the ceiling. Kansas City Chiefs Home: The official source of the latest Chiefs news, videos, photos, tickets, rosters, and gameday information Remember Government cheese? These limestone caverns arent the only channels running under the city. And not all of it was aging well. I wonder how old some of these marks are? Currently 5,000,000 square feet is occupied and 10,000,000 square feet are "improved.". And so they try to hire more cheese graders. MALONE: Bob says the No. The air is cool and the barroom massive almost cathedral-like. Even the beverage distributors, they had cheese in the storage. Myths surround the cave, as they do with many of Missouri's caverns. "Kansas City is a world leader in the use of underground space for human occupancy," he said. Visitors to the underworld will even find a whiskey distillery within the mined area, which stretches for more than 1 million square feet. MALONE: So a campaign promise - that's what we call those. Make sure to come up for fresh air, as well as bangers and mash. Have you been inside? Yes, the Government Really Does Stash Billions of Pounds of Cheese in Missouri Caves The USDA has kept cheese and other dairy products in cold-storage caves for decades. The program is meant to "purchase Mozzarella, Process and Natural American Cheddar Cheese for the National School Lunch Program and other Federal food nutrition assistance programs." [2], The mine naturally maintains temperatures between 65 and 70F (18 and 21C) year-round. Pour the dissolved yeast into the well and add enough warm water to make a soft dough. But as Kansas Citians began to rely more on buses and their own vehicles in the 1940s and 1950s, the 8th Street tunnel ceased operations. This little-known cave area in Kansas is the perfect opportunity to explore something that many Kansan's might not have heard of before. DUFFIN: More graders grading more cheese that the government then buys. You don't do that, huh? $20.00 per adult Kansas City Segway Tour: Art and Glide 80 Recommended Segway Tours from $69.00 per adult SEA LIFE Kansas City Aquarium Admission Ticket 66 Aquariums from $23.65 per adult Kansas City Crossroads Art District and Westside Urban Hike 17 Recommended Adventure Tours from $39.00 per adult Strawberry Hill and Downtown KCK Hike 12 MALONE: Bob Aschebrock was one of the government's cheese graders. And as the historic structure theyd purchased was being repaired, Andy Rieger and crew found an eight-foot high, 400-foot-long tunnel beneath it. Working underground is no big deal to me, Peters says in the interview. And in order to do. Kenny Malone hails from Meadville, PA where the zipper was invented, where Clark Gables mother is buried and where, in 2007, a wrecking ball broke free from a construction site, rolled down North Main Street and somehow wound up inside the trunk of a Ford Taurus sitting at a red light. What would the government do if you drove this into downtown Washington and said, here you go? This will be about 3/4 to a cup of water. Over in West Bottoms (again), 9th & State operates out of an old Pabst Brewery building on a street once known as the Wettest Block in the World. Through the years, Kansas Citians have utilized a number of buried passageways for transportation, illegal (at the time) or otherwise. Start with this beginner's guide to the neighborhood, Kansas City's new airport terminal carries on the legacy of a 10-year-old who fought for inclusivity, Local public health officials fear a Kansas bill would undercut work to contain diseases, A federal lawsuit against Missouri's 'dysfunctional' SNAP call center has gotten bigger. This little-known cave area in Kansas is the perfect opportunity to explore something that many Kansans might not have heard of before. A cave (also known as a cavern) is a common terrain feature that generates in the Overworld and the Nether. You've got to be on they special mailing list. DUFFIN: OK. Currently, more than 7,300,000 square feet (680,000m2) is occupied and 6,700,000 square feet (620,000m2) are available for future expansion. . NOVAKOVIC: It's really hard to balance what you want to do socially or politically with what you can get away with economically. Back in 2018, The New York Times did a profile on Gene Peters, chief executive of Rosnet, a restaurant software company out of Parkville, Missouri. Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). Cave cheese is any cheese that is ripened within a cave or cave-like environment, where consistently low temperatures and high levels of humidity are perfect for supporting the chemical reactions that take place in the cheese aging process. And it's the most government packaging you will ever see - just, like, brown cardboard, some black USDA stamps on it. To do so, however, required a serious upfront investment. There's also a trail leading to the top of the area above the caves if you want to keep going! And Andy had a ringside seat to it. Starting around the 1950s, investors started finding ways to use the abandoned underground space. China props up pork prices by buying surplus for its frozen pork reserve. Springfield's "cheese caves" aren't natural caves like Fantastic Caverns or Crystal Cave. Kraft Foods, the multinational conglomerate that makes countless grocery products in addition to cheese, is about none of that, however. It was a big enough number that it sounded like one of these campaign promises that you really didn't expect they would actually fulfill. The Dairy Farmers of America, which has been using the facility, known as the Springfield Underground, for more than 30 years, currently has 7 million pounds of raw product.Some of this is normal inventory storage or cheese being aged. The reason why the dairy industry gets such preferential treatment is its status as this uncontested food in the diet, Wiley says. Get more stories delivered right to your email. Andy Novakovic is a dairy economist at Cornell University. NOVAKOVIC: Well, probably, you know, close to a hundred percent are able. He is now a dairy economist at Cornell University. DUFFIN: Hello. In addition to serving as a records center, Lenexa has two archival cold storage rooms. But remember; the raw ingredients were grade A cheddar cheese, some of it personally certified by Bob Aschebrock. The Atchison Storage Facility, commonly known as the Atchison Caves is a 2.7 million square foot underground storage facility in a former pillar limestone mine 50 to 150 feet (15 to 46 m) below the ground in the Missouri River bluffs at Atchison, Kansas. And then on the other side, the government tried to replace some of their artificial demand for milk with new real demand for milk. Deep in converted limestone mines, caves kept perfectly at 36 degrees Fahrenheit store stockpiles of government-owned cheese comprising the country's 1.4 billion pounds of surplus cheese. The 55,000 sq ft underground storage facility is the world's largest underground business complex. MALONE: So instead, the cheddar cheese was processed - that helps it keep longer - and then it was repackaged in two and five-pound, like, bricks. 2023 Atlas Obscura. Have you fallen in love with amateur spelunking? MALONE: Even if that bite just looks like some delicious cheese. But the government then actually has to figure out a way to step into this market and make it happen. What are the most unusual places in Missouri? MALONE: Within five years, the government was storing two pounds of cheese for every single American citizen. The year was 1981, and President Ronald Reagan had a cheese problem. The same year, the USDA bought up $20 million worth of cheese to cut the glut. Hunt's extensive business dealings in Clay County contributed to the Chiefs having their NFL Training Camp at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri until 1991. MALONE: Until there was no more room for you to be in this room. Though its more a part of Midtown than Downtown, the space once known as Deans Downtown Underground is definitely down there. Lamar Hunt, the late founder of the Kansas City Chiefs, is perhaps the most well-known of the cave developers. government cheese caves kansas city. The Giant Animal Cluster, located in Bonne Terre is another wacky attraction in Missouri. SubTropolis is used by around 50 businesses and organizations, for a variety of purposes. Offer subject to change without notice.