Randolph County, Missouri - Chapter 17: Townships, Continued Huntsville and Salt Spring Township, 1920

Chapter 17: Townships, Continued Huntsville and Salt Spring Township

SALT SPRING TOWNSHIP. HUNTSVILLE: LOCATION OF COUNTr SEAT - NAMED AFTER DANIEL HUNT, ONE OF THE DONORS - OTHER DONORS - FIRST SALE OP LOTS - PIONEER BUSINESSMEN - EXTRACT FROM MISSOURI GAZETTEFIRST LODGES - FIRST CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL - OPERA HOUSE - TOWN INCORPORATED - FIRST MAYOR - PUBLIC SCHOOL - CITY AND SCHOOL OFFICERS - TEACHERS - MT. PLEASANT COLLEGE - OFFICERS - FIRST FAIR - LIBRARY - FIRST COURT HOUSE - SECOND COURT HOUSE.

Salt Spring is one of the original four townships of Randolph County, and is one of the most wealthy, populous, and influential of the eleven townships into which the county is now divided. It also has the distinction of being the capital township, Huntsville, the county seat, being within its limits. Geographically, Salt Spring is almost central to the county boundaries, and contains 31,040 acres.

Topographically, the lands of this township are gently undulating, assuring fine drainage, and are of every desirable adaptation, whether for pasturage and the various grasses, or the more active cultivation of wheat, corn, rye, oats, potatoes and the several root crops.

It can hardly be said with propriety that the township contains any prairie lands proper. In the matter of timber and woodlands it was richly provided, about one-third of its acreage being clothed with forests of white, red, black, burr, swamp and pin oak, hickory, walnut, maple, elm and sycamore.

As will readily be conjectured, the township name. Salt Spring, has a local significance. It is so called from the existence within its limits.

Pltblic Library, Huntsvillb, Mo Public School, Huntsville, Kg

and some three miles southwest of Huntsville, on the Hne of the Wabash Railway, of a salt spring, or well, of considerable volume, at which, in the early history of the county, the pioneer settlers, by primitive processes, manufactured their supplies of salt. The first systematized salt works at this place were established and operated by Dr. William Fort, at a very early day, who not only supplied the demand of the region immediately round about, but who also sent large supplies of salt to various points on the Mississippi and elsewhere equally remote.

It is amongst the traditions of the people, that, at an early day, this spring, or well, served not alone the purposes mentioned, but was then, as it is now reputed to be, a fountain of healing, in the use of whose waters health and rejuvenation came to many hapless victims to acute and chronic rheumatism, and other kindred physical ailments.

This township is also well supplied with water, having the East fork of the Chariton River, with Its several small tributaries, cutting it almost centrally from the northeast to the southwest, and with Sweet Spring creek flowing along its entire southern boundary. Of flowing springs there are but few, wells and cisterns being relied upon for drinking and general domestic purposes.

Salt Spring township is rich in coal beyond its sister townships of the county; and from this source is now, and for several years past, has been realizing much profit. Of well developed coal workings, there are several prosperous mines in the township which produce large quantities of coal and give employment to hundreds of men.

The oldest coal banks were opened by J. C. Chapman and David Reece. G. W. Taylor, I. Cook, William Mitchell, J. A. Stewart, and Anderson & Co. had drift mines at an early day.

John Sutliff operated a woolen mill here in the early days and there were three tobacco factories in Huntsville. Two of these were owned by W. T. Rutherford and E. E. Samuel, Jr., and the other by Miss Bernice Morrison, of St. Louis. HuntsviUe was the second largest leaf tobacco market in the State, and generally shipped from two and a half to three millions of pounds per annum.

The first settlers of Salt Spring township were generally from Kentucky, as will be seen from the list of names given below: From Kentucky came Henry Lassiter, Henry Winbum, Valentine Mays, Neal Murphy, Clark Skinner, Benjamin Skinner, Joseph M. Hammett, William Fray, Blandermin Smith, Robert Sconce, William Baker, Charles Baker, Joseph

M. Baker, Christly Baker, Jeremiah Summers, Archibald Rutherford, William Rutherford and Shelton Rutherford. John Read came from North Carolina. Tolman Gorham came from Tennessee, as did also Thomas Gorham, Sr., Thomas J. Gorham and Dr. William Fort. James Cochrane, John Welden, Jeremiah Summers, William Elliott, Robert Elliott, Joseph Holman, William Cunningham and Abraham Goodding were other early settlers.

Dr. William Fort, above named, together with Tolman Gorham, opened and operated the salt works, which were then located at what is now known as the Medical Springs, in Randolph County. They began making salt in 1823, and continued to supply a wide scope of country, extending many miles in almost every direction, for many years.

The doctor was the first physician to locate in the county, and being one of the oldest citizens of the county, we here insert the following which was published at the time of his death:

Another of the strong and notable men of the pioneer life of Missouri has been called to his reward in the person of Dr. William Fort, of Randolph County, who died at the residence of his son, Henry T. Fort, near Huntsville, without a struggle, and from exhaustion and old age, on August 23, 1881, aged 88 years.

The deceased was born in Nashville, Tennessee, October 19, 1793, and was a soldier in the War of 1812, under Gen. Jackson. After the close of the war and on March 14, 1815, he niarried Miss Patsy Gorham, who with four of their six children survive him.

In 1820, a year before the state was admitted into the Union, he emigrated with his young family to Missouri and settled in Randolph County and on the farm on which he was buried.

He was a member of the first county court of Randolph County, and during his life was elevated by his fellow-citizens to seats in both branches of the General Assembly, always discharging his official trusts, as he did his personal and professional obligations, with fidelity, promptness and great acceptance to the people, aiding in all the relations of life in laying the foundations of the great Commonwealth of which he was always so justly proud.

He was a Democrat of the school of Jefferson and Jackson and during the latter years of Senator Benton's career, a leader in the state of the anti-Benton forces and contributed not a little by his influence in the final overthrow of Benton's power in Missouri.

Dr. Fort was a man of the most exemplary private life; took the right side of all the moral questions of the day, and being fearless as well as discreet in the proclamation of his opinion, left the world the better that he had lived in it. Decided in his convictions of public policy, he was conservative without being tame and tolerant of opinions differing from his own. In short, he was a strong character and has left his impress on his generation.

Hunts Ville

Huntsville is well located upon an elevated and healthful plateau, on the north side of the Wabash Railroad on sections 25 and 36, just a little west of the center of the county.

On the 5th of January, 1831, the first steps were taken towards locating the county seat at Huntsville, by the appointment of Robert Wilson, commissioner. The tract or tracts which comprised the original town site were donated to the county by William Goggin, Gideon Wright, Daniel Hunt and Henry Winbum, and the county surveyor was immediately ordered to lay off the land and make a plat thereof. Each of these donations consisted of 121/4 acres, which formed an exact square, the dome of the court house being the centre.

Daniel Hunt, one of the donors above named, was the first settler, locating, however, but a little while in advance of the other three. These men were from Kentucky. The town was called Huntsville in honor of Daniel Hunt, the first settler.

The first sale of lots took place in the follovdng April and included! all of them with the exception of those from number 94 to 99 inclusive,, reserved for court house, lot 155 for jatl lot, and also nurnber 32, which it was then thought necessary to hold back for a market house. The market house lot was subsequently sold. The highest price then paid for lots was $115. Some of the lots sold as low as $3.25, which are very valuable property now.

The original town site of Huntsville was doubtless covered with timber, judging from the following order which was made by the ajunty court when the town was located:

Ordered: That all persons cutting timber in the streets of Huntsville are required to leave the stumps not more than one foot in height, and to clear all timber so cut, together with the brush.

The pioneer business men of Huntsville were Davis and Currin, to whom were issued the first tavern license, granted by the county court in 1829. Their place of business was at the house of William Goggin, Daniel G. Davis and Waddy T. Currin. The next merchants were Garth and Giddings, Dabney C. Gartha and Brack Giddings. These gentlemen were from Virginia. Garth represented the county in the Legislature.

Then came Fielding, Clinton and Grundy Cockerill, who did a general merchandise business under the firm name of Cockerill & Co. Joseph C. Dameron commenced the mercantile business in the spring of 1835, and in 1842 he brought the first piano to the county, its strange and inspiring notes being the first ever heard among the classic hills of Huntsville.

Conway and Lamb were among the earliest merchants. John F. Riley was the first gunsmith; 0. D. Carlisle was the first saddler; John Gray taught the first school in a log house located on the public square; James C. Ferguson was the first shoemaker; Dr. Waller Head was the first physician to locate in the town. He was a native of Orange County, Virginia, and located in Huntsville in October, 1831, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in August, 1845. Dr. Joseph Rutherford came soon after Head and formed a partnership in the practice of medicine with the latter.

Ned. Goggin (colored) opened the first bakery and after accumulating quite a fortune, he moved to Putnam County, Missouri. Joseph Viley erected the first carding machine and cotton gin in 1834. Joseph C. Dameron opened the first tobacco factory. Dr. J. J. Watts kept the first drug store; William Smith the first livery stable. Gen. Robert Wilson was the first lawyer in the town. He was also the first county and circuit court clerk, and afterwards became a United States Senator from Missouri. Clair Oxley, from Kentucky, was the second lawyer; he afterwards died in Santa Fe, New Mexico. William Goggin erected the first mill in the town at a very early day. It was a horse mill and was operated for nearly 35 years.

Almost simultaneously with the founding of the new town, a few of the old settlers, anxious to amuse themselves, opened a race track near the northwestern portion of the town. Here met the sporting men and lovers of the turf for several years, drawn hither at stated periods to witness the speed of some strange or favorite horse. Among the horses whose popularity has come down to us were "White Stockings" and "Aleck" the former the property of Bart McDameron and the latter the property of Hancock Jackson. In 1837 Alphonso Wetmore, the compiler of the "Gazetteer" of Missouri, said of Huntsville at that date:

Huntsville, the seat of justice of Randolph, is near the center of the county. This town is flourishing and contains a good brick courthouse, seven stores, etc. There is no church in the place, but public worship by all denominations is held in the court house and in the school houses of tiie town and county. This is a fashion throughout Missouri and it seems rational to occupy one house for various purposes in a new . country. While the people are building up their fortunes and erecting private houses at the same time there should be indulgence given until they shall be better able to build temples suited in magnificence to the great Being to whom these will be dedicated.

The first banking enterprise in Huntsville was inaugurated about the year 1866 by William M. Wisdom and Courtney Hughes. It was a private institution and continued until the death of Mr. Hughes, which occurred in 1867. The bank then did business under the name of C. Wisdom & Co., until December 31, 1874, when it was succeeded by the Huntsville Savings Bank, The bank was again changed in 1878, to the private bank of J. M. Hammett & Co., with the following directors and stockholders: F. M. Hammett, president; James W. Hammett, vicepresident; C. H. Hammett, cashier; B. F. Hammett, J. D. Hammett, W. R. Samuel, M. J. Sears, John R. Christian.

Huntsville Lodge No. 30, A. F. and A. M. was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Missouri, October 8, 1840. The following are the only three names of the charter members that appear upon the records : Edward Slater, Fleming Terrill, Thomas P. Coates.

Randolph Lodge No. 23, I. 0. 0. F. was chartered April 29, 1847, and organized and officers installed June 10, 1847, by Grand Master Isaac M. Veitch, of St. Louis, assisted by Clark H. Green, D. D. G. M.

The Huntsville Building and Loan Association was chartered February 17, 1882. The first ofl[icers were William Sandison, president; T. M. Elmore, vice-pi-esident ; C. H. Hammett, treasurer; J. C. Shaefer, secretary.

The Huntsville Missionary Baptist church was organized at the house of Zephaniah Walden, near Huntsville, in August, 1837, with seven constituent members : Theophilus Eddine, Zephaniah Walden and wife, Mary Thomas, Martha Dameron, Benjamin Terrill and James Terrill. The first church house in the town was erected about 1840.

The first additions to the church were J. C. Shaefer and wife, in September, 1837, on letters of commendation from the Baptist church at Charlottesville, Va.

The first Sunday school in the town or county was organized by J. C. Shaefer, in August, 1839, and has been successfully carried on without intermission to the present time. The present superintendent is W. R. Samuel.

The public schools were partially organized in Huntsville some little time after the close of the war, but the organization was not completed until 1877, when a new school building was erected. The building and grounds cost about $3,500. It was a two-story frame structure and contains eight rooms. In 1877, Prof. M. C. McMellen took charge of the school as principal.

Huntsville has in recent years erected a splendid modern school building which is an imposing brick structure with all modern school appliances and equipment.

The Huntsville High School teachers are: Principal, Miss Courtney Jackson; teachers, Miss Sallie Pattison, Miss Frances Robinson, Miss Ollie Woodward, Miss Moselle Densmore.

The grade schools teachers are: 1st grade. Miss Nora Kiernan; 2nd grade. Miss Geraldine Hammett; 3rd grade, Miss Karleen Singleton; 4th grade, Mrs. Lestal Harns; 5th grade. Miss Velva Dunivent; 6th grade. Miss Esther Davies; 7th grade, Miss Anna Pattison; 8th grade, Miss Sarah Rutherford.

In 1853 the citizens of Randolph County, impressed with the need of an institution of learning, and wishing to secure to themselves its benefits, determined to erect suitable buildings at a cost of not less than $10,000. Acting on the advice of Hon. William A. Hall, to put the institution under' the care and patronage of Mount Pleasant Baptist Association, a letter stating the above proposal, signed by William A. Hall, H. Austin and P. P. Ruby, in behalf of the citizens of Randolph County, was addressed to and accepted by the Association, and the institution took the name of the Association. Under this arrangement the money was secured and the building erected. February 28, 1855, the charter was obtained. In 1857, the building having been completed at a cost of $12,500, and a school of 170 pupils under Rev. William Thompson, LL. D., President, and Rev. J. H. Carter, A. B., Professor of Mathematics, and Miss Bettie Ragland, Principal of female department, having been taught with gratifying results one year, the institution was formally tendered by the board of trustees to the Association and accepted ; the Association at the same time promising to endow the college remotely with $25,000, and within two years, with $10,000, appointed Rev. Noah Mood to proceed at once to secure the last named amount, and pledged himself to maintain sufficient and efficient teachers until the $10,000 endowment was secured. Rev. W. R. Rothwell succeeded Dr. Thompson in. the presidency and the college ran till 1861, filling the most sanguine expectations of its friends. President Rothwell gathered quite an extensive library, provided apparatus for chemical, philosophical and astronomical purposes, secured a considerable cabinet of minerals and fossils and established the character and reputation of the college. The War of 1861 crippled the resources of the school, by cutting off students, and a deficit of $580 in teachers' salaries was imposed, which failing to be met by the Association, the trustees of the college let It to President Rothwell, who, at his own risk, and mainly by his own effort, carried the college through the clouds of war into the sunshine of 1868. The school which had hitherto been self-sustaining, or carried by the magnanimity of President Rothwell to 1866, now being cut down by the impoverished and unsettled state of the country, made a move for an endowment a necessity, and the call became imperative. The board of trustees at Mount Gilead church in 1866, with emphasis called upon the Association to redeem her past pledges for endowment.

Y. R. Pitts and Wade M. Jackson were appointed solicitors to raise $10,000 in twelve months. The next year (1868) the Association at Keytesville, through Y. R. Pitts, reported as endowment:

In 1870, Mount Pleasant Association, wishing further to endow the college and learning that Macon Association was contemplating building a similar institution of learning at Macon City, in the adjoining county, and within 30 miles of Huntsville, proposed to Macon Association to consolidate upon Mount Pleasant College, offering them first, one-half of the board of trustees and second, requiring them to raise $5,000 to be blended with the endowment fund. W. R. Rothwell, Benjamin Terrill, Joshua W. Terrill, W. R. Samuel and W. T. Beckelheimer were appointed a committee with discretionary power to confer with Macon Association. In 1872, Macon Association having canvassed her ability to build, and the proposal of Mount Pleasant Association, agreed by resolution to cooperate with Mount Pleasant Association in building up Mount Pleasant College, when the committee from Mount Pleasant Association guaranteed them one-half of the board of trustees except one, leaving a majority of the board in Mount Pleasant Association. In 1869, Rev. James W. Terrill succeeded President Rothwell. The war being over, confidence restored, and the times being prosperous and inviting, the college with other enterprises, took new life. Added to this. President Terrill brought to the institution a combination of merit, enterprise and energy, rarely found in one man, and in producing a new, popular and successful method of teaching, carried the college to its highest point of success. The question of repaii's, additions and betterments (for the building had been used for military quarters during the war) now arose, and the terms, patronage and success of the school, and the earnest protestations of both Mount Pleasant and Macon Associations, seemed to demand and encourage immediate action in this direction. The trustees concluded to make ample improvement and additions, and to the main building added two wings, running out and back of the. main building, giving in rooms, halls, stairways and closets, a building whose size, arrangement, decoration and stability which would rank with any in the state. Added to this the patronage and liberality of the citizens of Randolph County, and especially the citizens of Huntsville to the institution, which had ever been marked, the board of trustees were induced to build a commodious and tasteful boarding house, three stories, besides the basement. The citizens of Huntsville for this purpose furnished $3,000 cash, by which with a loan on fii'st mortgage, assisted by a loan of $3,500 endowment fund, secured by second mortgage on the building, it was completed.

These buildings and additions were completed in 1871 and a considerable debt incurred. In 1873, the financial trouble which had been threatening overwhelmed the country, and a wave more damaging and blighting than war passed over the college. For two years longer, under President Terrill, it stood bravely on its feet carrying the heavy pressure. But the boarding-house was sold under first mortgage, and failing to bring the debt, the second mortgage, $3,500 endowment fund, was lost and the Jerry Kingsbury bequest, $2,500, being swept away, w?ien the bank failed, and the parties failing to come to time on their notes, from financial embarrassments, the $10,000 endowment was never realized.

In 1876, Rev. M. J. Breaker came to the head of the institution, and like his worthy predecessor, Rothwell, stood by it in a dark hour of peril, and by effort and sacrifice bore her on in her noble mission for three years longer, till March 21, 1879, when a judgment having been obtained against the college for debt, and loooking for the execution to be levied in June following. President Breaker resigned and the school closed - the second time in its existence of 23 years; once before after the close of the war in 1869, under President Rothwell; both times at the spring term.

Mount Pleasant College, during her 23 years of existence, had been presided over by Rev. William Thompson, LL. D., one year; Rev. W. R. Rothwell, D.D., twelve years; Rev. J. W. Terrill, seven years, and Rev. M. J. Breaker, three years; it instructed hosts of youths, turned out 109 graduates, blessed the cause of education, elevated the community, and demonstrated the co-education of the sexes, as t?ie fittest and best.

Worrell, and had charge of the college as its president when the building was destroyed by fire (July 13, 1882). At the time the college building was destroyed there was a debt on it of $3,000, which was paid by the friends of the institution. The Ferguson bequest was known as the (Wiley) Ferguson bequest. All other debts had been secured by a mortgage on the building and grounds, and in order to pay this, the college and grounds were sold in 1883, and were purchased by the court-house building committee.

The board of directors and faculty at the time the college was burned down in 1882, was: H. T. Fort, President; T. B. Kirabrougti, secretary; W. R. Samuel, treasurer; J. D. Brown, Stephen Connor, fessor of Natural Science; Mrs. A. E. Weber, Principal Preparatory and Primary Departments; Mrs. M. E. Lasley, Principal of the Music J. F. Finks, P.. T. Gentry, J. D. Humphrey, G. W. Keebaugh, R. J. Mansfield, W. A. Martin, W. D. Wilhite, Alfred Coulter, W. F. Elliott, J. T. Fort, W. J. Horsley, W. B. McCrary, S. Y. Pitts, T. T. Elliott, J. C. Shaefer. These trustees held the college for the Mount Pleasant Baptist Association. Faculty: - Rev. J. B. Weber, A. M., President, Professor of Greek, Moral Philosophy and English; Miss Nannie L. Ray, B. A., Assistant of Mathematics and Latin; J. B. Weber, Acting Proand Primary Departments; Mfc. M. E. Lasley, Principal of the Music Department.

The first fair was held at Huntsville in the fall of 1854. D. C. Garth was president; Wallace McCampbell, vice-president; William D. Malone, secretary; Robert Y. Gilman, treasurer. The directors were: Dr. W. T. Dameron, James M. Hammett, Col. Thomas P. Ruby, Hon. James F. Wright, F. M. McLean, N. B. Christian. The last fair was held in 1876. The officers were : H. T. Rutherford, president ; J. M. Summers, first vicepresident; F. M. Hammett, second vice-president. The directors were Louis Heether, W. T. Rutherford, James F. Robinson, Capt. Thomas B. Reed, James M. Baker, Neal Holman, G. H. Burckhartt, S. T. Morehead.

The present city officials of Huntsville are: Mayor, Dr. Robert E. Kiernon ; clerk. Ad S. Heether ; treasurer, James C. Lay ; collector, Joseph S. Taylor; attorney, John N. Hamilton; police judge, Wallie H. Sandison; marshal, Stephen W. Jones; health commissioner. Dr. John R. Mabee; engineer, Dallas E. Ingersoll; street commissioner, Kieman Minor; chief of fire department, Kieman Minor.

Huntsville has a public library second to none in a town of its size. The building- is attractive and is a substantial structure. The library is well supplied with books and is well managed.

The contract for building the first court house was let on the 13th of June, 1831, and the building was completed some time in the fall of the next year. It was a brick structure, two stories high, built in a square form, one room below used as the court room and three above used as jury rooms. One of those small rooms was for a number of years used as a Masonic hall and it was there that the first Masonic meeting in Huntsville was held. This building cost $2,400 and it was condemned and torn down in the winter of '58 or the spring of '59.

The second court house was completed in 1860 by Henry Austin, who was the contractor. The building was a two-story brick and cost $15,000. It was burned August 12, 1882. Steps were immediately taken to build another and a third court house was commenced during the fall of 1883 and finished in April, 1884. J. M. Hammett, W. T. Rutherford, E. P. Kerby, John N. Taylor, G. W. Taylor and R. E. Lewis were the contractors and James McGrath of St. Louis was the architect. The building is a two-story brick, contains eleven rooms and cost about $35,000.