Fayette in Howard County, Missouri — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
Fayette
Photographed by Delbert Botes, March 9, 2024
1. Fayette Marker, Side One
Fayette is the county seat of Howard, "Mother of Counties," and first county in the Boon's Lick Country. Named for Benjamin Howard, first Missouri Territory governor, and organized, 1816, the county contained so vast an area that from it have come some 29 Missouri counties and parts of 9 others. Southwest in this county Daniel Boone's sons worked a salt lick about 1807.
Fayette was laid out in 1823 to replace Franklin as county seat, when Franklin had to be abandoned to the encroaching Missouri River. The town is named for the Marquis de Lafayette.
Rapid growth and early wealth made the town a cultural and political center. Today's noted Central College traces its beginning to the pioneer coeducational Howard High School, 1844. Outgrowths of this school were the Methodist Central (male) College, authorized, 1853, chartered, 1855, and Howard Female College (Howard-Payne), chartered, 1859. Under Bishop W. F. McMurry, 4 church schools united with Central, 1925, to make it the only Methodist college in Missouri. The school maintains a museum.
Fayette, centered in a fertile Missouri River county, is surrounded by
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Settled largely by Southerners, Howard County and Fayette lie in Missouri's Little Dixie Region. In the Civil War, Fayette did not see much action but progress came to a halt. It was not until after the coming of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, 1873, that the town enjoyed renewed growth.
In the pre-Civil War period, Fayette was the center of a powerful political clique, and here for a time lived governors John Miller, 1826-32; Thomas Reynolds, 1840-44; Sterling Price, 1853-57; and Claiborne F. Jackson, 1861. Pioneer lawyers John B. Clark and Abiel Leonard, State Supreme Court judge, also lived here, and here were born Episcopal Bishops Ethelbert Talbot and Abiel Leonard (Jr.); Methodist Bishop E. R. Hendrix; and astronomer Henry S. Pritchett.
Erected 1955 by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission.
Topics and series. This historical
Photographed by Delbert Botes, March 9, 2024
2. Fayette Marker, Side Two
Location. 39° 8.789′ N, 92° 41.024′ W. Marker is in Fayette, Missouri, in Howard County. It is at the intersection of North Church Street (State Highway 240) and East Davis Street, on the right when traveling north on North Church Street. Marker is located next to the Howard county courthouse. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1 E Morrison St, Fayette MO 65248, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Little Dixie and in the Missouri River Corridor. It is also in the American Midwest, in the Lewis & Clark Corridor, in the Corn Belt, and on the Santa Fe Trail Corridor. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Antebellum South.
Photographed by Delbert Botes, March 9, 2024
3. Fayette Marker
View of the marker next to the Howard county courthouse
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 10 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Veterans Memorial (approx. 9.1 miles away); First Baptist Church (approx. 9.3 miles away); "Missouri Waltz" (approx. 9.4 miles away); Missouri - Kansas - Texas Railroad (approx. 9.4 miles away); Franklin and New Franklin (approx. 9.4 miles away); End of Boone's Lick Trail (approx. 9.4 miles away); City of Trails (approx. 9.4 miles away); Franklin (approx. 9.4 miles away).
Credits. This page was last revised on March 4, 2025. It was originally submitted on March 4, 2025, by Delbert Botes of Columbia, Missouri. This page has been viewed 292 times since then and 49 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on March 4, 2025, by Delbert Botes of Columbia, Missouri. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.
