Jamesport, Daviess County, Missouri
Jamesport is the metropolis of Jamesport township and was originally located on section twenty-seven of township sixty, range twenty-six, but owing to there being much land in that vicinity and a disposition on the part of the enterprising inhabitants to spread themselves, a portion of the town can be found on sections twenty-six and thirty-four, besides the original plat still located on twenty-seven. It was away back in ante bellum days that Jamesport was first settled. In the year 1858 it had a small gathering of settlers who concluded to build up a village, and with a store, a blacksmith-shop, and a few other necessary business cabins and some small dwelling-houses, Jamesport started out to achieve a world-wide reputation. Outside of its beautiful and commanding site, Jamesport had little to boast of up to the year 1870.
In 1860 it had fifty-nine inhabitants according to the census. In 1870 the census returns failed to mention the fact that the town or village still existed, but it did, nevertheless, and had grown in the last ten years from a small village of fifty-nine to the metropolitan size of about 120 inhabitants. There are very few towns with a prettier location or a more beautiful country surrounding it than has the town of Jamesport. Not only is the country around beautiful and picturesque in its appearance, but it is also rich and fertile. The town stands on a rising eminence, and on a clear day can be seen for many miles.
The year before the advent of the railroad, in 1870,
its assessed valuation was $7,330. In the year 1870 the town began
to throw off its sluggishness. The near advent of railroad
communication with the outside world enlarged its ideas, and the
people began .to realize the fact, that possibly there might be a
prosperous future in store for them. Some were anxious to get rich
very fast, especially those who owned real estate and wanted from.
$300 to $500 per lot. This did not last long.' A good many came,
heard of the prices, and quietly left shaking the dust from their
feet. This soon cured the cupidity of the real estate owners, and
they learned that if they wanted the town to grow and their property
to. become valuable, they must have more population, but that the
new settlers would not come if they were to be robbed in the start.
In the year 1871, what was then known as the Chicago & Southwestern
Railroad, now the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, was under way with
a strong force, building from. Trenton, Grundy county, southwest,
and James-port was to be a station on this line of road. In June,
work was commenced on the depot building, to be completed by the
time the cars reached that point. On July 25th the iron reached
Jamesport, and the whistle of the engine of the construction train
was the music the citizens heard that day. There was a general
jubilee, and the smile was broad, and with some,. deep, over the
great and joyful event. The population about that time had increased
to 150 people, in round numbers. At that time the business was
represented by four stores of general merchandise, two drug and
grocery stores combined, two blacksmith shops, one harness shop, two
wagon repair shops, two saloons, one photograph gallery, one hotel,
one school, and a church building expected in the near future.
Among the building improvements in the summer of 1871, besides the
depot building, was a warehouse by Franklin Callison, of the same
size as the depot building; A. L. Willis put up a dwelling, a
lumber-yard was fenced in, and Dunn & Miller commenced the erection
of a large store. All this was under way before the arrival of the
cars, July 25, 1871.
By Sunday night, October 10, 1871, Jamesport had so far become noted
as to be visited by a genuine burglar. He called on quite a number
of the business houses, and is supposed to have appropriated about
$100. The merchants not being in the habit of leaving their wealth
in their stores over night, he failed to make a very large haul, but
as he did not appear again, the supposition was that he used his
stealings to travel with.
By November 1, 1871, another drug store was added to
the town, also a grocery and provision store, a hardware store, a
tin-shop, and a furniture store. Jamesport was decidedly on the
up-grade. Buildings were rapidly going up all over the town. From
July 1 to January 1, 1872, forty dwellings and ten stores were
built. In addition to these improvements a fine school building was
erected, also two churches. These were pretty fair improvements
considering the start; but were not all. Business kept pace with the
improvements. Farmers on the west who formerly went to Gallatin, and
on the east, who made Trenton, Grundy county, their place of trade,
began to turn their eyes to the little giant of the prairies. They
brought in their wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, and the merchants were
wide-awake enough to purchase all that came and to sell goods cheap.
To show something of what the business amounted to, the shipment by
rail, to January 1, 1872, was thirty-five cars of hogs, ten cars of
cattle, twenty car-loads of wheat and rye, three cars of potatoes,
and three car-loads of hickory nuts.
That was probably the heaviest shipment of any station in the
county. This was a business to be proud of; and Jamesport blowed her
own horn in a way that made the sound echo and reecho over the
county. They claimed to be a young Chicago, and stick to it until
this day, although a decade has passed.
Back to: Daviess County