County of marker: Howard County
Location of marker: State Hwy 87, about ½ miles NW of Boonville
Marker erected by: State Historical Society of Missouri & Missouri Highway Department
Date marker erected: 1999
Marker Text:
FRANKLIN - BOONVILLE
Boonville, early prosperous river town, was first settled, 1810, by Hannah Cole, a widow, and her 9 children. A neighborhood fort was built at her place in the War of 1812. In 1817 the town, named for Daniel Boone,
3 was laid out and became the seat of newly organized Cooper County, named for Sarshall Cooper,. pioneer. Here was the first State fair in Missouri, 1853. On June 17, 1861, here, in the first engagement of the Civil War in Missouri, Federals under Lyon defeated State Guard under Marmaduke.
Thespian Hall (now Lyric), oldest theater in use west of the Alleghenies, was built 1855-57. Kemper Military School opened as a boarding school, 1844; and the Episcopal Church was built, 1846. In 1889 the Missouri Training School for Boys was opened.1 Here lived David Barton, U.S. Senator, 1821-1831; Lon V. Stephens, governor, 1897-1901; and the journalist and educator, Walter Williams
Here, where Hannah Cole once operated a ferry, 2 bridges cross the river. On the North bank was "OLD" Franklin, Boon's Lick Trail end and start of the Santa Fe Trail.
Franklin, founded across the river from Boonsville, 1816, was once the metropolis of the Boon's Lick Country, a central Missouri region taking its name from a salt lick in the area worked by the sons of Daniel Boone. Here was the first land office north of the Missouri River, 1818, and the first newspaper, 1819, the "Missouri Intelligencer and Boon's Lick Advertiser." First steamboat up the Missouri, the "Independence," docked, 1819. From 1817-28 Franklin served as seat of Howard Co.2 Encroachment of the river brought town abandonment beginning with the laying out of New Franklin, 1828.
From Franklin, William Bucknell, "Father of the Santa Fe Trail," led, 1821, the first successful trading expedition to Santa Fe and took the first wagons over the route, 1822. Jacks and jennets brought back were the founding stock of Missouri's mules.
John Miller, governor, 1826-32, lived here, and here Kit Carson was apprenticed to a saddler and George Caleb Bingham's father ran a hotel. In the vicinity are sites of family forts of the War of 1812.
Notes and corrections since original marker erected:
A flood destroyed the original marker in 1993. A duplicate was installed.
1. In 1983 the Missouri Training School for Boys became the Boonville Correctional Center.
2. By 1824, Fayette served as the county seat.
3. Town was actually named for Nathan & Daniel Morgan Boone, sons of the famous Daniel Boone.