The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1915-12-17
HISTORY or FARMINGTON
SOME INTERESTING FACTS
ABOUT OUT TOWN WORTH
KNOWING AND PRE-
SERVING.

Pennington was laid out in 1922
on a tract of land which was given to
st. Francois County by David Muir
pay. The spot for the Court House
was located by board Of commits
sioners consisting of the following
gentlemen; Henry Poston, VIM. Alex
andef, Mark Dent, VIM. Shaw and
John Andrews. In 1928 John d.
Peers opened the first store in log
building west of the public square
which he later removed to the east
side where the Bank of Pennington
now stands, and in 1888 formed a
partnership with M. P. Cayce.
The original plat for the city was
surveyed by Henry Poston. About
the year 1926 Joseph Bogy, Jr., moved
here from Ste. Genevieve and occu-
pied the building vacated by J. D.
Peers on the west side Of the square.
About the same time Mr.. Day, sad
dler, built the house where Mrs. Peers
not long since lived and now occupied
by the Odd Fellows building, while
Isaac Mitchell built a house on the
opposite side Of the street which was
occupied by John Boyce as hotel.
Thus the village grew, one log house
- :, +;,,,a ,x,+iI ,,o,,, coY,,are rr,.ox.yi,, ~
modern, commenced to build frame
houses Of a pretentious character in
keeping with the progress of the
times. In course of years the village
of log huts grew to be town and then
a city with some pretty frames and
up-to-date log cabins, with the old
fashioned single sash Il light win
dows which could neither be raised nor
lowered. Many of the houses were
pointed with mud and chink, but this
was soon replaced by lime, which was
burned from the superabundance of
limestone which occurs in great guam
titles in this section. With the gen
eral evolution of things the log house
was superseded by the more modern
frame. which was in turn frequently
replaced by brick or stone struc-
tures
In the course of IA or 16 years the
town had grown to be a small city
and the inhabitants decided upon cor
poration; so, in 1886, in response to q
sufficient petition, the town was in
corporated by an order of the conu-
ty court and VIM. o. Ross, M. P
Cayce, John d. Peers, Ed C. Sebas-
tian and N. L. Fleming were appoint
ed the first board Of trustees. The
material and financial progress OF
the town was not at rapid rate, anC
in this it did not differ from othel
towns, its history prior to the Civi
War being very similar to that o.
others in this section of the State.
Even up to the year 1860 its pop
ulation was less than 500. Following
are some of the most prominent bus
|; mess men of the fifties, just prior tt
the beginning of the Civil War: V
C. Peers & Co., M. P. Cayce, S. Z
Douthitt & Co., and Arnold & Ruck
er. The Pennington Milling Co., a
at present known, is none other thai
the original grist mill built here il
1856 by M. P. Cayce and S. I
Douthitt, having been enlarged, re
modelled and modernized until toda
is one of the best mills in this par
of Missouri. The original mill wa
operated in connection with an old
fashioned carding machine, 60 whic
the rural inhabitants for mile
! around would bring their wool to b
7 carded into long rolls, which tn
housewife converted into yarn threa
by means of the old-time spinnin
wheel, and this in turn into cloth b
g means Of the old wood loom. Chi
dren of today, and many Of ou