Since the Civil War, Callaway County has been a part of Missouri's Ninth Congressional District. But that district no longer exists and now slips into Missouri's history.
At the start of 2013, the Ninth Congressional District came to an end, lasting for the 149-year period from 1863 to 2012.
In 1911 Congress passed a law that went into effect in 1913 limiting the size of the U.S. House to 435 members.
Until the 1930 U.S. Census, Missouri had 16 members of Congress. But after that census count, Missouri lost three districts. Then in 1950 Missouri dropped two more districts. In 1960, Missouri dropped down to 11 districts. In 1980 the state lost the 10th district, and after the 2010 census, the state lost the Ninth District.
The Ninth District has produced some of the nation's top Congressional leaders, including an U.S. House Appropriations Committee chairman, Speaker of the U.S. House, and a presidential candidate.
"The Ninth Congressional District," Luetkemeyer said, "has a special place in Missouri history. The district was created on March 4, 1863, out of the remnants of the Second Congressional District during the Civil War."
Since the Ninth District was created, 21 members of Congress have served the district and Luetkemeyer was the last.
The first Ninth District congressman was James Sidney Rollins, a Unionist lawyer who helped create the University of Missouri during his time as a member of the Missouri General Assembly.
For his efforts, Rollins is known today as the "Father of the University of Missouri."
The Ninth District seat also was held by Champ Clark of Bowling Green, who served from 1893 to 1895 and again from 1897 to 1921. In 1912, Clark rose to the office of U.S Speaker of the House and that same year sought the Democratic nomination for president. Although he was regarded as the favorite, Woodrow Wilson eventually secured the nomination and won the election.
After Clark's death, his longtime aide Clarence Cannon was elected to serve the Ninth District in 1922 and went on to serve for 41 years in Congress. Cannon was a champion of rural America and rural electric cooperatives. He rose to become chairman of the powerful U.S. House Appropriations Committee, a position he held on and off for 23 years.
"I am truly humbled to have followed these and many other noble officeholders in representing the people of the Ninth District. I have always made it my goal to meet as many people in the district as possible," Luetkemeyer said.
Luetkemeyer thanked the people in the Ninth District he has served as their voice in Washington and said he looks forward to serving the people in the newly created Third Congressional District.