Johnson County, Missouri - Chapter 18: - Warrensburg, 1918

WARRENSBURG" (By Mel. P. Muorty) - DESCRIPTION. NAMING - EARLY ESTABLISHMENTS - MARTIN WARREN'S LOG HOUSE - FIRES OF DECEMBER 24. 1S66, AND NOVEMBER 29, 1873 - EARLY HOTELS - EARLY SCHOOLS - AFTER THE CIVIL WAR - CHURCHES - CEMETERIES - SCHOOLS AFTER THE CIVIL WAR - MILLS - OLD MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES - POSTOFFICE - INCORPORATION - MAYORS - COUNCILMEN - ASSESSORS - ATTORNEYS - CLERKS - COLLECTORS - ENGINEERS - MARSHALS - ASSISTANT MARSHALS - POLICE JUDGES - SEXTONS - STREET COMMISSIONERS- TREASURERS - EARLY MEN AND THINGS OF WARRENSBURG IN EXISTENCE TODATT: BUILDINGS. MEN. WOMEN - POPULATION - WARRENSBURG. 1910: (Sex. Color, and Nativity). DWELLINGS AND FAMILIES. ILLITERACY. SCHOOL AGE AND ATTENDANCE, - MALES OF AGE - THE WARRENSBURG COMMERCIAL CLUB.

(By Mel. P. Moo.ly.) It is just a little cit_\- upon the hills outspread. With trees and verdure down l)elow and blue sky overhead It has no ancient legends of wonders to relate. No ivy-covered ruins nor mausoleums of the great. Within its city halls are no battle flags unfurled, It is the home of common people, tlie sinew of the world.

Old Warrensburg. And yet to me is sacred, this little city here, The scene of happy days, and the Gethsemane of tear, And here within its borders is the epitome of life. With its sunshine and its shadows, its pleasures and its strife. Here fond hopes have budded to meet misfortunes frost. Here awhile have sinners flourished, and sadly paid the cost

In old Warrensburg. Here have happ}- children played who now are far away, Here the blushing bride, has had her wedding day. Here men have deftly schemed to gather in their gold, And here for love of greed have they their honor sold. Here have noble men and women toiled and loved and died And the good and bad together lie buried side by side

And from this little city have men of worth revealed, Been called to serve the v\-orld in a broader, grander field. And from its halls of learning with torch of knowledge bright. Are missionaries streaming to spread redeeming light. Here are some who may be honored and failures too as well, The hand of fate awaiting, while hopefully they dwell,

In old Warrensburg. Here upon this little stage, is life's tragedy displayed, Here its flowers are blooming, and here its roses fade. For in eyevy land and clime human nature is the same. In \irtue and nobility, in sorrow and in shame. Here the songs of happiness and of sadness too are sung. And here the harp of life to every tone is strung; And though you. never venture beyond this little town. Here you may lose your soul, or here may win your crown.

AN'arrensburg was laid out and platted by George Tibbs. then county surveyor, in 1836, and the plat was recorded May 22. 1837. The lots were 72 feet wide and 144 feet deep, with 14-foot alleys. This was what is now "Old Town."

\\'hen the Missouri Pacific railroad was liuilt. the main business district of the town moved east near where the depot was built and now stands.

A number of additions have been otticially added. niO'^tl\- east of the old town until the present area of the city is sexeral times the size of the original town.

Early Establishments. - In 1836 John K\ ans opened the first store in Old Town and for the following six years there were only two stores in the village. Evans conducted a general mercantile store, selling groceries, dry goods, hardware and wliiske>-. This store stood in the hollow a little cast of the center of the town. W. TI. Davis X: Co. were the first to open a store on the hill near the center of the old town. The town soon began to prosper and in a short time was an important

The town was extended eastward into the district known as Xew Town by the official platting of Grover's Depot Addition. October 18, 1857. It seems that according to a contract with the railroad company the depot was to be erected on Colonel Grover's land, forty acres of which were donated for that purpose, but by mistake or otherwise, it was located on Major Holden's land, one-half mile further west. Holden street, on the west side of which the depot is located, is the dividing line between Grover's and Holden's Addition. Alartin \\'arren's old log house stood in the Grover Addition and Colonel Grover resided there for a time. The memory of the old log house will be forever perpetual in the history of \\'arrensburg. When they came to la\- out Grover's Depot Addition it was seen that Gay street continued east past Holden street in a straight line ami would go right through the old log house. So, instead of moving the house. Colonel Grover moved the street. He dixxrted it enough south to miss the house. Every other street running east was correspondingly di\'erted and the north and south streets left north and south. And today every street from Gay to the railroad and east of Holden street runs at an angle southeast and no lot in this territory has a square corner.

The general tendency of business was toward Xew Town ami when the railroad was built and the depot established here, practically the entire business district was established in that \icinity. This was in 1845.

Fires. - ]\lost of the business buildings were frame. Among the first merchants to establish themselves in Xew Town prior to 1865 were ^ling & Cruce, Henry Xeill. A. H. Gilkeson & Co.. Henry Bros., and De Garmo. Schmidlap & Co. All these business houses and a large part of the town were burned December 24. 1866.

On Xovember 29. 187.5. another lire destroyed the hotel, several business places and cost the lives of three persons. Since then, with the business district chiefly brick and stone, tliere have been no such fires.

Early Hotels. - The first hotel in was built in 1837 by Young E. W. Berry. It was located on the north side of the public square in Old Town and was a small log house of si.x or seven rooms. He sold it in 1840 to John ]\Iayes, and he in 1842 sold to Joseph AIcLeary.

and he in 1856 to John D. Smith. Smith improved it and called it the Mansion House. At the breaking out of the war, Smith died and the hotel was closed.

The second hotel, also log, was opened in 1841 by Zacariah T. Davis on the southeast side of the public square. Da\'is ran the place for about six or sex'en years, when he sold it to W. H. Anderson, who afterward rented it to Daniel Rentch. Anderson finally sold it to Thomas Ingle, who kept hotel here during the war, and was succeeded by Col. J. D. Eads. In 1876 he sold it to the Germania Club.

The third hotel was built by James Bolton in 1857 on the soutii side of the public square in Old Town. In 1861, it was taken by the soldiers and used for a hospital and guard house all during the war. It practically marked the end of the hotel business in Old Town.

The first hotel in New Town was in 1865, when the Redford House was built south of the Missouri Pacific railroad ilepot. This was destroyed by fire in 1868 and the Simmons Hotel was built on its site. This was finally Isought by Mr. J. N. Christopher and ct)nverted into the town's first school dormitory, the Young ^^'omen's Christian Association building, and is successfully running now.

In 1870, a building at the southeast corner of Holden and Culton streets was erected for the Cumberland Presbyterian church. In 1875,. it was bought by A. W. Ridings & Company and enlarged for a hotel. A little later it was bought by Mrs. J. D. Eads, and became for many years the Eads Hole! and only recently was replaced by Cohn's store.

Early Schools, - Maj. N. B. Holden taught what was probably the earliest school here during the winter of 1839-40. He afterward ])ecame prominent in this section. He served in the Mexican War and during the Civil \\'ar was assassinated September 12, 1862.

Joel H. Warren was one of the pioneer teachers of Warrensburg. He was a grandson of Martin Warren, from whom Warrensburg took its name. He studied medicine with Dr. William Calhoun and practiced in Cass county prior to the Civil War. He served in the Union army and after the war practiced medicine at Knob Nostcr for a munl)er of years.

William Harrison .Anderson taught a select or sul)Scription school in Warrensburg in a private house in 1842. 'i4ie instruction given by him included aritlmietic, geogr;iphy, raiding, writing and si)elling. His school mmibered twenty-five ])upils, who i)aiil a tuition of one doll.nr and fifty cents a montii. Air. An(lerst)n later engaged in the grocery business at \\'arrensburg and for a number of years was prominently identified with the commercial dexeloiunent of the city and was the father of Dr. James I. Anderson.

George W. Johnson, a graduate of ^^"illiam Jewel College and a Baptist minister, taught a private school in Old Town from 1857 to 1860. When the war Iiroke out he entered the Confederate army, serving throughout the war. Later he became prominent as an educator in the south and at one time was president of a young ladies" seminar}- at Jackson, Tennessee.

Eliza Thomas, Z. T. Davis and Robert A. Foster were also pioneer teachers of \\'arrensburg. A man named Jewel was teaching liere when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted in the Federal army and was killed during the war.

After the Civil War. - During the Civil War nearly everything in W^arrensburg and Johnson county was at a standstill, building, schools, churches and business generally. After the war everything took a new start. The best pictures of W^arrensburg right after the war are contained in the following interview with Mr. William Lowe, written by W. C. Kapp and printed in the 'A\'arrensburg Star-Journal" of Alay 5, 1916. on the fiftieth anniversary of Mr. Lowe's residence in Warrens- 1)urg, and in the address of Maj. E. A. Nickerson at the dedication of the Odd Fellows Hall. November 12, 1917. Mr. Lowe said: "When I came, there was only one passenger train a day. It left St. Louis at 8 o'clock in the morning, struggletl along wit): wood fuel, managing to get to Jefferson City for dinner. The train would make Sedalia in time for supper and my recollection is that we got to A\'arrensburg about 8 in the evening - just 12 hours after we pulled out of St. Louis. The fare from St. Louis here was $12.50. I think there were about 1,000 people here then and fully a third of them were negroes. I stopped the first night over in the west part of Old Town. I remember when I got up next morning I saw a regular procession of negroes going by and I asked the folks if the whole population were colored folks. They explained to me that there had been a soldiers' camp in a field west of town. The soldiers had built a lot of huts for winter quarters and when they left these the negroes took possession - that's how that section of \\'arrensburg came to be called 'nigger town' and it is the favorite negro haunt vet.

"I can think of only one business man who was in business then - Uncle Ike Rogers had a harness shop in Old Town when I arrived, and he is here yet. Then there's Major Nickerson, Judge Brown, Sandy Lobban, Doctor Griggs, W. E. Crissey, John Scroggs, Tom Lawlor, Bob Mears, Clint Middleton and probably others. Oh, yes. Orl Stillwell was here. Orl wasn't selling autos then, he was selling clothing for Sam Rosenthal, a brother of Henry.

"How big was the town then? Well, I might say it was bounded by the railroad on the south. Gay street on the north, Holden street on the east, and Old Town on the west. There were five or six houses east of Holden street, likely, but Gay and Holden streets were about the limit. The whole third ward was a brush patch. In 1868 I built the first house in the third ward. It stood where Frank Ross now lives.

"Holden street stopped at North street. If you wanted to go north you had to go to Old Town and take tlie old Lexington road. If you wanted to go south, you had to cross the railroad at the depot - there were no bridges.

"There was a daily stage line to Lexington and also to Clinton and one could travel north and south from \\'arrensburg even better than we can today.

"What improvements did we have then? Nothing at all, except a lot of cheap frame buildings. There wasn't a brick house in New Town, and no bank until the fall of 1866. As for streets, all we had was the brush cut away so wagons could get along. Our business houses were all on West Pine street in the block between Nathan's corner and the Ross store. There were one or two little shacks on Holden street. They had made a little fill on Holden street in front of where Cohn's store is and that made a fine fish pond where the Cohn building stands. It was at least ten feet deep.

"As for morals, Warrensburg was decidedly western then, and had plenty of saloons. Almost every store had a jug in the back room to treat customers. We had two little churches, and nary a school house. The first school house here was f(ir colored peciiile : it was l>ui!t in 1867 I)y the Freedmen's Aid Society. The Reece school was built 'in 1868. I built the Foster school in 1870, and streets not graded. Old Town had the court house, the postoffice, and all the lawyers. But of course everything gradually drifted to New Town.

"As for rents, wages, etc., in 1866 rents were higher than now; a two-room house would rent for $15 a month, four-rooms for $30. Clothes were three times higher than now: overalls, $3 a pair; shoes, double; flour, $10 a 100. Lumber was $5 per 100 and higher. All improvements were the very cheapest because everybody expected to go back east as soon as they got rich or skinned the other fellow. But a few of us are here yet and our record is open to the public.

"T am doing business at the old stand where I located in 1868. I have sold lumber to several fourth generations. To the Harrison family I have sold to the fifth generation, 1 have seen the town of Warrensburg grow from a typical Western hamlet to the little city of modern proportions. I have liad the satisfaction of seeing all the saloons go, and a city of schools take their place."

"The New Town was commenced at the foot of Holden street where a little wooden passenger and freight depot stood on the Missouri Pacific railway where the passenger depot now stands, and a string of one-story wooden store-houses straggled along on West Pine street. There were no houses south of the railway except a small frame hotel that stood on the corner where the Young Women's Christian Association building now stands. An ordinary country road ran up a steep hill to South street, and then ran southeast across the grounds where the Normal School buildings now stand, to Maguire stteet, which was then the main road to Clinton, and from South street onward towards the south there were no streets but all was brush and woods.

"I built my residence in the woods and when I went to see the workmen, my only road was the center of Holden street along the surveyor's line, a cut of four feet with a thick brush on either side, to the place where the work was being done.

"The political and social condition of the place was in a state of civil chaos. The camp gangs that had followed in the wake of both armies lingered around and about the place, many of them having their homes in this county, rode from Texas to Iowa, robbing the people of their property and murdering strangers from other states who came to buy land and settle amongst us. When thes-e roving criminals were in Texas they claimed to be Confederate soldiers, and when they were in Iowa they passed as discharged soldiers from the Union army. When any of the gang was in \\'arrensburg they made their headquarters at a grog shop kept by an old man whom they affectionately called 'Uncle Billy,' and when they imbibed their Uncle Billy's fire water and got drunk they ranged the streets of the town and shot it up in true cowboy's style; they urged their horses into the store rooms, discharged their fire arms and terrorized the owners and their clerks. When they met a man who had a good horse, mule or saddle, they forced an exchange for their worthless trappings and overridden, broken-down stock, at the point of the pistol, and if they resisted they insulted and beat their victim. They dominated the town in every way, and by their criminal, brutal force made W'arrensburg an unfit place for human habitation."

Churches. - The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was the earliest organization of any church in Warrensburg. A small class was established in 1848. In 1856 a building was put up. and in 1862 it was burned. Regular services began again in 1870. under Rev. C. C. Woods, and have been continued since. The present building was dedicated in August, 1908.

[Note: Full accounts of each church are given in the chapters on churches. The following is a list of them with dates of organization, etc. arranged in chronological order.]

The Baptist church was organized in February. 1850. by Elders J. Farmer, D. W. Johnson, W. P. C. Caldwell and Amos Horn, in the Masonic Hall in Old Town, Membership was scattered during the Civil War; reorganized thereafter, and then progressing steadily since. The present building was erected in 1903.

The Presbyterian church was organized j\lay 30. 1852. by Rev. A. V. C. Schenck and Elder L. Green. Met regularly during the Civil War, and in 1873 built a fine new brick church. United July 11. 1906 with those members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church that approved the union of the two churches. Built their present Iniilding in 1910.

The Christian church was organized in 1859. and reorganized January 11, 1868. Church erected in 1867 on south side of Gay street between Washington avenue and Warren street. Present building erected.

Tlie Methodist church was organized August 3, 1865, Idv Rev. J. \\'esley Jolmson. Brick church huih in 1S71 and present church in 1893. both on the same site.

The Catliolic cluircli was organized in 1866 by Fatlier Calmer, of Sedalia. First mass was held on the first Sunday after Christmas, in 1866, in the cimrch 1>uilding. Present building corner-stone laid in 1883 and completed in 1886.

The Cumberland Presbyterian church was organized Septeml)er 23, 1866. First pastor was Rev. J. B. Morrow. Meetings were hekl at different places, including the Presbyterian church, until their first church was built in 1875. Present Imilding was erected.

The Episcopal church, Christ Church j^arish, was organized in April, 1868, by Rev. W. H. D. Hatton. Inrst frame cliurch was built in 1872. Present building completed in 1900.

The Evangelical Association was organized in 1869. Rev. ]\I. Alspaugh was. the first minister. It bought and rededicated the old Presbyterian church on north side of Gay street between Washington and Warren streets in 1873 Present building was erected.

The Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints was organized February 21, 1893, northwest of Warrenslnirg. Dedicated their present church in Warrensburg, May 7, 1916.

The Christian Science Society is represented in Johnson county and in 1916 permanently established itself in its o\\n building in \\^arrensburg at Culton and Miller streets.

The Brethren church of \^'arrensburg was organized in 1914. The members originally all belonged to the church two miles south of Warrensburg, and built in town for their con\-enience, as their numbers increased.

Of the Negro churches, tiie Baptist church was organized 1864, the Methodist in 1866. The African Methodists and Colored Methodists also have church organizations here.

Cemeteries. - The old cemetery contained four acres and was laid out in 1840 by the county; bought from Martin \\'arren by the county, and used as a county burying ground. The first person buried there was I. Davenport, and his gra\-e markerl b}' slal) of red sandstone about four by eighteen inches. Tlie inscription was "Dead. F Davenport, Nov., in 1840," roughly cut as l)y an a.xe. Some other early inscriptionswere :

The new cemetery was laid out in 1868, by G. W. Colbern, and was his own property till he gave it to the city in 1880. The first person buried there was the infant, John Miller, Jr., aged eight months, son of John Miller.

Schools After the Civil War. - The schools of \Varrensburg were practically at a standstill during the period of the Civil \A'ar, from 1861 to 1865. After the war, the public school system received prompt attention and W'arrensburg soon gained a reputation throughout the state for the high standard of its schools. The first substantial public school was built in 1845 in Old Town.

^^'arrensburg was organized into a separate school district April 18, 1866. The names of the first school officers to serve under the new organization were: A. \Y. Reese, president: !\Ielville U. Foster, secretary; Jehu H. Smith, treasurer: Elias Stilhvell, John Rogers and Nelson Dunbar.

The new school board immediately organized the school system on a substantial basis, provided ample accommodations and procured competent teachers. The principal teachers selected were Rev. Matthew Bigger and S. L. Mason for the white schools, and Rev. M. Henry Smith for the colored schools. Each was paid $100 a month.

The first high school was started in 1870. The present high school building was erected in 1896 and its first class was graduated in 1897. At first the work consisted of a two-years course. In 1898 this was changed to the three-years course and in 1904 to a four-year course. In 1907 it became a first-class high school, receiving full credit by the State University. Its graduates are admitted to the State University as freshmen and to the State Normal School as juniors.

The school is well equipped and gives the choice of Latin and English courses. The complete list of coures given is as follows: English, 4 years: Latin, 4 years; mathematics, 4 years - advanced arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry; history, 4 years - ancient, mediaeval and modern, English, American (and government) ; physical sciences, 3 years - physics, physical geography, botany and zoology.

Mills. - The first mill in Warrenshurg was built about 18.=;r,, l)y \\illiam Dougherty about a half mile southwest of Old Town. It was a large three-story brick building, with stone around lower story and two run of burs. This mill was kept running during the war. though several times the soldiers took all his grain. After the war he sold to his brother-in-law. John Smith, who ran two or three years and then mo\-ed the mill to Holden, where it was running successfully in 1880.

The "Eureka Mills." well known to many of us. was built in 1867 by Land. Fike and Company. It was one of the largest mills in the \\'est, costing $40,000. Eleven hands were kept at work, besides eight or ten coopers making barrels for them, and shipped an average of a carload of 125 barrels daily. (See history of \\'. L. Hyer, who was with this establishment from an early day. ) The Roseland Company now owns the property.

The ^^'arrensburg Grain Ele\'ator & Mill was built in 1869 ])y S. M. and E. C. Fitch. It has had many changes, was destroyed b\' fire, but its successor is still doing a large and increasing business at the same place. (See history of Jesse J. Culp.)

The Magnolia yUW was completed October, 1879. and owned by \\'. H. Hartman and Isaac ]\Iarkward. It has had very few changes of ownership, has greatly increased in size and business, and is nowowned by the Alagnolia Milling &: In\-estment Company, a corporation in which Messrs. Daniel Bullard and H. F. Kirk are the active members. It is the only mill now in Warrenshurg making flour, making one brand, the Crystal, w-hich is \-ery unusual and normally can always sell more than they can manufacture.

1. The AA'arrensburg Brew-ery established in 1865 by Philip Gross; made as high as 2.000 barrels of beer annually: was burned down by the temperance forces in 1873: relniilt. and iinally last operated about 1910 by Mr. Murche.

3. The foundry of David and W. Y. Urie, founded in 1874. ran on A\ est Pine street, and used to make up 250,000 pounds of iron a year. .Mr. William Urie, the last proprietor, nioyed to Kansas City some time in tlie eighties.

The first agricultural fair was held in 1857, on the ground owned by Col. Ben W. Grover and close to the house. It was soon moyed to twenty acres just south of town, run successfull}- till the war, reorganized after the war, and $15,000 spent in improvements: failed financially, and the grounds bought by Drummond & Bros., who did a fine molasses business there. Subsequently fairs were held and race tracks built northwest of town, north of Electric Springs, there abandoned, then south of town between Holden and Maguire streets and there abandoned finally a few years ago.

The Enoch Clark Library ^^^as founded in 1875 by a contribution from Enoch Clark of $200 on condition that the citizens would raise a like amount. They did so, and a good liljrary was established. It was burned January 10, 1877, insurance used to ]:)uy new books and reopened with 5S2 books besides papers.

Postoffice. - Warrensburg postof^ce was established in 1836. John Evans, a bachelor, was the first postmaster. The headquarters in the early days were in the various stores, and so continued for many years after the war. The chief mail from the east arrix'ed late in the e\ening, ;md the writer remembers as a boy joining in a nightly procession of the citizens, most of them with lanterns, to the store where the postoffice was kept. While the mail was being distri]:>uted in the proper boxes, the crowd gradually increased and soon became a yery gay and neighborly party. This store was always distinctly the social center of the town. A marked deterioration was noticeable, however, when they took the postoffice out of the friendly setting of the store and put it in a liuilding by itself. Tlien carriers were appointed and matters became worse - we didn't have to go for the mail at all. Finally the present, big. hard, business-like government building was secured, and that was the crushing blow. The postoffice, as a social institution, became absolutely extinct.

City delivery was estahlislied in 1899. The first carriers were: William T. \"anMatre, Mark Baldwin and Alpheus Adams. The present carriers are: Aubrey I"". Smithson, George F. McMahan. James A. Fickas and Carl L. Schafi'er.

The old Johnson Count}- History's comments on the enormous postal business in 1880, as follow: "Eight vears ago, 20,000 three-cent stamps were ordered each ciuarter: now 30,000 is hardly enough." Today, there were sold in 1917 $20,000 wo'rth of stamps, or the equivalent of 660,000 three-cent stamps, besides $9,000 worth of stamps to the other seventeen postoffices in the county. In 1917, 9,000 money orders were issued of $36,699.94, and 4,500 paid of $27,748.88. (The excess represents chiefly purchases of merchandise from houses outside of the county. )

Incorporation. - A\'arrenslnirg was incorporated by the Eegislature, November 23. 1855. On the first Monday of .\pril, 1856, the first town election was held. A\'illiam L. Poston, Sr., Daniel Rentch and Flezekiah E. Depp were judges. The following were elected: John l-'oushee, mayor: William H. Anderson, A\'illiam Calhoun, .\lcxander Marr, and James M. Bratton, councilmen. The first council meeting was at the court house, April 9, 1856. Dr. William Calhoun was elected president pro tempore. Marsh Foster was appointed clerk and Paschal Cork, constable.

Early Men and Things of Warrensburg Living Today. - Careful inquiry seems to give the lionor of priority to the following of \\'arrensburg's institutions and people.

Buildings. - The oldest building is the old court house in Old Town, no\\' occupied as a residence by Mr. \\'. O. Da\is. the best-known citizen of Old Town. It was completed about 1842. The next was the next house \\-est of the Reese school, a two-story frame house, which Daniel Rentch had built. Then came the brick house just south of the court house on the west side of ?\lain street, built by William Harrison Anderson; then the brick house on the north side of Gay street just east of Main street, now the residence of Mr. S. B. McMahan; then the brick house on the east side of Main street just north of Gay street and once occupied by \\'. H. Colbert, and then the Ijrick house just opposite on the west side, formerly occupied as a dentist's office by Doctor \\'illiams. The above order is given by Miss Catherine Rentch. daughter of Daniel Rentch. who remembers the buildin,g of all these houses exce])t the court house and the frame house, and is confirmed by Air. \\'. O. Davis. Mr. Moody and others.

on the north side of Gay street east of Hohlen street (now the residence of -Mr. and Airs. Henry E. Griffith), in 1858. Other houses built before the war were Capt. H. C. Pike's house ^ which was used as a smallpox hospital during the war), and also the second and third houses west from Holden street on the north side of Gay street ( now occupied l)y Messrs. Joseph McJMeekin and Leslie Hutchens, respectively), and the house at 310 ^^'est Gay street, built by old Mrs, Marr.

Men and Women. - Of the business men "Ike" Rogers and Dan Williams are the oldest. They were both here before the war. Mr. \\i\- liams came in 1857 and Mr. Rogers in 1858. (The fact that both are pioneer harness men seems to indicate a distinct advantage in associating with good leather). Those after the war are given in Mr. Lowe's interview preceding.

The person who has resided in town the longest seems to be David P. AVoodruff. who was born in \\'arrenshurg. .\ugust 12. 1842. He is now city clerk and active and well. !Mrs. Martha Statiey. now aged eighty-five years, came here with her father, Daniel Rentch, about 1845 or 1846. Mrs. Nannie Rose, widow of Lafayette Rose, is sevent\'-six years old and remembers coming here when she was six years old. which would make her advent 1848. Mrs. A. H. Gilkeson (mother of Mrs. W. L. Hedges, Dr. H. P. Gilkeson, and John M. Gilkeson, all living in this county) came here in 1851, and is now over eighty years of age.

In the younger set of genuine natives, come Mel. P. Moody and John M. Crutclifield. Mr. Crutchfield was born here in 1858. and Mr. Moody claims he chose A^'arrensburg as his birlhiilace in 1854, though he refuses to confirm this l:>y his actions or looks. 14iose two remarkable women. Miss Kitty Rentch and Miss Lizzie Gro\er, both arrived in this world in W'arrensburg before the war. Miss Lizzie remembers going to Doctor Williams' office to have a tooth pulled before the war. and Miss Kitty was an associate of Mr. Moody's, and Jolm J. and A\'il]iam S. Cockrell (the writer's half-brothers), who wore l)orn in 1855 ;ind 1857, respectively. These two spinsters, botli of unusual character and ability, have (possibly through keeping themselves clear of incumbrances) for a long time been, and still are, two of the town's most capable and cheerful citizens.

Additional, and very interesting- detailed information about the town is given by the United States Census for 1910. According to it, there were 1.209 dwellings in town and 1.236 families living in them. There were 144 people ten years old and o\er who could not read or write. These were chiefl}- negroes - 92 negroes, and 52 whites. Among the 144 were 66 men o\'er 21 years old. There were 1,289 persons between six and twenty vears of age. of whom 1,012 were attending scliool. The following are the tables in full :

The Warrensburg Commercial Club prior to 1910 had existed for sixteen years, under the name of the "AVarrensburg and Johnson County Board of Trade." Its first president was Charles Shepard, who continued in that capacity until tiie re-organization. The first secretary was Frank Lunlieck. Tiie minutes of the "Board of Trade" have Ijeen lost and definite information as to the work of the Ijodv cannot be given, but it may lie claimed tliat it was responsilile for tlie building of the present court house. It was composed of the leading men of Warrensburg and labored for the best interests of the city. The Board of Trade was re-organized in January, 1910, its name was changed to the Warrensburg Commercial Club and the following officers and directors were chosen : John Thrailkill, president ; Jesse J. Culp, vice-president; George G. Gilkeson. treasurer; AV. E. Suddath, secretary, and J. H. Scarborough, P. D. Finch, Theo. S. Shock, John Thrailkill. Jesse J. Culp, George G. Gilkeson and W. E. Suddath. directors. New and commodious rooms were fitted up in the second story of the Johnson building on the corner of Holden and East Pine streets. During the past year the cluli has stood behind all worthy enterprises of tlie city.

It helped in the organization of the Johnson County Poultry Show and was instrumental in securing the meeting of the Grand Army of the Republic in Warrensburg. Its most important work has been that of encouraging street paving, four miles of which have been accomplished through its efforts. It has been behind all l)eneficial legislation and has taken the initiative in many improvements. The success of the "Korn Karnival" was mainly through its efforts.

The club is now fighting the increase of light rates, making the telephone companies lay the wires underground, and have made the railroads keep up the bridges, paving and crossings. They helped get the county farm agent by pledging themselves for his salarv and guaranteed the support of Miss Moreland, the new food demonstrator.

The membership of the club embraces the leading business men of Warrensburg and it is a power for the upbuilding of the city. There are 100 members. The present officers are: President, Harvey Clark; secretary, Chester Ossingham : treasurer, E. N. Johnson.