Renick: The Magic City
The events that lead up to Moberly existing could have easily taken a different path, or rather a different route for the railroad. Moberly may not have existed at all were it not for the citizens of Huntsville in 1859 and 1860. Early railroad surveys had the North Missouri Railroad, the first railroad going through the county taking a different route. The first surveys had the railroad going through Huntsville, north through the now extinct Bloomington (former county seat of Macon County) toward Des Moines, Iowa following a major north south stage road. Later, Huntsville was bypassed in the surveys, but the route still went through Bloomington. Finally though, it was decided the railway would go along the Grand Divide where streams and rivers on the east flow into the Mississippi River, and on the west side the Missouri River. This was a cost saving measure as much as anything. Going along the Divide meant very few bridges would have to be built, and as the lands of the Divide were largely plains there were few hills to be graded. Once, that was decided, one event that lead to Moberly’s founding was in place.
It was not a given Moberly would exist however. Once the North Missouri Railroad was built, new towns were founded, and at least one established town relocated. Renick, Allen, and Jacksonville all owe their foundations to the North Missouri Railroad. Renick, Allen, and Jacksonville were all intended as depots. Allen in particular was important as it was on the state road running from Hannibal to Fayette and would serve as a shipping point for the important towns of Huntsville and Paris. The village of Fairview, founded in 1853 actually paid the North Missouri Railroad to have a switch put in and the town moved half a mile east to be on the railroad in 1858. When its post office opened in 1860 it was rechristened Cairo. Any of these towns could have easily served as the connection between the north south and east west railroads. As of 1859, there were no plans for the City of Moberly. Before that could happen there were a few issues that had to be resolved.
First, a company had to be formed to build the east west railroad. The Chariton and Randolph Railroad was chartered on December 13, 1858 to build a railroad from some point on the North Missouri Railroad in Randolph County to Brunswick in Chariton County. This corporation was dissolved the very same day according to records from the Secretary of State’s office. Despite this it is apparent from the newspapers of the day that work towards an east and west railroad going through Randolph County went on under that corporation’s name. Then on January 14, 1860 the Chariton and Randolph Railroad was officially chartered by the Missouri State General Assembly. In the intervening two years, surveys had been made, and two routes for the railroad were felt best.
The first was what was known as the Central Route or Huntsville-Allen Route. This route would pass through the center of the county east west through Huntsville to Allen. The other route was known as the Southern Route or the Roanoke-Renick Route, and ran through the southern half of the county. Renick had been founded by the North Missouri Railroad as a depot in 1856. It obtained its post office in February of 1859, and the precinct offices of the county for Prairie Township had been moved there in July of 1858. Renick was posed to become a major town in Randolph County. Roanoke meanwhile was in possession of woolen mills and tobacco barns, and perhaps was the most populous place in the county outside of Huntsville, and Milton. The Roanoke-Renick Route was therefore highly feasible.
The debate over which route to take began with a meeting of the citizens of Huntsville and the surrounding vicinity on November 18, 1859 at the Randolph County Courthouse to select delegates to go to the Richmond Railroad Convention in Richmond, Missouri. The aim was to convince the Chariton and Randolph Railroad to run its line through Huntsville to Allen. According to a story in the Randolph Citizen, R.H. Musser of the Directors of the Chariton and Randolph Railroad stated the railway, “would be built speedily he considered a certainty; but its location on the Huntsville or Renick route would be decided by the material assistance it received from those wishing its advantages.” At this point, William Samuel of Huntsville introduced a resolution the railroad pass through the county seats of Randolph, Chariton, Carroll, Ray, Clay, and Platte Counties. Another meeting was held on November 28 in Huntsville at the Courthouse and it only reaffirmed the desires of the people of Huntsville to have the railroad take the Central and not the Southern Route. The major newspaper in the region, the Randolph Citizen based in Huntsville made no qualms it was in favor of the Central Route often editorializing in stories on the debate.
The debate continued for the next several months, and on February 27, 1860 resolutions were made by the citizens of Huntsville that $22,000 be transferred from the county if the North Missouri Railroad would assent to the Chariton and Randolph Railroad building along the Central Route. These resolutions were withdrawn after much protest by proponents of the Southern Route and it was decided the transfer would be made if the North Missouri Railroad would allow the Chariton and Randolph Railroad to build anywhere in the county. The North Missouri Railroad was initially intended by the General Assembly to be the only railroad through the county, so the Chariton and Randolph Railroad could not proceed without paying subscriptions to the North Missouri Railroad. Without the $22,000, the Chariton and Randolph Railroad could not pay the North Missouri the subscriptions and the North Missouri Railroad would not have consented. Without the Chariton and Randolph Railroad being built Moberly would not exist as Moberly was created by the Chariton and Randolph Railroad.
The fight between the supporters of the Huntsville-Allen Route and those of the Roanoke-Renick Route continued until July of 1860 when the citizens of Huntsville raised $5,000 for the Central Route. Also in that month the County Court agreed to pay $22,000 to the North Missouri Railroad on behalf of the Chariton and Randolph Railroad if the east west line passed through Huntsville onto Allen, and the majority of people in the county agreed. A petition was made, and one thousand signatures were obtained in favor of the Central Route in a few days. The whole debate ended with a meeting of the Randolph County Court on July 16, 1860 when it received the petitions. The court finalized the agreement to pay the North Missouri Railroad $22,000 on behalf of the Chariton and Randolph Railroad. If the Chariton and Randolph Railroad chose the Southern Route, the agreement would be null and void.
Had it not been for the citizens of Huntsville and their fight for the Central Route, we may be talking about Renick “The Magic City," and Huntsville may have went the way of Bloomington in Macon County. In less than three weeks after that historic county court meeting it was announced the Chariton and Randolph Railroad was plating a new town a mile and a quarter south of Allen to be named Moberly for William E. Moberly, President of the Chariton and Randolph Railroad. Even at that point it was not assured Moberly would exist as it was agreed upon by the County Court and the railroads that the connection of the Chariton and Randolph Railroad to the North Missouri Railroad was be at Allen. The county could have easily protested and demanded Allen be at the junction of the two railroads. In that case, Allen could have been the major town in the county. According to John H. Babcock who was mayor of Moberly from 1894 to 1895, the route of the railroad was initially to run along the old stage road from Allen to Huntsville. That route was abandoned. Perhaps this was because no protests were made, and plans for Moberly proceeded. Of course, the Civil War delayed things another six years, and on September 27th of 1866 the lot sale of Moberly was finally held.
Story announcing the naming of Moberly in the Aug. 2, 1860 edition of the Randolph Citizen
Advertisement for the sale of lots in Oct. 25, 1860 edition of the Randolph Citizen.