Hannah Allison Cole - Boonville, MO - Missouri Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

County of marker & statue: Cooper County
Location of marker & statue: Morgan St. & Main St., Morgan Street Park, Boonville
Artist: Harry Weber
Dedicated: June 6, 2004

Marker Text:

HANNAH ALLISON COLE
(1762 - 1843)   Hannah Cole was one of the earliest settlers of the present site of Boonville. She was born in Virginia about 1762. In 1789 she married William Temple Cole. They moved to Kentucky about 1805 and then to what would soon become Missouri Territory in 1807 where they joined the Cooper family and others at Loutre Island (across from present-day Hermann, Missouri).

  In July 1810 Hannah's husband was killed by Indians, and in either the fall of 1810 or sometime in early 1811 Hannah and her nine children along with the family of her sister Phoebe and Phoebe's husband Stephen Cole, cam with the Coopers and other to the Boonslick area of Central Missouri and settled in the River Hills where Boonville now stands.

  During the Indian troubles associated with the War of 1812 the Coles erected crude fortifications around their cabins, but later moved across the river where Forts Hempstead and Kincaid afforded better protection. After the war the Coles returned to their homes, and for a brief period Hannah Cole's Fort was the County Seat of Howard County. Hannah was issued the first business license to operate a ferry across the Missouri River in June 1817.

  When Cooper County was formed out of the southern half of Howard County in 1818, Boonville was made the county seat. Hannah Cole's Fort then became the site for the first school, first church service and first voting place in Cooper County. Hannah later sold her preemption right to most of the land on which the town was platted and moved about fifteen miles south of Boonville where she died in 1843. She was buried in the Old Briscoe Cemetery next to Hannah Cole Roadside Park on Highway 5, not far from her home.

History of Mark: "Boonville hasn’t shied away from their women’s history. If you search Monroe street you can find a plaque marking Hannah’s fort. There is also Hannah Cole Primary school and a statue of her in the Morgan Street Park, located just off Main Street. "The statue was erected during the Lewis and Clark anniversary in 2004. For that I suppose I can forgive them for surrounding her statue with busts of men. "You can also visit Hannah Cole Roadside Park next to the Briscoe Cemetery, where she is buried, 15 miles south of town on Highway 5." ~ Missouri Women Web link: Not listed Additional point: Not Listed

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