Charleston’s First Entrepreneurs
By Mildred Reeves Burnett
One of the most prominent men and useful pioneers of Charleston was George Whitcomb, who came to the county from Massachusetts in 1837. He located on the site of Belmont, where he remained until the organization of the county, when he removed to Charleston. Whitcomb lived in a double- log house where the J. J. Russell home was later built. (West, across street from the Courthouse). 1
In 1854 he built the first brick hotel, the second brick building in town, the first having been built in 1848 by James and Charles Moore. In 1857 he started and was Editor of the first newspaper of the county, the “Courier” located on Court Street. He was clerk for the courts for about twenty years and a dealer in real estate. He was an advocate for every commendable public enterprise and was largely instrumental in securing the Cairo and Fulton railroad for Charleston. Mr. Whitcomb died July 10, 1872. 2
Dr. Solomon D. Golder, who was a surgeon with the 79th Regiment during the Civil War, is credited with being the first resident physician in Charleston. 3
In 1845 when Charleston became the county seat it did not have over half a dozen houses. There were fifteen business establishments in the town by 1859 including general and special stores and one saloon. 4
The Charleston Democrat, September 2, 1937
In 1859 Charleston had three dry goods stores, three groceries, one drug store, one hardware store, two hotels, a printing office, a wheelwright, saddlers shop, tailor shop, two blacksmiths, seven doctors and eight lawyers. Among the doctors were B. J. Moore, S. D. Golder, T. C. Golder, T. C. Poor, J. L. Haw and A. E. Simpson. The lawyers were Robert Walde, A. M. Bedford, N. E. Quimby, Sam C. Moore, Joseph C. Moore, Leroy Keesee, M. Ward and W. C. Cooley. The druggist was W. A. Lynn and the hardware merchant was F. J. Jecko.
“The almanac of 1859 gives a description of the town at that time, ‘Charleston is a pleasant village situated in Matthew’s Prairie, and surrounded by fine plantations. It is the county seat, has a large two-story court house, a brick clerk’s office, and a jail’ ”… 5
“Joseph Wesley Moore’s wife, Margaret Darby, died in 1917 when they were preparing to move from Maryland to Kentucky. Believing death was imminent, she asked her husband to marry her cousin Rebecca Whayland, knowing she would take care of the children. Shortly after Margaret’s death Joseph and Rebecca married.” 6
Joseph Moore asked his brother Charles to come, and told him he was going to found a town here. He told Charles he would name the town for him if he came, and so he did. However, Charles Moore later moved to Commerce. Sally Swank Burke, retired school nurse, is a descendant of Charles Moore. 7
Charleston was destined to become a thriving community those visionary pioneers founded, second in the county after Norfolk, located on west banks of Mississippi River. (Plat filed December 9, 1836 Scott County—Recorded Mississippi County 1846, Plat Book 1 page 1, Recorder’s Office, Courthouse.)
CHARLESTON BUILT
ON RIDGE
Unbeknownst to some citizens, uptown Charleston (Main Street particularly) is built on a ridge running out North Main Road and onward to the river, undulating as it goes. The Goodin Home at the end of North Main Street is believed to sit on the highest point of the ridge. There are also ideas that the highest point may be somewhere along North Main Road. When recently bicycling with Patricia Hillhouse along North Main and then swinging onto Goodin Avenue, we coasted down Main Street ridge. The ridge is quite pronounced.
Well, I went to City Hall to find maps showing the elevation of uptown Charleston to no avail. Checking with The Enterprise Courier proved naught. I scratched my head and thought. “I’ve got it!”
I ran out the door, jumped in my olde burgundy Oldsmobile—which I plan to drive, until dust flies up through the floorboard like some of Professor Earl Crader’s old rickety school buses— and pretty soon parked at Rolwing Park.
After looking to see no cars were in sight, I laid down right in the middle of East Commercial Street and looked straight toward town to size up Main Street ridge. My, oh my! There the ridge loomed before me as high as Benton Hill! (A “height” of exaggeration?)
Now to be accurate in my calculations I stood a yardstick up on end, and then eyeballed the ridge. There you have it… elevation 321 feet above sea level.
Areas of the east and western parts of town used to have flooding problems during big rains, since they lie near the lower edges of Charleston ridge. In fact one could just about go boating on some of the side streets after a gully wash. However, rainwater on Main Street has always quickly disappeared.
My father, Oda Reeves, once owned a farm adjacent to Monsanto Road and north of the railroad tracks that were. (Turn left first road past Methodist Church). From boyhood and much of his life, my brother, Joseph “Tud” Reeves, picked up Indian arrowheads and artifacts all over that farm. Indians preferred high ground. Peggy McNeary presently owns the farm.
The easterly side of the farm slopes down from the ridge seven to eight feet and is very visible, thus ending the Charleston ridge. The floodwaters of 1912 spread out that close to Charleston, near where the overpass is now, threatening to flood Charleston. Martin Lucas, who was county surveyor for fourteen years, agreed. “That’s why levees were built,” he said.
1 Goodspeed’s History of Southeast Missouri 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid.
5 History of Mississippi County by Betty Powell
6 The Haw Family Ancestry 1978 by Joseph L. Haw, descendant.
7 Benjamin Bird Moore, July 16, 2007, Ibid. 6
To Be Continued
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