Some Interesting Facts About Miller Co., MO

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Between July 31-August 6, 1806, the famous expedition of Zebulon M. Pike passed through present day Miller County. They traveled the Osage River on their way west, eventually reaching Colorado.

July 20, 1826, the first land entry was made, in what is now Miller County, by William Miller. It was in Section 23, Twp. 42, Range 14, near Spring Garden.

In 1834, the first water mill was built in Miller County by William Brockman on the Saline creek and a few years later, William Williams built the second mill in the county. The first steam mill was built in 1853 by John Humes near Mt. Pleasant.

Miller County was established as a county on February 6, 1837. The area north of the Osage River had been part of Cole County and the area south of the Osage had been part of Pulaski County.

At the June, 1837 county court, first merchants licenses were issued to W. P. Dickson/Dixon, Zachariah Price, and Andrew Burris.

In July, 1837, the county was road-districted and the first ferry permit was granted to Cornelius P. Davidson at Tuscumbia.

On Dec. 21, 1837, the first post office in the county was established at Tuscumbia with James Pryor Harrison as the first postmaster. Mail was delivered on horseback once a week from Waynesville to Jefferson City via Tuscumbia.

In 1839, the first courthouse was built (a 35 ft. by 20 ft. log building) and the first jail (19 ft. square) was built about the same time, a short distance north of the log courthouse. The second courthouse was built in 1859. It was a two-story brick building with a gabled roof measuring 40 ft. by 56 ft. A low bid of $6,000 was let to Robert McKim for the construction. In 1865, a stone jail was built in the courtyard. In 1879, one cell of it was leased to the town of Tuscumbia for a calaboose.

On Feb. 4, 1840, the county court divided Miller County into 14 school districts. In 1840, the financial statement of Miller County showed $243.10 received and $455.75 expended. In 1860, these had increased to $2,410.16 received and $2,312.76 expended. The financial condition of the county improved over the four decades between 1840 and 1880.

The first marriage in the county was performed on Feb. 26, 1837. Sims Brockman married Rachel Gartin, by Andrew Kingery, a minister of the gospel.

On Nov. 6, 1837, the county court issued a merchants license to Wm. H. Pulliam, who had a frontier general store near the present site of Iberia.

In 1851, Miller County had four post office sites......Iberia, Pleasant Mount, Rocky Mount, and Tuscumbia.

The oldest road in Miller County was the Springfield-Jefferson City road, running generally north and south passing through Tuscumbia. Another old road was the Little Piney River-Versailles road taking a northwesterly direction through Iberia and Tuscumbia.

In 1840, the first paupers were farmed out by the county court.

Miller County once had a township named Reed. It was formed in 1837 from part of Equality Township; was soon abolished.

In 1855, the first river improvement was voted on.

October 3, 1860, the original plat of the town of Iberia was filed for record by Henry M. Dickerson with only two streets laid out....Main St. and St. Louis St.

In the 1860s and 70s, Jesse and Frank James, the well-known Missouri outlaws, frequented the backwoods trails of Miller County. They visited their cousin, Mildred James Wall and her husband, Jim Wall, at their trading post in southern Richwoods Township called Faith.

In 1870, the first Catholic Church in the county was built at Old St. Elizabeth on the east bank of the Osage River. The town and church was founded by an Irishman named Owen Riggs.

In 1870 the first newspaper in the county was established at Tuscumbia called THE OSAGE VALLEY SENTINEL. Other early newspapers included The Tuscumbia Republican, The Gospel Messenger, The Miller County Vindicator, The Eye Opener, Osage Valley Record, The Western Preacher, The Miller County Vidette, The Helmet, The Osage Valley Banner, The Iberia Intelligencer, The Iberia Impetus, The Iberia Advocate, The Iberia Headlight and others.......

During the 1870s, horse racing, embezzlements, abortion, burglary, and a few new cases came up in the courts and by the 1880s, almost every variety of cases, known to most circuit courts, appeared in Miller County.

In 1875, the first County Farm Superintendent, J. C. Hoff, was appointed.

Aurora Springs was the county's largest town during the 1880s and 90s, due to the discovery of mineral springs in the region. In 1881, approximately 20 new buildings sprang up in the 'boom town'. When the railroad bypassed the town, it began to decline and almost disappeared. In 1890, its population was 421 persons.

The original plat of the town of Eldon was filed by George R. Weeks on March 15, 1882. The town became a reality after the railroad bypassed Aurora Springs to the south and was built a few miles further north.

In 1883, the first railroad tax was paid to the county by the Jefferson City, Lebanon, and Southwestern Railroad.

By 1889, the county had never issued any bonds. Funds were taken from the Road and Canal Fund and the Internal Improvement Fund.

In 1888, the county had 18 ¾ miles of railroad tracks within its boundaries. The property was assessed at $71,285.09 for the railroad and $1,500 for the telegraph system.

In 1889, Miller County's first bank was established at Olean on August 20th, the Miller County Exchange Bank........Olean, in the extreme northern section of the county, has been known by four different names----Proctor, Cove, Chester, and finally Olean.

Cynthia Hawkins Spearman, a well-known schoolteacher of the 19th century in the county, was the first woman elected to a county office. She served as Superintendent of Public Schools of Miller County during 1895 and 1896.

In 1889, Eldon had three hotels built in the new city which sprang up around the railroad tracks........The Cottage, operated by Mrs. Hattie James; The Goss House owned by J. Goss; and The Eldon Hotel, operated by John Brickey.

By 1889, Eldon had only had one newspaper, The Eldon News, published by L. F. Hart as a Republican newspaper. It only existed for a few months in 1886.

On June 5, 1913, the town board of Iberia (incorporated as a town in 1875) ordered five electric lights to be installed on the streets.

In 1918, the great influenza plague, which took many lives across America, ran rampant in Miller County. On Oct. 5, 1918, John Ferguson, chairman of Iberia's town board, ordered through a proclamation..."all schools, churches, and public places be closed during the prevalence of this influenza epidemic."

On August 17, 1924, Wm. Jennings Bryan, famed attorney, made a short address in Eldon. He spoke to the crowd from the rear car of the Rock Island-Colorado flyer.

On March 27, 1929, the county court awarded the contract to construct a new jail to W. W. Hocker of Sedalia. The bid was $7,249.36. Final cost was almost $10,000.

Construction began on a dam across the Osage River on August 6, 1929......today's Bagnell Dam.

The new county home (also once called an almshouse) was opened on August 4, 1931. It was located southeast of Tuscumbia on Highway 17. It contained 198 acres of farmland.

Miller County's first historical society was formed on Nov. 18, 1931. The meeting was held at the Iberia Academy and Junior College. Officers elected were Gerard Schultz, president; Fred Spearman, vice president; and Clifford H. Clark, secretary/treasurer.

October 1, 1932, a new post office was opened and called Lake Ozark. Frank Andrews was the first postmaster.

On May 2, 1933, construction began on the new steel structural bridge across the Osage River at Tuscumbia. Final cost for construction was $145,000.

Norah Harbour Parrish, a Judge of Miller County's Probate Court in the 1930s, was the first woman to be elected as a probate judge in the state of Missouri.

The first name given to Lake of the Ozarks was Lake Benton by an Act of the General Assembly of Missouri. The builders called it Lake of the Ozarks and the popular name remained.

Some Interesting Facts About Miller Co., MO​

Some Interesting Facts About Miller Co., MO