County of Marker: Cooper County
Location of Marker: MO-87, roadside turnout, eastern limits ¾ mile SE, Boonville
Marker Erected by: State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission
Date Marker Erected: 1959
Marker Text:
BOONVILLE
Historic Boonville's first settlers were pioneer Mother Hannah Allison Cole and her 9 children who located on the Missouri River bluffs where St. Joseph Hospital now stands, 1810. Hannah, whose husband William T. Cole was killed by Indians,
ran the first river ferry here. In the War of 1812, her place served a wide area as a neighborhood fort.
Boonville, on trails west and southwest, was laid out in 1817 by Charles Lucas and Asa Morgan and named for Daniel Boone.1 It became the seat of Cooper County, 1819. Second county in the Boons Lick Region, it was organized, 1818, and named for pioneer Sarshall Cooper. Boonville grew as a river port, distribution point, and cultural center. Thespian Hall (Lyric), oldest theater in use in Mississippi Valley, was built, 1855-57. In 1844, a boarding school opened which is today known as the Kemper School.2 The first state fair was held here in 1853.
The Battle of Boonville, first engagement of the War Between the States in Missouri, occurred near town, June 17, 1861. Federals under Gen. Nathaniel Lyon routed untrained State Guards under Gen. John S. Marmaduke.
Boonville, in an upland prairie county of grain and livestock farming, is in territory ceded by Osage tribes, 1808. Settlers from the South were later joined by many from Germany. By early 1900's the M.K.T. and MO. Pac. railroads supplanted river trade. The railroad bridge at Boonville was built in 1874 and the highway bridge in 1924.3
Points of interest are the town's historic markers; Harley City Park; Christ Episcopal Church (1846); Walnut Grove Cemetery. Mo. Training School for Boys dats from 1889.4 Atop an Indian mound near mouth of the Lamine, in Cooper County, is grave of fur trader, first Mo. Lt. Gov. William H. Ashley. South is Chouteau Springs, part of land given Pierre Chouteau by the Osage, 1792. At Rocky Cut, near Otterville, the James and Younger Boys robbed a train, July 7, 1876.
Here was born William M. Williams, Mo. Supreme Court Justice; Lon V. Stephens, Gov. of Mo., 1897-1901; Walter Williams, journalist, educator. Here lived David Barton, first Mo. U.S. Senator; Jacob F. Gmelich, Lt. Gov. 1909-13; George G. Vest, lawyer, statesman; George C. Bingham, Mo. Artist; C.C. Bell, horticulturist.