The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1903-01-01
TWENTY FOUR YEARS.


several thousand readers and man.
kind generally II Happy New Year
greeting. Twcuty-tour years ago
this week the writer east his lot
with the people Of Pennington aud
St. Francois county and assumed
editorial charge of THE TIMES.
The Pennington of twenty years
ago wis not what it is to. day.
Then it was small town Of about
GOO inhabitants; now il has pop.
ulatiou of over 1000 souls.
Fields aud woodland adjacent to
the town have disappeared and in
their stead are handsome and com.
Portable residences. On the pub
lie square stood several primitive
log houses of the earlier days Of
the settlement, aud only three brick
houses, besides the Court House,
occupied the square. The old log
and frame structures have dsap.
peared aud handsome blocks of
brick business houses have taken
their places. The business part Of
the town, which comprises several
blocks east on Columbia and Libcr.
~ streets, much OF which was used
for garden patches, is built up
with solid, substantial brick bust.
ness houses, The plain, square
walled old Court House, that had
done good service, was the first
on the square to give way to Il
larger aud more modern structure,
and the work of regeneration be-
gan.
Then there was but one public
school houSc-n two.story frame Of
some prrtensIous, which had but
recently been built aud for which
the district was still in debt. To.
day we have two solid aud com.
modiouS public school buildings,
one on the south and the other on
the north side of town. The To-
cation of Carleton Institute-now
Carleton College-of which Miss
Eliza Carlton was the founder, was
transferred from lis original site
about ten miles north of town to
Pennington, and the main portion
of the handsome cdifirr of Carleton
College had just been completed.
Several years later Elmwood Sem
mary aud the Baptist College were
inaugurated
AS browning features of the
towns development and the clcs.
ing years improvements, we men
ton our city water works, fast ap-
proaching completion, aud the
opening of Hospital for The In
sane No. 4, which will take place
January It'll. This latter institu-
ton is constructed along modern
add the latest. improved plans, and
promises, when its system is prop.
erly understood, to he one of the
most popular institutions of its
character in the State.
Mining at Iron Mountain was at
its zenith, and it is believed that its
resources were almost incXhaustiDle.
There were but two leading min.
ing mills in st. Francois county.
those of the 81. Joseph Lead |
Company aud the Drslogr Lead
Company, both located ut Bonnie
Terre Now. from Bonnie Terre
to Doe Ruu-ai along what is
known as the Lead Belt-lead
mines ilave been opened up. and
millions of dollars have been in.
vested in the finest lead mills and
reduction works in the world, and
what were then barren hills, rocky
valleys and inferior farms, now re-
sound with the hum of industry
and teen with thousands Of thrifty
miners aud business enterprises.
Not only have the county's mining
resources been developed hum
bred fold, but her agricultural i'm
improvements-for st Francois
county is not only blessed with
one of the worlds largest lead de.
posits, but some of the richest
and finest farming and fruit lands
in the State-have kept pace with
the onward march of progress, and
our farmers find ready home
market for everything they raise.
Surely, nature has been generous
in the bestowal of her bounties on
st. Francois county.
Much, indeed has been accom-
plisbed in this twenty four years,
and what has been done is an earn
,st Of what may yet be done, en-.
,ouraging faith and hope in her
uture. THE TINES has watched
hese developments with interested
oncern, contributing in it's hum =
lie but earnest way to their de- d
by words of encourage c