Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 13

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856

USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I > Part 13

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value for the French measure. Under this arbitrary arrangement one (1) arpent and 17.551 perches were made equivalent to one (1) English acre, and in lineal measurement one (1) arpent became the equivalent of two (2) chains 91.666 links. "Arpens" is the plural of "arpent" and is used to denote both lineal and surface measurements in the French and Spanish records. Thus a line or street was said to be so many "arpens" long, or a tract of land to contain a certain number of "arpens." The arpent is now obsolete as a land measure in France, the "hectare" having been substituted therefor.

Arrow Rock. - A village on the Mis- souri River, in Saline County, eighteen miles east of Marshall, the county seat. It has a public school, churches of the Baptist, Chris- tian, Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian denominations, a Democratic newspaper, the "Statesman," and a bank. In 1899 the popu- lation was 600. It is the oldest town in the county. In 1807 or 1808 George Sibley built a log house for the sale of goods to the In- dians, and in 1811 Henry Becknell established the first ferry across the Missouri River west of Old Franklin. Dr. Sappington was the first physician. The first church in the county was organized here in 1820 by Peyton Nowlin, a Baptist. The same year Jacob Ish per- formed the first marriage ceremony, the couple being John Tarwater and Ruth Odle. probably Odell. The first school teacher was Ned Mulholland, an Irishman. The first schoolhouse was built in 1835. In 1839 the county seat was removed to this place from Jonesborough, and was subsequently removed to Marshall. The town became an important shipping point. In 1859 it was the seat of a branch of the Bank of Missouri. In 1860 G. W. Allen and his son, James, established the "Saline County Herald"; they suspended pub- lication and entered the Confederate Army in 1861. In 1873 lead mines were operated in the vicinity, but were subsequently abandoned on account of repeated river overflows. The name of the town was formerly New Phila- delphia. The origin of the later name is in dispute. Some assert that it was called Ar- row Rock on account of the Indians making their arrow heads from stone found there. Others contend that the name is corrupted from Airy Rock, so called from the high winds prevalent upon the eminence.

ARSENAL.

Arsenal .- The St. Louis Arsenal, up to a recent period, was one of the most notable and best appointed military establishments of the kind in the whole country. With its numer- ous quarters for officers and men, and work- shops, shaded by noble forest trees, it pre- sented to visitors an attraction additional to its military features, novel and unique and dif- ferent from ordinary parks. The arsenal was established as a distributing post in 1826. At that date a commission reported to the War Department that, on account of the inconven- ience of the post at Bellefontaine-twenty- three miles distant from St. Louis-it neces- sitated making St. Louis a place of deposit and shipment for all supplies destined for the Upper Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. They thereupon recommended that the exi- gencies of the service required the erection of a new post, and they selected as a site the beautiful place of Mr. A. Rutger, located on the river bank, at that time three miles below the city. The erection of buildings was com- menced in 1827, and continued from time to time until 1840, when they were finished and ready for use. The main arsenal was 120 feet in lengthi, 40 in width, and three stories high. A house for quartermaster's storage, an ar- mory for repairing small arms, smiths' forges, a shop for repairing artillery carriages, steain engine house, three laboratories for the manu- facture of fixed ammunition and pyrotechnic preparations, and a house for making gun cartridges-all built of gray limestone-were the principal buildings put up. The grounds were surrounded by a substantial stone wall, enclosing some forty acres. Up to 1843 the surroundings of the arsenal grounds presented a primitive aspect, little improved from a state of nature. The southern side was still in woods. A cart road-since Carondelet Ave- nue, and now Broadway-led to Carondelet. The western side was overgrown with under- brush. the heavy timber having been cut off years before. The north side was still wooded up to about the present line of Lynch Street, where were two rope-walks, in long, low stone houses, extending from Carondelet Avenue to the river, employing six hundred slaves. These rope-walks were burned down in 1845. The powder magazine, which was owned by a stock company, and which blew up in 1831. was half a mile from the arsenal. From some meagre records, still preserved, are gleaned a few names of subsequent officers at the arsenal.

In 1833 Lieutenant Robert Anderson was commissary of subsistence. In 1836 Lieu- tenant D. H. Tuft filled that position. Cap- tain John Symmington was commanding officer from 1837 to October, 1838. In 1839 Second Lieutenant A. H. Dearborn was the officer in command. In 1841 Lieutenant R. A. Wainwright was commissary of subsist- ence. From 1841 to 1849 Captain William H. Bell was in command. He ordered the old wall to be replaced by a new and much stronger one, under the superintendence of William Fitzpatrick, a civilian. On his pro- motion from captain, Major Bell was again placed in command of the arsenal and con- tinued in command until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he was relieved by Major Hagner, who in turn was superseded by Cap- tain Nathaniel Lyon. Meantime between twenty and thirty thousand stand of arms and some ten thousand pounds of powder were removed from the arsenal to Springfield, Illi- nois, to guard against their seizure by un- authorized parties. Major Hagner was in command of the arsenal and had charge of the ordnance and all the buildings and stores, while Captain Lyon had command only of the troops within the arsenal, and both officers were subject to the orders of General Harney, in command at St. Louis. Captain Lyon be- lieved in the existence of a plot to capture the arsenal. He wished to strengthen the de- fenses, but considered his efforts hampered by Major Hagner and General Harney, who rather discredited the flying rumors of an at- tack. Whatever he wanted had to be drawn by Lyon upon a requisition on Hagner, ap- proved by Harney. As everywhere else, sus- picion and distrust prevailed and madness seemed to rule the hour. Events hurried on and Captain Lyon was promoted brigadier general of the Home Guards. Troops gath- ered at the arsenal and other places, and, with General Lyon in supreme command, on the Ioth of May, 1861, a large force marched out and captured Camp Jackson. The State troops were escorted to the arsenal and there paroled. One month after this affair General Lyon, with an expeditionary force, left the arsenal, never to return.

The arsenal from its origin to 1877 was an ordnance depot. then a recruiting depot for cavalry until 1878, when the cavalry were re- moved to Jefferson Barracks by General Gregg, superintendent of the mounted recruit-

ARSENAL ISLAND.

ing service. Since 1879 the arsenal buildings have been utilized as a clothing depot, under direction of the United States Quartermaster General, and have no connection with Jeffer- son Barracks. On March 3, 1869, the western portion of the arsenal grounds, embracing ten acres, by an act of Congress was granted to the city as a public park, on condition that a montiment to General Lyon be completed within three years. The condition being com- plied with, the grounds were transferred to the city in September, 1871, by the Secretary of War, W. W. Belknap. A small obelisk mon- umetrt was erected and dedicated to the mem- ory of General Lyon September 13, 1874. The diminished arsenal grounds now cover thirty - one and eight-tenths acres. It has not only shrunk from its former dimensions, but, as a garrison occupied by soldiers and bristling with guns, its glory has departed. Who that in its palmy days visited the post does not recall to mind the hundred cannon, relics of many battlefields, thus preserved as historic trophies? These pieces were dismounted and arranged in rows on skids, like sawlogs in a lumber yard. After the Civil War some of these interesting trophies of war were con- demned as old iron and sold by the govern- ment to the foundries for pot metal, to be melted up and cast into water-main and sewer pipes. At the present time-1899-there is not a piece of artillery at the arsenal to fire even a saltite.

WILLIAM FAYEL.

Arsenal Island, like other accretions of sand in the St. Louis channel, was formed by the transporting power of the currents dur - ing the early half of the last century. In 1841 the head of the island was 300 yards above the line of Arsenal Street. It then extended down the river three-fourths of a mile, and its breadth in the widest part was nearly half a mile. The island was covered with willows and occupied by a squatter named Morris, who eked out a livelihood by pasturing a few cattle. The cattle were taken across at a sea- son when the water was shallow enough to cross over. Since then the island has been translated a long distance from the original site. Like some huge marine monster, it has slowly crawled down the river. In 1862, when we first have a record of the shore line, the head of the island was opposite the north line of the arsenal. By 1865 the head of the island had moved down 300 feet, in which year the

main channel was on the east side. In 1874 the head of the island had moved down 1,300 feet from its position in 1865. In 1880 the survey of Jolin G. Joyce, city engineer, showed that the island had moved down 4,800 feet-nearly a mile from the survey of 1862. The area of the island covered over 247 acres. In 1864, while the island was thus in a state of transition, it was patented to the St. Louis school board by the commissioner of the Gen- eral Land Office at Washington, in conformity with the educational policy of the government. In 1866 the city of St. Louis purchased the island from the school board for the sum of $33,000. The deed to the city was signed by Felix Coste, president of the school board, and George Fitchenkamp, the secretary. During the Civil War the upper portion of the island was used as a burial ground by the govern- ment. After the city got possession it was used for quarantine purposes and called Quar- antine Island. The old graves were subse- quently washed away and the bones scattered from here to the Gulf. In 1867-8 City Engi- neer Moulton constructed a dyke at the foot of Bryant Street, the effect of which was to divert the channel from the west to the east side of the island, and also washed the head of the island down some 3,000 feet. Property- owners on the Illinois side instigated by St. Louis lawyers, raised a howl of opposition against the destruction caused by the diverted currents and the prospective dismemberment of the island from their territory. The Gov- ernor of Illinois was appealed to, and, in a correspondence with Mayor Brown, opposed the construction of the dyke on account of the damage that would accrue to farmers on the Illinois shore. The building of the dyke was stopped. The government interposed by erecting revetments and a dyke from the east- ern shoulder of the island. This work formed a sand-bar on the south of and adjoining the island and increased the accretion, which be- came as high as the island proper. Neverthe- less suits were instituted, which reached the Supreme Court of the United States, that court decreeing that the island belonged to Illinois. Thus the government which granted the island to St. Louis, by its highest court re- claimed and granted it to Illinois. Looking from the arsenal in a southerly direction, the migratory island is seen some distance down the river, snugly reposing near the Illinois shore. At night a light is seen glimmering

ART LEAGUE OF ST. LOUIS-ASHCRAFT.

from the same island that formerly lay abreast of the arsenal. Now the great river sweeps past with no obstruction to the view, and the entire channel passes the island on the western side, thus sundering its former connection with the Missouri shore by the whole width of the river.

WILLIAM FAYEL.

Art League of St. Louis .- In No- veniber, 1895, the Art League movement was brought to the attention of the art section of the Wednesday Club by Miss Mary E. Bulk- ley. Her suggestions excited great interest, and at once the Art League of the Wednesday Club was formed, with Miss Bulkley as its head; Miss Amelia C. Fruchte, chairman of the press and school committee; Mrs. Everett W. Pattison, chairman of gifts and purchases committee; Mrs. Charles L. Moss, chairman of distribution committee; and Mrs. E. B. Leigh, chairman of ways and means commit- tee. Having obtained permission from the school board to place works of art in the school rooms of St. Louis, on condition that the board should incur no expense, this little band of women began its work. The first gift of money was the sum of fifty dollars received from Mrs. J. C. Van Blarcom. At the same time Mrs. William Lee Huse gave a collec- tion of twenty framed photographs, and on the 24th of December the five original members of the league went with these pictures to the Columbia school, and, after a few brief re- marks, placed them in that school. In May, 1897, the league felt it had proved its useful- ness and its ability to stand alone. Leaving the protection of the Wednesday Club, it for- mally organized, taking as its name "The Art League of St. Louis." The avowed objects of the association are to increase interest in art ; to teach the future citizens of St. Louis, by pictures and casts in school rooms, what has been already accomplished in painting, sculp- ture and architecture : to familiarize youth with the faces of the world's great men and with historic and beautiful places, and to create a demand for beauty in every-day life. The plan which the league has adopted to accom- plish these results is to furnish to the public schools engravings, photographs, casts, etc .. of recognized merit, including reproductions of the work of the old masters, photographs of historic and artistic interest, and portraits of eminent people, prominently connected with the world's progress. The system of distri-

bution which has been followed is to divide the schools into districts of four schools each. The pictures furnished to the schools in any district are changed from one school to an- other in the same district four times during the year, thus giving each school the benefit of from forty to forty-eight pictures each year, there being at present from ten to twelve pic- tures allowed to each school. These pic- tures are either hung in different rooms, and changed every few days until all the chil- dren in each room have seen them, or they are hung in the halls, where all the children see them several times a day, the teacher sending, from time to time, for such pictures as are most suitable for the age of her pupils. This plan arouses and holds interest, and is unique in the history of public school leagues. The league purposes also to lend portfolios, which will contain collections varying in number, of works illustrating schools of art, historical subjects, or famous places. They will be loaned to those teachers who apply for them for use in history, geography or literature classes. During the summer vacations the league lends its collections to reading-rooms, clubs and social settlements. A committee from the league visits the schools occasionally to ascertain the effect of the pictures and get suggestions from the principals and teachers, thus enabling the league to make wise selec- tions. To show what it hopes to do in the future, the league decorated one room by tinting the walls and providing pictures and a large cast, and also beautiful plants which re- quire no sunlight, since the room chosen was very large and dark. The funds of the league are raised entirely by voluntary subscriptions. Twenty-five dollars, or its equivalent, makes the donor an honorary life member of the league, while an annual subscription of one dollar entitles the giver to associate member- ship.

Ashcraft, Granville Plummer,

mine operator, Webb City, was born Decem- ber 13, 1842, in Bates County, Missouri. His parents were Elihu and Emily (Plummer) Ashcraft, natives of Kentucky, who removed to Missouri, and there died, the former when the son was fourteen years old, and the latter when he was but two years old. Beyond learning to read and write he was without ed- ucation. When seventeen years of age he went to California with a train of ox-teams ;

ASHERVILLE -- ASHLAND.

the party numbered some two hundred per- sons, and was commanded by his brother-in- law, J. L. Downing, whose widow, sister of Mrs. Ashcraft, yet lives in San Francisco. The Indians were turbulent in those days ; the men were heavily armed, and preserved a discipline almost equal to that of the army. He worked in the mines from 1859 until 1864, with little profit. In the latter year he came back as far as Denver, where he was engaged for a time by the government as a plains guide for troops and trains, receiving compensation at the rate of ten dollars a day. In 1873 he came to Mis- souri and located on the present site of Webb City. Mr. Webb had been engaged in mining, but, being inexperienced, was discouraged. Mr. Ashcraft formed a partnership with Wil- liam A. Daugherty, and the two operated to- gether for five years on Centre Creek, on lands leased from Mr. Webb. Their work was suc- cessful almost from the beginning. In sinking their shaft they took out about 20,000 pounds of lead, and soon struck a cave deposit which yielded as much more. It was this success which attracted attention to the Webb City mineral district, and soon covered a farm tract with the tents and cabins of thousands of miners. In 1880 Ashcraft and Daugherty dissolved partnership, and the former devel- oped various mines in the Centre Creek neigh- borhood on his own account. In 1801 he as- sociated with himself Charles Reynolds, from Dayton, Ohio, in some of his mining ventures. locating on a 160 acre tract five miles south- east of Duenweg. Until 1895 Mr. Ashcraft labored in and about his mining properties from 7 o'clock in the morning until 5 o'clock in the evening, daily. Of late years he has only directed operations and looked after his various holdings, which comprise four hun- dred and eighty acres of land, upon which are some twenty-five shafts, operated under lease- hold rights. His early association with J. C. Webb, the founder of Webb City, made Mr. Ashcraft one of the early residents of that city, and his was the sixth house erected in the town. He is a free-silver Democrat in poli- tics ; he has no preference for any religious de- nomination, but holds the golden rule in strict regard. He holds connection with the fraternity of Odd Fellows. He was married in Vernon County, October 31, 1864, to Miss Theresa B. Baker, an orphan. Of this union have been born three children. Bernice G. is the wife of Earl Burch, who is a grandson of

his old-time friend and former mining part- ner, William A. Daugherty, and a dry goods merchant in Webb City: May is the wife of Allen Hardy, a mine proprietor, and Elihu, aged seventeen years, is a student at Webb City College. Mr. Ashcraft is a well pre- served man, energetic in the prosecution of his purposes, and one of the best informed men in the mineral fields on all matters relating to those interests. His integrity has never been brought into question, and in every-day life he is a genial and companionable man.

Asherville. - A village, sometimes called St. Francisville, in Duck Creek Township, Stoddard County, sixteen miles west of Bloomfield, and four and a half miles from Puxico, the nearest railroad point. It has two general stores. Population, 1899 (estimated), 200.

Ash Grove. - A city of the fourth class, in Greene County, on the Springfield Division of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Rail- way, twenty miles northwest of Springfield, the county seat. It has a superior graded public school, occupying a handsome building of modern construction ; a Baptist Church, or- ganized by Elder Thomas J. Kelley, in 1859, and a Cumberland Presbyterian Church. founded in 1868; two newspapers, the "Com- monwealth," Democratic, and the "Advance," independent ; a mill and numerous business houses. In 1900 the population was 1,350. It is a large shipping point for wheat, live stock, lime, lead and zinc. Joseph Kimbrough built the first house and opened a store in 1853. February 2, 1870, the town was incorporated, but the incorporation was defective, and re- incorporation was effected in May, 1871. One and one-half miles north is the unmarked grave of Captain Nathan Boone, who, with his five sons, settled here in 1834, in the heart of an ash grove. He was a son of Daniel Boone, the famous pioneer.

Ashland .- A town site laid out at the mouth of Fox Creek, on the north bank of Meramec River, by an adventurous real estate operator, who came from Pittsburg to St. Louis at an early date. Lots were sold to spec- ulatively inclined persons, who were beguiled by an alluring prospectus, but no headway was made toward the building up of a town and in process of time the property was sold for

ASHLAND-ASHLEY.

taxes, although the place continued to have an existence on the map.

Ashland .- A town in Boone County, which takes its name from the grove of ash trees in which the town was laid out in 1852. Colonel Eli E. Boss owned the original town site. The town is sixteen miles southeast of Columbia, on the Columbia & Jefferson City Turnpike, and is a beautiful and prosperous inland village, with stores, shops, steam flour- ing mill. a good school building, churches, a hotel, bank, newspaper, etc. It is in the midst of a rich agricultural region, settled by as good people as Missouri can boast of. Its popula- tion in 1890 was 373.

Ashley .- A village in Pike County, six miles south of Bowling Green, the nearest railroad and banking point. It was laid out in 1836 by William Kerr and named after Gen- eral William II. Ashley. It has a public school, flour and saw mills, a Christian Church, two hotels and a few stores. Popu- lation, 1899 (estimated), 300.

Ashley, Kimball Proctor, dentist, was born October 31, 1859, in Spencer, Medina County, Ohio, son of John and Sarah Frances (Proctor) Ashley. The father was born in To- ronto, Canada, and removed to Ohio with his parents at about the age of twelve years. About half of his life was spent in southern Michigan, the family locating in that State when Kimball Proctor was a small boy. Af- terward the parents went back to Ohio and again took up residence in that State. The mother was born in New Hampshire, but at the time of her marriage her parents were resi- dents of Ohio. Kimball P. Ashley received training in the fundamental branches of learn- ing in the high school of Homer, Michigan. Later he attended the college at Hillsdale, Michigan. Hle began the study of dentistry at Columbus, Kansas, his preceptor being his brother, Dr. E. D. Ashley, of that city. The two were associated together about one year, at the end of which time Kimball P. opened an office at Oswego, Kansas. There he engaged in the practice of the profession for about ten years, at the end of which time he took a den- tal course at the lowa University, the follow- ing year becoming a student at the Western Dental College of Kansas City. From the lat- ter institution he was graduated in the spring

of 1892, the degree of D. D. S. being con- ferred upon him. After receiving his diploma he returned to Oswego, Kansas, where he re- mained until the spring of 1895, when he moved to Kansas City. During the latter por- tion of his residence in Oswego, Dr. Ashley was an instructor in the Western Dental Col- lege, holding the chair of prosthetic dentistry and visiting the institution one day in each week for the purpose of delivering lectures. He held the chair six years, resigning in the summer of 1899. He is a member of the Kan- sas State Dental Society and of the Missouri State Dental Society. Although he takes lit- tle active part in political affairs, he holds to the principles of Republicanism, and has al- ways been identified with that party. He is a member of the Independence Avenue Method- ist Episcopal Church of Kansas City, and his high standing in that society is demonstrated in his occupancy of a place on the official board. His connection with fraternal organi- zations includes the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. He was married, February 25, 1886, to Miss Ella Eu- dora Davis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Davis, of Steuben, Ohio. The father of Mrs. Davis was prominent in the affairs of the lo- cality where he long resided. Dr. Ashley's connection with dentistry in western Missouri has been marked by a dignified activity, his honors have been well earned and deserved, and the position he occupies in the estimation of the public and of his cowerkers is steadfast.

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 13

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n Publication date: 1901 Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors Number of Pages: 856

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856