USA > Missouri > DeKalb County > History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history of the state of Missouri, etc > Part 59
USA > Missouri > Andrew County > History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history of the state of Missouri, etc > Part 59
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It will be seen from the foregoing that few towns have passed through such a fiery ordeal, and survived the destruction. The appearance of Stewartsville the morning after the fire was indeed deplorable, but the citizens with characteristic energy, soon rallied from the effects of the terrible visitation, and went to work with a will erecting temporary buildings in which to carry on their business enterprises until more substantial struct- ures could be gotten under way. Like many other towns that have suffered from the fire fiend, and rallied from the effects of the flames, Stewartsville profited by her destructive conflagration, for within a period of eight months, the burnt district was rebuilt with a class of substantial brick and frame structures, which are to-day the beauty and pride of the city. Among the buildings erected since the fire are the Snow block, corner of Railroad Avenue and Main Street, Stewartsville Bank, one of the finest business houses in De Kalb County; De Kalb and Clinton Bank building on Main Street; White & Co's. brick busi- ness house; Buck's opera house; postoffice building, erected by W. M. Stigall, besides a number of other store-rooms and residences.
Second Fire .- Scarcely had Stewartsville arisen from the ashes of her first conflagration, when her citizens were aroused from their fancied security, and compelled a second time to pass through a fiery ordeal. The following from the Independent is an account of the visitation of the fire fiend on December 21, 1884. "The fire originated in a two-story frame business house, on West Main Street, the lower part of which was occupied by Messrs. Beck & Calvert, and the upper story by the law office of H. W. Haynes, and the carpenter shop of H. C. Haynes. The alarm was given at 1 o'clock in the morning, at which time
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HISTORY OF DE KALB COUNTY.
flames were discovered issuing from the rear end of the building, whence they soon communicated to Collins' harness shop on the north, Ray's barber shop and Gantz's boot and shoe store on the south; then crossed Main Street to Hildebrandt's black- smith shop, Berkey's livery stable, the office of the Independ- ent, and residence of J. H. Wheat, in the rear of the last two buildings named. The flames were checked on the north by a large open space between Collins & Ireland's drug store, and Hildebrandt & Kittredge's lumber yard office; on the south by a brave and determined fight at Maj. Bradford's hotel and W. D. Totten's dwelling; on the west by trees surrounding the dwellings, and on the east by the tearing down of Mr. Wheat's residence, and covering with carpets saturated with water the dwelling of H. Crews. Like the fire of May 16, 1882, the buildings were burned to the ground before the people could re- cover from their dazed condition, and within one hour, fully $25,000 worth of property was reduced to ashes. Very little, if any, of the contents of the various buildings were saved; not a cent's worth was gotten out at Collins', nothing but horses from the livery stable; and a single dray could have hauled all that was taken from the other buildings. All the people except Ber- key and Hildebrandt were losers by the fire of 1882, some of them having met with heavy losses at that time, and nearly all of them had almost every dollar of their possession invested in the destroyed buildings and their contents." The following is a resume of the losses sustained: G. Collins, building and stock, $5,000; W. W. Haynes, building, books, etc., $1,000; H. C. Haynes, carpenter's tools, etc., $150; Belk & Calvert, billiard tables and fixtures, $600; A. Ray, building and contents, $1,200; C. Gantz, building and stock, $10,000; G. Hildebrandt, building and contents, $1,100; B. F. Berkey, building and contents, $2,800; C. L. Fowler, Independent office, $2,500; J. H. Wheat building and contents, $1,100; E. A. Aumings, household effects in Wheat's building, $75. The fire was supposed to have been the work of an incendiary, but the clue to the guilty party or parties has never been discovered. The majority of those who suffered by the fire had insurance upon their property, and within a comparatively short time new buildings took the place of those destroyed, and business went on as before.
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
STEWARTSVILLE OF TO-DAY.
As will be readily seen from the foregoing, Stewartsville has been called to pass through seasons of despondency and dis- couragement. In spite of these, however, she still sustains her former business character, and is to-day one of the most prosper- ous trading and shopping points on the line of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railway, and with the possible exception of Mays- ville, the leading commercial town of De Kalb County.
The city presents a neat and cleanly appearance, containing a large number of elegant and comfortable residences, and the health enjoyed by its inhabitants is proverbial. The population is now over 1,500, with a steady, quiet, substantial growth, that promises well for the future. The society is excellent, the relig- ious influence strong, and the intelligent and moral tone of the community equal to that of neighboring towns and cities. In general the business men of Stewartsville are distinguished for their integrity, enterprise and business capacity. The majority of them are men of thorough business training and experience, and as a body will not suffer in comparison with those of much larger and more important cities.
The business interests of the city are represented at this time by the following directory: W. D. Snow & Co., general mer- chandise; Sprague & Dickinson, hardware and tinware; W. D. Totten, drugs; Harley Crews, furniture and undertaking; R. M. White & Co., stoves, tinware and hardware; J. A. Clark & Son, druggists; A. J. Culbertson, dealer in general merchandise; S. F. Word, groceries; W. M. Stigall, drugs; Casper Gantz, boots, shoes and furnishing goods; S. N. Bradford, proprietor of the Bradford House; D. J. Ireland, clothing and general merchan- dise; J. A. Deppen, general stock; Hiram Elrod, general store; Mrs. E. L. French, millinery ; James Shearer, saddlery and harness ; Berkey & Deppen, dealers in wagons, buggies and agricultural implements; Samuel Duvall, merchant tailor; O. G. MacDonald, lumber yard and coal; Kibbey & Bros., livery and feed stable; J. H. Wiley, livery stable; John Wolfley, harness and saddlery shop; Peter Schmitt & Sons, carriage-makers and blacksmiths; L. F. Henry, real estate and insurance agent; Charles L. Fowler, editor and proprietor of Stewartsville Independent; W. T. Ran-
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HISTORY OF DE KALB COUNTY.
dolph, editor of Stewartsville Weekly News; W. S. Herndon, attorney at law; Alexander McCallum, dentist; J. C. Ritchey, J. C. Bynum and Robert Stewart, physicians; M. Holmes, photographer; G. Hildebrandt, blacksmith; Berkey & Deppen, elevator; Baldwin & Dice, manufacturers of cement piping; J. H. Snow, grain dealer; George Collor, city mills; Worden & Co., meat market; Merriam & Harvey, meat market; Joseph York, blacksmith; Charles McMullen & Co., brick makers; Coberly, Brown & Bennett, stock dealers; W. G. Winstead, stock dealer; W. N. Butler, Frank Skelton, Mr. Carson and Joseph Dunn, painters; W. N. Butler, jeweler; B. F. Bennett, H. C. Haynes and John Egel, carpenters, W. M. Stigall, notary public.
OSBORNE.
This thriving and prosperous town, beautifully situated in Colfax Township on the Clinton County line, twenty-nine miles east of St. Joseph, fifty-five miles northeast of Kansas City, and nine miles south of Maysville, is an outgrowth of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, and dates its history from the year 1858. Upon the completion of the road in the above year, Henry Baker, at the time division engineer of the Western Railroad division, William Osborne, managing partner of the firm of John Duff & Co., together with John Duff and J. T. K. Hayward, land agents for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, laid out the town on the south- west quarter of Section 14, the southeast quarter of Section 15, the northeast quarter of Section 22, and the northwest quarter of Section 23, Township 57 north, Range 31 west, and named it Osborne in compliment to one of the contractors. The orig- inal plat, surveyed in June, 1858, consists of eighty-four blocks. The following streets of the town run east and west: Frances, Amelia, Emma, Harriet, George, Baker, Platte, Ross, Wells, Abel, Reynolds and Putnam. The streets running north and south are Wallace, Park, Hunt, Clinton Avenue, Carpenter, Groat, Morris and Morrell. About the time of the platting of the town, Col. Henry Baker, now of St. Joseph, moved his office to the place, and soon afterward started a lumber yard, his office having been the first building on the town site. In the fall of 1858 William Ferguson and T. B. Harber built a business house,
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
and each of them a dwelling, and early the succeeding year, a man by the name of McPherson, from Maine, opened the Penob- scott House, the first hotel in the place. The same year it was transferred to Andrew Bunton and R. W. Wheeler, who ran it for some time under the name of the Osborne Hotel. The railroad track was laid to Osborne in June, 1858, and later, the same sum- mer, a depot was built and an agent appointed to have charge of the same. The first shipment from the village by rail was made some time in the above year, and consisted of several car loads of cattle for the Chicago market.
The first store was opened by Messrs. Ferguson & Harber, who engaged in business with a miscellaneous assortment of mer- chandise, shortly after the town was founded. They carried on a successful trade for a period of three or four years, and subse- quently disposed of their stock to S. B. Hitt. In 1863 H. C. Duncan purchased an interest in the store, and the firm thus con- stituted soon built up quite an extensive and lucrative trade. In the meantime other business enterprises were attracted to the new town, among which was the lumber yard started by Mr. Hitt, and by him conducted upon quite an extensive scale until the breaking out of the war. As early as 1859 the town had become a prominent trading and shipping place as well as a point of travel, at which time there was a regular line of Concord coaches between it and Kansas City via Plattsburg, operated by Roberts & Co. Among the early residents of the town were Paul Holmes, Philander Webster, E. E. Lear, Andrew Bunton, R. W. Wheeler, Charles McPherson, H. C. Duncan, Mrs. Marga- ret McPherson, the Widow McCord, Joseph Kinkaid, Mr. Barry, Con Tooey, Capt. Joseph Truex and N. J. Harvey, all of whom took an active part in the material prosperity of the town.
In 1865 Capt. Joseph Truex, who moved to the place several years previous, purchased the stock of Hitt & Duncan, and en- gaged in the mercantile business. He did more, perhaps, toward advancing the material prosperity of Osborne than any other man, and during a long and successful business career became widely and favorably known among the leading business circles of his own and other States. He erected the large brick business block which was destroyed by fire in 1886, and in many other ways
30A
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HISTORY OF DE KALB COUNTY.
bore a conspicuous part in making Osborne what it has since been, one of the best commercial towns of its size in Northern Missouri.
The first saloon in Osborne was opened in 1860, by Benjamim McCord, and the first millinery establishment, kept by Mrs. C. A. Perry, was started several years later. Additional to the busi- ness men enumerated, the following were identified with the com- mercial interests of the town at different times: Hitt & Moore, Daniels & Hill, Loring & Emmerson, R. W. Nicholson, G. W. Good, Morse & Mills, Hart & Crook, E. B. Harvey & Co., - Heathering- ton, Peter Oakes, William Ecton, Thompson Bros., Holmes & Smith, Hatch & Curtis, L. Owens and Graham & Tanquary.
As already stated, the first house for the entertainment of the traveling public in Osborne was opened by a Mr. McPherson. The Young American House, erected by Henry C. Baker, on the street which bears his name, and kept for some years by Richard Wheeler, was the first real hotel in the town. The next hotel was erected by E. Goldsmith, who kept it for several years. It was destroyed by fire in 1878.
The first practicing physician in Osborne was Dr. I. B. Garri- son, who located in the town about the year 1859. Drs. Carpen- ter, Johnson and Thompson were early practitioners also. The postmasters of the town have been T. B. Harber, Joseph Truex, R. W. Nicholson, - Payne, P. M. Hatch, Newton Miles, and the present incumbent, E. J. Morse.
The first railroad agent was W. L. Ferguson, after whom came Samuel B. Hitt, Mr. Bush, J. H. Vincent, Edward Dudley, Del Allen, W. S. Morey, C. W. Brisby, A. H. Erwin, Alexander Lar- kin and D. Batchellor.
The first mechanic was Ed Adair, and the first person born in the town was Miss Nannie Harber, whose birth occurred on the 12th of March, 1858.
INCORPORATION.
Osborne was incorporated by the county court on the 7th of August, 1887. The following municipal officers were elected: James F. Montgomery, mayor; W. S. Moore, clerk ; J. F. Hughes, Charles Davis and Dr. W. A. Metcalf, councilmen. There has been but one addition made to the original town of Osborne, the one platted by the railroad company, in September, 1868.
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
INDUSTRIES.
Like Stewartsville, Osborne is essentially a mercantile town, and as such ranks second to but few places of its size in Northern Missouri. But little attention has been given to manufacturing enterprises by its citizens. A flouring mill was erected in 1870 by Messrs. Millbank & Cox. It stood on the Clinton side of the railroad, had two runs of buhrs, and was in operation about five or six years.
The Osborne steam roller mill, which stands a little south- west of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad depot, was built in the year 1884-85 at a cost of about $15,000. As one of the finest and best equipped flouring mills in this part of the State, it is an establishment of which the people of Osborne have every reason to be proud. It can truly be said that no enterprise has been of more value to the town than this mill, which is fully up to the standard of first-class flouring mills, and which is now well pro- vided with all the latest inventions for the manufacture of supe- rior grades of flour. It is also a fact that the different brands turned out at this mill are generally recognized as equal to the best in the markets. The dimensions of the mill proper are 40x70 feet, and the engine room adjoining measures 20x50 feet. The building is a large three-story frame structure, substantially built, and supplied with the latest improved milling machinery. The capacity is 100 barrels of flour per day, the greater part of which finds ready sale in the home markets. The amount of grain used averages about 150,000 bushels per year, and none but A No. 1 wheat is used in the manufacture of their different brands of flour, of which the Cyclone, the High Patent, Sea Foam and Magnolia are so well and favorably known in this and neighbor- ing counties. The mill is owned and operated by Messrs. J. E. Hughes, R. O. Pixlee and Ben A. Hughes, men thoroughly ac- quainted with the business in all its details, and among the most liberal and enterprising citizens of the town.
LODGES.
Osborne Lodge, No. 317, A. F. & A. M., was chartered Oc- tober 28, 1869. The first officers were J. R. Mills, W. M .; H. C. Smith, S. W .; T. B. Harber, J. W .; Joseph Truex, Treasurer;
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HISTORY OF DE KALB COUNTY.
S. B. Hitt, Secretary; George Walker, Tyler, Sanford Booker, S. D., and J. Peach, J. D. The following officers were elected for the succeeding year: Joseph Truex, W. M .; A. C. Smith, S. W .; J. S. Brown, J. W .; S. B. Hitt, Treasurer; J. Thompson, Secretary, and George Walker, Tyler.
The officers for 1880 were W. Kelley, W. M .; T. D. Rice, S. W .; R. L. Evans, J. W .; J. K. Parrott, Treasurer; T. H. Welch, Secretary, and C. Culver, Tyler.
The following officers were elected for the year 1886-87: T. D. Rice, W. M .; L. D. Noland, S. W .; S. P. Morman, J. W .; S. T. Blair, Secretary; Walden Kelley, Treasurer, and Nathan Walp, Tyler. The hall in which the lodge held its meetings was destroyed in the fire of 1886, since which event meetings have been held only for routine business. The organization has en- joyed a fair degree of prosperity, and at this time has an active membership of forty-one.
The Order of the Eastern Star was established in Osborne in 1874, the first elected officers of which were James Thompson, W. P .; Elijah J. Moore, W. M., and Amanda Peach, A. M. It maintained an existence for some time, but finally, from some cause not known, suspended operations.
The G. A. R. was represented in Osborne by a post a few years ago, which at one time promised to become a permanent feature of the place. Owing to the removal of a majority of the members it was thought best to disband the organization, which was accordingly done by mutual consent.
CHURCHES.
The citizens of Osborne are a moral and religious people, as is evinced by the presence of four churches, with as many beau- tiful temples of worship. The denominations represented are the Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Church South and Congregational. The houses in which the different societies meet for worship are constructed upon the latest pattern of church architecture, and reflect great credit upon the congregation and the town.
BANK OF OSBORNE.
This bank was organized in July, 1883, by Messrs. H. C. Dun-
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
can, president; and R. W. Nicholson, cashier, as a private bank of exchange and discounts, with a paid up capital of $5,000. It was reorganized on the 1st day of August, 1886, as a stock bank, with $10,000 of paid up capital, with Messrs. H. C. Duncan, R. W. Nicholson, A. J. Hitt, Joseph S. Corman and Thomas Turner as directors and shareholders. This bank has a fair name and a general and wide-spread reputation for promptness for business and kind treatment and inviolable integrity with its customers. Although comparatively young, it is one of the most prosperous institutions of De Kalb County, its officers and directors being among the oldest residents and most substantial farmers and business men of the counties of De Kalb and Clinton. Dur- ing the financial collapse of 1884 this bank, while young in years and experience, and, being bound up in suspended banks to the amount of over $30,000, never wavered, and paid money over its counters as fast as checked for. The only inconvenience the bank experienced during the panic was the necessity of stopping of discounts and the calling in of all matured paper, which was readily done, the same month. The great fire of September, 1886, which occurred soon after the reorganization of the bank, and that laid low the magnificent brick block in which was the banking room and vault, was rallied from in haste, and business resumed in a temporary building in the evening of the day of the confla- gration. The only inconvenience sustained by the bank officials in consequence of the fire was the destruction of the office furni- ture and the inconvenience of a secure place to do business until October 1, 1886, when they procured a Beard Bros.' best auto- matic time-lock screw door fire and burglar proof safe, and fitted up in a very neat and cozy style the room they now occupy in the Hatch building. Notwithstanding all the trials and adver- sities experienced by the bank since its organization, it has steadily grown in the confidence of the people, and at the pres- ent time is in a very prosperous condition, and ranks well among the banking firms of Northwest Missouri.
FIRES.
Like her sister town, Stewartsville, Osborne has been twice called upon to pass through the fiery ordeal, the first time on
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HISTORY OF DE KALB COUNTY.
June 10, 1882. This fire originated in a building 74x84 feet, be- longing to Capt. Joseph Truex, which, together with a large portion of his stock of merchandise was destroyed, entailing a loss of about $25,000. The other losses were store building, oc- cupied by W. Kelley, where stock was damaged to the amount of about $2,200; store building belonging to P. S. Hatch, and occu- pied by P. M. Hatch, completely destroyed, together with stock of merchandise and postoffice. Residence in the rear of the Hatch building, several corn cribs, and three or four box cars, the aggre- gate loss of the fire amounting to fully $40,000.
The great fire of September 2, 1886, during the progress of which the greater part of the business portion of the town was reduced to a smoldering mass of embers, originated in the Oracle printing office, in the Truex block. It was discovered at 3 o'clock A. M., and when first discovered was under too great a headway to be checked. The flames soon spread to all the buildings of the block, and within a very short time the finest business houses in the town were enveloped by the devouring element, the whole block presenting a scene of terrific grandeur. The people did all in their power to arrest the flames, but were compelled to re- tire defeated, and watch the wholesale destruction of the valuable buildings and property. The following were among the heaviest losses by the conflagration: The Truex block, $22,000; J. S. Cor- man & Co.'s grocery and hardware store, $8,000; Montgomery & McCrea's stock of dry goods and clothing, $8,000; furniture and fixtures of the Osborne Bank, $400; George Vancamp & Co., general store, $7,000; Walden Kelley, drugs, books, jewelry, etc., loss $1,500; the Osborne House, $1,500; Masonic Hall, fur- niture and fixtures, complete loss; public hall, complete loss; Moore & Austin, real estate and insurance office totally destroyed; business house belonging to R. L. Evans; Mrs. Wheeler's barn; a stock of millinery goods, and other losses went to swell the great destruction. The total loss of property was in the neigh- borhood of $60,000, a part of which was covered by insurance. The town has not yet entirely recovered from the terrible effect of its fiery baptism, but efforts are being made to rebuild the burned district.
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
PRESENT STATUS OF THE TOWN.
Osborne is generally acknowledged to be one of the best and most flourishing towns in De Kalb county, having a live, energetic and substantial class of business men, who love and are proud of their little city, and who are always, and under all circumstances, alive to its interests. The village is always full of life and vigor, and is the principal trading point with the farmers living within a radius of ten or twelve miles. It also enjoys the happy facility of having four mail and passenger coaches, and four or five freight trains through it daily, and the abundantly rich stock and farming country immediately surrounding, brings in a large amount of grain and stock for shipment. An immense amount of fine fruit, especially apples, is also raised around the town, most of which is shipped to St. Joseph, where it finds a ready market. The people of Osborne are generally progressive and active, open hearted in their generosity, industrious and hospita- ble, social and polite, and are never backward in assisting and supporting every good and honest enterprise that may be of bene- fit to the town or conduce to the public welfare. The present business of the place is represented by the following men and firms: Montgomery & McCrea, dry goods; J. S. Corman & Co., groceries and hardware; George Vancamp & Co., general mer- chandise; C. W. Curtis, stoves and tinware; L. H. Hegner, confectionery; Walden Kelly, drugs; W. S. Moore, lumber dealer ; F. W. A. Riedel, editor and proprietor of the Osborne Investi- gator; Nathan Walp, shoemaker; S. P. Morman, agricultural im- plements; R. C. Wells, John Thompson and Richard Gasmeyer, blacksmiths; Dooley Blakely, wagon-maker; D. S. Thompson, wagon-maker and carpenter; Morman & Stacy, livery stable; William Long, proprietor Young America Hotel; T. D. Rice and A. J. McCoy, carpenters ; J. R. LeRoy & Co., grain dealers; William Winning, grain dealer; Samuel Hoover, barber; Robert Hanlin, painter; P. M. Hatch, attorney at law; A. J. Hitt, insurance agent; R. G. Hurd, railroad agent; W. A. Metcalf, A. J. Law- rence and S. T. Blair, physicians; N. J. Harvey, dealer in real estate. Present population of the town is about 650.
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HISTORY OF DE KALB COUNTY.
UNION STAR.
This enterprising little city is beautifully situated in the ex- treme western part of De Kalb County, on the Chicago, Burling- ton & Quincy Railroad, to which it owes much of its growth and prosperity. The country surrounding is one of the finest agri- cultural regions of Missouri, and the town site commands a beautiful and romantic view of a large area of country, where elegant residences, large barns, magnificent farms, and other evidences of material prosperity bespeak the presence of an in- telligent and thrifty population. The town is a place of about 700 inhabitants, and is noted for its beautiful location, excel- lent schools, fine churches, comfortable homes and intelligent and enterprising business men. The locality is proverbially healthy-what might be termed by enterprising physicians dis- tressingly healthy-the high and dry location being a safeguard against the malaria and fevers prevalent in early times in the lower lands.
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