City Hall

In the year 1857 a company of enterprising gentlemen purchased a tract of land on the west boundary of Holt County, adjoining the Missouri river, for the purpose of laying out a town site. Eoads were already in existence leading from the point selected in all directions and to every important settlement in the county. These roads in connection with the Missouri river which here aftbrded agood landing, lead the company to expect that their town once started would soon control a large portion of the produce trade of the county. With this view the tract of land was surveyed and the first lot sale took place on the 15th day of May, 1857. Forest City was in existence - stores and dwellings sprung up rapidly, and the expectations of the company were more than realized. Forest City became at once the mart for the principal part of the produce of the county. Hundreds of waggons brought in the hemp and corn raised in every neighborhood, and no obstacle seemed likely to prevent Forest City from becoming one of the leading trading points in North West Missouri. The rebellion broke out ; it had here as everywhere else where it was a reality, a blighting effect ; it had this effect on Forest City. Two fifths of the original inhabitants of Holt county were in sympathy with the rebellion, the most of these left the county (luring that period but few of whom have ever returned ; Tvhilst the majority of the able bodied Union men were enlisted in the Union armies. Agriculture was neglected - trade was nominal ; and as the county did not improve, certainly the towns could not prosper. But the war ended, trade slowly revived and Forest City began to resume her old place in the trade. Now the railroad from St. Joseph to Council Bluffs is completed running through Forest City, and has opened for us and brought us in connection with two of the best markets in the United States, during every season of the year : further, it has opened for us the Great West.

Passage source: Holt County, Its Soil, Climate, and the Advantages It Offers to Immigration .., published 1869.

The only town in Forest Township is Forest City, which for many years has been one of the most important shipping points on the main line of the C. B. & Q. Railroad between St. Joseph and Omaha. It is connected with Oregon, the countyseat by interurban road, a complete history of which will be found in the chapter devoted to railroads. For many years, practically all the merchandise sold in the southern part of the county, was distributed from Forest City. Before the railroad was built, the town was an important point for Missouri River steamboats.

Passage source: History of Holt County, Missouri : from the Time of the Platte Purchase to the End of the Year 1916 : Preceded by a Short History of Missouri : Supplemented by Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens, published 1917.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Forest Township - 7,475 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.