Tales from Days Gone By

Perhaps no event in the history of crime and punishment in Southeast Missouri is as bizarre as the hanging and subsequent attempted revival of John H. Skaggs.

A restored log cabin, the Casey Cabin, is in Heritage Park in Potosi in Washington County. The Casey family donated it to the Mine au Breton Historical Society in 2002, and the Society restored it.

The county seat of New Madrid County has been New Madrid for much of the county’s history. However, from 1815 to 1822 the county seat was in a town that no longer exists—Winchester.

June 24, 1780, was a momentous day for settlers in the vicinity of Ruddell’s Station, Kentucky. Warnings of possible attack by British-allied Shawnee and other native people had moved them to take shelter in the fort constructed for such threats.

The most tragic event of the time before the Louisiana Purchase in the southern part of Spanish Upper Louisiana was the murder of David Trotter.

An overturned grave marker in Welch Cemetery near Summersville in Shannon County memorializes Peter Renfrow, whose life was profoundly altered by his crime and its aftermath.

The story of one of the most notorious events occurring near Cape Girardeau during the Civil War began in St. Louis in the early summer of 1863.

Two major European allies assisted the fight for American Independence: France and Spain. One of the consequences of the alliance with Spain was a more favorable view of Americans by the Spanish authorities in Louisiana.

July 27, 1871, proved to be a tragic day in the small Wayne County community of Lowndes.

The lure of riches has given rise to many historical events. Sometimes the promised boom happens, but often the lure leads to overly optimistic visions. One such event occurred in the late 1880s in Stoddard County.

Reflecting on the upcoming 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution, it seems unlikely that southeastern Missouri had any role. However, hostilities did directly affect those who lived in Ste. Genevieve.

One of the most influential of Wayne County’s public servants in the late 19th Century was a Russian immigrant who came to the U.S. with his father in 1849.

The period from May 25 through June 1, 1917, was one of the worst severe weather weeks in the history of southern Missouri. During that time, three low pressure systems in succession formed on the Plains and swept through the southern Midwest and upper South.

Perhaps no physician who practiced in southeast Missouri in the 19th century had as varied a career as Dr. Drake McDowell. Drake, or Isaac, McDowell was eldest son of Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell of St. Louis. He was born in Cincinnati in 1831 and came to St. Louis in 1840 with the family.

The present-day community of Lawrenceton is about 15 miles west of Ste. Genevieve. It is unincorporated, but in its heyday, it had a post office between 1867 and 1941. The initial town, Punjaub, officially changed to Lawrenceton in 1877. So how did an Ozark border community receive the name of a region in India, then later become Lawrenceton?

The wheels of justice operate in most cases—but often slowly. A tale from St. Francois County illustrates exactly how slowly.

In 1869, the lawyer and future railroad entrepreneur and historian Louis Houck rode the court circuit to Kennett with other lawyers and court officials. Upon reaching a point south of Bloomfield, as he later wrote, “I sat down on a hillside on the left of where Dexter now stands, looking over a vast forest of timber on all sides, greatly impressed; not a single farm in sight or opening in the vast...

Economic conditions boomed in Missouri and the country in 1835. The cotton market and prices increased throughout the South, resulting in increased land purchases and growing demand for enslaved workers. Across the Lead Belt of southeast Missouri, rising lead production and increased demand for furs fueled the boom conditions.

On a summer’s day in July 1926, a reporter for the Cape Girardeau Southeast Missourian noticed an old man sitting in Courthouse Park across the street from the newspaper. The reporter greeted the man, who introduced himself as William A. Bacon, a Union Civil War veteran who had just celebrated his 80th birthday.

The area around Arcadia in Iron County first became known to many young people of the mid and late 20th Century as a place to go to summer camp. Many of these camps were church camps and remain, although they are not as popular as they once were.

Not that long ago, a frequent practice of local newspapers was to have a representative of communities in their circulation area report on happenings in those smaller towns. Some of the reports give valuable insight into local history, while others border on gossip.

When the U. S. declared war on Japan and Germany at the end of 1941, mobilization of the armed forces began immediately. An acute need for fighter pilots required that training had to begin as soon as possible. The War Department acquired several new sites for airfields, including 2900-acre site four miles north of Malden in Dunklin County.

One of the longest-running local breweries in southeast Missouri, Old Appleton Brewery, started with a German immigrant, Caspar Ludwig.

One of the first American settlements in the Ste. Genevieve District was at a cluster of land grants on the west side of Rivere Grande, or Big River, in present-day St. Francois County.

Among all the stories in Southeast Missouri history that have sparked tales of ghosts and hauntings is one that should have but has not.