PICTORIAL HISTORY BOOKS OF CHARITON COUNTY

Produced by Chariton County Historical Society

These books are possible thanks to the generosity of our Chariton County neighbors in sharing many of their keepsakes and photographs.

Books available for sale are:

Bee Branch Township – $18 + $5 shipping

Bowling Green Township – $10 + $3 shipping

Brunswick Township – $18 + $5 shipping

Chariton Township – $10 + $3 shipping

Clark Township – $6 + $2 shipping

Cockrell Township – $6 + $2 shipping

Cunningham Township – $6 + $2 shipping

Keytesville Township – $15 + $4 shipping

Mendon Township – $6 + $2 shipping

Musselfork Township – $10 + $3 shipping

Salisbury Township – $20 + $5 shipping

Salt Creek Township – $6 + $2 shipping

Triplett Triplett – $6 + $2 shipping

Wayland Township – $15 + $4 shipping

Yellow Creek Township – $6 + $2 shipping

If you are interested in any of these books, you may mail us a check along with your address and we will send your book(s) to you.

Each book in Includes the history, information and photos. Below is just a sampling of the information found in each book.

BEE BRANCH TOWNSHIP BOOK

Includes the history, information and photos on schools, churches, cemeteries, businesses, and the towns and villages of Bynumville, Glee, Lagonda, and Wien. Bee Branch Township is located in the northeast corner of Chariton County.

Bynumville – established in 1859 and was named in honor of Dr. Joseph Bynum who was the area’s only doctor for miles around. Mr. Bynum left Bee Branch Township in 1849 and went to California. The town was not officially laid out until 1878, but people had been living in the area since the 1830s.

Glee – 1898. No information is available. It appears that there was a post office in operation 1898-1902.

Lagonda – 1867. A post office was in operation from 1881-1922. There was a handle factory in Lagonda that produced handles for hammers, axes, etc. The origin of the town is unknown.

settlers. A monastery and church were established (St. Mary’s of the Angels Catholic Church).

There was also a school and post office.

Includes the history, information and photos on Bowling Green Bend, Keytesville Landing,

Dalton Cut-Off, Dalton, Henry Goll Store, Sidney Botts Store, Namrash, and County Poor Farm.

The township is located in the south central portion of the Chariton County. Settlers made their

homes in Bowling Green as early as 1818.

townships and is bordered on the west by the Grand River and the Missouri River. Indian burial

mounds could be found on the bluff line at one time.

Newcomer – lies a short distance north of Brunswick. The Newcomer post office was in

operation from 1886-1906. Newcomer is known as the site of the founding of Missouri Farmers

Association (MFA) on March 10, 1914.

open prairie, but at one place there was a grove of trees that covered a few acres. The settlers

found out that this was an Indian campground. Therefore, they named it Indian Grove.

1844, with the belief that it would eventually overshadow Brunswick as a business center. The

Keyte was drawn to the Missouri River area and chose this location for a new town, that he

named Brunswick after his home in England, Brunswick Terrace, near Manchester. In 1836,

Keyte laid out the town of Brunswick about one mile below the mouth of the Grand River (about

400 yards south of the present site). The Grand River floods over the next several years caused

the banks of the river to crumble and fall forcing the homes and businesses to relocate to the base

of the bluffs and up the hill. Until 1847, the western most edge of Brunswick was Scott (now

Keyte) Street. Brunswick flourished until the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was completed in

1856 and passed through Linn County. This created a hardship for the steamboat trade and led to

a decline in population.

Includes history, information and photos on the towns and villages of Old Chariton, Monticello,

Thorntonsburg/Louisville-On-Missouri, Glasgow, Lewis Mill, Aholt, Cazzell, Catfish City,

Rockford, Forrest Green and rural schools in Chariton Township. Chariton Township was the

earliest settled area in what became the county of Chariton. French fur traders who located at the

mouth of the Chariton River in the late 1700s were some of the earliest traders in the area. This

experienced much sickness. Old Chariton was abandoned around 1840.

of Old Chariton. The town failed to flourish and little is known about it. Monticello did have the

distinction of being the site if the earliest educational institution, The Monticello Seminary,

which opened in 1839.

R.B. Thornton at what was called “Point”, just east of the Chariton River at a site where R.B.

Thornton and Andrew Thrash operated a ferry on the Missouri River. The town was later

renamed Louisville-On-Missouri after several years of litigation on ownership of the town. There

were hopes that this town would outshine its rival, Glasgow, but the town failed to thrive and

Glasgow to Salisbury train ran near Lewis Mill.

was south and east of Cazzell and across the Little Chariton River. There was a post office in

operation from 1900-1940. There was a general store. The business district was on the west side

of what is now Aholt Avenue. Across the road on the east were the cemetery, school and church.

All that remains today is the cemetery.

Cazzell – The Cazzell Post Office was in operation from 1892-1902 in the general store which

also carried needed supplies and a little “hard cider”.

the Chariton River goes into the Missouri River.

before the bridge was built across the Chariton River in 1897. The population in 1893 numbered

50 but boasted several businesses. There was a hotel, a livery stable, general store, blacksmith,

farm implement business, a medical practice, a school (there was also a black school on the other

side of the river), post office, and a corn and saw mill. The Chariton River eventually flooded out

general store, post office, blacksmith, carpenter, a doctor, a large tobacco factory, a hotel, a

public school, barber shop, and a bank. Mr. Forrest built the first house in the early 1820s on

what became the west side of the town. In 1903 the town relocated further east in what was

known as the Lawhorn 1st Addition, which was referred to as the “New Town”.

This book includes the history, information and photos of Clark Township, which lies in the

northern tier of townships in Chariton County. It is watered by the Musselfork River and Locust

and Clark Branches. In 1883, about one-third of the township consisted of timber, with only part

of the soil being good. There were several schools, churches and cemeteries in the township.

Taylor. There was a trading post and the old building had a slot in the door, maybe for mail drop

off.

This book includes the history, information and photos of Cockrell Township. Cockrell

Township was first settled in 1845 by a man named Hamlin who built a water mill on the

Chariton River in the southwest part of the township. Cockrell was originally part of Bee Branch

Township and contains about 40 square miles of productive soil. In July 1883, Judge Lucius

Salisbury and Lewis Bartholomew, who together owned about 2,000 acres experimented by

throwing up a levee that stretched for two and a half miles in length. It protected 1,500 acres of

land from overflow of the Chariton River. This land has some of the richest soil in the county.

There are no towns or villages in Cockrell Township, but it is the home of three churches and

seven cemeteries. In earlier years there were around seven schools.

This book includes the history, information and photos of Cunningham Township. This township

is located in the northwest corner of Chariton County and encompasses 80 square miles of

mostly bottomland all of which floods except for the ridges. It is watered by four creeks: the Elk,

there was a hotel, drug store, general store, livery, wool dealer, and an implement dealer. At one

time the town boasted the finest horse race track in the state of Missouri. The Bank of

Cunningham opened in 1883. Since one good railroad served Cunningham, the residents were

unwilling to pay to get the second railroad, so the railroad passed them by one mile north. The

depot, however, remained in Cunningham with the train stopping there and only slowing in

Sumner. A merchants’ war between the two towns developed. So very early on a Sunday

morning, a flat car was taken from Sumner down the tracks to Cunningham, and the depot,

baggage, and even the agent were loaded and transported to Sumner where the depot was set up

looking as it had always been there. That was the beginning of the demise of the town of

Cunningham.

harness shop, and a blacksmith and wagon shop. Sumner was officially named Wild Goose

Capital of the World in 1967 and celebrates its recognition each fall with the Wild Goose

Festival. Maxi the Goose, a nationally known landmark, welcomes visitors to Sumner, Maxie,

the world’s largest goose, was dedicated in 1976. Maxie stands 40 foot tall, with a wingspan of

62 feet.

This book includes the history, information and photos of Keytesville Township. Keytesville

Township lies in the south central part of the county. History shows that there were several little

towns and communities in this township, but now Keytesville is the only town left. Keytesville

also serves as the county seat.

1880 by James P. Hess who owned a general store. The Hess Post Office was in operation from

1888 to 1893 with Mr. Hess as postmaster. In April 1893, John Disney was appointed postmaster

but later that same year, all mail was directed to Padgett, later known as Newhall.

near the Musselfork Creek seven miles north of Keytesville. The name Izora City didn’t last

long, as it was named by a man from Arizona for his wife. She wore fancy clothes and was a

after the town began to fade.

was in operation from 1891-1900. There was a general store which also sold hardware, horse

collars and other needed equipment.

turns to go west across the Musselfork River. The town was established by Theodore F. Chrane

in April of 1882, when he and his son opened a general store. The store was the site of many

good times on Saturday nights, with dancing and music. The post office was in operation from

1882-1902.

from St. Louis to where Keytesville is now located in the spring of 1830. Keytesville was

founded in 1832 by James Keyte, an Englishman and a Methodist preacher. The post office was

established in 1831 and Keytesville was incorporated in 1868. Mr. Keyte donated 50 acres to the

county upon which, in 1833-34, the courthouse and other public buildings were erected. (The

county seat had been in the community of Old Chariton where Mr. Keyte preached.) The original

courthouse was a two-story brick square building with four rooms on the ground floor and a

courtroom on the second story. During the Civil War bushwhackers burned the courthouse, but

Judge Salisbury prevailed on them to give him five minutes to save some of the important

papers. A second courthouse was constructed in 1866 in the Georgian style. It was added to the

National Historic Register in 1971, but unfortunately in August 1973, it burned during

renovation. The current courthouse was built in 1973 and was dedicated in 1975. The Chariton

County Jail is located just to the west of the courthouse.

Several businesses and churches were established in Keytesville, along with schools, and a train

depot and trolley car.

church was dedicated in 1850 and was named for Francis Asbury, a prominent leader of

American Methodism. This first church was located about two miles from its present location. In

1872, a second church was built on the same site. The present Asbury Church was built and

business center. A Methodist Church was erected in 1866. There was also a mercantile, drug

store, general store, and a blacksmith shop. A sawmill was located five miles east of the town.

Mendon – It became evident that a new town of Mendon would be built when the A.T. & S.F.

Railroad made a survey and the town of Old Mendon was south by about one and quarter of a

mile. The new town of Mendon became a reality when dirt work for the railroad was begun in

1886. In 1888, the new town was laid out consisting of 20 square blocks. The town sits parallel

to the railroad tracks and thus isn’t square north and south. Businesses started to move from Old

Mendon and the town began to prosper. In 1890, the Articles of Corporation were filed and

accepted by the County Court. Mendon Cemetery is still where it was in 1860, a part of Old

Whitham in 1905. They thought it to be an ideal location lying at the intersection of the A.T. &

Santa Fe rail lines. At one time there was a hotel, several residences, stores, two elevators, and a

lumberyard. There was also a refitting shop, the Whitham Bank, rolling mill, livery, a school and

a post office. The flood of 1909 changed the course of history for the town of Whitham. The

Santa Fe Railroad planned to build a roundhouse here but the flood changed their plans and the

roundhouse was built in Marceline.