Dedicated to All Veterans
Past Present & Future
WWI WWII Vietnam
Harold Dean Waller Vietnam
James Paul Barton Vietnam
John Wesley Dial World War II
Aubrey Embrey World War II
Glenn Alley World War II
Charles H. . . . — — Map (db m44105) WM
The Osage Indians thought so much of the French Explorer, Pierre Chouteau, as a fur trader, that on March 19, 1792 they gave him land along the Lamine River including what is now Blackwater township, Pilot Grove township and of course, the once . . . — — Map (db m44103) HM
Katy Caboose #134 & its tracks were donated to the city of Boonville, Mo., on Feb. 9, 1991 by the Union Pacific RR and located on this spot by volunteers under the direction of Wayne Lammers.
It is dedicated to the men and women who served the . . . — — Map (db m247429) HM
From its inception and throughout its 25-year history, Katy Trail State Park
has been one of the most successful rails-to-trails conversions projects in the
United States. As the longest developed rail-trail in the United States, it
has been . . . — — Map (db m247430) HM
On June 17, 1861, the Battle of Boonville took place at this and other locations along this road. By most standards of warfare, the Battle of Boonville was more truly a skirmish or demonstration than a full blown battle. But small conflicts can . . . — — Map (db m46060) HM
Look to your left. In the early 1800s, this was the western edge of the American frontier. American Indians controlled lands "out there." Spanish territory was 440 miles farther, south of the Arkansas River.
Settlers were drawn to the Boone's . . . — — Map (db m247231) HM
Historic Boonville's first settlers were pioneer Mother Hannah Allison Cole and her 9 children who located on the Missouri River bluffs where St. Joseph Hospital now stands, 1810. Hannah, whose husband William T. Cole was killed by Indians, ran . . . — — Map (db m46067) HM
When the tracks of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway (known as the MKT of Katy) reached Boonville from Sedalia on May 31, 1873, no fancy passenger station stood here, and the bridge across the Missouri River was eight months from completion. . . . — — Map (db m247428) HM
The 3.6 miles of trail from Boonville to New Franklin cross the Missouri River into the river floodplain. Trail users pass farm fields, the 1816 townsite of Franklin and the once-important Franklin junction. The trail briefly leaves the railroad . . . — — Map (db m247350) HM
The Katy Trail leaves the Missouri River at Boonville and heads southwest into Cooper County for 11.5 miles to Pilot Grove. The 1912 Spanish Mission-style Boonville depot stands near the trail head. The depot now serves as home to the Boonville . . . — — Map (db m247349) HM
This marks defence works where three companies of Union soldiers were taken prisoner when Confederates captured Boonville, Oct. 16, 1864. — — Map (db m46048) HM WM
Third Battle: October 11, 1863
The Third Battle of Boonville was fought from this wharf. Confederate General Joseph O. Shelby and his men approached Boonville from the south where they had burned a railroad bridge near Otterville. Local . . . — — Map (db m247262) HM
In memory of those from
Cooper County who served and died
in Korea and Vietnam
Korea
George W. Shelby
Kelly C. Odneal
Vietnam
Robert E. Jenry
Millard F. Meadows
Robert W. Moore — — Map (db m45864) WM
They died that Freedom might
not perish from the Earth
1917-1919
Stanley Ira Bell Oscar H. Bishop
Merritt H. Boswell Mack L. Blackstone
William O. Diel John Edwards
Sidney E. Emery Harry English
Lon S. Fairfax Richard Wm. . . . — — Map (db m45863) WM
David Barton was born December 14, 1783, near Greeneville, North Carolina (now Tennessee). He came to the then-Louisiana Territory in 1809. Though Barton had some legal training, his first job was teaching in St. Charles. When the Missouri . . . — — Map (db m46019) HM
Frederick Thomas Kemper, pioneering Missouri educator and founder of Kemper Military School in Boonville, was born at Madison Courthouse, Virginia. After graduating from Marion College in Palmyra, Missouri, he came to Boonville in 1844 and opened . . . — — Map (db m45974) HM
The Boonslick region has influenced Missouri history far out of proportion to its size. The rich land is an ecological intersection, where eastern forest and the Ozark Mountains meet prairie, and a large, navigable river runs through the middle. . . . — — Map (db m247352) HM
One of America's greatest painters, George Caleb Bingham, was known during his lifetime as "the Missouri Artist" for his depictions of frontier life and portraits.
Bingham was born in Augusta County, Virginia, March 20, 1811, and in 1819 the . . . — — Map (db m45975) HM
Hannah Cole was one of the earliest settlers of the present site of Boonville. She was born in Virginia about 1762. In 1789 she married William Temple Cole. They moved to Kentucky about 1805 and then to what would soon become Missouri Territory in . . . — — Map (db m45905) HM
In 1810 Hannah Cole and her nine children crossed the Missouri River and built a cabin on the site of Boonville, thus becomig the first white settlers south of the river.
After repeated Indian trouble in 1814 it was deemed necessary to build a . . . — — Map (db m46052) HM
The two story part of the building to the west of the 3-1/2 story part of the building was built in 1822 as the Ballantine House which served as a hotel. This German Style brick structure is one of the oldest still standing in Boonville and in fact . . . — — Map (db m45867) HM
1790
Indians Along the Missouri
The Missouri River served as a boundary between Indian tribes in historic times. The Osage dominated a vast area south of the river. To the north, the loway, and later Sauk and Fox, held power. . . . — — Map (db m247363) HM
Born in slavery in St. Louis County, Mo.
Freed 1843
Founder, Elias Buckner African-American School in Boonville 1869 Established 32 Missouri schools for African-Americans in 1870
Secured state funding for Lincoln Institute (later Lincoln . . . — — Map (db m46016) HM
With the faith and courage of
their forefathers who made
possible the freedom of these
United States
The Boy Scouts of America
dedicate this copy of the
Statue of Liberty as a pledge
of everlasting fidelity and
and loyalty . . . — — Map (db m45866) HM
By October 1864, the horrors of the Civil War had reached most Boonville families. It was then that Boonville citizens learned that a large force of Confederates was approaching from the southeast. These were the men of Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's . . . — — Map (db m247313) HM
On the morning of June 17, 1861, one of the first engagements of the War Between the States occurred between State and Federal troops here in the hills below Boonville. The engagement began at 8 A.M. and ended near this spot with the surrender of . . . — — Map (db m46055) HM
By 1864, the horrors of the Civil War had reached into all families on both sides. Guerillas and opportunists attacked wherever they sensed easy rewards. Thus, men from both sides formed the Boonville Home Guard (same name as in 1861 but with . . . — — Map (db m247308) HM
It has been said that a train without a caboose is like a sentence without a period. Kay Caboose #134, built by the Darby Corp. in Kansas City, served the Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad (known as the MKT or Katy) as a typical end car 1968 to . . . — — Map (db m247426) HM
For the Purposes of Commerce
Exploring for economic opportunities, Lewis and Clark found farming, trading for furs and mining as the three main sources of income in the Louisiana Purchase region. President Thomas Jefferson's goals for the . . . — — Map (db m246946) HM
Thespian Hall, believed to be one of the oldest surviving theaters west of the Allegheny Mountains, brought culture to the frontier town of Boonville. In 1838 sixty leading citizens founded an all-male dramatic group called the Thespian Society. . . . — — Map (db m46049) HM
The Walnut Grove Cemetery was founded in 1852 when 4 acres were set aside in a grove of walnut trees. During the Civil War graves of battle casualties were added to the cemetery, and over the years, so were graves of many veterans. Private histories . . . — — Map (db m247259) HM
Born July 2, 1864, Boonville, Missouri
Died July 29, 1935, Columbia, Missouri
Editor - The Advertiser - Boonville, Missouri - 1884-1889
Editor - The Herald - Columbia Missouri - 1889-1908
Founder and Dean of First
School of Journalism . . . — — Map (db m45999) HM
Rivers were once America's super highways. Westbound riverboats churned by here, hauling American goods - cloth, hardware, paper, mirrors - from St. Louis to the frontier town of (Old) Franklin, once located across the river near the railroad . . . — — Map (db m247232) HM
The Katy Railroad was not the first to use this route from Boonville to Sedalia. Founders named this place Pilot Grove in 1820 because a local grove of trees "piloted" travelers along the divide between the Lamine River and Petite Saline Creek. . . . — — Map (db m247229) HM
1820
The Pilot Grove
A grove of trees visible on the rolling prairie for miles around gave the town its name. The grove "piloted" travelers southwest along the divide between the Lamine River and Petite Saline Creek. Later, this route . . . — — Map (db m247226) HM
Pilot Grove received its name from an extensive grove of hickory trees surrounding a watering place, a welcome sight to travelers across the featureless prairie.
Two trails met here: one from the Missouri River to the southwest (Georgetown . . . — — Map (db m247105) HM
Pilot Grove to Boonville, 11.50 miles, is considered by many Katy Trail users to be the most difficult stretch of the trail due to uphill grades. Over the first several miles, riders across a rolling landscape dominated by hay and crop fields. . . . — — Map (db m247109) HM
The 12.1-mile ride to Clifton City begins with a long and straight passage between farm fields, and trail users can expect gradual downhill grades to the Lamine River. Between mileposts 207 and 208, the elevated railroad bed over Taylor Branch, . . . — — Map (db m247116) HM
This is the original millstone from the Harriman Mill begun by Dr. William P. Harriman south of Pilot Grove at Mt. Vernon in the late 1860's. It was constructed by Anthony Johnston, a millwright and stone mason from Kentucky who built several other . . . — — Map (db m247104) HM