A Directory of Towns, Villages, and Hamlets Past and Present of Franklin County, Missouri
Compiled by Arthur Paul Moser Franklin County
Franklin County is a county in the eastern part of Missouri, bounded on the north by the Missouri River, which separates it from Warren and St. Charles Counties; on the east by St. Louis and Jefferson Counties; on the south by Washington and Crawford Counties, and on the west by Gasconade County… When the first settlers appeared there was a village of 200 or more tepees in the Bourbeuse Valley, but the Indians soon quietly disappeared. The first settlements were made along the Missouri Valley, under Spanish grants, and by Frenchmen, as would appear from the names of various streams whereon they located. The first American settler was probably Kincaid Caldwell, in 1803…James North came in 1818; he built the first water mill, and was drowned near it. The same year came Dr. Peter Kincaid, a Scotchman who had served under Napoleon; he platted the town of St. Albans which was swept away by the flood in 1844… The county of Franklin was organized December 11, 1818, and was named for Benjamin Franklin. As originally constituted it included the counties of Gasconade and Osage and portions of Maries and Miller Counties. Gasconade was detached and organized as a county in 1820, practically reducing Franklin to its present dimensions, although its boundaries were not accurately defined until 1845. Upon the organization of the county, David Edwards, Philip Boulware, Sr., William Laughlin, David B. Moore and William Harrison, as commissioners, established the county court at New Port, in St. John’s Township, near the Missouri River, and erected a small court house. In 1825, on petition of a majority of the people, the General Assembly passed an act for the removal of the seat of justice to some point near the central part of the county, and making Barnabas Stickland, Moses Whitmore and Brackett Barnes to select a location. Union was agreed upon, and Nathan Richards having donated thirty-seven and one-half acres of land for public uses, a log court house was built, in 1828, at a cost of $844.97, and this was occupied until a brick building was erected in 1849…The first county court was held in January, 1821, at New Port…The last session at New Port was November 7, 1826, and the first at the new seat of Union was June 25, 1827…The first session of the circuit court, under Territorial laws was held by Judge Nathaniel Beverly Tucker, March 8, 1819. Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 1901, Conard, Vol. 2, pp. 510, 511. (-State of Missouri, History of Franklin County, 1888, Goodspeed, p. 287.) [II] The first inhabitants of Franklin County were the Mound Builders…The Indians were the sucessors of the Mound Builders… Most of the Indians gradually left the area, but a remnant were left behind; they belonged to the once powerful tribes of Shawnees, Delawares and Osages, and had a village of 200 to 300 cabins in the vicinity of the Bourbeuse River, named Shawneetown. The inhabitants of Franklin County were at this time chiefly distributed in a few settlements along the Missouri River, mainly on “Spanish grants”, tracts of land ceded by the Spanish governor of St. Louis. These settlements were known as the “Labaddie” settlement, the “Du Bois” settlement, the “St. John’s” settlement, the “Newport” settlement, the “Boeuf” and the “Berger” settlements. A list of the Spanish grants may be found in the History of Franklin County. (-History of Franklin County, pp. 214, 217.)
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Township Organization After numerous changes in the municipal townships…the question of township organization came up in 1872. May 25, a petition was presented to the county court looking toward township organization, but as there was no evidence before the court that a majority of the signers were legal voters, no action was taken… Several attempts were made from time to time, and on the first Tuesday in April, 1875, elections for township officers were held at the following places in each township, respectively; Boles Township, Gray’s Summitt; St. John’s Township, Cleve’s mill; Washington Township, Washington; Calvey Township, Catawissa; Prairie Township, Prairie school-house; Central Township, St. Clair; Meramec Township, Stanton; Boone Township, Japan; Luon Township, Port Hudson post-office; Boeuf Township, Blish’s mill; New Haven Township, New Haven; Union Township, Union. Officers were elected in each township, who served one year, by the end of which time the experiment of township organization became unsatisfactory and was abandoned. The municipal townships of the county remain as named above. (-History of Franklin County, p. 236.) [III] Franklin County Mines Caswell Mine
Cove Mine
Northunberland Mine
North Virginia Mine
Silver Leaf Mine
Giles Mine
Skinner Mine
Piney Mine
Jeffries Mine
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Otten Mine
These were vertical mines. (-History of Franklin County, pp. 208, 209.) [IV] Horizontal mines Thomas Mine
Appleton Mine
Ellett Mine
Hamilton Mine
Patton Mine
Wicker Mine
Shotwell Mine
Peninsula Mine
Jack Mine
Binsbacher Mine
Highland Mining Company’s Mine
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Judah Spring Mine
Booth Bank – Iron
History of Franklin County
[V] Other Landmarks Fisher’s Cave
Garrett Cave
Saltpeter Cave
Persimmon Gap
Jacob’s Well
History of Franklin County
Labaddie’s Cave
History of Franklin County
[VI] Franklin County Firsts The first store…was established at New Port, previous to which time the people traded mostly in St. Louis…At this original store in New Port, (conducted by Pres G. Rule) was kept a general stock of dry goods, groceries and hardware… It is generally conceded that Kincaid Caldwell was the first American settler in Franklin County. He settled in Section 6, Township 44 N, Range 1 West in 1833… Hartly Sappington was one of the early settlers, coming into the county in 1806, and settling about two and a half miles up the Missouri River from the present site of Washington. He built the first horse mill west of St. Louis. James North, who built the first water mill in the county, came in 1818, and was drowned in the creek near his mill in 1823. The first white men who came into the county were French hunters and traders who gave names to many of the streams which are evidently French…Daniel Boone and some of his companions lived for a few years in the southwest part of the county, but in 1803 he moved on to Warren County… By striking off Gasconade County from Franklin (ca. November 25, 1820) the area of the county was considerably reduced, and in 1845 new boundaries of the county were established. Following the organization of the county, December 11, 1818, the old town of New Port was selected as the county seat. Here the court-house and other public buildings were duly erected, and New Port remained the county seat until it was removed to Union. The county court met for the last time at New Port, on November 7, 1826, and for the first time at Union at the house of A. Ranson, June 25, 1827. (-History of Franklin County, pp. 218, 222, 224, 225, 229, 232, 233; History of Gasconade County, p. 623.) Franklin County Table of Contents Local History Home
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