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Cities and Towns in Montgomery County

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1878 Plat Maps

1897 Plat Maps

1930 Plat Book of Montgomery County

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Montgomery County Fact Sheets -- agricultural, business and economics, demographics, education, health, youth and family, historical census data, county maps


From An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Montgomery County, Missouri, 1878, published by Edwards Brothers. Some of these locations were little more than a post office and are no longer in existence. [Transcribed by Nancy Lee. Links added by Joanna Ashmun.]

Americus is situated in the southern part of the county on Dry Fork, in the midst of wheat-growing country, and contains two stores, two shops, and an excellent saw and grist mill. [Section 2, Township 46 North, Range 6 West]

Belleville, a post office in the eastern part of the county. [Section 7, Township 48 North, Range 3 West]

Bellflower. [Parts of Sections 21 and 22, Township 49 North, Range 4 West]
Current Community Profile includes information on population, schools, employment, transportation, and utilities.

Bethlehem. [East edge of Section 28, Township 47 North, Range 6 West]

Big Spring(s) is post office south-south-west of New Florence, contains one store, one shop, and has good local trade. [Section 28, Township 47 North, Range 5 West]

Bluffton is in the south-west part of the county, on the north bank of the Missouri River, commands a good trade from the adjacent country. It is situated near some very high bluffs that overlook the river, hence the name. The failure of the grape crop in that locality for several years has materially retarded its growth. [Border of Sections 31 and 32, Township 46 North, Range 6 West]

Danville, the county seat, five miles south-west of Montgomery City and five miles west of New Florence, was founded in the year 1834, and the seat of justice was then removed from Lewiston to this place; but prior to this time Judge Ollie Williams had made a settlement here. Henry Davault and Conrad Carpenter donated the site to the county. The first court-house built in Danville was a brick edifice, and in those days it was considered very fine, although it was never completed. It was not burned, as many suppose, when Anderson burned Danville in October 1864; but after the war it was torn down and converted into a dwelling by D. R. Knox. The county records were all in the store of Watkins and Drury at that time, and were all consumed with it.
     The court-house now standing cost, originally, $28,000.
     Danville contains about two hundred and twenty-five inhabitants, three stores, three shops, two hotels, one restaurant and confectionery, one livery stable, three churches, and commodious school buildings.
[Section 28, Township 48 North, Range 6 West]

Florence: See New Florence

Gamma. [Southern edge of Section 27, Township 50 North, Range 4 West]

High Hill was commenced by the building of a mill in the spring and summer of 1853, by a company consisting of John S. Rowe, Hance Miller and Wm. Hoss, who also built dwellings, and may therefore be considered the founders of the town. F. H. Dryden and B. Sharp built the first store; J. J. Hawkins, the first hotel; Hance Miller, the first blacksmith's shop, and John S. Rowe, the first carpenter's shop.
     The name "High Hill" came with the post office, which was moved from the present site of Jonesburg. The town at present contains about three hundred inhabitants, three stores, one hardware store, one drug store, one family grocery store, one hotel, two blacksmith and wagon shops, one saddle and harness manufactory, one mill, one millinery establishment, and two practicing physicians. The town has never been incorporated.
[Section 32, Township 48 North, Range 4 West]

Hugo. [Center of Section 17, Township 47 North, Range 5 West]

Jonesburg, in the south-east part of the county, is surrounded by fine farming land. James Jones, for whom the town is named, emigrated from Rockingham County, North Carolina, to this State, in the fall of 1829, and in the fall of 1830 he improved the place where Jonesburg now stands. A post office known as "High Hill" was established here at an early date, but in 1853 it was removed, together with its name, westward to the residence of J. A. Ferguson, and soon after, still further west, to D. R. Owwing's store, and finally to Dryden and Sharp's store, giving name to the now pleasant town of High Hill.In 1856, W. I. Salisbury and A. C. Stewart purchased of Mr. Jones the land on which the town now stands, and by them the town was laid out in the same year. In 1859 a post office was again established here under the name of "Green Hill" which was afterward changed to Jonesburg.
     The first church edifice erected here was that of the M. E. Chuch, South, in 1868. The town now contains a population of about five undred. It has five church edifices and organizations, six dry goods stores, one hardware store, two drug stores, two millinery and mantua establishments, one blacksmith shop and plow factory, one wagon and carriage factory, one planing mill and box factory, one saw and grist mill, one large hotel, one livery and feed stable, one lumber yard. The school facilities of the place are very good.
[Section 12, Township 47 North, Range 4 West]
Current Community Profile includes information on population, schools, employment, transportation, and utilities.

Lewiston. The first county seat of Montgomery County was located at Pinckney, now in Warren County; but it was removed to Lewiston in the year 1826 or '27, and then to Danville in 1834.

Loutre Island is a post office in the extreme south-east part of the county, on Loutre Island, contains two stores. It is one of the oldest settlements in the county. [Section 25, Township 46 North, Range 5 West]

Marling. [Section 1, Township 50 North, Range 4 West]

McKittrick. [Section 23, Township 46 North, Range 5 West]

Middletown, situated in the northern part of the county, about one mile from the county line is surrounded by a good farming country with which it has an extensive trade. The town was founded in 1834, and surveyed the same year by Lewis Jones, then county surveyor. The first house was built by Stewart Slavens, and is now attached to the residence of Judge Ray. Mathias Wilbarger opened the first store, and James Hicks and Capt. Ball built the first mill.
     Middletown derived its name from its location at hte crossings of the roads leading east to west and from north to south. It now contains about five hundred inhabitants, five dry goods stores, two drug stores, one hotel, two blacksmith shops, one wagon and carriage factory, one watch and jewelry shop, one merchant tailor, several churches, and a good school. Judge James H. Ray is the oldest inhabitant now living in the place, having located there in 1836, since which time he has resided there or in the immediate vicinity.
[Section 1, Township 50 North, Range 5 West]

Mineola. [Section 34, Township 48 North, Range 6 West]

Montgomery City, situated in a beautiful prairie on the St. L. K. C. & N. R. R., eighty-two miles from St. Louis, is the largest town in the county. The first house erected in this locality was built in 1851, by James M. Robinson. This house stands about one hundred and seventy-five yards south-west from the present site of the college building, and is inhabited by a colored family.
     The house in which O. H. Winegar now lives was next erected in the winter and spring of 1853, by T. C. McClearey. The other settlements here then, were principally confined to the belts of timber bordering the prairies.
     In 1856, before the depot was located, Stone and Hibbert put up a mill here. At first the engine was stationed without any covering, until lumber could be sawed to make a shed for it. The next improvement was a house erected in 1856, by Grooms and Snethen. The house is still standing, and is now used by O. H. Brooks as a stable. Benj. P. Curd owned the land on which the original part of the city stands, and by him was laid off in 1857.
     The first store was opened in the spring or summer of 1857, by Thomas Stevens, and the second soon after, by John and Daniel Bryan. John S. Rowe built the first hotel, which was afterwards kept by Horace Brown. It was burnt soon after the beginning of the war. Notwithstanding the stagnating effects of the civil war, and the depression in business since, Montgomery City has continued to improve rapidly, and has become the center of a very wide and extensive trade.
     The college building is the largest school building in the county, and is now under management of Professors Graves and Cunningham.
     The town contains about one thousand two hundred and fifty inhabitants, four large dry goods establishments, one clothing store, one merchant tailor, two drug stores, two grocery stores, two tin and hardware stores, two bakeries and restaurants, five mantua maker and millinery establishments, one large cheese factory, four hotels and several boarding-houses, three extensive wagon and carriage factories, three boot and shoe factories, two watch and jewelry stores, one gun shop, one saddle and harness shop, two lumber yards, two furniture stores, five churches, one tobacco and cigar factory, two meat markets, two barber shops, two livery and feed stables, two printing offices, one photograph gallery, one large public hall, and one Mason hall.
[Parts of Sections 29, 30, 31 and 31, Township 49 North, Range 5 West]
Montgomery City, Missouri
Current Community Profile includes information on population, schools, employment, transportation, and utilities.

New Florence was founded in 1858, after all the other railroad towns in this county had been located. Mortimer McIlhaney formerly owned the land upon which the town is built; but it was purchased by Judge E. A. Lewis, and by him the lots of the original town were laid off. The town was first called Florence, but as there was already one town in the State by that name, it was changed to New Florence by an act of the legislature.
     In 1861 a very destructive fire occurred, which consumed the entire town, with the exception of four houses and the depot. The town improved rapidly for several years after the war; but now, owing to the downward tendency in all branches of industry, its growth is not so rapid. It contains four dry goods stores, one drug store, two furniture stores, one hardware and agricultural store, three millinery establishments, two blacksmith and wagon shops, one grist and saw mill, three churches, two hotels, one seminary building, one good public school house, and one paper. Population about 450.
[Parts of Sections 22 and 23, Township 48 North, Range 5 West]
University of Missouri / State Historical Society of Missouri Western Historical Manuscript Collection - Columbia lists Bethlehem Baptist Cemetery, Florence, Missouri (C995, V. 17, #482) n.d. 2 pp., Microfilm Tombstone inscriptions from Florence, Missouri, cemetery. 1) Genealogy.
Current Community Profile includes information on population, schools, employment, transportation, and utilities.

Peytonia is a postoffice in the western part of the county an the Montgomery City and Williamsburg road. [Section 18, Township 48 North, Range 6 West]Prairie Fork. [Section 7, Township 47 North, Range 6 West]

Price's Branch, in the eastern part of the county, was first known as Wollam's Mill; but when the post office was established there in 1854, it received its present name. The surrounding country is finely adapted to agriculural purposes, and it is successfully cultivated by thrifty farmers, who pay considerable attention to the raising of fine stock. The town contains one store, one shop, one mill and two churches. [ection 18, Township 48 North, Range 6 West]

Prohibition. [Section 5, Township 49 North, Range 4 West]

Rhineland is situated thirteen miles south of Danville, and about half of a mile from the Missouri River. At this place and below it, the bottoms are wide and in a high state of cultivation. The hills lying back from the river, though somewhat steep, are very fertile. [Section 30, Township 46 North, Range 5 West]

Starkenburg. [Section 23, Township 46 North, Range 6 West]

Stocklands, a post office in the northeastern part of the county. [Section 27, Township 50 North, Range 4 West]

Wellsville, named for Judge Carty Wells of Lincoln County, who formerly owned the land upon which the town was built. The town was surveyed in 1856, and the first sale of lots took place on the 25th day of April, 1857.
     The first residence was built by Jesse C. Clarkson in the fall and winter of 1856, and the first store opened by Benjamin Sharp about the same time.
     The town was incorporated in 1870,and now contains about 800 inhabitants, three large dry goods stores, one grocery store, three drug stores, two hardware, tin and agricultural stores, two merchant tailors, four blacksmith and wagon shops, two meat markets, three millinery and dressmaking establishments, two jeweler's shops, two furniture stores, three restaurants, two broom factories, one woolen factory, one marble shop, two lumber yards, two hay presses, one printing office, three churches and eight church organizations.
     Growth of the town was slow for several years, but since the war it has improved very rapidly and has built up a very extensive trade.
     [Parts of Sections 26, 27, 33 and 34, Township 50 North, Range 6 West]
Current Community Profile includes information on population, schools, employment, transportation, and utilities.

Wollam's Mill: See Price's Branch


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This page is maintained by Joanna Ashmun, Montgomery County coordinator.
Last updated 1 May 2002.
© 1999 by Nancy Hale Lee, 2000-2002 by Joanna M. Ashmun. All rights reserved.