Road Trip – Missouri (Part 3)

…continuing with our exploration of part of southern and central Missouri while in route to visit our family in Omaha Nebraska.

Today we headed west across southern Missouri.

Jackson Missouri is just a bit northwest of Cape Girardeau and Jackson is the Cape Girardeau County seat.  Jackson was the first city in the United States to be named in honor of President Andrew Jackson.  The county was first organized in October of 1812.  It was one of the five original counties in the Missouri Territory after the USA completed the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.  As of the 2020 census, the county recorded 81,710 residents.

At first, everyone assumed that the town of Cape Girardeau would be named as the county seat for Cape Girardeau County.  Fortunately for the town of Jackson, questions arose of the legitimacy of the title for the land donated for the construction of the courthouse in Cape Girardeau.  So, the county commissions chose Jackson as the county seat.

The first courthouse was built in 1818 but it was closed and moved in order to build a new courthouse in 1837.  That structure burned down and a new courthouse was built in 1872.  In turn, that building was torn down so a “new” courthouse could be built.  The current courthouse was completed in 1908…and it marks its 115^th anniversary this year.

I wasn’t expecting any railway related encounters on this road trip.  I guess that my pre-trip research failed me…but luck popped up anyway.  It turns out that Jackson Missouri is the home of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway…and tourist excursion line with about 6 miles of track.

The original St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway operated from 1874 until 1917 when it was merged into the Missouri Pacific Railroad.  Its primary reason for being was to deliver iron ore from Iron Mountain Missouri to St. Louis.  The original rail line was robbed twice, once by the James-Younger Gang in 1874 and one other time on November of 1903.

That big diesel locomotive is a 2,250 horsepower EMD E8, a passenger-train locomotive built by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division in La Grange Illinois.  450 of these locomotives were built between 1949 and early 1954.

That #1345 passenger car is a former Illinois Central commuter car that dates back to 1926.  You can see some locomotive drive wheels and a piece of railroad history in front of the coal tender in the third photo.  It is part of old steam locomotive #5, a 2-4-2T “Columbian” that was purchased from the Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad in 1986.  Old #5, a small industrial style locomotive, was built by H.K. Porter Inc. in Pittsburgh PA.  She pulled freight and made money for Crab Orchard through 1977 but a larger locomotive made #5 obsolete for most functions.  She pulled tourist trains for St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railway until 1999.  The volunteer staff at St. Louis RR hopes to get her rebuilt and back in service.

The St. Louis and Iron Mountain Scenic Railroad is totally operated by volunteers.  The railroad specialized in themed rail adventures.  They include a Chocolate Express, Halloween Express, Christmas Express, Murder Mystery Dinner and more.  To view their schedule and learn more, go to St. Louis Iron Mountain Railway | Train Jackson | Missouri (slimrr.com).

I took this photo on a whim…since I just liked the way it looked.  This 3-bay brick commercial corner structure at 131 West Main Street, with its Victorian detailing, was completed ca. 1896.  One of the best known buildings in town, the former C.H. Wolter Buggy and Harness Shop provided leather equipment, harnesses, saddles and buggies for local farmers and other citizens.  Mr. Wolter would assemble the buggies in the basement and then move them to the main floor of the store using a large pulley elevator.  The buggies sold for $40 to $60 each. 

Several businesses have occupied this building in recent years.  I saw that an electronic gaming business operated here until fairly recently.  The latest occupant is After Class Academy, an operation that provides STEM or STEAM education and extracurricular training for local students.  See After Class Academy – online and in person educational options.

This is the Frizel-Welling home.  It’s the second oldest home in Jackson Missouri.  Built in at least 2 significant stages, the Cape Code style west wing of the home was completed in 1818 while the east wing was constructed in 1838 in the Greek Revival Style.  Not to confuse the reader, but the Frizel’s sold the home in 1820, and 2 other owners purchased the home before it was purchased by Charles Welling in 1838.  He completed the ownership ‘circle’ by buying the house for him and his new bride, Elizabeth Frizel, the daughter of the original owners.  The descendants of the Frizels and Wellings continued to own the home for 9 generations!

The family proved more than accommodating for the community over the years.  The First Presbyterian Church was organized in the parlor.  For a time, the parlor also served as the town’s first library.  This home was also the local Masonic Lodge’s first meeting place.  Many family artifacts were left with the home and, in 2015, it was purchased by the community in order to preserve a significant local landmark and a time-capsule of sorts of the history of Jackson Missouri.

As the sign in the first picture indicates, the home is currently being restored in preparation for its future role as a community museum.  The second photo gives us an idea of what the home looks like… It was raining and those bushes and trees blocked our view when taking a photo.  It’s always a bit reassuring to see a community work together to preserve old homes and other structures…retaining a sense of what came before...

This is the Bennett-Tobler-Pace-Oliver House, commonly and more easily referred to as the Oliver House.  This historic two-story Greek Revival Style home in Jackson Missouri was built in 1848.  In the rear of the home, there is a one-story addition and a two story service wing.  This home was where Missouri State Senator Robert Oliver and his wife, Marie Oliver, once resided.   Marie Watkins Oliver is known as “the Betsy Ross of Missouri”.  She designed and created the Missouri State Flag.  It features 3 stripes, red, white and blue from the top down and the official state seal has a place of prominence in the center of the flag.

The Oliver House is operated by the Jackson Heritage Association and the home is open for tours on the weekends.  For a virtual tour of this home, just go to The Oliver House- Jackson MO - YouTube.

As we rolled along the back roads through the countryside in Southern Missouri, there were several occasions where we spotted ponds and small lakes sporting beautiful white water lilies in full bloom.  It’s a sight that we hadn’t seen in several years.  These are common North American white water lilies…aka ‘pond lilies’.  Hopefully, photos I took a bit later in the trip will be clearer than this one…

Water lilies belong to a family of flowering plants that live in aquatic environments in both temperate and tropical climates around the world.  There are about 70 known species.  They are referred to as rhizomatous aquatic herbs…as they are rooted in soil within bodies of water, with their leaves and flowers floating on or emergent from the surface.  These plants provide food for fish and wildlife, but they can cause drainage issues due to their rapid growth.  Water Lilies are the national flower for Iran, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

When we headed south on MO Hwy 51, I was a little bummed out because I’d hoped to visit the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge near Puxico Missouri, but I realized that the timing wasn’t right.  There was an attraction specifically for Laurie that I had to ensure we had time to explore.  Nevertheless, I got lucky when we spotted this old depot in Puxico.

Now designated at the Berry-Glenn Historical Museum, this old depot was built in 1902 on the Hoxie Branch of the Frisco Railroad.  Back in the day, this depot in Puxico was a major stop on the line as it was built through the swamps from Cape Girardeau southward.  Back in the early days, the arrival of a rail line was a reason for many towns to be founded.

The Berry-Glenn Historical Museum is home to many artifacts and day to day objects that people in the area used in their everyday lives.  Items include historical photos, school memorabilia, antique farm tools, children’s toys and more.  Special event are also held here throughout the year.  The museum is open Saturdays and Sundays.

Puxico has a population of about 873…interesting because it had spiked to 1,145 (+40%) from 1990 to 2000 and had dropped to 881 by 2010 (-23%).  There has to be a story there…  The town was settled in 1883 and it was named after a friendly Indian chief in the area, named ‘Pucksicah’.  Thanks to the railroad and uncut forests nearby, by 1912 the town had 814 residents, a bank, a newspaper, 3 churches, 4 general stores, a flour mill, a canning factory and an opera house.

We wandered off route to visit the next place I’d found and researched prior to the trip.  The 2 buildings I photographed seemed to be fairly representative of what’s left of Grandin Missouri.  This community was originally a company town founded and built by the Missouri Lumber and Mining Company.  It was named after a company founder, E.B. Grandin.  Today the town…or what’s left of it…has a population of 226, a far cry from its reported population of between 2,500 and 3,000 around 1900.  Despite the decline, the town is home to a number of businesses as well as a post office.

A total of 30 buildings in Grandin, plus the original mill pond, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  However, that listing doesn’t include photos or addresses…only descriptions of the buildings, which were impossible to interpret by yours truly.  Given the center chimney on the larger building, it is old enough to be on the list…and that rustic and deserted “duplex” certainly fits the expected image. 

As you can see from the 2 photos/images above, the town was once very prosperous and the mill operation was indeed huge… The mill pond could hold 500,000 feet of logs waiting to be milled.  A 6 mile long logging railroad was built and a locomotive was brought in via ox-teams for the last 22 miles of its journey.  The entire effort was ‘unprecedented and the result was a huge complex of mills and kilns.

Grandin was the company headquarters for about 20 years.  It was planned by a company architect/engineer.  The main street had the company store, a hospital, hotel and other commercial buildings…all surrounded by large lawns and decorative landscaping.  The building shown above was the Company office and the Bank of Grandin.  Nearby streets were designed to accommodate up to 1,000 houses.  Just outside town there was a railway roundhouse and machine shops.  There also was an 80 acre lumberyard.

How much timber was harvested?  When the railroad reached the town in June of 1888, 6 million board feet was waiting to be shipped.  Production reached 32 million board feet in 1892 and averaged 60 million annually after 1895.  When the timber in the area was exhausted/cleared, the Missouri Lumber and Mining Company abandoned the town...

That’s all for now.  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave