Golden Thread Historic Boonville, Missouri

I've always loved that Blazer painting, some of the houses in the painting are still standing. And the boat is one of Kinney's--theres a story there.

And the Schmidt picture, I'm assuming that sand pile is about where the casino is now? The rail line probably went the the warehouses on 4th Street?
 
"The eastern terminus near Boonville at Franklin, Missouri is considered the original start of the Santa Fe Trail."

I will be re-enacting at New Franklin this weekend for Santa Fe Trail Days. Arrow Rock was also mentioned. I will be "shooting it up" there in October.

Boonville is not alone in its lack of promotion of its history. So much here in Missouri that goes un-noticed or unknown. I know a guy that grew up in Centralia and knew nothing at all about the massacre. I went to find William Anderson's grave in Richmond MO and people I asked didn't even know who he was. Pitiful really.

Dan
 
"The eastern terminus near Boonville at Franklin, Missouri is considered the original start of the Santa Fe Trail."

I will be re-enacting at New Franklin this weekend for Santa Fe Trail Days. Arrow Rock was also mentioned. I will be "shooting it up" there in October............
Dan

I see you are new here, welcome to the forum!

I'll cross the bridge and look you up this weekend.
 
"The eastern terminus near Boonville at Franklin, Missouri is considered the original start of the Santa Fe Trail."

True, but between 1822 and 1829, the mighty Missouri River washed Old Franklin away and Boonville became the terminus. Still later it became Arrow Rock and then Independence, Westport and St. Joseph, Missouri.
 
True, but between 1822 and 1829, the mighty Missouri River washed Old Franklin away and Boonville became the terminus. Still later it became Arrow Rock and then Independence, Westport and St. Joseph, Missouri.

Some of my ancestors came up river from St. Louis and jumped off at Old Franklin, when it was still there.
 
Some of my ancestors came up river from St. Louis and jumped off at Old Franklin, when it was still there.

It wasn't there for long. It was established as a settlement in 1816, but the floods of 1826 and 1828 ended the town.

from;https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mo-oldfranklin/

Franklin became the county seat of Howard County in 1817 but its first post office would not be established until 1821. In 1819, the Missouri Intelligencer and Boonslick Advertiser became the first newspaper printed west of the Mississippi River. Within four years of having been founded, the town had a public square of two acres, streets that were 87 feet wide, and contained 200-300 buildings, among which were five stores, a tobacco factory, two academies, a market house, several churches, four warehouses, a jail, and a public library.
Most notable was the people that made up its population — lawyers, scholars, doctors, teachers, businessmen, artists, and more. Franklin was an ambitious and formidable rival of St. Louis. When the capital of the new state located, Franklin was a strong candidate for that honor, being one of the three competitors.
During its greatest period — from 1823 to 1825 — Franklin’s population was estimated at 1500-1700 people.
 
It wasn't there for long. It was established as a settlement in 1816, but the floods of 1826 and 1828 ended the town.

Here's Old Franklin's original Plat Map.

Franklin, Mo Plat Map.jpg
 
I went to high school with a girl who lived in that house, and her parents ran the movie theater at the Lyric, aka Thesbian Hall. She was real cute, too.

And during the second Battle of Boonville, the Mo State Guard kept their horses here at Forest Hill, circled around back of the house and through the Walnut Grove just prior to their attack on the Union fort.
 
* The Thomas Nelson House "Forest Hill." This is the site where a delegation of local citizens surrender to Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon around 1100 hours on June 17th, 1861.

View attachment 203752

Forest Hill as depicted by the Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham...

View attachment 203754

What a beautiful house and almost unchanged!
@Booner, you should have paid more attention to that girl... maybe you could live there now... :D
 
What a beautiful house and almost unchanged!
@Booner, you should have paid more attention to that girl... maybe you could live there now... :D

More likely she would have put him in the slave house and worked his butt off...:giggle:

Another lifetime ago, 39 years back, I was commissioned by a very wealthy man to do the work of placing 450 houses and buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. Following this the next project was to be the development of a Boonville art museum. We both agreed that the best place for such a museum was this house since George Caleb Bingham was friends with the original owner, James Nelson, and painted in the house when in Boonville. When Forest Hill came up for sale in 1980 I placed a deposit on the property to hold it for the benefactor who was away on vacation. Unfortunately he soon changed his mind and later decided to put the money forth on another museum - the St. Joe's Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art. This museum incorporated all of the ideas Mr. Kemper and I envisioned for Boonville- a historic house museum, featuring a number of Bingham paintings (which he could well afford) and a modern addition which would house additional exhibition space with emphasis on traditional and contemporary regional artists.

This museum-that never was- along with the cultural and historical heritage of Boonville, Kemper Military School AND the current Casino gambling boat, currently in existence, would definably have put Boonville on the map as a major Missouri tourist attraction . Of course, we should not shed tears over what could have been-but I do...
 
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* The Thomas Nelson House "Forest Hill." This is the site where a delegation of local citizens surrender to Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon around 1100 hours on June 17th, 1861.

View attachment 203752
Think about the implications for civilians in Missouri in that local municipal officials felt the need to ''surrender'' to Capt/B.G. Lyon and his Germans.
 
Yes, I think you should!
The opinions of an outsider would be very valuable I think.

As an example, Boonville is 3 miles off of I-70, but do we have any billboards informing driver's to "visit historic Boonville"? No.
We have a casino and I would think they would be very interested in promoting the town.

I think I've had too much coffee this morning. Maybe i should take a nap.
Actually I saw a billboard on my drive in from St. Louis this morning. It was located east of the Herman exit--well over an hour's drive east of Boonville. I'm not sure it actually promoted anything, but at least I could read the name of the town on this version. Previously, it was kind of hard to read.
 
Boonville is too close to Columbia for many. Here's a link to the city tourism website:

https://goboonville.com/attractions/

Near as I can tell, the Battle of Boonville/battlefield isn't showcased. Arrow Rock, just a few miles up River appears to have their ducks in a row in terms of tourism and promotion.
That is true. However, a substantial part of the town of Arrow Rock is a state park, so they have access to state money.
 
What a beautiful house and almost unchanged!
@Booner, you should have paid more attention to that girl... maybe you could live there now... :D

I only spent my last two years of high school in Boonville, She was dating some guy in college at the time. Plus, to be honest, she was so cute I was too timid to ask her out.
(I'm pleased to report that I outgrew my timidity of my youth). And she was probably too short for me anyway, but she sure was a cute little thing.
 
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