Moberly looks at its beginnings as it celebrates 144 years

Perhaps it was cholera in Huntsville. Perhaps it was the scheduling conflict with the Randolph County Fair. But the lot auction originally advertised for July 31 had been postponed and postponed again to be finally set for the afternoon of Sept. 27. Among the rows of corn cropped by Patrick Lynch, at a site now occupied by the deserted Stamper Mill, Moberly was birthed by auction. At least that is the recognized date which the citizens of the city will celebrate next Monday.

Sept. 27, 1866, may be the recognized date, but others could serve. The name and site were determined in 1858. The original 40 areas were purchased by the Chariton and Randolph Railroad from William F. Roberts at $15 an acre in 1860. (Before the auction, the C&R would be acquired by the North Missouri Railroad.) Lynch moved his house to the site in 1861. Incorporation occurred in 1877. Lucius Salisbury is generally credited with selecting the site. He probably named the city, also. The initial name was “Moberly Junction.”

Also, “established” or “founded” would be better than “birthed.” An anniversary approaches, not a birthday.

That “crisp and clear” day 144 years ago, trains transported gratis potential bidders to the junction. Some later recalled the prairie grass had a touch of frost. Folks from St. Louis and St. Charles, folks from Allen just a little over a mile straight north, folks of ambition dreaming of new beginnings, folks hoping for another chance, folks attempting to move on following bloody years of civil conflict, folks grasping at an opportunity to make something of themselves, to find their fortune and provide for their families. The locals for the most part arrived on horseback, or on carriages or carts drawn by teams of equines or oxen. Some such as Elijah William and John Tedford, Lynch’s neighbors, already resided there — though not within the 40 acres purchased from the now deceased Roberts. All gathered with their ambitions, their dreams and their hopes for a free lunch of chicken, turkey, mutton, beef and ham, with sides of pickles, breads, cakes and pies, to be washed down with whiskey or coffee or cider. Perhaps all three. The lunch site is now a manicured patch of ground immediately north of the Coates street rail crossing.

The corpse of the deserted Stamper Mill with its crumbled brick walls, broken panes and peeled paint, now stands as a monument to the beginnings of Moberly. On that site in 1866, following lunch, the St. Louis brokers Barlow, Valle and Bush, attempted to auction the lots surveyed and platted years earlier. It was not achieve great success.

Few lots were sold that afternoon. The highest bid, $150, was for the lot where now Commerce Bank stands. Patrick Lynch — because he had held the land during the recent unpleasantness between the States “without the loss of life or a house” and because he was the only citizen of Allen willing to move to what was originally named “Moberly Junction” — received from the railroad two lots.

Lynch, born in Ireland, with the assistance of many oxen had moved his family and chattels to the future site of Moberly at the invitation of the railroad during the summer of 1861, transporting his frame house south from Allen to Moberly Junction. Lynch’s house, stationed near the alley, faced Clark street.

The only present evidence of Allen is a few poorly-maintained streets. Front street (now Schuneman) was the village’s main drag.

The original structures erected on the lots sold were small wood-frame buildings. During the 1870s and 80s, most were destroyed or razed. Brick followed. The train yards and the attending surge of people came later. The first assassination would not occur until 1870. The young burg was dubbed “Magic City.”

The original lot map shows a small Moberly bounded by Burckhardt street to the south by a half block, Morley to the east, what is now Union to the north and Clark by a half block to the west, with three blocks along Coates street to the west. Moberly was sharped as an “L.”

A plat map of Moberly from 1876, a mere ten years later, shows a greatly expanded community, sprawling without much planning. Little remains of this Moberly except the chaotic and too narrow layout of the streets which still plagues us. Downtown is neat. Go but a few blocks to wonder who surveyed and plotted early Moberly. Topsy?

In 1867 Moberly had a population of less than 100. An early citizen later recalled “[At] that time [1868] not a residence having been built… [It] was after [1868] when residences were commenced to be built.” (Quoted in the “Moberly Monitor.”) This is not entirely correct.

Another early citizen recalled some residences. He described them as two-room wood-frame structures with a lean-to kitchen. There were no graded streets. No sidewalks. No African-Americans. The small depot had been moved from Allen to rest at the site of the Rotary clock tower. The two blocks of Sturgeon in front of the depot would be the first to be graded.

Early Moberly history is almost invisible. Other than the street layout, the only remnant of the beginnings is the railroad right-of-way. Instead of rows of rails, little iron remains to remind us that here once was a significant transportation center. Not until the 1880s did the citizens erect structures which have survived until now.

No signs, no plaques mark these sites. Nothing on site interprets or explains to the passerby their significance. Nothing says “Here was the auction.” “Here the house of Patrick Lynch stood.”

The auction site? Now a dilapidated structure, itself later a significant part of the story. The original buildings? A vacant lot and several small businesses. One has only travel to Boonville to see the potential for that place. Where City Hall stands — and much of the surrounding acreage — Patrick Lynch grew his corn, guarding crops and land for five years, waiting for a postponed auction. The citizens of Moberly have but six years to prepare to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of that event.

Let us take an excursion into memory — a minor attempt to recover snippets of the past — to recall the beginning of the adventure that we call “Moberly.”

Let us imagine and travel back — back to an auction on a crisp cool day among rows of corn awaiting harvest — back to an Irishman guarding family, land and crop — back to wood-frame structures within the Original City. Back to grainy images, second or third generation halftones, a fog through which we are compelled to peer in our attempt to glimpse — faint and vague recollections of our childhood — Moberly as a young and rowdy — to be kind — filled not with vinegar and spit but whiskey, coffee and cider — and iron, coal and stream.

Moberly — then and now.

Want to learn more? The best book on Moberly’s first years is Ralph Gerhard’s “The Early Day History of Moberly, Missouri (and the Village of Allen).” This is volume one of Ralph’s erudite three-volume history of the early years of the city. It is available for purchase at the Randolph County Historical Society (RCSH) gift shop at 223 North Clark street, Moberly, Mo., and for loan at either the Huntsville or Moberly branch of the Little Dixie Regional Library. The purchase price is $15.00. Or for all three volumes, $42.00. RCSH has other interesting books and items for sale.

Thanks to Carl Rice, executive director of the Randolph County Historical Society, for assistance in selecting and scanning the photographs and other illustrations of early Moberly. All are among the collections at the Randolph County Historical Museum. Carl and Ralph are astute founts of knowledge — and interesting trivia — about anything Moberly.

Thanks also to Steve Wilson at City Hall for help in determining the present locations.