County of Marker: Montgomery
Location of Marker: MO-19, roadside turnout, N. city limits, Montgomery City
Marker Erected by: The State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission
Date Marker Erected: 1957
Marker Text:
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
One of the first settled areas north of the Missouri (River), Montgomery County was an early gateway to the Boone's Lick Country. Organized, 1818, and named for Gen. Richard Montgomery, it was a vast area and first two county seats, Pinckney and Lewiston, lay in what is now Warren County. Danville, the third county seat, was succeeded, 1924, by Montgomery City, founded 1857, when the North Missouri R.R.(Wabash)reached there.
Historic Danville, founded 1833-34, was a prominent town on the Boone's Lick Trail and popular stops were See-Nunnelly and Fulkerson taverns. J.H. Robinson's Female Academy, 1857-65, was a noted early school. The Academy Chapel, built in 1859, is now a Methodist Church. In the Civil War, Danville was looted and burned, Oct.14, 1864, by Bill Anderson's guerrillas. This severe blow and not being on the railroad resulted finally in the loss of the county seat, after a long struggle, to Montgomery City.
The county was surveyed by Nathan and Daniel Morgan Boone, sons of Daniel Boone. Daniel M. lived near Mineola for a time and another son, Jesse, settled near Danville.
In a grain and livestock farming region, Montgomery County lies in territory ceded by Sac and Fox Indians in 1804, the first Indian land cession in Missouri. Southern pioneers who followed Daniel Boone to MO. made the county's first settlement on Loutre Island at the mouth of Loutre River on the Missouri, 1807. A number of Germans, the followers of Gottfried Duden, came in the 1830's.
The Loutre (Otter) River, long known to French trappers, was first named Fouchure (Forking) by explorer De Bourgmond, 1714. The Lewis and Clark Expedition camped at the river's mouth, 1804. In the War of 1812, rangers were stationed at Fort Clemson on Loutre Island. Indians killed Captain James Callaway near Danville, 1815.
Mineola, to the south, was laid out as a spa in 1879, near a mineral spring where Isaac Van Bibber had settled, 1815, and built a tavern on the Boone's Lick Trail. Graham Cave, at Mineola, has been utilized by man since prehistoric times. Astronomer Thomas J.J. See was born in Montgomery City and Supreme Court Justice Walker J. Lovelace made his home in Danville.
Updates and corrections to this 1957 marker:
By 1993 the Academy Chapel building had been abandoned. The building now has its own marker and is in the process of preservation.
Some corrections need to be made for this marker.
Graham Cave State Park is just W. of Danville.
Daniel Boone came to the Femme Osage with his son, Daniel Morgan Boone in 1799. Daniel Morgan negotiated and acquired the Spanish Land Grants.
Jesse Boone lived in Mineola - Danville area. Jesse Boone was the person who nominated Thomas Hart Benton for the U.S. Senate seat, the first US Senator from Missouri. Additional location below is for the Female Academy in Danville. James Callaway was the grandson of Daniel Boone. The county seat is a story of stealing the seal, burning of each others courthouses and underhanded dealings from the Civil War until 1924 when the Missouri State Senate decided the issue.
Loutre Island was settled by the French in 1724, The Boone Family moved to Missouri in 1799...they did not settle Loutre Island nor any of his followers.