# Mendon, Missouri

Mendon is a city in western Chariton County, Missouri, United States. The population was 163 at the 2020 census. It is 21 miles northwest of the county seat Keytesville and 13 miles north of Brunswick, Missouri, on Missouri Route 11.

## History

Mendon was laid out a mile and a quarter from its current location in 1871 by Christopher Shupe. Shupe named it for his previous home place, Mendon, Illinois. The area had been known as Salt Creek and businesses were in operation several years prior to the town plat actually being filed. Among the earliest was a general store built around 1865 by Mr. Bostich and Mr. Eastman. A Methodist Church was erected in 1866. A sawmill was located five miles east of the town.
In 1867, Jeremiah Andrews Felt, of Quincy, in Adams County, Illinois, not far from Mendon Township, sent his twin sons, William Winsor Felt and Winslow Leach Felt, aged 22, with their 16-year-old brother George Washington Felt, to establish farms on 80 acres to the northwest of where the original Mendon would be laid out four years later in 1871. The Felt twins later acquired 320 acres from the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, and were named as "farmers and stock-raisers being among the first settlers of the area.” Their brother George went to Iowa. Then, Winslow Leach, his wife Annetta Brown, and son Arthur Stanley all died. After their deaths, Charles Davis Felt (1858-1949), the youngest of the Felt brothers, arrived by 1880 to take over the farm.
With the coming of the Chicago, Santa Fe and California Railway, a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, in the late 1880s, the citizens of Mendon were faced with a monumental choice. The rail line was projected to pass by over a mile away. Thus when the railroad tracks were laid in 1887 and 1888, the citizens could remain where they were and miss the direct connection to the railroad, or they could move. On January 13, 1888, the Mendon Land & Trust purchased land from the Felt brothers and a new Mendon was created at the current site; the former location was mostly abandoned. The Felts donated a parcel upon which the high school was built for the blossoming community.
   The new town was laid out consisting of 20 square blocks. The town sits parallel to the railroad tracks and thus isn’t square north and south. Businesses started to move from Old Mendon and the town began to prosper. In 1890, the Articles of Corporation were filed and accepted by the County Court. Mendon Cemetery is still where it was in 1860, a part of Old Mendon. The post office began operation in 1872 and continued today.
Sebastian Joseph bought Lot No. 16 in Block 3 for $145.00 on the following conditions: "That intoxicating liquors shall never be bargained, sold, bartered, traded or otherwise disposed of as a beverage in any place of public resort in or on said premises." If these conditions should be violated, the property would revert back to the Land Company. Frank Newcomer and a Mr. Holworthy put up the first buildings. Newcomer started a lumber yard and hardware store. Later Eli Ward started an implement business and businesses from "Old Mendon" began to move to the new town.
The year following the city's move, in 1889, Emil Loew, a harness maker from Tramelan, Switzerland, and wife German-British Mary Groetecke arrived in Mendon from Brookfield to set up a shop and home. Their daughter Bernah married Chester Arthur Felt in 1909, both resided in Mendon until their deaths. Their sons were Arthur Emil Felt and Charles Woodrow Felt.
   The town site originally belonged to William and Charles Felt...Later Eli Ward embarked in the implement business, and the business interests of Old Mendon began to move to the new town…. It had a church, public school, a bank, two hotels, a newspaper, The Citizen, and about twenty other businesses, both large and small, including shops and stores. Population 1899: 350.
A newspaper, the Mendon Citizen, was first published in 1886. By 1899, the community contained over 20 stores, a school, a bank, and two hotels. The estimated population in the late 1890s was 350 residents. Its population in 1910 was 408 residents.

### Today

On June 27, 2022, Amtrak's Southwest Chief derailed nearly a mile southwest of Mendon, after hitting a dump truck. The city and surrounding community were applauded for their assistance to the injured. "There were farmers, off-duty nurses, truck drivers, soccer moms, Little League coaches and grade-schoolers. They were doling out food, first aid, bottled water and, most importantly, phone chargers."
A full year before the tragedy, a Mendon resident met with Chariton County engineers and stakeholders to warn them of the dangerous "steep incline leading up to the crossing." The crossing remains closed as of June 2023.
Although freight trains on the Santa Fe railroad still pass through regularly, little remains of Mendon's business community.
Education for the town and surrounding rural area is provided by Northwestern High School. The school's athletic and academic teams compete in Missouri Class 1, the smallest of all classifications.
Mendon's proximity to the Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge has proven a source of income for the community, with business catering to waterfowl hunters who come to the region.

## Geography

Mendon is located in western Chariton County on Missouri Route 11. Yellow Creek flows past the northwest side of the town and the Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge is two miles west. The Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad line passes the northwest side of the community. This line is now owned by the BNSF Railway as the Southern Transcon. The Amtrak Southwest Chief passes through without stopping.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.18 square miles (0.47 km$^2$), all land.

## Demographics
### 2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 171 people, 81 households, and 48 families living in the city. The population density was 950.0 inhabitants per square mile (366.8/km$^2$). There were 104 housing units at an average density of 577.8 per square mile (223.1/km$^2$). The racial makeup of the city was 98.8% White and 1.2% African American.
There were 81 households, of which 23.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.1% were married couples living together, 4.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 1.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 40.7% were non-families. 35.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.11 and the average family size was 2.73.
The median age in the city was 40.5 years. 21.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.5% were from 25 to 44; 19.9% were from 45 to 64; and 25.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.2% male and 53.8% female.

### 2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 208 people, 92 households, and 57 families living in the city. The population density was 1,171.6 inhabitants per square mile (452.4/km$^2$). There were 115 housing units at an average density of 647.7 per square mile (250.1/km$^2$). The racial makeup of the city was 98.08% White, 0.48% Native American, and 1.44% from two or more races.
There were 92 households, out of which 31.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.4% were married couples living together, 5.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.0% were non-families. 35.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 3.00. There are an average of 7.4 dogs per capita in this city and they are free to run wild around the town.
In the city the population was spread out, with 25.0% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $31,875, and the median income for a family was $33,281. Males had a median income of $32,969 versus $15,417 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,537. About 6.3% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.3% of those under the age of eighteen and 7.1% of those 65 or over.

## Notable people

* Mendon is the hometown of former MLB pitcher Vern Kennedy, who is buried at Old Mendon Cemetery.