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Louisiana MO84
Louisiana, early Mississippi River port, known for the Delicious apple developed here and grown throughout the world, was settled, 1817,when John Bryson pre-empted land near the confluence of the river and Noix Creek. A year later Samuel Caldwell and Joel Shaw from Kentucky founded the town on land bought from Bryson. The pioneer Stark cabin was moved here from the nearby hills, restored, and opened as a museum, 1952, to honor Horticulturist James Hart Stark who built the cabin. The orchard he planted, 1816, with grafted scions brought from the family's Kentucky orchard, considered the first of grafted apple trees west of the Alleghenies, has become known under his descendants as one of the oldest and larges commercial nurseries in the world. Here are carried on many of Luther Burbank's experiments. The Stark Nursery obtained first patent granted a fruit, 1934. Settlers were in the general vicinity of Louisiana as early as 1810, and some 2 miles southeast a D.A.R. monument marks the site of Buffalo Fort where 25 families took refuge during the War of 1812.Prominent supply stop for pioneers to the Salt River Country, the city flourished as a river port until the coming of the railroads. Louisiana early became a trade and industrial center. Laid out the year Pike Co. was organized, the town served as county seat until 1824. Centrally located Bowling Green succeeded as county seat. The slang term "Pike" or "Piker" derives from this county and came into use to identify natives of the region who joined the '49 Gold Rush. The county is named for Explorer Zebulon M. Pike. Here lived Lloyd C. Stark, Governor of Missouri, 1937-1941. John B. Henderson (1826-1913), U.S. Senator, promoter of the 13th and 15th Constitutional Amendments, had law offices here. Champ Clark (1850-1921), Speaker of U. S. House of Representatives, had law offices and taught here before making his home in nearby Bowling Green. Scientist R.R. Rowley (1854-1935) taught here. The third Missouri railroad bridge across the Mississippi opened here, 1873. Champ Clark Highway Bridge was dedicated, 1928.
Flood Marker - Clarksville MO82
VOLUNTEER FLOOD FIGHTERS OF THE GREAT FLOOD OF 73. The great flood of 1973 exceeded all other floods in discharge, stage and duration in the reach of the Mississippi River between Keokuk, Iowa, and the mouth of the Missouri River.
Old Copper Culture Cemetery WI53
At this site approximately 7500 years ago early Wisconsin Indians gathered to bury their dead. They were of the Old Copper Culture, the earliest known people to inhabit Wisconsin. Their dead were interred in graves or cremated in basin-shaped pits. Implements of copper, stone, bone and shell were buried with them. Ranking among the world's first metal-smiths, these people hammered native copper into tools and weapons. During this archaic period, sustenance was gained by hunting, fishing and collecting wild foods. Agriculture was unknown to them. Bark or skin containers were used instead of pottery. Scientific excavations were conducted here by the Wisconsin Archaeological Survey and the Oconto County Historical Society in 1952 soon after the site was discovered and its importance recognized. At the time of the discover it was found to be the oldest manifestation of human beings in all northeastern North America east of the Mississippi River.
Bowling Green MO76
Bowling Green, the capital of Pike County, lies 12 miles in from the Mississippi River on a rolling plain, 880 feet above sea level. First pioneer here, John W. Basye, came in 1820 and by 1823 the settlement, named for Bowling Green, Kentucky, succeeded Louisiana as the Pike County seat of justice. Here on the pioneer Salt River Trail, the town made a steady growth. Early schools were Pike Academy, 1837; Isaac W. Basye's Normal School, 1867; and J.D. Meriwether's Bowling Green College, 1881. The Chicago and Alton R.R.(G.M.& O.) was completed in 1871 and the St. Louis and Hannibal in 1876. Limestone quarries were opened in the late 1800's. Near here, the first Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church west of the Mississippi was organized in 1820. When the county, named for the explorer Zebulon M. Pike, was organized in 1818, it included all of Missouri's Upper Salt River Country from which have come 9 whole counties and parts of 6 others. Many Pike Countians joined the 1849 Gold Rush, and the ballads "Joe Bowers" and "Sweet Betsy from Pike" are associated with this county. Bowling Green serves as seat of a grain, livestock, and fruit farming county here in the Glacial Plains Region of Missouri. Sac and Fox Indians ceded claims to the area in 1804 and again in 1824. During the War of 1812, a number of settlers who came to the county from Ky, N.C., and S.C. as early as 1808 found protection in Buffalo Fort near Louisiana. In the Civil War, the only action in the county was at nearby Ashley, 1862, when some 30 Union troops held the town against a raid by 150 Confederates. In 1861, 8 companies of Union troops trained here. Bowling Green was the home of famed Congressman, Speaker of the House, James Beauchamp (Champ) Clark (1850-1921). His son, Bennett Champ Clark (1890-1954), U.S. Senator, was born here, and here also were born diplomat John F. Swift (1829-1891), and Admiral W.R. Purnell (1886-1955). Elliot W. Major, 33rd governor of Mo. lived here. Points of interest here include the state statue of Champ Clark by F.C. Hibbard; the Clark House known as Honey Shuck; the J.W. Basye and Purnell Houses; and Purnell memorial plaque at the courthouse.
The Illinois Central Railroad IL79
On September 27, 1856, near this site, workmen drove the spike which completed the 705 miles of the Illinois Central Railroad's charter lines and the first federal land grant railroad in the United States. In 1850 Congress had granted the alternate sections of public land within six miles on either side of the railroad between specific sites to the State of Illinois. The following year the state issued a charter to the Illinois Central which outlined the route from the southern end of the Illinois and Michigan Canal (LaSalle) to Cairo with branches to Chicago and, through Galena, to the banks of the Mississippi River. As construction advanced the Illinois Central received about 2,595,000 acres. The Illinois Central developed the surrounding territory to assure an increased business. They conducted an intensive publicity campaign by sending pamphlets and agents to the eastern states, Canada, England, Germany, Norway and Sweden to encourage immigration to Illinois. The company sold its fertile prairie land on liberal credit terms and settlers moved to the previously undeveloped region along the Centralia Chicago branch. In later years, the Illinois Central encouraged the development of a variety of crops such as sorghum, sugar beets, cotton, fruits, vegetables and soybeans; the improvement of livestock; the use of farm machinery; and the development of industry and coal mining. For sixteen years the Illinois Central was exclusively an Illinois railroad; then it began to expand into other states.
Steamboats on the Mississippi River IL9
In 1817 the Zebulon M. Pike reached St. Louis, the northern-most steamboat port on the Mississippi River. The western steamboat of later years was a credit to the frontier American mechanic who drew upon experience to build a large craft (eventually over 300 by 40 feet) which would carry heavy cargoes in shallow water against the strong Mississippi current. Owners boasted that steamboats could run on heavy dew, but in fact seasonal variations in river depth limited their use - medium sized steamboats needed at least four feet of water. The influence of the steamboat spread far and wide in the Mississippi Valley and hastened the development of the region. Snags, explosions, collisions and fires sank many steamboats. An 1867 investigation recorded 133 sunken hulks in the Mississippi between Cairo and St. Louis, a stretch rivermen called the "Graveyard." Even as the north-south river trade flourished in the 1850's, transportation lines running east and west developed. Railroads, which followed a more direct route than winding rivers, began to haul freight to and from the Mississippi Valley. Steamboats aided the north in the Civil War, but the reorientation of civilian commerce foreshadowed their decline. Although they continued to churn the Mississippi for the best of the nineteenth century, they were eventually replaced by strings of barges guided by a single steamboat or later by a diesel boat which transported the cargoes individual steamboats had once carried.
Troy MO72
Troy, laid out on the site of Woods' Fort in 1819, lies on an old Sac and Fox Indian campsite where first settlers Joseph Cottle and Zadock Woods built their cabins, 1801. It was the Sac and Fox tribes, outraged by their 1804 land cession which included this region, who carried the War of 1812 west of the Mississippi into north Missouri. To defend their homes, pioneers in this area, which is now Lincoln County, aided by Rangers under Nathan Boone, built Woods, Howard, Stout, Clark, and Cap au Gris forts as a first line of defense. At Fort Cap au Gris, Maj. (later U.S.Pres.) Zachary Taylor's command rendezvoused, Sept., 1814, and five months after the war, at Fort Howard, May 24, 1815, Black Hawk's band skirmished with settlers and Rangers in the Battle of Sink Hole. In 1824 the Sac and Fox finally gave up all claim to the region. The Lincoln County seat, earlier at Old Monroe and Alexandria, was located here 1829. The county, organized, 1818, was named by its first settler, Christopher Clark, for Lincoln counties, N.C., and Ky., which honor Revolutionary Gen. Benjamin Lincoln. Troy serves as a trade and legal center for a Mississippi River county in Missouri's Glacial Plains Region, an area of livestock, grain, and poultry farming. As early as the 1790's, roving hunters and trappers took up Spanish land grants in the county's fertile Cuivre (Fr. copper) River Valley. During the Civil War, the fighting missed pro-Southern Lincoln County, though Union troops occupied Troy almost continually. The area prospered when the St. Louis and Hannibal R.R. reached Troy in 1882. Early schools here were Lincoln Academy (later Troy Christian Institute) chartered in 1835 and Buchanan College founded in 1894. Troy was the birthplace of Frederick G. Bonfils (1860-1933) noted co-editor of the "Denver Post". Elliott W. Major, thirty-third governor of Missouri, was a native of this county, and Congressman Clarence Cannon, noted parliamentarian, was born in Elsberry. Among points of interest in Troy are the Woods' Fort marker near the town spring; the 1870 courthouse; and the 1859 Christian and 1868 Presbyterian Churches. Just east of Troy is Cuivre River State Park.
Lewis and Clark in Missouri MO60
Missouri was a beginning and end for the Lewis and Clark expedition. Planned by President Thomas Jefferson and carried out by the two captains and a large crew, the expedition is a keystone American event. When the United States took ownership of the Louisiana Territory -during a ceremony in St. Louis in March 1804 probably attended by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark- the country doubled in size, and expansion to the Pacific Ocean seemed possible. Two months later, the "Corps of Discovery" traveled up the Missouri River toward the Pacific and, they hoped, a new American era in trade, diplomacy and settlement. "Corps of Volunteers on an Expedition of North Western Discovery The River Master What They Saw The Meaning of Return
The Danville Raid - Civil War MO39
On October 11, 1864, at Boonville, Missouri, Confederate General Sterling Price met with an already infamous "Bloody Bill" Anderson, during Price's westward march on his 1864 Missouri Expedition. Price instructed Anderson to take a party east to disrupt and destroy the North Missouri Railroad. Anderson's men traveled east on the Boone's Lick Trail (Road), passing through Franklin and Rocheport, and skirting Columbia, then continuing to Williamsburg and Danville. After the attack on Danville, described here, the raiders moved on New Florence and High Hill, to the east, and destroyed tracks and railroad facilities there. The damage to the railroad, however, was relatively slight, and the raiders ended their eastward dash well before reaching their objective, a bridge at the St. Charles County line. After High Hill, Anderson's men camped on the New Florence - Hermann Road several miles southeast of here, then crossed the Missouri River west of Hermann. You are standing on the site of the Danville Female Academy, and at your front is the sole surviving building of the Academy, the chapel and dormitory. The Female Academy was founded in 1853 by the Reverend James H. Robinson at a time when Danville was an important stop on the Boonslick Road, and it is considered one of the first female "colleges" west of the Mississippi River. As shown by the woodcut at the upper right, the academy became a substantial facility during the years of its operation (1853-1865). The Rev. Robinson moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1865, and he became a prominent educator there. On the evening of October 14, 1864, rebel horsemen rode east into Danville on the Boonslick Road - a rare segment of which survives two blocks northwest of here. Danville was a predominately Unionist settlement at the time and was garrisoned by Union troops operating out of a large blockhouse that stood at the southeast corner of the public square. The night of the Anderson's Raid, these union troops were stationed several miles to the east, protecting the North Missouri Railroad. Arriving in town at 8:30 p.m. without warning, Anderson's men began their rampage by indiscriminately killing several of the townspeople, including 12-year-old Ira Chinn. For three and one half hours, the southern raiders practiced their grisly trade. Some, like "Little Archie" Clements had been at Centralia just two and a half weeks earlier and knew well how to terrorize a town. The raiders moved east, to New Florence, about midnight and left most of the town of Danville in flames and ruins. Still intact was the substantial brick home of Missouri legislator Sylvester Baker, which stands to this day down the road about a mile to the east. The most fascinating story to come out of the Danville Raid happened right here. Guerrillas entered the academy grounds believing that Union troops had secreted themselves in the chapel and demanded the keys from Mrs. Robinson. While this scene transpired, some of the students housed in the second floor dormitory ran for the woods, while some came out to confront the guerrillas, claiming they were southern girls and begging that the school be spared. Local lore holds that one of the girls hung her petticoat on a staff over the front door of this place as a sign of truce. Whatever the reason, the school survived and this chapel survived, a testament to the grit of some young Missouri women, some northern and some southern in heritage. This building was a Methodist Church until the 1950's and is considered by some to be the finest example of Greek Revival architecture still standing in central Missouri. Was "Bloody Bill" Anderson at Danville? Major historians have disagreed on the issue of whether Anderson commanded the raiders at Danville, but some of the literature also places him at Glasgow, Missouri on the wrong date - i.e. on the same day as the Danville Raid. The Draper sisters believe they saw the infamous Anderson here. If he was not, then his sidekick, the diabolical "Little Archie" Clements was in command.
Mississippi River Parkway: First Project WI8
The first 5-mile-long section of the Great River Road project, or the Mississippi River Parkway as it was originally named, was built near here in 1953 and extended east across the Black River. Eventually, the Great River Road would follow the Mississippi River through the scenic and historic heartland of the United States, from the river's source near Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico, offering panoramic views and spectacular vistas to the traveler. Built by Wisconsin with federal aid and with the confidence that the other nine river states would continue the work, this section of the project symbolized the faith of Wisconsin in the integrity and permanence of the nation's institutions. The completion of the first part of the 2,000 mile project provided tangible evidence that the concept of a pleasurable riverside highway along the banks of the Mississippi River, from its source to the sea, would be realized. Display # 51 - 60 of 128 |