History of Macon County, Missouri
Macon County lies in the Glacial Plains Region of Missouri, territory claimed by Sac, Fox, and Iowa Indians until 1824. Pre-historic Indian mounds are found in the area and the Great Indian Trail is believed to have crossed the county near
Macon. Macon County pioneers had begun arriving in the early 1820s, coming mostly from Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee, along the ancient Indian trade route. The Trail followed the Great Divide between the Missouri and
Mississippi watershed and ran through the site of what was to become Bloomington. Another pioneer trail, the Bee Trace, ran north through here.
At the session of the General Assembly held in the City of Jefferson in the winter of 1836 and 1837, an act was passed organizing a new county called Macon, in honor of Nathaniel Macon, extending from the north line of Randolph County to the Iowa line. The act appointed as commissioners to select the county seat, Joseph Baker and Henry Lassiter, who established the location in the Owenby settlement, and which became the first county seat, called Bloomington, in 1837. The civil government of the county was organized that year, and a small log house with two rooms was provided, in which
to hold the courts and keep the records. Macon County, comprised of 830 square miles, was the fifty-seventh county organized in the State.
Nathaniel Macon was born in Warren County, N.C, in 1757, and died in 1837, the same year in which Macon County was organized, and as his fame had extended all over the United States as one of the most distinguished statesmen of the country, the county was called Macon after him.
For more detailed histories of the county’s settlement and townships, see Directory of Towns and Villages and Macon County History.
Rapid growth in the area resulted from the development of two railroad lines, the Northwest/North Missouri Railroad (Wabash) in 1858 and the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad (Burlington) in 1859, which intersected in Macon. In 1887
the Santa Fe Railroad came through La Plata. Timber was for many years a source of great revenue, especially after
the coming of the railroads.
Macon County has always been an agricultural area, with farmers growing hay and grain and raising livestock. At
one time, the settlers depended largely on tobacco as their money crop, and several tobacco factories were opened.
Macon was also one of Missouri's richest coal bearing counties. Coal was first mined at the settlement of Carbon east of Macon, but the coal-mining industry was soon concentrated largely in the Bevier-Ardmore areas. Many Welsh, and later,
Italian immigrants came to work in the coal mines.
The Civil War resulted in a major historical event in Macon County. The town of Macon had been laid out in 1856.
Hudson, named for a railroad official, was formed just west in 1857, and both towns joined as Macon City in 1859. By June 1861, over 7,000 Union troops populated the City of Macon. The decision to move the county seat to Macon in
1863 was both a political and economic necessity. A railroad center, Macon was a Union troop concentration point in the Civil War, and it replaced pro-Southern Bloomington as the seat of Macon County in 1863.
Macon. Macon County pioneers had begun arriving in the early 1820s, coming mostly from Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee, along the ancient Indian trade route. The Trail followed the Great Divide between the Missouri and
Mississippi watershed and ran through the site of what was to become Bloomington. Another pioneer trail, the Bee Trace, ran north through here.
At the session of the General Assembly held in the City of Jefferson in the winter of 1836 and 1837, an act was passed organizing a new county called Macon, in honor of Nathaniel Macon, extending from the north line of Randolph County to the Iowa line. The act appointed as commissioners to select the county seat, Joseph Baker and Henry Lassiter, who established the location in the Owenby settlement, and which became the first county seat, called Bloomington, in 1837. The civil government of the county was organized that year, and a small log house with two rooms was provided, in which
to hold the courts and keep the records. Macon County, comprised of 830 square miles, was the fifty-seventh county organized in the State.
Nathaniel Macon was born in Warren County, N.C, in 1757, and died in 1837, the same year in which Macon County was organized, and as his fame had extended all over the United States as one of the most distinguished statesmen of the country, the county was called Macon after him.
For more detailed histories of the county’s settlement and townships, see Directory of Towns and Villages and Macon County History.
Rapid growth in the area resulted from the development of two railroad lines, the Northwest/North Missouri Railroad (Wabash) in 1858 and the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad (Burlington) in 1859, which intersected in Macon. In 1887
the Santa Fe Railroad came through La Plata. Timber was for many years a source of great revenue, especially after
the coming of the railroads.
Macon County has always been an agricultural area, with farmers growing hay and grain and raising livestock. At
one time, the settlers depended largely on tobacco as their money crop, and several tobacco factories were opened.
Macon was also one of Missouri's richest coal bearing counties. Coal was first mined at the settlement of Carbon east of Macon, but the coal-mining industry was soon concentrated largely in the Bevier-Ardmore areas. Many Welsh, and later,
Italian immigrants came to work in the coal mines.
The Civil War resulted in a major historical event in Macon County. The town of Macon had been laid out in 1856.
Hudson, named for a railroad official, was formed just west in 1857, and both towns joined as Macon City in 1859. By June 1861, over 7,000 Union troops populated the City of Macon. The decision to move the county seat to Macon in
1863 was both a political and economic necessity. A railroad center, Macon was a Union troop concentration point in the Civil War, and it replaced pro-Southern Bloomington as the seat of Macon County in 1863.
