He captained the most famous of starships through space and time. He is an inspiration to millions, both in the future universe he occupies and in the world we know today. He is Captain James T. Kirk, and he started his voyage through life in the little town of Riverside, Iowa.
That is the story, but how accurate is that story, and how did it start in the first place?
A post by @stra-tekĀ about the unveiling of a new Kirk statue inspired me to do a little research, and I found out that Kirkās Riverside home became a fact simply because the city council there declared it be so.
Former Riverside Councilman Steve Miller of Riverside read the book āThe Making of Star Trekā and found out that Kirk was born in Iowa, but exactly where in that state was not specified. āWhy not Riverside?ā Miller wondered.
He proposed to the rest of the council on March 25, 1985 that the town declare itself The Future Birthplace of James T. Kirk, and future history was created.
āRiverside quickly altered its town slogan from āWhere the best beginsā to āWhere the Trek begins,ā and changed its annual summer festival from River Fest to Trek Fest. Miller jabbed a stick into the ground behind the town barber shop (he owned the property) and declared that it was the future birth spot. An engraved monument was eventually placed on the spot for present (and future) fans. Later, a bench was added for contemplation along with a Shuttlecraft-shaped donation box for upkeep.ā-Roadsideamerica.com
The city asked permission from Gene Roddenberry for official sanction of the declaration. Ā āWhen Mr. Roddenberry was contacted, he said, āThatās a very enterprising idea. As far as Iām concerned, the first volunteer has it,āā according to Miller.
The town was now Kirkās official birthplace and home of Trek Fest, and Miller wanted a statue of the captain becauseā¦ well, how cool would that be? Unfortunately, Paramount Pictures wanted a licensing fee of $40,000, and there was no way the town would pay that, not to mention what it would cost to actually make the thing.
Miller caught a break, though, when William Shatner himself came to town during the filming of Invasion Iowa, a TV reality series about filming a fake science fiction movie.
āAs fortune would have it, William Shatner came here in 2004, and I gave him a cigar,ā Miller said. āOver cigars, he conceded that he wouldnāt have to pay anything for his image to be put into a statue.ā
The community raised the $30,000 cost of the statue in various ways (anyone care for some āKirk Dirt?ā) and proudly unveiled it June 30, 2018.
Now, this is pretty dang spiffy and everything (itās super awesome, actually), but there is one small problem ā it still is not canon. Paramount Pictures can endorse it, Shatner can approve it, and the town can build all the statues it wants, but unless it shows up on screen it isnāt canon.
Itās pretty close though. Several novels (Best Destiny, Final Frontier) have put Kirk in Riverside. And in the Kelvin Universe, while Kirk was born on the U.S.S. Kelvin, he did grow up in the town and once destroyed a very nice automobile there.
So, almost canon ā as close as can be. And all because someone once thought, āHey, how cool would that be?ā
Update: The statue unveiling was on June 30, not July 30 as I originally wrote.
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