History of Hartsburg

History of Hartsburg. . , 1893, A Railroad Station in Hart's Field , Sons of a pioneer family from Virginia, Luther D. Hart and Aurelias B. Hart began farming here in the 1870s. The town's first sign of life came when Luther granted a right-of-way 250 feet wide by a quarter mile long to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad (MKT or Katy). A railroad station named Hart City was established. The community officially incorporated as Hartsburg in 1901., Business Boomed , The arrival of the railroad in 1893 brought new business opportunities to an area previously served by boats that ran the Missouri River. One of the first businesses was a two-story general store owned by H.G. Kohlbush and his brother-in-law Hy Koch. While the Koch family lived in the second story, they sold a variety of products, including hardware, implements and groceries in the first story. They were said to buy almost everything the farmers had to sell such as eggs, chickens, turkeys and livestock., The Samuel E. Hackman building at 30 S. Second St. is in the National Register of Historic Places due to its late Victorian architecture and commercial role. The building housed the A.L. Barner Hardware Company store, a doctor's office and a town meeting hall-theatre. The Globe Hotel opened in 1893 to care for prospective land buyers. The hotel often hosted railroad officials as they made their inspection tours. With 17 rooms and meals provided, the Globe was considered the best hotel between New Franklin and St. Charles. It was also home to a millinery business that made women's hats. , Other businesses included the Hartsburg Truth newspaper, two blacksmiths, a livery barn, a grain elevator, a mill, a lumberyard, a furniture and undertaking establishment, a restaurant-billiard parlor, an ice house, two banks that merged in 1927 and a tin manufacturing business. , (photo captions:), ·This Baldwin locomotive was photographed in the area in 1913. In 1935, two passenger trains and 10 freight trains passed through Hartsburg daily., ·Louis Barner, shown here with his mules and wagon, was known as a "hack." He was a local man who routinely acquired goods from the train and transported them to stores in the surrounding countryside., ·The Globe Hotel, still in business, has its original porch with elaborate millworking, pine floors and tin roof. , 1920, German Settlers Built a Town , Hartsburg's history was deeply influenced by the heritage of the German immigrants who comprised most of its early residents. When Luther Hart decided to divide his fields into residential lots for sale, Koch and Kohlbush sent letters to families they knew in towns such as Washington and Marthasville. The German settlers who moved to the new community bought not only their strong work ethic and culture, but their religious beliefs as well., Seven spiritual leaders from among them formed "Friedens Evangelische Germeine" in the home of Henry Wintermeyer in 194. Known as "the German church," some services were conducted using the German language as late as the 1930s. People from throughout the area attended services, traveling by foot, horseback or by riding in horse-drawn buggies or wagons., Community, School and Electricity , The Hartsburg community provided a school for the children. Born in 1900 to German immigrants, Henry Klemme recalled, "When I started school, I couldn't speak English. I learned my English right there in the two-room schoolhouse." Clifford Nahler attended the two-room school around 1925-1935 when there were about 80 children, 40 per teacher. In 1921, the elementary teacher was paid $125 a year. Outhouses were the only restroom facilities. Drinking water was pumped up by hand from a "sand point" (a pointed pipe that was driven down to make contact with the water table)., Hartsburg residents had electricity years earlier than most Missourians because the town bought and operated a generator. From 1919 to 1929, residents were supplied with electricity in the evenings until 9 or 10 p.m. and on Mondays and Tuesdays for washing and ironing. In 1929, an electric cooperative began providing power to the area, although some farmhouses were not connected until 1947., (photo captions:), ·Some of the early German residents came to Hartsburg by train, ·Hartsburg residents Carl and Marjorie Thomas have a German heritage., ·In 1898, the "German church" was built, complete with organ and bell, for $1,700. Added onto since then, local people still meet at the Peace United Church of Christ at 121 N. First St. , ·From 1930 to 1950, local children presented theatrical performances in the upstairs of the Samuel E. Hackman building., 1951, Neighbors helping Neighbors , Hartsburg survived nine major floods between 1903 and 1995. Most notable among them were the floods of 1903, 1951 and 1993. Flooding was to be expected when living in the bottomlands and people learned to live with it. When a flood was expected, barrels were put inside homes with boards between that so furniture could be placed on them above the water. Additional items were stacked on top of the furniture. Often, friends and family members welcomed others into their homes while everyone waited for the waters to recede., During the 1903 flood, restaurant owner F.W. Bockhorst stood in floodwaters to serve food to those that had arrived by boat. During the 1951 flood, newlyweds Marjorie and Carl Thomas invited friends who worked in Jefferson City to stay with them in their apartment in the capital city when the floodwaters cut off travel between it and Hartsburg. , Jo Hackman said that the flood of 1993 "made us all closer to one another and helped us appreciate each other more." Since people could not live in their homes, they stayed with others and gathered together every day at the firehouse for meals, provided by area churches. Whenever the floodwaters receded from a home, neighbors all went together to remove mud and debris from that house. Also, according to Hackman, "Wonderful people from everywhere came" to help residents build sandbag levees and clean up after the flood., With some help and by pulling together, the Hartsburg community survived the flood of 1993. Other towns were not as fortunate. In Missouri, 27 people lost their lives and 15,000 homes were damaged during the flood of 1993., (photo captions:), ·Taken from the hills overlooking the town, this photo of Hartsburg during the 1903 flood shows how this prosperous town had grown to include many businesses, homes and churches., ·Newspapers in 1951 reported boating in the streets of Hartsburg. Prior to 1993, the 1951 flood held the record flood height., ·Floodwaters covered Katy Trail State Park and rose to several feet deep inside many Hartsburg homes during the flood of 1993.