Formation of First Polk Co. Courthouse

Thema: [MOPOLK] Polk Co. 1835.
Datum: 10-Jul-02 2:02:30 AM W. Europe Standard Time
Von: JudyMcKinn@aol.comBeantworten: MOPOLK-L@rootsweb.comAn: MOPOLK-L@rootsweb.com

Going thru some OLD clippings, and thought some of you might be interested in this article from--apparently--1936 from a Bolivar paper.

FORMATION OF FIRST POLK COUNTY COURT

Missouri History for This Week, prepared by the State Historical Society, features the organization of the first Polk County Court. The article follows:

The first settlers of Polk Co, which at the time of its organization in 1835 had less than two hundred inhabitants, came from the hills of TN and KY and settled along the creek banks. Here they raised corn and cattle, the latter being their earliest concentrated article of export and which they drove to market as far away as Independence, Boonville, and St. Louis. To these early pioneers Polk Co. paid tribute in its centennial celebration held in August, 1935.

On Feb. 9, 1835, one hundred and one years ago this week, the first session of the county court was held in Polk Co. and a short time afterward Bolivar was chosen as the county seat. In this same year, the first schools of the county were established; the first saw mills and grist mills were built; and a log courthouse was erected at Bolivar.

Although travel across this county, a region of plains and plateaus, was easy, communication with the outside was difficult because of the hill belts lying between it and the valleys of the Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas. For this reason the county was retarded in development, and settlement was slow.

In the late '40's, however, when the first discoveries of lead in southwest Missouri drew many immigrants, flattering reports began to go abroad as to the fertility of the soil in this heretofore comparatively isolated county, and an infusion of settlers began.

In 1855, Bolivar was incorporated as a town and a period of prosperity began in both town and county. War, however, checked immigration and its accompanying economic development. During the Civil War, sentiment in the county was evenly divided. Troops of both factions drilled at the courthouse square in Bolivar, but the county was never the scene of any noteworthy military encounter.

After the war, settlers again came into Polk County. Immigration of the hill people from the southern states slackened and home seekers of small means came in from north Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois.

The first newspaper of the county, the Bolivar Weekly Courier, issued in 1856, was followed by the Weekly Sentinel, the Union, the Dispatch, the Free Press, the Herald and Polk County Review. In the '70's, the first banks were established, and with the coming of the railroad, built by the St. Louis and San Francisco, the county was for the first time linked with the Missouri river region and eastern points, and immigration at once received a new impetus. Earlier attempts had
been made at railroad building, but instead of completed lines, the county acquired the customary bonded indebtedness.

During these years, increased attention was given to the educational interests of the county, and two colleges, the Southwest Baptist College of Bolivar, and the Morrisville Institute at Morrisville were established.

By the late '80's, Polk county had become known as Missouri's banner sorghum producing county, and Bolivar, with a population of 2,000, ranked as one of the progressive cities of southwest Missouri. Its business interests were represented by five banking houses, two weekly newspapers, dry goods and clothing stores, groceries, hardware stores and lumber yards.. Its agricultural and commercial interests were represented by its live stock and farm produce, and its mills, creamery and cheese factory.

Bolivar, today, with its forty-acre city park, its Carnegie library, its good roads, long established business institutions and its friendly and alert air ranks as one of Missouri's best home towns.

Aside from its material advantages, Polk County is fortunate in having nurtured some of Missouri's outstanding citizens. Prominent among these are: the Late T.H.B. Dunnegan, financier and philanthropist; Zoe Adins, author and playwright; William H. Hamby, novelist; the late Charles U. Becker, secretary of state; and Marion C. Early, lawyer and jurist.

This page was last updated on: May 18 2008 03:31:40