The year 1855 may not mean much to most people, but this year, in 2005, the year 1855 will shine brightly as the date 150 years ago that our forefathers overcame the obstacles of early civilization and founded Maries County, Missouri. Many came this way before those who finally settled here and established a county and townships as Indians lived here and later French trappers roamed here, naming our beautiful Gasconade, Bourbeuse and Maries Rivers.
Maries County was created by an act of the State Legislature passed by the 1st session of the 18th general assembly. Commissioners from Osage Pulaski and Gasconade Counties were appointed to select a permanent seat of Justice for Maries County. Those men first met at the home of Thomas Anderson and by the legislative act proceeded to select the permanent seat of justice, which was to be within three miles of the center of the county's territory. The three commissioners chose a site offered them by William Shockley in Section 20 and 29, Township 40, Range 9, to be laid out as the county seat and sold for the benefit of the county. It was surveyed by Reuben Terrill, the first county surveyor, and the commissioners, in consultation with the county court appointed by the Governor, gave it a name in the following manner: Dr. V.G. Latham, the presiding county judge, it is said, had had a young woman in his family named Vie Anna, who had died, and he wished the commissioners to give it that name in her honor. The commissioner from Osage County, however, thinking such a course unwise, outwitted the old doctor by naming it in honor of the Austrian capital, Vienna, a name so similar that the doctor's opposition might thus be quietly quashed. Here the county seat remained with no serious effort to remove it, except one attempt in 1870 to secure it for Bloomington on Lane's Prairie, which was unsuccessful.
The first permanent courthouse was built in October 1856, at a cost of about $3,000, which was secured from the sale of town lots and by a loan from the road and canal and internal improvement funds. It was a two-story brick, 40x44 feet, and had one flight of stairs to the second story. The building opened to the east side of the square. On the night of November 6, 1868, this building was destroyed by fire, supposed by some to have been the work of an incendiary. All the records were destroyed. A new courthouse was built in 1869 for about $10,000 raised through bonds. The current Maries County Courthouse was built in the early 1940's.
According to Goodspeed's History of Various Missouri Counties, published in 1889, a complete list of post offices in Maries County included Grovedale, High Gate, High Grove, Lane's Prairie, Lindell, Manton, Maries, Pay Down, Safe, Steen's Prairie, Tavern, Vancleve, Vichy, Vienna and Weldon. Of these, Goodspeed's said two may be called thriving villages-Vienna, the county seat, and Vichy, the trading point of the eastern prairies. Two are mills and four are stores, while the remainder are mere post office hamlets.
In Vienna, the first home erected was Dr. V.G. Latham's residence. The second was Mr. Felker's. The first business house was a grocery by John Felker.
The first newspaper issued in Maries County was the Central Missourian, which soon moved to Rolla. The next paper was the Maries County Advocate, which was issued early in the 1870's and destroyed by fire in 1872. The following year J.M. Johnson and A.P. Rittenhouse issued the first number of the Banner of Liberty, which later changed hands and became the Maries County Courier. A dispute over public printing by Courier operator John Diggs who shot, in self-defense, Vichy Herald editor Thomas M. Watkins, closed both newspaper operations. The Courier outfit was bought by W.M. and A.Y. Barr, and on May 1886, they issued the first number of the Maries County Gazette, which is the county's oldest business.
In the conclusion of the Vienna Centennial, Maries County, 1955, published in honor of the county's 100th birthday, the writer states: Time has wrought many changes in Maries County. For instance, Belle, once the smallest hamlet, is now the county's largest city. Places such as Bloomington, which tried to be the place of the county seat, can hardly be remembered by the oldest of citizens.
Maries County has progressed at a steady rate since its establishment in 1855. Yet, it remains a small county with about 9,000 residents. Some of the sir names mentioned in Goodspeed's history still remain here in this place today.
The county hosts two public schools and two private ones. Our county courthouse has been renovated and remains an admirable focal point in Vienna's town square. The towns of Belle and Vienna are incorporated and provide town governments, water systems, and law enforcement for the benefit of their citizens. Both towns have library facilities from tax-supported Heartland Library. Maries County provides services for all county residents, including a 911 emergency service, which calls on several ambulance districts and tax supported and volunteer fire departments.
Many who were raised and educated in Maries County will leave this area to seek their fortunes in the world, and then come back home to live here again. The prairies and rolling hills, the beautiful unspoiled rivers and the beckon of home and familiar faces draws them back. It's a good place to live, as it was in 1855, now in 2005, and will be in the future.
*Information for this introduction is from Goodspeed's History of Various Missouri Counties, published in 1889 in Chicago.
*Re-written by Laura Schiermeier
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