Chouteau Springs is an unincorporated community in Pilot Grove Township, Cooper County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. [1]
Chouteau Springs is an unincorporated community in Pilot Grove Township, Cooper County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. [1]
In 1799 Jean Pierre Chouteau and his party of fur traders on an inland excursion from the Missouri River came upon bubbling mineral springs in a valley surrounded by sycamores and elms. The local Osage Indians informed Chouteau of the curative qualities of the mineral water and told him that their braves would often drink from them. Chouteau bartered with the Osage for 30,000 arpens (about 25,000 acres) of what is now called the Chouteau Springs area. The official transaction took place at the Fort of the Osages on March 19, 1799. [2] Chouteau would later sell the 30,000 arpens to William Henry Ashley, Missouri's first Lieutenant Governor (1820-1824) [3] [4]
As early as 1855, the "medicinal qualities" of the water from Chouteau Springs was being touted in newspaper advertisements. [5] R. A Campbell in 1874 wrote regarding the medicinal qualities of Chouteau Springs, "Among the latter the most noted for their medicinal properties are the Chouteau Springs, about 12 miles south-west of Boonville, and near the line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. They are much frequented, and when improved will be a delightful place for summer resort. The medicinal properties of these waters are highly spoken of, and numerous individuals have received great benefit from their use." [6]
On October 12, 1864, 10p.m., Major General Sterling Price marched his Confederate troops from Boonville to Chouteau Springs, a distance of about 11 miles, where they camped briefly on their way to eventually being routed in Westport (Kansas City) by the Union forces and driven into Kansas. [7] Local resident Maria Eva (Martin) Day recalled that when she was about 16 years old and the Confederate soldiers of Generals Price and Shelby were camped out in Chouteau Springs: "One time I remember well the bushwackers and guerillas took everything we had, even the sauerkraut, and carried it away in their handkerchiefs and in paper. At those times, young girls would not dare to walk anywhere by themselves, and we used to ride horseback, and when we passed the camps we would ride as hard as we could and sing 'Way Down In Dixie.' The bushwackers and guerillas killed and took away much of the farmers' food, livestock, and poultry." [8]
In 1870, St. Martin's Catholic Church, an 18x24 log structure, was built in Chouteau Springs on 1.5 acres of land donated by Daniel Martin, called "Martinsville." [9] A larger frame structure church was built on the same grounds in 1877 and in 1908 a solid red brick church was built on 2.25 acres donated by Anton Joseph Wesselman. The third church was about 1/4 mile north of the Chouteau Springs KATY railroad station. In 1920 St. Martin's Parochial School was built next to the brick church. [10] One hundred years after the first church was built in 1870, the Diocese closed down St. Martin's Church and School in 1970. St. Martin's Cemetery (Chouteau Springs "Martinsville") is located on the eastern rim of Chouteau Springs 38°55′01″N92°52′40″W / 38.9169006°N 92.8778000°W . Cemetery records are regularly surveyed. [11]
In 1877, a 4-story frame hotel 190 x 45 ft. was built in Chouteau Springs for about $25,000 with C. B. Lakin of Kansas City as the architect. It had a passenger elevator, steam bath, speaking tubes, hardwood, stained glass. [12] In 1906, there was a hotel in Chouteau Springs called the "Hotel Brown". [13]
Arguably the most beloved hotel operator in Chouteau Springs was Maria Eva (Martin) Day, affectionately known as "Grandma" Day. After her husband John Adam Day died in 1911, she solely operated Day Hotel for 18 years, charging $4.50 per week for lodging and 25 cents per meal. Her renowned specialty was fried chicken because as she said, "Yes, that's what people like best." [14] Grandma Day died in 1937 at 89 years of age. [15]
In 1882, citizens of Boonville seriously considered piping Chouteau Springs mineral water from Chouteau Springs to Boonville, a distance of about ten miles. [16] By the late 1880s, Chouteau Springs Resort had several turreted structures (gazebos) from which to obtain the mineral water, a large dancing pavilion, a pool, and ample picnic grounds. Families from St. Louis and beyond would spend a week or more at Chouteau Springs Resort. [17]
Fox hunts [18] were also conducted at Chouteau Springs Resort. [19]
Chouteau Springs was officially platted in 1886 beside a mineral spring, [20] and named after Jean Pierre Chouteau, the original owner of the town site. [21]
In 1887, an electric railroad] from Boonville to Chouteau Springs was proposed. [22] It was never built.
In 1889, Nick, John and Leonard Smith sunk a shaft south of Chouteau Springs, seeking gold. [23]
The U.S. Post Office "Chouteau" [24] was established in 1890 and remained in operation until 1896. [25] The following were appointed as U.S. Postmasters of the Chouteau post office: Homer Edson (appointed 18 June 1890), George Gross (23 January 1891), Benj Bowles (11 September 1891), Hiram Shrout (9 July 1892), Mary Shrout (16 June 1893). Chouteau post office responsibilities reverted to Lamine on 4 January 1896. [26]
In 1900, Eugene A Windsor purchased Chouteau Springs Park Resort from James E. Young of Kansas City, Kansas. [27] Everett Spry was manager of Chouteau Springs Resort from about 1917 to 1932. [28]
By 1907, KATY Railroad was making multiple stops in Chouteau Springs. [29]
Melton (1937, p. 159) noted the following about the Chouteau Springs Grade School: "DISTRICT 18, CHOUTEAU, is taught by Miss Florence Stoecklein. Members of the board are: President, John S. Davis; Herman Lammers and John Schuster. Henry Brownfield is clerk. Pupils are: Dorothy Davis, Lorena Gatewood, John Edward Schuster, Farrel Gatewood, Jr., Margie Edson, Edna Grace Davis, Ruby Smith, Goldie Nelson, Kenneth Nelson, Bennie Evans, Albert Gatewood, Orville Evans, Mary Schraeder, Albert Leo Imhoff, Alberta Schraeder, Thomas Gatewood, Homer Evans, Alvin Oland and Robert Imhoff." [30]
Chouteau Springs Park Resort ceased operations about 1960 with Jack Schweitzer as its last manager. In a 1982 piece in the Kansas City Times, James J. Fisher called Chouteau Springs "The Town That Could Have Been" and attributed its demise to the building of Bagnell Dam, which created the Lake of the Ozarks, and to the Great Depression. [31] Chouteau Springs Resort is in ruins as of 2019.
The surrounding farmlands and homes of the Chouteau Springs community continue to thrive.
In 1874, Professor Adolphe Smith of the Missouri Geological Survey was "delighted with Chouteau Springs water, pronouncing it the best he ever tasted and better than the famous Blue Lick waters in Kentucky." [32] In 1886, an analysis of Chouteau Springs water by G. C. Swallow, Missouri state geologist, showed the following minerals: carbonate of protoxide of iron, carbonate of lime, carbonate of magnesia, chloride of calcium, chloride of potassium, chloride of sodium, carbonic acid and silica. Total weight of the minerals was approximately one-tenth of one per cent of the weight of the water. [33]
In 1902, Professor F. A. Sampson of the State Historical Society of Missouri and Professor Stewart Weller of Chicago University studied the subcarboniferous era geologic formations of Chouteau Springs. [34]
In 1981, Larry Stout, a scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, published an article in the Journal of Paleontology regarding his discovery of the unusual occurrence (only the third known in North America) of the brackish-water ostracode Cyprideis salebrosa in Chouteau Springs, Missouri. [35]
In 1944, William H. Easton of the Illinois State Geological Survey Division published an article which noted, among many other things, that the coral fauna of the Chouteau Springs limestone is larger in number of genera and species than that known from any other Carboniferous formation in this hemisphere (p. 7). [36]
Pettis County is a county located in west central U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,980. Its county seat is Sedalia. The county was organized on January 24, 1833, and named after former U.S. Representative Spencer Darwin Pettis.
Cooper County is located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 17,103. Its county seat is Boonville. The county was organized December 17, 1818 and named for Sarshell Cooper, a frontier settler who was killed by Native Americans near Arrow Rock in 1814. It is a part of the Columbia, Missouri metropolitan area.
Boonville is a city and the county seat of Cooper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 7,964 at the 2020 census. The city was the site of a skirmish early in the Civil War, on July 17, 1861. Union forces defeated the Missouri State Guard in the first Battle of Boonville. It is part of the Columbia, Missouri metropolitan area.
Sedalia is a city located approximately 30 miles south of the Missouri River and, as the county seat of Pettis County, Missouri, United States, it is the principal city of the Sedalia Micropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 21,387. Sedalia is also the location of the Missouri State Fair and the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival. U.S. Routes 50 and 65 intersect in the city.
Excelsior Springs is a city in Clay and Ray counties in the U.S. state of Missouri and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The population was 10,553 at the 2020 census. It is located approximately 30 miles (48 km) northeast of central Kansas City, Missouri.
The Katy Trail State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Missouri that contains the Katy Trail, the country's longest continuous recreational rail trail. It runs 240 miles (390 km), largely along the northern bank of the Missouri River, in the right-of-way of the former Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad. Open year-round from sunrise to sunset, it serves hikers, joggers, and cyclists. Its hard, flat surface is of "limestone pug".
Spencer Darwin Pettis was a U.S. Representative from Missouri serving from 1828 until his assassination. He was also the fourth Missouri Secretary of State. Pettis is best known for being a participant in a fatal duel with Major Thomas Biddle. Pettis County, Missouri, is named in his honor.
François Gesseau Chouteau was an American pioneer fur trader, entrepreneur, and community leader known as the "Father of Kansas City". He was born in St. Louis, established the first fur trading post of western Missouri, and settled the area that became Kansas City, Missouri. His second wife birthed nine children, and he had a son with a woman of the Osage Nation.
Jean-Pierre Chouteau was a French Creole fur trader, merchant, politician, and slaveholder. An early settler of St. Louis from New Orleans, he became one of its most prominent citizens. He and his family were prominent in establishing the fur trade in the city, which became the early source of its wealth.
Thomas Biddle was an American military hero during the War of 1812. Biddle is better known though for having been killed in a duel with Missouri Congressman Spencer Pettis.
Mid-Missouri is a loosely-defined region comprising the central area of the U.S. state of Missouri. The region's largest city is Columbia ; the Missouri state capital, Jefferson City, and the University of Missouri are also located here. The region also includes portions of the Lake of the Ozarks, the Ozark Mountains, and the Missouri Rhineland. Mid-Missouri is centered on two contiguous metropolitan areas: the Columbia Metropolitan Area and the Jefferson City Metropolitan Area, which together have a population of over 400,000.
The Osage Valley and Southern Kansas Railroad was chartered in 1857 by the Missouri Legislature to run from a point on the Pacific Railroad near present-day Tipton, Missouri, to Emporia, Kansas. The charter was modified in 1858 to include an extension north to Boonville, Missouri. Grading on the line was completed to Versailles, Missouri, in 1861, but was halted due to the American Civil War. After the war the Bonneville to Tipton portion was completed in 1868, and leased to the Pacific Railroad. In 1870, portions of the line were graded from Warsaw, Missouri, north to Cole Camp, Missouri.
Lamine Township is one of 14 civil townships in Cooper County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. Twenty-two of Missouri's 114 counties, including Cooper County, have civil township governments. The other 92 counties have townships which are geographical but not governmental (civil). According to the 1860 Census, the population of Lamine Township was 830 . As of the 2020 Census, Lamine Township's population was 257.
Pilot Grove Township is one of fourteen townships in Cooper County, Missouri, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 1,134.
The Boonslick, or Boone's Lick Country, is a cultural region of Missouri along the Missouri River that played an important role in the westward expansion of the United States and the development of Missouri's statehood in the early 19th century. The Boone's Lick Road, a route paralleling the north bank of the river between St. Charles and Franklin, Missouri, was the primary thoroughfare for settlers moving westward from St. Louis in the early 19th century. Its terminus in Franklin marked the beginning of the Santa Fe Trail, which eventually became a major conduit for Spanish trade in the Southwestern United States. Later it connected to the large emigrant trails, including the Oregon and California Trails, used by pioneers, gold-seekers and other early settlers of the West. The region takes its name from a salt spring or "lick" in western Howard County, used by Nathan and Daniel Morgan Boone, sons of famed frontiersman Daniel Boone.
H.D. "Doc" Quigg was an American journalist.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Municipalities and communities of Cooper County, Missouri, United States | ||
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