History of Iberia

(Unknown publication date)

1904 Plat of Iberia

Of all the county's towns, Iberia is most familiar to me. I know more about the town because I was born there and grew to adulthood there. I have researched more thoroughly the history of Iberia, not because she is more important, but because she is my hometown. The Osage Indian once roamed in the area, hunting in the fields and prairies and fishing the steams. In 1840 for the first time, Iberia, as a name, appeared on an official document. A post office was located on Rabbit-head creek, approximately a mile southwest of the present town.

It is believed Iberia received its name from the Short family who settled there in the late 1830s and had come from New Iberia, LA.The original town of Iberia, at the present site, was laid out and platted by Henry M. Dickerson in 1859 and filed for record at the courthouse on Oct. 3, 1860. During the Civil War era, the town was called Oakhurst (see following story), and she was called Rocktown for many years due to a rock-throwing incident during the Civil War.

In the census of 1870, the town had a population of 100 persons and was largely Negro (many had been brought into the county in earlier years as slaves of southern pioneers). In 1880 the face of Iberia had changed somewhat. The town had been officially incorporated as a village on Aug. 3, 1875 and by 1887, many businesses had been established including:

Marquis W. FANCHER, merchant; John L. ARNOLD, lawyer; Thomas D. GARNER, merchant; Rev. J. S. HARRIS, Methodist minister; Rev. W. W. HICKS, Congregational minister; Joseph HUME, wagon maker; Joe and Jacob THOMPSON, merchants; F.E. LOMBAR, merchant and postmaster; George JOHNSON, James. M. ROWDEN, and J.C. THOMPSON, blacksmiths; John H. MOORE physician and druggist; J.W. WADE, physician; T.D. GARNER and Son Roller Mills; E. HENDERICKS, proprietor of the Iberia Hotel; John KELLISON, saddlery and harness; Miles J. DAVIDSON, merchant; Dr. R.T. HARRISON, dentist; Robert A. HARPER, jeweler; Henry R. HOOVER, boot and saddlemaker; and Sarah J. HUGHES, keeper of a boarding house.

1895 map of Miller County

Iberia remains the hub of activity in southern Miller County, the county's second largest town.

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Oakhurst...Early Name for Iberia

(Printed in THE MILLER COUNTY AUTOGRAM-SENTINEL, in the column, WINDOW TO THE PAST, May 20, 1999)

The first time I remember seeing the name Oakhurst was in the Civil War records of my great grandfather, William Harrrison Smith. He stated in his pension records that his address was Oakhurst, Miller County, MO, when he enlisted in 1862.

That was certainly confusing to me at the time because I thought he was living in the Iberia area just prior to the Civil War. He had been born in northwestern Pulaski County near the settlement later called Hawkeye.

I had been told that Grandfather Harrison and his younger brother, John Wesley, had ventured over to the Big Richwoods looking for jobs as stonemasons. They had heard rumors that their skills may be needed in building stone foundations, reinforcing cellars, and building fireplaces for some new pioneer homesteads that were being constructed near Lenox's Trading Post on Rabbithead Creek.

The old settlement was on the trail called "Old Herald Mill Road" leading to the West Glaize Creek in Camden County.

The trading post was in the same area where an old town called Williamsburg had been platted in the early 1840s but never materialized.

In a sheriff's sale, the land was sold to two gentlemen from Cole County, MO who in turn sold it to Wilson Lenox in November 1849. Lenox's Trading Post sprang up instead of the town.

According to Missouri Post Office records, Iberia was the name given the post office from 1838-1861, although the town did not exist until after 1860. The post office was actually at the site of the trading post about one mile southwest of present-day Iberia. In 1862, the name of the post office was changed to Oakhurst and remained so until 1871 (according to the post office records). I still did not understand why the name was changed from Iberia to Oakhurst. Quite by accident, the answer fell into my lap! I learned through an old will filed at the Miller County courthouse that a family came to the Big Richwoods from Philadelphia, PA. about the same time that other Pennsylvanians settled in the area.

The letter below was written during the Civil War - from Hannah Brown, OAKHURST, MO., to her brother, William T. Brown. The letter speaks of a man named 'John' returning from the War.

There was a huge influx of Pennsylvania German families to southern Miller County just prior to the Civil War including the families of Johnston, Moffitt, Brown, Strock, Gilbert, Huntsman, Pitinger, Getgen, Lahr, Moore, Royer, Tallman, Parsons, Bennage, Irland, Noyes, James, Warrell, Irwin, Groff, Ludwig, Anderson, Thomas, Springer, Latchem & Barnhurst.

As you can see, some families remained in Richwoods Township while others moved on. (later came more Pennsylvanians.....the Farnhams, Heitzells, Fikes, Hedges, and Newharts).

The will I mentioned before was for a man named Washington Barnhurst who was a minister of the gospel. Washington Barnhurst, his young wife Jennie Clarke Barnhurst, and a child named Nellie Maria, bought some land southwest of Iberia in December 1860 and probably settled somewhere near the trading post. They bought the land from Edward and Sarah Moore, also Pennsylvanians, for the sum of $200. The Barnhursts owned other land in the vicinity, containing about 275 acres which they sold in April 1861 to a man named Joseph B. Thompson of St. Louis, MO.

About 1861 (per Jenkins' History of Miller County), Washington Barnhurst became the postmaster and an innkeeper at Lenox's Trading Post. When the Civil War began, Lenox's was destroyed by troops, probably confederate, since most of the inhabitants around the old trading post were Northerners. In his will, Barnhurst states his homestead was called "Oakhurst" and at his death would go to his wife, Jennie. He wrote his will on Dec. 31, 1861 and was dead by June 20, 1862. I think he was no more than middle-aged at his death, if that old.

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A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF IBERIA

(Excerpt from the book, History of Iberia Academy and the Town, Its History by Peggy Smith Hake)

Iberia is a rare name and doesn't appear often in written history. The name first appeared in the Celtic history of the old world. The only other Iberia found in the United States is the New Iberia, Louisiana. The present site of Iberia was once the home of the Osage Indians. The first person recorded living on the present site was George tall Bear; an Indian who stayed on even after the white man came to the land of the Osage tribe.

An 1840 document contained the first use of Iberia as a name when thirty-two residents of the county living south of the Osage River petitioned the county court for a road that would lead from Iberia's post office northward to the Davis Ferry on the Osage and on northward toward Jefferson City.

In 1850, Iberia's post office was located about one mile southwest of the present site on Rabbit head Creek. It was later called Oakhurst and was on the old trail called The Old Herald Water Mill Road leading to the wet glaze in Camden (then Kinderhook) County. There was a trading post operated by Wilson Lennox near Rabbithead Creek. The Lennox Trading Post was destroyed during the Civil War, and never rebuilt. One of the original buildings was still standing on the farm owned by Herman Golden in the 1950's!

Depiction of Iberia Plat in 1859

The original town of Iberia was laid out into a plat in 1859. Henry M. Dickerson owned all the land in the original site and he had the town drawn up into two streets... St. Louis Street which was 60 feet wide running North and South, and Main Street running East and West 70 feet. Iberia residents were divided in their loyalties during the Civil War. During the early 1860's residents erected a fort as protection against invading raiders which was also used as a command post for the militia organized under the leadership of a Captain William Long.

The fort stood on the site of the old Farnham Store. Captain Long was slain by "bushwhackers." He ventured away from the fort one night and rode to the home of his parents who lived a few miles southwest of Iberia. In the middle of the night, these raiders rode to the Long farm and demanded he come out. He refused to leave while he helped his mother and father and an old slave escape from the home. He stayed on and fought a gun battle with the raiders. They finally set fire to the house and when the flames drove him outside, he was immediately fired upon and his body was riddled with bullets.

The Iberia Junior Academy was founded by two remarkable people, Professor G. Byron Smith and his wife Mabel White Smith. In 1910, there were three buildings including the girl's dormitory, girl's cottage, and the academic building

The first Normal school's main building burned in October of 1917. The old building consisted of five recitation rooms, a chapel, library, and both chemical and biological laboratories. They had a herbarium with over 500 plants, ocean specimens, 300 microscopic slides and the library had 6,000 volumes with an additional 1,000 added in 1912.

Many of these items were lost in the 1917 fire. On May 28, 1919, ground was broken for a new academic building which is the present structure on the site today. With today's public school system, the Iberia Academy stands as a silent representative to early schooling in the area.

Iberia once had a canning factory on the corner of Main and Thompson Street. In January of 1908, the Iberia Mill and Electric Light Company was organized. Only two years earlier, July 11, 1906, a two thirds majority passed a vote on a telephone franchised for Iberia.

Iberia's first bank is still her only bank, the Bank of Iberia. It was organized on October 20th, 1899. The Iberia jail dates back almost 75 years and stands as one of Iberia's historic landmarks. Iberia had a bandstand in the 1890's located over an old well in the middle of Lombar and Main Streets.

There are two stories of Iberia's nickname of "Rocktown." One story is that during the Civil War there was a skirmish that occurred outside the Iberia's fort and when the two sides opposing each other ran out of ammunition, their tempers continued to flare and in anger they continued their fight by throwing rocks at each other.

Judge Jenkins in his "History of Miller County," relates a different version. A young black republican (a title attached to anyone who had voted for Abraham Lincoln) came into town walking beside his ox-cart loaded with grist for the local mill.

His ox-cart was equipped with rocks he had placed between the barrels of meal and when one of the young ruffians of Iberia decided to scare him with his gun, the young republican quickly knocked him to the ground with a very powerful, accurate throw.

Others joined in the fight, but the young man with his rock equipped ox-cart stood off the attack. He left town proudly and apparently none the worse for his adventure.

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Ariel view of Iberia Academy - c/1940s

Iberia, Missouri c/1900

Note: According to Tom Malmberg, he identified this small community (pictured above) as Iberia. Here is what he wrote: "This picture has got to be Iberia. I own the house @ 206 E. Main (The old George Adams house) and I do believe it is in the picture. My house is a 2 story house with 2 roofs on the backside. The house across the street looks like the Irwin/Perkins 2 story house. I believe this picture is taken on the hill (belonging today to the Perkins farm) south of Iberia and looking north. The street farthest to the right of the picture is Main St. and the next one nearer is Pearl Street. The old Baptist Church is on the right at the top of the hill and the Congressional Church on Lombar (Hwy 42) is on the left."