Randolph County was part of Howard County during the territorial days between 1860 and 1820. After Chariton County was created in 1820, Randolph County became a part of Chariton County until 1829. Randolph County was carved from its neighbor to the west, Chariton County, in 1829. Eight years later, a chunk of northern Randolph County helped create Macon County. In over 150 years, Randolph County as it now exists, has bid farewell to the native Fox and Sac Indians, endured war among families and neighbors, given birth to a magic city and watched industries come and go. Sometimes known as Little Dixie, the area was settled by pioneers from the southern states of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. Some were slave owners, others strict abolitionists. During the Civil War no major battles were fought on county soil, but the war took its toll. The North Missouri Railroad Company, with its north-south line, was a target of both sides. The town of Renick was burned twice and many families lost loved ones to their cause.

On September 27, 1866, the largest city in Randolph County was born, a product of a railroad auction. In connecting with the Chariton and Randolph Railroad at Moberly, the North Missouri Railroad Company began a legacy of railroading in the county lasting to this day. With the coming of the Wabash Railroad Shops in 1873, Moberly seemed to spring from the prairie overnight and was subsequently dubbed the “magic city.”

A unique geographic feature of the county is the “great divide.” This high ridge of land stretches from Boone County (to the south) to Iowa and is easily distinguished as one travels through the county. Interesting to note, water falling on the eastern slopes of this divide drains to the Mississippi River, while water falling on it’s western slopes flows to the Missouri River. Moberly sits on a high point of this divide, and because of this, was thought to be safe from tornadoes. Unfortunately, this folklore was disproved on July 4, 1995 when a tornado ripped through the center of town.

Famous Randolph Countians include General Omar Bradley, five-star general from World War II. Be sure to visit Bradley’s birthplace in Clark and his grand memorial statue in Moberly’s Rothwell Park. Moberly has produced authors Elizabeth Seifert Gasparotti, a prolific romance novelist, and Jack Conroy, whose most famous work, The Disinherited, is a tale of the Great Depression. Moberly Area Community College houses the Jack Conroy Room which contains a large collection of his writings and numerous book reviews. Also at MACC is the Stan Isle Room which houses a collection of the Moberly native who wrote for The Sporting News for many years.

While in Moberly you may want to take a driving tour of statuary found in Rothwell Park and in Oakland Cemetery on Rollins Street. Don’t miss the historical Burkholder-O’Keefe house built in 1872. Now on the National Register of Historic Places, this impressive dwelling can be found at 605 S. Fifth Street. Another period home is the H. P. Jennings home at the corner of Fourth and Wightman Streets. Built in 1883, this house was the second brick home in Moberly. The Huntsville Historical Society operates a museum and also exhibits the original cabin built and lived in by the first non-Native American family to settle what is now Randolph County. Both can be found on Main Street in downtown Huntsville.

The list of railroad historical societies below includes some of the lines acquired by merger and/or purchase by the railroads listed above. Also included are some more generic railroad historical society sites. The Randolph County Historical Society is a member of the Wabash and the Katy societies. Their magazines are on file at the History Center.

Wabash Railroad

Nickel Plate Road

Norfolk & Western

Southern Railway

Norfolk & Southern

M.K.&T. (Katy)

Gulf, Mobile, & Ohio

Illinois Central

Caboose Society

National Railway Historical Society

The Railroad Museum will open for the summer on the first Saturday in June.  It will also be open for the Railroad Days Celebration from June 9 – June 12 and other times by appointment .  There is no admission charge for the Railroad Museum.

An added attraction this year will be the opening of the Wabash Railroad  caboose for tours when the RR Museum is open.

The Randolph County Historical Society joined many groups and organizations in the area in a salute to our military veterans in November with special displays in the museum at 223 N. Clark Street. This special month-long display highlighted uniforms, caps, pictures and interpretation of events surrounding WW II.

The permanent display of items related to the military and favorite son, Five Star General, Omar Bradley may be seen on regular opening days of the museum: Saturday, 9-Noon, Monday, 10-Noon and Thursday 1-3 p.m.  Group visits to the museum may be scheduled at other times by appointment.

Other displays at the History Museum include a small railroad display and railroad models.  Music and musicians of the area, businesses and industries, Lincoln School a classic clothing room ar to be seen here.  The building at 223 N Clark in Moberly also houses the large Family History Research collection.  Volunteers are available to assist with tours or you may just browse the museum at your leisure.  Contact the volunteers at the Society by calling 263-9396 and leaving a message.

News from the History Center and Museum  -  3Nov, 2009

Research

They’re starting to bring in their used Christmas decorations for the Annual Used Christmas Decoration Sale at the History Center. Do you have some that has just been lying around waiting to get pitched? You can bring it to good use by bringing it by and letting us sell it in our sale. The sale is one of the three fund-raisers that the Historical Society has each year. The Decoration Sale, the White Elephant Sale, and the Ice Cream Social help pay our largest expenses at the Center – gas and electricity. Anyway, the sale will be Saturday morning, November 7 and it will continue for a couple of weeks during our normal operating hours. Come on by.

We have been helping Mary Bentz, of Bethesda, by doing research on the family of Glenn Hellensmith. Glenn graduated from Huntsville High School and then enlisted in the Navy in 1942. He was assigned to submarine duty on the U.S.S. Grunion. The Grunion sunk that same year, but no one knew where until 2008, when the three sons of the commander decided to find where their father died. The ship was found and all of kin of the crew were contacted. Mary Bentz, a niece of one of the men is writing a book with information about each of the men that went down with the sub. We’ll have some copies for sale when it comes out.

Dr. Bob Burton from Independence was here for the day a week ago do historical research on his ancestors. He is from the Burton Drug Store Burton’s. The Stinnett’s – Chuck and Carole Anne from California and Nancy Kempner from Omaha were here for a visit and renewed their memberships. Jennie Lou O’Connor Magan was by to confirm some of her family history. Maryland Clark from Orlando, FL came by while she was here for her 1951 class reunion. Maryland has contributed a lot of information to the family history section.

Museum

The Railroad Corner at the museum has been totally redone by J.W. and Linda Ballinger and Ingrid Jones. The diorama depicting the Confederate train robbery in Old Allen built by Neal Block, the Norfolk Southern model railroad, and items recently donated by Mrs. Mike Magown are displayed in an old glassed-in office bookcase that we have had for years. Mike was a Wabash Railroad engineer for many years. Come by for a look.

BRICK FACTORY

Do you have a picture of the brick factory that we could copy? Every so often we find a curious void in our collection at the History Center. This week it is the lack of any good picture of the Moberly Paving Brick Company that was located on South Williams just south of the Sterling Price Apartments. More dwellings are going to be built at the site, so the ground there is being cleared of trees that have grown up in the past 50 years.

We have two old pictures from an old 1909 Chamber of Commerce booklet that are very dark and show very little detail. Jimmy was the one that noticed that there were some pictures of football practice in the 1927 Moberly High School yearbook that show the brick plant in the background. There was a pond on the property. Jack Valentine remembers ice skating there in the early forties. Jim Boots’ uncle Ray lived nearby and Jim remembers wandering around the ruins with him when Jim was a kid. This area was called Lions Field in honor of the Moberly High School Lions. No, those high school kids were not Spartans, Greyhounds or Pups at that time. In fact, that is why we had a Lion statue in Tannehill Park, but that’s a different story.

DEPOT PARK CLOCK TOWER

Buck Kelly, the editor/publisher of the Moberly Daily Monitor for many years, had it right when he called for a town clock. His editorial on November 19, 1878 said that there was not a town of over 1,000 inhabitants in the country, excepting Moberly that did not have town clock. Quite an indictment for such a booming place as Moberly was in 1878. Buck asked “Will our city authorities see to it that the necessary trifling sum be expended for this necessity…” He also suggested that “in case of the failure of the council, will not the business men of the city contribute enough to purchase and place in position a time regulator which is so much needed.”

Buck Kelly said in his editorial that “without it, there is no harmony of time in the dwellings, and one must always be bothered by a watch, depend on the conflicting time pieces in the stores and shops, or guess as best he can about what time of day it is.”

It only took Moberly 127 years to follow Buck’s idea. Mayor Rucker’s suggestion that a clock tower be built at the location of the old depot at the east end of Reed Street was heard by members of the Moberly Rotary club. They stepped forward, raised the money and had the clock tower – with four clocks – built.

Now if we can just get it running…..

GIRL SCOUT EXHIBIT

The Girl Scout Council, that includes Randolph County, is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. People at the Council headquarters in Jefferson City have sent us a selection of older Girl Scout items for display at the museum. The display will be on exhibit for during November and December. We also have a large amount of pictures of local Girl Scouts that are unnamed. We had a lot of success with identifying people during the Campfire Girls exhibit. Come see the display and see if you can identify some of the girls.

FOURTH STREET THEATER MAKEOVER

If you have gone north past the Little Dixie Library lately, you’ve probably seen the repainted sign on the 4th Street Theater. The sign is just a small part of phase two of the remodeling project that is being undertaken by the 4th Street Restoration Committee and project director, Carolee Hazlet. Other parts of this phase include tuck pointing of the exterior brick and cleaning and repair of the white terra cotta front of the building. The Randolph County Historical Society owns the building and does the bookkeeping for the project. Donations are nearing the halfway point of the fund raising that is necessary to complete the project. Have you contributed yet?

Well, it’s not really Bloody Bill, but one of his latest biographers, Tom Goodrich, will be speaking about him at our annual dinner meeting at Heartland in Moberly. We expect this to be one our most enlightening programs in several years. Hope we see you there. The dinner starts at 6 PM on Sunday, September 18. The dinner is open to everyone and the cost is $10.00.

William ‘Bill’ Anderson grew up in the Huntsville community from his birth in 1840 until he was 14. The family moved to Lyon County, Kansas in 1854. His exploits as a Confederate guerilla during the war between the United States and the Confederate States, won him the title of Bloody Bill. His group of guerillas was famous for raids that were made in many towns in Missouri and Kansas. Raiders would plunder stores and rob citizens during these raids. One of these is documented as being in his old hometown of Huntsville. On the 23rd of September 1864 the guerilla raided Renick and there was a skirmish in Allen. Allen was a small town in where McDonald’s of Moberly now stands.

His most famous raid was in and around Centrailia on 27 September 1864. The killing of over 100 Federals by Bloody Bill Anderson and his guerillas that day has become known as the Centrailia Massacre.

A reenactment of that day will be held in Centrailia starting around 11 AM on September 18. Members of Confederate and Union reenactment clubs will portray the people of that day. Our local Confederate club, called the Sons of Confederate Veterans, is headed up by Neil Block of Huntsville and it is named for William ‘Bill’ Anderson.

WABASH HISTORICAL SOCIETY NATIONAL CONVENTION IN MOBERLY

Members of the Wabash Railroad Historical Society from across the nation will gather in Moberly Oct 1 and 2 for their annual convention. Convention headquarters will be at the Moberly Inn, but the Randolph County Historical Society History Center and Railroad Museum will be open all day both days for them and anyone else to view our large collection of railroad memorabilia.

ANNUAL ICE CREAM SOCIAL OCTOBER 1

Our annual ice cream and home made cake social will be held at the Railroad Museum this year, since we will all be there for the conventioneers. Tickets are $3.00 and can be purchased from any Society board member, at the History Center or at the door.

FOURTH STREET THEATER RESTORATION PROJECT

The theater project is ongoing. The restoration committee is in the midst of phase two of the reconstruction, which includes tuck pointing the bricks on all sides of the building, restoring the terracotta figures inside and outside of the building and repainting the sign on the south side of the building. Theater Restoration committee member, Carole Kehoe, told the board on Thursday that the contractor plans to finish this phase by the end of the month.

Over $400,000 has been donated so far and Project director, Carolee Hazlett, is in the process of developing new ways of raising more money. Send your donations to Randolph County Historical Society, 223 N Clark, Moberly, MO 65270.

WHITE ELEPHANT SALE

The White Elephant sale on 6 August, one of our two fund raising projects, was a great success. Eight hundred forty four dollars was the final figure. Thanks so much to all of you that bought, donated items and helped with the sale.

‘Mother Hen’ Juanita Vanskike brought 10 of her ‘Mischievous Chicks’ to the Historical Center and Museum at 223 N Clark in Moberly. They had a guided tour of the old Sycamore bordello. Following the tour they viewed items in the museum.

RALPH GERHARD MICROFILM RESEARCH CENTER

The collection of microfilm at the research center continues to grow thanks to Chris Parrish, who met such an untimely, early death from cancer. Chris was a long time member of the Randolph County Historical Society and traveled from St. Louis to attend the annual meeting of the Society for many years. He was a devoted family history researcher and he had amassed a huge collection of research materials. Chris had asked his wife Marge to donate his microfilm collection to the Society at his death. We now have the microfilm. In his personal research library were 87 microfilm rolls of birth, marriage, census, and other records from Randolph county and 8 other counties in the surrounding area. They are a wonderful addition to our Research Center.

BANK OF CAIRO – (now BANK OF CAIRO AND MOBERLY)

Bank of Cairo and Moberly is celebrating their 100th birthday this month. Old items from the bank will be on display for the month of April. Featured items from the Historical Society’s collection are the old cashier’s cage from the bank at Cairo and piece of 2 inch thick bullet proof glass that was installed after the 1937 bank robbery.

FOURTH STREET THEATER

Rehabilitating an old theater is a lot of fun. Researching the history of the place, doing actual demolition of parts of it and listening to the stories that people have about times there. Not so much fun is the constant need for asking for donations of cash or donated services.

Carolee Hazlet, Project Chairperson, has had many fund raising schemes, but the most beneficial to donors is the state NAP tax credits program. Carolee applied for tax credit status for the Fourth Street Theater project in 2002. The project was accepted and it was made an official project of the Neighborhood Assistance Program of the state.

Business owners, Banks, Professionals, Farmers, Corporations, Insurance Companies and Individuals with rental property qualify to receive tax credits for their contribution to the project. These do have to be in the State of Missouri. It can be any amount the contributor wishes to give.

Tax credits work this way. Suppose you give the project a contribution of $10,000 After the contribution is given and the donor receives the canceled check back a one page form is filled out and sent, along with a copy of both sides of the check to the Project Director. Carolee will then fill out the rest of the form and send it in and in about a week the donor will receive a document giving 70 percent of the $10,000 tax credit to use in lieu of the owed taxes. The donor can then take the other 30 percent off of their tax as a charitable deduction and again take the 30 percent off for a federal deduction giving the donor an added tax break. The other 30% is a donation to the project and may be used for reducing their federal taxes. The State only approves a certain number of projects throughout the state so the 4th Street Theatre project has been fortunate to receive approval.

Time is short, however, because the tax credits expire on June 30, 2005, so contact us soon with your donation.

RALPH GERHARD MICROFILM RESEARCH CENTER

The collection of microfilm at the research center continues to grow. Chris Parrish, who met such an untimely, early death from cancer, was a long time member of the Randolph County Historical Society. He was a devoted family history researcher and amassed a huge collection of research materials. He had asked his wife Marge to donate his microfilm collection to the Society at his death. We now have the microfilm. In his personal research library were 87 microfilm rolls of birth, marriage, census, and other records from Randolph county and 8 other counties in the surrounding area.

They are a wonderful addition to the Research Center.

SPORTS NEWS

The Mirror of Roanoke High School, May 17, 1921 Roanoke High School fielded its first baseball team in 1920.

FOURTH STREET THEATER

Rehabilitating an old theater is a lot of fun. Researching the history of the place, doing actual demolition of parts of it and listening to the stories that people have about times there. Not so much fun is the constant need for asking for donations of cash or donated services.

Carolee Hazlet, Project Chairperson, has had many fund raising schemes, but the most beneficial to donors is the state NAP tax credits program. Carolee applied for tax credit status for the Fourth Street Theater project in 2002. The project was accepted and it was made an official project of the Neighborhood Assistance Program of the state.

At the present time, businesses and professional people are being solicited for donations that may be made using these tax credits. Tax credits work this way. The state of Missouri designates certain rehab projects around the state as eligible to receive tax credit money. So at tax time, a Missouri corporation may designate that it wants up to 70 % of its state tax money to be used for helping one of these projects. For instance, let’s say that a corporation owes $10,000 in state taxes. They may then make a $10,000 donation to the 4th Street Theater project and 70% of the $10,000 will be taken off their tax bill. The other 30% is a donation to the project and may be used for reducing their federal taxes.

Time is short, however, because the tax credits expire on June 30, 2005, so consider making your donation soon.

HISTORY QUERY

This is from Sue Snider concerning Malinda Paris Jones. “Am looking for more info on this lady and family. She was born in 1826 in Randolf Co., Missouri and died 1915 in Nebraska. Married to a John White in 1845. Thanks, Sue” Let us know if you can help.