History of McBaine

History of McBaine. . , 1800........ , Nashville Born, Destroyed … , McBaine's history begins with Nashville, five miles downriver. Ira Nash received a Spanish land grant in 1800, before the United States owned the Louisiana Territory. Nash, a Virginian and one of the first American settlers in central Missouri, laid out Nashville in 1819, and lots went on sale Jan. 1, 1820. Nashville grew as a river town for two decades, but the river then destroyed it. On June 21, 1844, the Missouri Statesman reported that “Nashville is also under water, and the immense bottoms adjacent. Every inhabitant of the place had to desert it. The water is now eight feet deep in the streets.” , The following week, the Statesman said “Camplin's Tobacco warehouse at Nashville … has been swept into the river. The residence of Mr. John Parker we presume is, by this time, also in the river as the bank on Wednesday morning had caved half way under it.” The Nashville Baptist church, built around 1834 of pecan logs, was spared in the great 1844 flood and survived even beyond the building of a new church in 1872. , … and Reborn as Providence , Nashville residents wasted no time in founding a new town, one and a half miles north on the edge of the river bluffs. Lots in Providence, as it was called, began selling on July 13, 1844. just weeks after the flood. A decade later, Providence prospered as Columbia's port. Transportation over the 10 miles northeast to Columbia was rough, and the plank road of the 1850s was an improvement for only a few years. , Columbia was the key to the progress of Providence, and once Columbia became better-connected – a railroad spur from Centralia, gravel roads to Claysville, Fulton, Ashland, Mexico and Rocheport – Providence was no longer important. As a final insult, when the Missouri River shifted course in the late 1800s, the town became landlocked. , [Captions, top to bottom] , . Ira Nash acquired this Spanish land grant, future town site of Nashville. Used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri Columbia , . Nashville School outlived the town. Around 1911, its students took a graduation trip to the University of Missouri. Used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia , . Note the land holdings of James T. McBaine in the 1875 Boone County atlas. Used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia , . Providence gradually declined. By the time of this 1926 photo from Columbia's Herald Statesman, the town was almost deserted. Used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia. , 1822......... , Grandfather and Father McBaine , The McBaine family moved to Boone County from Kentucky in 1822 and became highly successful. Turner McBaine and his son, James T. McBaine, raised crops and livestock on their ewver-expanding property. James T. McBaine helped John Parker promote the doomed Columbia-Providence plank road. James inherited his father's land and a large number of slaves, then became a Union Army captain at the beginning of the Civil War. Records show he bought a 43-year-old slave named Alex for $132 at a public sale in January, 1864. In 1881, James T. McBaine was the second-largest taxpayer in Boone County, paying $1,106.67. , Turner McBaine , Borner in 1853 near Providence, Turner McBaine – grandson of his namesake – went into business after graduating from the University of Missouri. He returned to live in Columbia, and spent each summer with his family on their land along the Missouri River, the largest farm property in the county, where he oversaw his tenants. In 1899, according to the Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 1,000 acres were planted in wheat, yielding 25,000 bushels. About 1,000 cattle and 1,500 hogs went to market annually from the McBaine farm. His sister, Mrs. Hunt, lived on a 2,000-acre farm at Huntsdale. , Arrival of the Katy Railroad , The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway (known as the MKT or Katy) built a 160-mile extension along the Missouri River along in 1892-93 from Franklin to Machens, the present-day eastern end of Katy Trail State Park. In 1899, the Missouri Midland Railway completed an 8.8-miles branch line into Columbia, terminating at the MKT depot on Broadway. Today, that spur, operated by the City of Columbia and Boone County, is the MKT Nature and Fitness Trail. The junction with Katy Trail State Park is 0.4 miles north of the McBaine Trailhead. , [Captions, top to bottom] , . An 1875 township map shows considerable land owned by the McBaine family. Used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia , . Though a junction, the McBaine depot was lever large. Used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia , . This 1905 photo shows a Baldwin locomotive crossing Perche Creek near McBaine. Photo courtesy of Bob and Diana Holland , . The MKT depot in Columbia was the end of the branch line that split off at McBaine. Used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia , 1899........ , McBaine , The railstop at McBaine was originally called Kennard when the first Katy train passed in 1893. It was named after Samuel M. Kennard, a St. Louis investor in the Franklin-Machens line. But the new branch line to Columbia changed everything, and Turner McBaine got busy. He platted the town of McBaine, and sold lots starting Sept. 20, 1899 – two weeks after trains steamed up the spur to Columbia. Kennard was renamed McBaine. The town was incorporated in 1911. , Missouri River Floods , Missouri River towns protected from flooding because of their blufftop layout, such as Jefferson City and Boonville, have always fared better than towns built on the bottoms, such as Nashville and McBaine. McBaine has seen a century of floods, beginning in 1903. , No flood rose higher than in 1993, during a spring and summer of constant rain. In McBaine, home owners were forced to higher ground. Columbia's water treatment plant barely stayed in operation. City wetland units along the Katy, still under construction, and the almost-completed artificial wetlands at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area were heavily damaged. The 1993 flood caused 27 deaths in Missouri. , Even the giant bur oak tree near McBaine suffered. More than a month with its roots underwater caused leaves to curl and turn brown or drop. It survived not only the 1993 floodwaters, but an August lightning strike. , Two years later, in May 1995, the Missouri River rose again. Once again McBaine residents moved to high ground, again the water treatment plant a protective barrier, and again the Katy Trail was damaged. Eagle Bluffs was mostly submerged, and Columbia temporarily lost two wells when a transformer exploded. On May 19, 1995, the Boonvile gauge read 33.14 feet, the second-highest flood stage on record after the 37.1 feet of 1993. , [Captions, top to bottom] , . This stop was known as Kennard in the 1895 Katy time-table. St. Louis was more than six hours away. Courtesy of St. Louis Mercantile Library, University of Missouri-St. Louis , . An ad in the Sept. 1, 1899 Missouri Statesman announced lots for sale in McBaine. Courtesy of Newspaper Library, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia , . With the Katy Railroad losing passengers, by 1957 McBaine was becoming a sleepy river town. Used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia , . In the 1993 flood, Columbia's water treatment plant became an island protected by a 7-foot-tall barrier of concrete, gravel and sandbags – the “Great Wall of McBaine.” Photo by J.D. Whitmire, courtesy of The Columbia Missourian