History of Randolph County Railroads and Boom Towns

The years following the Civil War meant boom times for some, and economic ruin for others. Many of the old Southern families that had lived in Randolph County had large numbers of slaves. At nearly $1,000 per slave, it represented a large loss of investment when they were freed. At the same time however, the North Missouri Railroad had been built before the war from St. Charles to Hudson (modern Macon). In 1858, a charter was granted to the Chariton and Randolph Railroad Company to build a railroad from a point in Randolph County on the North Missouri to Brunswick. In 1860, the Missouri River Valley Railroad Company was formed for the same purpose. Early on, Huntsville tried to become the terminal for the Chariton and Randolph Railroad, but when the North Missouri Railroad was built to the east this hope was dashed. Fights with land owners over right of way prevented this, as well as the desire for the North Missouri Railroad to run along the divide.

Just south of Allen was therefore chosen as the logical point for the town that would become Moberly. Just prior to the war, residents of Allen were encouraged to move south. And on July 4, 1860, 40 acres was purchased from William Roberts to found the town that would be Moberly. Only Patrick Lynch was willing to move. He moved his house to the present area of Reed and Sturgeon Streets.. Other towns had been founded before Moberly by the railroads. Renick which served as a major depot throughout the Civil War (despite its being burned twice) had been founded in 1856 by the North Missouri Railroad. Jacksonville was founded as a depot in 1858, and Cairo too was founded by the North Missouri in 1860. Clifton Hill was laid out the same year as Moberly, 1866. Perhaps the only town not founded in this era by the railroad was Darksville which was founded in 1856, although it had been settled in 1829. The founding of Moberly was delayed by the Civil War however, as was the construction of the Chariton and Randolph Railroad. After the war the North Missouri Railroad, the Chariton and Randolph Railroad, and the Missouri River Valley Railroad were merged by an act of the legislature.

On September 27, 1866, the first lots were sold for what would become Moberly. Among the purchasers at that sale were William H. Robinson, O. F. Chandler, Dr. C. J. Tannehill, Elijah Williams, John Grimes, Ernest Miller, C. Otto, J. G. Zahn, and Patrick Lynch. Two hotels were immediately built. One by S. P. Tate on the southwest corner of Dark and Reed Streets and another by John Grimes on Sturgeon Street. The first brick house erected in Moberly was by Perry McDonald at the corner of Coates and Williams. The second brick house was built by H. P. Jennings at Fourth and Wightman Streets in 1883. It is still standing. Moberly at this time was a very rough railroad town, considered course with too many taverns and brothels. Moberly in only five years had as many murders as the entire county had in its previous 20 years of history. John McDaniel was killed in 1869, an unknown in 1871, and the second City Marshall of Moberly Martin Howlett had been murdered in 1870, and his killer never caught. In addition to this, a lynching of an accused rapist took place in Moberly in 1880. Charles Carlew was drug away from the custody of the US Marshall Lynch and then shot. In light of its mud streets and rough and tumble ways, the St. Louis papers regularly ridiculed the town in light of the more attractive, cultured, and older Huntsville. Despite this, Moberly continued to grow.

In 1868, the rail line to Brimingham, Mo (just outside modern Kansas City) was completed. In 1871 the North Missouri was reorganized into the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railroad Company. In 1872, Higbee was founded by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad as it laid tracks headed for Moberly.John C. Foore laid out the site, and G.W. Lessley built the first house. Gabe Tutt ran the first store in Higbee In 1879 the Chicago and Alton Railroad built through Higbee making it a terminal of two railroads. By 1880 Higbee had a population of 400. It would go on to be the third largest town in Randolph County.

Moberly continued to grow rapidly until the economic panic of 1873 earning it the nickname the "Magic City." With the economic panic of 1873, Moberly was fortunate. At the intersection of two rail lines (the Northern Missouri, and the Missouri and Kansas & Texas Railway Company or Katy), the young town boomed. This despite the locomotive engineers strike, in which seven trains were thrown off the track in Moberly alone by strikers. Also in that year, the first railroad shops west of the Mississippi were built in Moberly, and the Katy's Northeastern Extension from Sedalia to Moberly was completed. In 1879, the Wabash Railway Company, and the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern were merged into the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway Company. In 1884, the Hannibal and Moberly Railroad was laid between Moberly and Hannibal, and this became part of the Katy. The early Wabash Railroad had its ups and downs however. Economic problems led to the Wabash being reorganized as the Wabash Railroad Company in 1889. In 1915, it was foreclosed on and reorganized again as the Wabash Railway Company.

Loss of the potential railroad terminal meant Huntsville would no longer be the economic center of the county. While Huntsville with its hemp rope and tobacco factories could still continue to compete with Moberly, it was only a matter of time before Moberly's rapid growth would leave the county seat a secondary town. Or so it was in the eyes of Moberly residents at the time. Both towns prospered with Moberly clearly gaining more in population. But Huntsville with its stable hemp and tobacco business, not to mention the Fleming Rake factory, and the raves of St. Louis cultural critics was still quite healthy. And thus began the heated battle that has continued until this day, where the county seat and court house of Randolph County should be located. After the Austin courthouse burned in 1882, a vote was taken on whether or not to move the county seat to Moberly. Despite claims that Moberly attempted to rig the election, the ballot lost, and the county seat has remained in Huntsville ever since. Every attempt since then to move the courthouse to Moberly has failed. Thus a happy (or not so happy) medium was struck. Huntsville would remain the administrative and judicial center of the county as well as its cultural center as far as the St. Louis journalists of the era were concerned. Meanwhile Moberly would become the industrial and business heart of the county.

Huntsville Wabash Depot sometime in the 1920s.