Old St Eliz

Old St. Elizabeth By Kelly Warman-Stallings

Situated in the northeast section of the county and located on the east side of the Osage River, was where the original site of St. Elizabeth once existed. It was established as a town after the Civil War era in 1869 and was made up primarily of German residents. This river town was in Jim Henry township (today Osage township) and built along the Osage River upstream from the mouth of the Big Tavern Creek. It's shipping point was Osage City (Cole County), located 35 miles by land or 50 miles by river to the northeast. The patrons of St. Elizabeth were quite patriotic and always ready and willing to fight for thier country. Not only were these folks admired for their bravery, but they took great pride in the building of their church. The churches were large and made owith permanent materials of the stone or brick.

The first Catholic church in Miller County was erected at Old St. Elizabeth on land donated by Owen Riggs, of Irish descent. Riggs was instrumental in getting the church, as well as the town organized. It is very possible the church was visited by Father Ferdinand Helias, the remarkable Jesuit priest responsible for the organization of seven Catholic parishes in Central Missouri.

The small river hamlet consisted of the church, a general store, a wagonmaker, a blacksmith, a shoemaker, and a store clerk. In 1874, the town had a population of 60 persons and the post office was established in 1877 with mail delivered three times a week. William Wetlock was the postmaster and lso owned and operated the general store. The nearest bank could be found at Jefferson City and land sold for $1.50 to $10.00 per acre.

A half-mile above Old St. Elizabeth, on the Osage River, was an old storehouse (warehouse) that was probably a part of this German settlement. The storehouse was listed as being at Fairplay in 1874 but never had a post office at that location.

Another interesting face about Old St. Elizabeth was that it was the first town in the county to exhibit a Christmas tree. For many years people of German origin had put a significant emphasis on the Christmas holiday and was definitely the first settlement to introduce the Christmas tree to this important religious season.

In August 1880, after the death of Owen Riggs, the town began to die and many of the residents abandoned the site of Old St. Elizabeth in favor of higher ground. I am sure the uncontrollable flooding of the Osage and lack of preventative measures to stop it, contributed to the decision to move inland.

The inhabitants relocated about 3 miles inland and established Charlestown (also known as Charleytown) in 1882. It wasn't too much later, however, that the name was changed back to St. Elizabeth. It is interesting to note that Charlestown never had a post office established; neither was St. Elizabeth's post office ever discontinued at any time.

So, by means of deduction, it is safe to assume that the St. Elizabeth post office continued to operate even while the town was known as Charlestown.

Today nothing remains of Old St. Elizabeth except a few stone foundations and an old well to mark its once thriving existence.

Regional Ancestral Names: Boedecker, Borgmeyer, Buechter, Evers/Avers, Fancher, Groner, Hake, Henke, Jurgensmeyer, Kemna, Kempker, Kenrick, Koenig, Koester, Libbert, Miller, Morff, Pendleton, Riggs, Schell, Wetlock, Whalen