Old Bagnell

OLD BAGNELL By Kelly Warman-Stallings

Artwork by Kirk D. Warman

The small village of Bagnell, located in the western portion of the county, began its existence in the latter portion of the 19th century, circa 1882. It was once a thriving river town that was situated along the Osage, downriver from present-day Bagnell Dam. It is in Franklin township.

The post office was started in 1884 and not long afterward, Bagnell became an incorporated village with a population of 100 persons.

Bagnell received its name from William Bagnell, an executive of the old St. Louis, Lebanon, and Southwestern Railroad (later called the Rock Island Line). The town sprang up around the tracks of the railroad which was built as a spur to the line that ran through Eldon.

At the turn of the 20th century, Bagnell contained two general stores, two hotels, a bank, lumberyard, the well-known Bagnell Ferry, and a doctor's office. The town probably had a blacksmith shop and perhaps mill somewhere in the area. Dr. Brockman set up his medical practice in the early years of the town's existence. Brockman, the epitome of a country doctor, was a well-known physician throughout Miller County.

The railroad tie industry gave Old Bagnell its growth over 100 years ago and was widely publicized as "The Tie Capitol of the World". Bagnell became a huge producer of railroad ties and over the years, millions of logs were rafted past the town. After the tie-hacker (tie-rafter) shaped the felled trees, with delicate skill, into 8-foot ties, they would float the ties downriver by two-men rafts that measured 200 feet in length and four ties wide. Some of those rafts came from Warsaw, upriver a few miles in Benton County. Other ties were brought in by wagons from surrounding settlements around the county and even from neighboring county communities. The railroad tie industry, at one time, was a very booming business that gave many of our ancestors' employment. It was sometimes considered a dangerous profession but very important to the completion of the railroads built across the country.

Bowlin, Elm Spring and Post Oak Schools were located south of Bagnell on the south side of the Osage River; I am not certain if these schools were affiliated with the settlement of Bagnell. It would seem rather difficult for the children to cross the Osage to attend school; incurring a daily 'ferry fee' most likely was not plausible for the residents of Bagnell. There are no records of a school existing in Bagnell before the High School was built in the late 1920s. However, Bagnell High School was short-lived due to the flooding of the Osage River. In 1934, the high school was abandoned and the children of Bagnell was moved to the [old] School of the Osage High School. Today, this is the home of Heritage Elementary School. It's possible Walnut Grove School, located a few miles northwest of Bagnell, served the community for their educational needs.

The Great Depression of the 1930s, some devastating fires, and the re-routing of Highway 54 caused the death of Old Bagnell. The post office was discontinued in 1942. Just a few homes, a campsite and an old defunct store is all that remains of the once-busy "Tie Capitol of the World".

Ancestral Names of the Region: Blankenship, Bowlin, Brockman, Caldwell, Carroll, Connor, Cotten, Gier, Gorman, Helton, Hickman, Hicks, Houston, Howser, Hunter, Jones, Jordan, McComb, Moseley, Osborn, Sanders, Strange, Thompson, Vaughan, Wilcox, Wooley