County of Marker: Hickory County
Location: Jackson St. (MO-254), courthouse lawn, Hermitage
Marker Erected by: State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission
Date marker Erected: 1960
Marker Text:
HICKORY COUNTY
Here in the Ozark Highland of Missouri, Hickory County was organized 1845, and named for U.S. President Andrew Jackson, known as "Old Hickory." Lying in the Osage land cession of 1808, the county area was early known to French trappers. From 1819 to 1832, a Kickapoo Indian reservation was west of Pomme de Terre (Fr. Potato) River in the county. Settlers from Tenn., and Ky., came in the late 1820's.
Hermitage, the centrally located county seat, on the Pomme de Terre, was laid out 1846-1847, and named for Andrew Jackson's home in Tenn. South of town, 3 miles, in a beautiful scenic area, construction began in 1957 on Pomme de Terre Reservoir and Dam, flood control and recreation project.
Through west Hickory County ran the route of the famed 1858-1861 Butterfield Overland Mail. In the county there was a relay and meal station at Quincy and a relay station near Elkton. During the Civil War, the county suffered troop movement, skirmishes, and guerrilla raids. The only railroad in the county, the K.C., Osceola & So. (Frisco) was built through Weaubleau, 1898.
Encompassing 410 square miles of rough, hilly timber land and high, rolling prairies, Hickory County is a poultry, livestock, and grain producer. Lead and zinc are found in the county and zinc was mined in the 1890's near Pittsburg and Elkton.
Weaubleau, site of an early settlement in southwest Hickory County, was laid out 1880, and first called Haren. Early school, Weaubleau Christian Institute, opened in 1871 there. Among other communities and towns are Wheatland, laid out 1869, five miles west of the county seat, Hermitage; Cross Timbers, laid out 1871; Preston, laid out 1857; Pittsburg, settled in 1840's; Avery, settled in 1838; Elkton, settled in 1830's; and Quincy, laid out 1848, at site of county's first post office known as Judy's Gap for blacksmith Samuel Judy.
At Bone Spring, near Avery on Pomme de Terre River, numerous mastodon bones were found in late 1830's and early 1840's. One skeleton put together by St. Louisan Albert Koch was sold, 1844, to the British Museum. An Indian quarry and mounds and campsites have been found in the county.
Update on 1960 Marker:
After completion of the Pomme de Terre Dam in the early 1960's, the resulting reservoir and surrounding 734 acres became Pomme de Terre State Park.