Completed just weeks before the Mighty Mississippi rose high above its banks, the levee successfully kept the nearby downtown, including the historic district, from becoming a muddy mess. It would have devastated the historic district, but the levee held the water back. Not only did the wall preserve the town's past, it also assured its future. Floods prior to the levee's construction had left the downtown underwater, making potential investors wary. Thanks to the levee, residents have restored vacant buildings and opened more shops.
Downtown now bustles.
Among the buildings saved from the floodwaters were the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum. Henry Sweets, director of the museum, says about ninety thousand visitors each year tour the museum. Even more visit the river town made famous worldwide by one of the nation's most beloved authors. Samuel Clemens, who later took the pen name Mark Twain, was born in Florida, Missouri, in 1835. His father, an attorney and justice of the peace, moved the family in 1839 to Hannibal, where Twain lived until he was seventeen.