Ray County Genealogy

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A Directory of Towns, Villages, and Hamlets of Ray County, Missouri, Compiled by Arthur Paul Moser

Bridges of Ray County

A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

City or Township Type 1895 Population 1895 Post Office 1895 Railroad 1895 Express Office Latitude Longitude USGS 7.5' Map source
A Top
Ada
see Albany
Albany
populated place
. . . Loc: 51: 29: 13, 30 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners 391324N 0940647W Camden USGS

Ely Carter established the village of Albany in 1854. He made application for a post-office. But Albany was already in use in Gentry County. Ada, the name of Ely Carter's wife was proposed and accepted, but the village retained the name of Albany. Mr. Carter was the first postmaster. Also called Ashton, originally.

It was located one mile northeast of Orrick. It had seven business houses, one school, one flour mill, and one church. Once Orrick grew along the railroad and the Albany stores and churches gradually moved a mile south to the new town.

Albany was incorporated in 1871. Daniel Turner served as first mayor

OT

Moser

Alfred
Known as Alfred or Floyd. In 1882 near Orrick, the town of Alfred later called Floyd was surveyed, platted and incorporated at the request of the Chicago, Santa Fe, and California Railway companies.
OT
Allens Brick Mill
locale
. . . . -- -- -- USGS
Allen's Landing Riverboat landing
just east of the Clay/Ray County line
1894 MO River Map
Allen's Mill
Known as Allen's Mill, Lisbonville, and Chicken Bristle. This was located about two miles northeast of present day Elmira on the Ray-Caldwell line and started as Allen's Mill, when Isom Allen and a brother in 1866 installed a stream-powered sawmill, and equipped it with grist milling facilities.
OT
Ashton
original name of Albany
p. 454 Ray County History 1881

B Top
Barton's Landing
River boat landing
1894 MO River Map
Bluffton
populated place

In 1871, according to Louise Darneal, Ray County settlers, fearing an attack by the Indians, built a fort on the Missouri River near where Camden now stands and called it Bluffton. It was the first village founded in Missouri north of the Missouri River and became the first county seat. The first public road in the county ran over 7 miles from Bluffton to John Thornton's mill, east of where Richmond was after founded. Bluffton served as the county seat of Ray until 1828. Twice efforts were made to have it accepted by the county commissioners, but since the title involved many transfers and New Madrid, Missouri, land grants were a part of it, the title never could be cleared sufficiently at that time to be accepted, so the town of Richmond was purchased, platted, and named as the County Seat. Local tradition has it that the first settlers in Bluffton were the members of a Copeland family, at or near Bluffton, who went to Oregon during the land rush thee in 1850's. When Bluffton was started there were no steamboats on the Missouri River, and the river traffic was not considered to be any particular importance. So the fort was built, and the town of Bluffton was started off the river, to the west of what is now Camden, in Sections 26 and 27, Township 51, Range 28. Bluffton's demise began with the regular advent of the steamboat on the Missouri River finished the town, which was already dwindling with the transfer of the county seat to Richmond. Camden, a good steamboat landing site, was platted in 1836, and Bluffton was replaced and gone.

USGS; OT

photos

Bluffton township in 1827 p. 229 Ray County History 1881
Brownsburgh
populated place

It was platted by John and Matilda Brown in January, 1874 on 33 acres (NE 10, 54-26) near Tinney's Point.

USGS
Bucksnort
see Millville

Moser

Buffalo
populated place
The John Vanderpool family came from Tennessee and established the settlement of Buffalo in August 1815 southwest of Hardin on the Crooked River. . . . -- -- -- USGS

Moser

Buffalo City

It was located out of Hardin southeast about ¾ mile. There was a grocery store, a saloon, and a blacksmith shop near Buffalo. There were no bridges across Crooked River. When the town of Hardin was platted, around 1868, most people promptly moved there, and Buffalo City decayed.

OT
Buncombe
Knoxville was laid out in 1837 by John Graves from Tennessee. It was established as Buncombe on January 24, 1838, and the name was changed to Knoxville, (for Knoxville, Tennessee) on October 26, 1838.
Moser

C Top
Camden Town/City 650 Yes Yes Yes 1895 Atlas
Camden
populated place
. . . . 391150N 0940122W Camden USGS
Camden Junction
populated place
. . . . 391130N 0940219W Camden USGS
Camden, Township of
township
. . . . 391127N 0940141W Camden USGS
Carpenters Mill
locale
. . . . -- -- -- USGS
Cato
populated place

This is another short-lived attempt at a community which started in August 1892 and only survived until September 1893.

USGS; OT
Chicken Bristle
Known as Allen's Mill, Lisbonville, and Chicken Bristle. This was located about two miles northeast of present day Elmira on the Ray-Caldwell line and started as Allen's Mill, when Isom Allen and a brother in 1866 installed a stream-powered sawmill, and equipped it with grist milling facilities.
OT
Cooleys Lake Town/City No Yes No . . .
1895 Atlas
Cooper's Landing
River boat landing
1894 MO River Map
Crab Orchard
Town/City

Elk Horn

p. 455 Ray County History 1881 Yes No No Loc: 52: 29: 13, 29 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners . . 1895 Atlas
Crooked River, Township of
township
p. 241 Ray County History 1881 . . . 391636N 0934955W Hardin USGS
Crystal Lakes
populated place
. . . . 392134N 0941123W Excelsior Springs USGS

D Top
Danner's Landing
River boat landing
1894 MO River Map
Dockery
populated place
.
Yes
No No 392140N 0935918W Richmond
1895 Atlas; USGS

OT

E Top
East Camden
see Camden
Egypt Bottom
bend

One of the first settlers in Egypt was Joseph Ray, a French trapper

According to the late Mrs. Thurman (Julia) Dudgeon, Egypt acquired its name in 1895 following a flood after Mr. Ray had taken his belongings to the site of South Point by raft for safety. When the waters receded and Mr. Ray was asked what he was going to do he said that he was "going back to Egypt," thus comparing the fertility of the soil to that of the Delta of the Nile in ancient Egypt ... (--Ray County, p. 90.)

. . 391152N 0940938W Buckner USGS

Moser

Elderton

Located on the road east and a little north of Morton about three miles. I can not find any evidence of the town ever having come into any further existence than just the platting.

USGS; OT
Elkhorn
populated place
. . . Loc: 52: 29: 13, 29 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners 391833N 0940645W Rayville USGS
Elmira
populated place /Town/City
75 . Yes Yes 393026N 0940916W Elmira USGS; 1895 Atlas
Elmira Camp
populated place
. . . . 392947N 0940927W Lawson USGS
Excelsior Springs
City
. Located both in Ray County and Clay County Excelsior Springs Historical Museum: Research Available

F Top
Fair View
Also known as Pleasant View and Slip Up. The village was situated on a tract of high, rolling prairie land, laid out about the year 1857 by a German named Isaac Berry. The location was in the west part of Section 27, Township 54, Range 29. Between Crooked River's flooding and the coming of the railroad this little village gradually faded away, only the cemetery remaining today.
OT
Farmville
populated place

see Henrietta

-- -- -- USGS
Finley's Landing
Riverboad landing
1894 MO River Map
Fishing River, Township of
township
p. 241-242 Ray County History 1881 391704N 0940957W Excelsior Springs USGS
Fleming
populated place
391157N 0940355W Camden USGS
Fleming
Town/City
Yes
No No 1895 Atlas
Floyd
populated place
No
Yes No 391133N
0940638W
Camden
USGS; 1895 Atlas
Known as Alfred or Floyd. In 1882 near Orrick, the town of Alfred later called Floyd was surveyed, platted and incorporated at the request of the Chicago, Santa Fe, and California Railway companies.
OT
Foote Station
see Rayville
Moser
Fox
Town/City
.
Yes
No No Loc: 53: 26: 16, 8 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners . .
1895 Atlas
Known as Russellville or Fox. Russellville was founded about 1853, 5 miles East of Millville. It was in the 1900's that it became necessary to change the name of the post office to Fox to avoid confusion with the mail with another Russellville, Missouri
OT
Foxglove Conservation Area
Location: (T53N, R29W, S23 and S24) Ray County. Approximately 5 miles northeast of Excelsior Springs. One-half mile east of Vibbard on gravel road 174 and .5 mile north on gravel road 235. Origin of name: Named after the auriculate false foxglove (Agalinus auriculata), which is common on the area. Size: 55 acres (35 prairie, 20 being restored). Ownership: Missouri Department of Conservation, 1990. Features: This rolling, brushy prairie formed predominately on silty clay loam and clay loam soils. The area has good plant diversity including lead plant, rattlesnake master and compass plant. Small populations of hairy parsley and prickly pear cactus are associated with small limestone outcrops on the area. Periodic prescribed fires are used to help reduce invasion of woody species and to stimulate the native prairie grasses and forbs.
Fredonia
locale

This town was platted in September 1869 just after the Civil War by Emilius Wood. It was to be located between Richmond and Henrietta, in the northeast quarter of Section 9, Township 51, Range 27 West.

USGS; OT
Fredericksburg

Was located east-northeast of the present day Excelsior Springs Golf Course. One of the five battles, or skirmishes, of the Civil War in Ray County occurred here. In 1842, the post office was re-established and known as New Garden.

OT
Fredricksburg
populated place
. . . Loc: 52: 29: 8, 29 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners -- -- USGS
Frog Eye
populated place
Known as Mineral City or Frog Eye. In the summer of 1903, just around the bend of Crooked River and Fire Creek, Stephen Mullin and some of his neighbors decided to drill a well on his land because there had been a severe water shortage, and Fire Creek was insufficient to supply everyone's needs in the emergency. The water from the well proved to be a strong soda-saline type similar to that of the defunct St. Cloud, and this revived hopes again of prosperity from the health giving water. Through the years following, Mullin's well became famous. In 1908, according to the records at the courthouse, Stephen M. and Louisa Mullin and Peter J. Carchas of St. Joseph, a lawyer whom Mullin had consulted about legal matters, filed a plat of the proposed Mineral City. The water became so famous it was shipped in barrels to other states. Finally, at the death of Mullin, debts were so out standing that his family moved away, the well was capped, and the well house torn down, and today a few bits of foundations here and there are all that remain of this bit of Ray County history. OT
G Top
Georgeville
populated place

Georgeville was founded in the 1880's. It was first named Grange Hall, for the first structure built at the site a "Grange Hall." About three miles north of the present site a settlement was established called Georgeville in honor of the George family on whose land it was built.

Loc: 54: 27: 15, 14 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners 392946N 0935429W Millville USGS

Moser

Town/City
Yes
No No
1895 Atlas
Golf Hill (subdivision)
populated place
392004N 0941233W Excelsior Springs USGS
Grange Hall
see Georgeville
Grape Grove

This was mentioned several times in early family stories, but only that it was at a cross-roads. Grape Grove established a post office May 29, 1838. Grape Grove's name was changed to Millville June 27, 1847.

USGS; OT
Grape Grove, Township of
township
p. 243 Ray County History 1881 392555N 0935109W Stet USGS
Griffith's Landing
River boat landing
1894 MO River Map

H Top
Hallard
Town/City
No
Yes Yes
1895 Atlas
Haller
populated place
. . . . Loc: 52: 28: 5, 20 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners . . 1877 Atlas
Haller Station
Rayville Post Office
p. 454 Ray County History 1881
Halleville
Known as Halleville and Oil City. It came into being north of Orrick about 1898 - 1900, when a sixteen-hundred foot oil well was drilled there. It proved to be a dry hole.
OT
Hallsville
populated place
-- -- -- USGS
Hamilton Heights
locale
north of Henrietta T51R27S09 -- -- USGS

Hamilton Heights Links

Hardin
Town/City
656 Yes Yes Yes The John Vanderpool family came from Tennessee and established the settlement of Buffalo in August 1815 southwest of Hardin on the Crooked River.

Hardin was named for Governor C. H. Hardin, and incorporated in 1870. James Darby was the first mayor.

. .
1895 Atlas

Moser

Hardin Links

Hardin
populated place

. . . . 391615N 0935003W Hardin USGS
Henrietta
populated place
In the 1830's James Allen and his brother, Dr. Thomas Allen, from Farmville, Virginia established the settlement known as Farmville.

In the 1900's Joseph Black, a city attorney of Henry, had learned that Henrietta post-office had been abandoned and in 1925 he induced the railroad and post-office to change the name to Henrietta.

391403N 0935607W Lexington West USGS

Moser

Henry
Town/City

post office

. Yes No No Loc: 51: 27: 16, 15 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners . . 1895 Atlas
Home Place
T52R28S24 & T52R27S19

1914 Standard Atlas of Ray County

Home Place Links
Homestead
populated place
. . . . 392146N 0941202W Excelsior Springs USGS
Hughes Landing

(Hughs Landing)

locale

River boat landing

. . . . -- -- -- USGS

1894 MO River Map

Hulls Point
populated place
p. 455 Ray County History 1881
No
Yes
No
-- -- -- USGS; 1895 Atlas

According to the 1877 Ray County Atlas, about five miles west-northwest of Orrick.

OT
Riverboat landing
1894 MO River Map

J Top
Jack's Ferry
locale
see Henrietta . . . -- -- -- USGS

K Top
Knoxville
populated place
81
Yes
No No Loc: 54: 28: 35, 26 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners 392646N 0940100W Knoxville USGS; 1895 Atlas
Knoxville was laid out in 1837 by John Graves from Tennessee. It was established as Buncombe on January 24, 1838, and the name was changed to Knoxville, (for Knoxville, Tennessee) on October 26, 1838.

The first postmaster of Knoxville was Moses F. Rainwater who was appointed January 24, 1838.

Moser
Knoxville, Township of
township
. . . .
392648N
0940034W Knoxville USGS

L Top
Lakeview
populated place
. . . . 391921N 0934636W Hardin USGS

For over seventy years from 1880's to 1952 when the last mine closed this mining village, located about 3 ½ mile northeast of Hardin, was very active. Heisinger Lake, which once lay to the southeast of the town, was the source of the name. Coal which so richly underlies most of Ray County was the source of employment foremost of the people in the village, as it was in many other Ray County towns of that period. The last store closed in 1948, and when the remaining mine stopped when the demand for coal declined due to natural gas and electricity coming into easy supply, Lakeview's reason for existing was gone and so was the town.

OT
Lawson
populated place
520 Yes Yes Yes
Loc: 53: 29: 6, 28 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners
392618N 0941214W Lawson USGS

1895 Atlas

Lawson Links

Lexington Junction
Town/City
No
Yes Yes . . .
1895 Atlas
Lick Skillet
populated place

Known as Taitsville and Lick Skillet. It was in 1833 that a settlement was first made here. It's demise was helped along by the coming of the railroad in 1887.

OT
Lisbonville
populated place
Known as Allen's Mill, Lisbonville, and Chicken Bristle. This was located about two miles northeast of present day Elmira on the Ray-Caldwell line and started as Allen's Mill, when Isom Allen and a brother in 1866 installed a stream-powered sawmill, and equipped it with grist milling facilities. USGS; OT
Log Cabin Station
locale
392525N 0934852W Stet USGS
Louella
town/city; post office
Yes
No No
1895 Atlas; USGS; OT

In May 1900, a post office was established giving its location in the SE ¼, Section 32 Township 54 North, Range 26 West or roughly in the center of a triangle formed by Fox, Regal and Ovid.

USGS
Lower Town
see Camden
Moser

M Top
McBee's Landing

In 1836 a caravan of ox teams with the recently widowed Mrs. Rachel (Riley) McBee and her 4 married sons stopped and settled just east of Hardin where the Red Brick School was later located. But floods, very severe that year, forced them to uproot themselves and move on up into the bluff country in 1837 and they finally settled in the area past Millville where New Hope M.E. church is today.

OT
McClain's Mill

By 1935 there were enough settlers in the northwest part of present day Ray County to require a log schoolhouse. The "Battle of Crooked River" a day's skirmish between Mormons of adjoining Caldwell County and a militia of Ray County, took place in 1838, in a valley one mile south of that school. Upstream a short distance from where the battle took place, a Mr. McClain began operating a water-powered grist mill near the Ed Knutter ford over Crooked River; this being only a short distance southeast of present-day Elmira. The post office there was established in 1858 and ran until 1860, but then the name was changed to Pleasant View.

OT
Millville
populated place
175
Yes
No
No
Loc: 53: 27: 15, 27 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners
392419N 0935504W Millville USGS; 1895 Atlas

Originally called Bucksnort, the name was changed to Millville in 1865. It has also been referred to as "The Wee Village". The last grocery store closed in 1971.

Located Route K about 11 miles northeast of Richmond on the east fork of Crooked River.

OT

Moser

Mineral City
locale

Known as Mineral City or Frog Eye. In the summer of 1903, just around the bend of Crooked River and Fire Creek, Stephen Mullin and some of his neighbors decided to drill a well on his land because there had been a severe water shortage, and Fire Creek was insufficient to supply everyone's needs in the emergency. The water from the well proved to be a strong soda-saline type similar to that of the defunct St. Cloud, and this revived hopes again of prosperity from the health giving water. Through the years following, Mullin's well became famous. In 1908, according to the records at the courthouse, Stephen M. and Louisa Mullin and Peter J. Carchas of St. Joseph, a lawyer whom Mullin had consulted about legal matters, filed a plat of the proposed Mineral City. The water became so famous it was shipped in barrels to other states. Finally, at the death of Mullin, debts were so out standing that his family moved away, the well was capped, and the well house torn down, and today a few bits of foundations here and there are all that remain of this bit of Ray County history.

USGS; OT
Mineral Oil Spring Moser
Missouriton
township in 1827
p. 229 Ray County History 1881
Morton populated place . Yes No No
Loc: 52: 26: 18, 23 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners
391910N 0935138W Hardin USGS; 1895 Atlas
Mt. Pleasant
populated place
98 . . . Loc: 54: 26: 10, 9 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners . . . 1877 Atlas

N Top
New Garden
populated place

post office

p. 455 Ray County History 1881 . .
Loc: 52: 29: 8, 29 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners
391923N 0940957W Excelsior Springs USGS

This location is near the western border of Ray County, about 4 miles east and a little south of Excelsior Springs. In this area in 1842 the New Garden Primitive Baptist Church was organized with 15 members, all with letters from Big Pigeon Baptist Church, Cocke County, Tennessee. There is a legend to account for the fact that for many years it was known as the Church of the Lost Child.

OT
North Bluffton locale . . . . -- -- -- USGS
North Lexington
Town/City

left bank of Missouri River, opposite Lexington

p. 455 Ray County History 1881 No Yes No . . . 1895 Atlas

O Top
Oak Grove Community south of Hardin
Oggs Mill locale . . . 391750N 0940509W Rayville USGS
Oil City
Known as Halleville and Oil City. It came into being north of Orrick about 1898 - 1900, when a sixteen-hundred foot oil well was drilled there. It proved to be a dry hole.
OT
Old Foot

Sometimes called Foote Station, as a post office it is said to have been near or at the residence of William H. McGaugh. When a railroad was built from North Lexington to St. Joseph, the post office at Otsego was moved to Old Foot Station (this was evidently just before Haller, now Rayville, was platted in 1871).

OT
Orrick
populated place
370
Yes
Yes Yes
Loc: 51: 29: 23, 30 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners
391246N 0940721W Camden USGS; 1895 Atlas

Orrick Links

Orrick, Township of
township
. . . . 391400N 0940918W Buckner USGS
Orton

During the years 1899 and 1900 there was a post office. It's location is in the area between Orrick and Elkhorn somewhere.

OT
Otsego

Jason N. Baker was the first postmaster beginning May, 1851. This location was, according to information from the National Archives, seven miles west of Knoxville, and one mile north of Rocky Ford Creek. James F. Blackwell was the last listed postmaster, the office being discontinued in 1871, giving way to the location of Old Foot along the newly built railroad line.

OT
Ovid
Town/City
.
Yes
No
No . . .
1895 Atlas
populated place
.
.
.
.
392803N 0935302W Millville USGS

About 5 miles northeast of Millville was this little settlement. There was not school, and the nearest church was West Antioch Church.

OT

P Top
Petersburg

Located a short way north of the Crooked River bridge which is on Highway 10 just before you reach Hardin.

OT
Piggsville
populated place
. . . . -- -- -- USGS
Pleasant View
populated place
Also known as Fair View and Slip Up. The village was situated on a tract of high, rolling prairie land, laid out about the year 1857 by a German named Isaac Berry. The location was in the west part of Section 27, Township 54, Range 29. Between Crooked River's flooding and the coming of the railroad this little village gradually faded away, only the cemetery remaining today. USGS; OT

Prairie Map

Polk, Township of
township
. . . . 392849N 0940556W Knoxville USGS
Pomeroys Ferry
locale
. . . . -- -- -- USGS
Prospect Hill
post office
. . . .
Located south of present day Lawson on the Plattsburg-Richmond Road
-- USGS

Prairie Map

R Top
R & L Junction
see Henrietta
Moser
Rayville
Town/City
91 Yes Yes Yes Loc: 52: 28: 5, 20 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners . Haller 1895 Atlas
Rayville
populated place
. . . .
392054N
0940346W
Rayville USGS
Reavis Landing River boat landing 1894 MO River Map
Regal
populated place
. . . .
392803N
0934852W
Stet USGS
Richmond (county seat)
Town/City
2895 (1895)

23,708 (2000)

Yes
Yes Yes
Loc: 52: 28: 25, 36, 20 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners
391643N
0935836W
Richmond
USGS; 1895 Atlas

Richmond Links

Richmond Water Works
locale
. . .
391422N
0935806W
Lexington West USGS
Richmond, Township of township p. 242 Ray County History 1881 . . . 391715N
0935854W
Richmond USGS
Rockingham
Populated Place
.
Yes
No No
392124N
0934656W
Hardin
USGS; 1895 Atlas

This agricultural community northeast of Hardin was founded by families from the Shenandoah Valley, Rockingham County, Virginia, following the ravaging of Sheridan's men during the Civil War. These early settlers were of deep religious convictions and were members of the Church of the Brethren.

OT
Russellville populated place
Loc: 53: 26: 16, 8 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners
392424N 0934948W Stet USGS
Known as Russellville or Fox. Russellville was founded about 1853, 5 miles East of Millville. It was in the 1900's that it became necessary to change the name of the post office to Fox to avoid confusion with the mail with another Russellville, Missouri
OT

S Top
Saint Cloud populated place 391734N 0940105W Rayville USGS
Saint Cloud

In 1880 a mineral spring was found bubbling up through the earth on a farm 4 miles northwest of Richmond. It was called St. Cloud Springs and a company was formed to develop the area. The Maple Leaf Hotel, a two story building, was erected near the spring, and the complex grew to include a butcher shop, a saloon, a bathhouse where the ailing took mineral and mud baths, and even summer cottages. Four passenger trains per day came to the area bringing tourists, so a depot was added. Cave Spring was not far from here, which provided additional recreation for the walk there and back. But problems arose; business became slack, the hotel began to lose money, there were squabbles between the owners of the land, and finally, when the hotel burned in 1890, St. Cloud gradually disappeared, leaving only the little spring. This, too, vanished when the creek changed its course and started flowing directly over the mineral spring, and St. Cloud was a thing of the past.

OT
Saint Cloud Springs Town/City No Yes No 1895 Atlas
Sandals
populated place

by Thomson (Sandals) Cemetery

Yes
No No 392738N 0940501W Knoxville
USGS; 1895 Atlas

Known first as the Grange store, then as Sandals Store, it finally was shortened to just Sandals. James Sandals had a grist and saw mill here as well as his store. It was located about 100 feet from the old Plattsburg State Road, but today would be easier placed if I say it was about one mile north and four miles west of Knoxville.

OT
Shaw's Shop
see Morton
Moser
Sheridan
see Rayville
Moser
Sisk
Town/City
Yes
No No
1895 Atlas

In September 1883, Bartlett Sisk made an application to change the post office from New Garden a distance of ¾ miles to his house and to call it Sis's Mill.

OT
Sisks Mill
locale
-- -- -- USGS
Slip Up
Also known as Pleasant View and Fair View. The village was situated on a tract of high, rolling prairie land, laid out about the year 1857 by a German named Isaac Berry. The location was in the west part of Section 27, Township 54, Range 29. Between Crooked River's flooding and the coming of the railroad this little village gradually faded away, only the cemetery remaining today.
Snowden's Landing River boat landing 1894 MO River Map
Stegler's Landing River boat landing 1894 MO River Map
Stet
populated place
. . . . 392523N 0934531W Stet USGS
Sulphur Springs
Moser
Sunshine
Town/City
.
Yes
No No . . . 1895 Atlas
Southwest of Henrietta lies an area known as the Sunshine Bottoms. The first school was built around 1840 here, and the first Methodist church of Sunshine was organized in 1848, it being only the second M.E. in Ray County at the time. Occupations in the area besides farming were sawing and rafting logs since this was very near the Missouri River. Tobacco and hemp were among the early crops raised and sold in this area. On July 2, 1915, erratic Missouri River cut a new channel, eliminating the "Great Bend" which had given prominence to Camden and Orrick. A beautiful natural lake was formed in the Bottoms as a result of this and it was called Sunshine Lake for the area where it forme
OT
Swantick
Town/City
.
Yes
Yes No . . . 1895 Atlas
Swanwick
populated place
. .
Loc: 52: 28: 15, 20 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners
391851N 0940151W Rayville USGS

Located 5 miles northwest of Richmond, this was another little village which came into existence in the 1870's because of the railroad. It was name by Major R.J. Williams in honor of a lady in St. Joseph whose first name was Swanie.

OT

T Top
Taitsville
populated place
90
Yes
No No
Loc: 54: 27: 17, 14 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners
392904N 0935728W Millville
USGS; 1895 Atlas

Taitsville Links

Known as Taitsville and Lick Skillet. It was in 1833 that a settlement was first made here. It's demise was helped along by the coming of the railroad in 1887.

OT
Tinney Grove
populated place
. . . . 393015N 0934815W Braymer USGS
Tinney's Grove
Town/City
77
Yes No No Loc: 54: 26: 10, 9 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners . . .
1895 Atlas
Tinney Point
Moser
Turner's Grove
p. 268 Ray County History 1881

U Top
Union
Union is situated at Sec. 11, Twp. 53 N, R. 29 W on C east of M.

Mail via Lawson, no population is shown. (--Rand McNally, 1974.)

Moser

V Top
Vard Davis Sawmill
locale
-- -- -- USGS
Vattie

From 1892, August, through April, 1895, a post office existed in this area about 21/2 miles south of Elkhorn.

OT
Vibbard
populated place
127
Yes
Yes Yes
Loc: 53: 29: 22, 27, 28 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners
392250N 0940846W Lawson USGS; 1895 Atlas

W Top
Walconda
post office

A post office existed from August 21, 1856, through February 18, 1859. George S. Ewing was the postmaster of record. The name seems to be another attempt to spell Wakenda Creek.

USGS
Watkins (historical)
locale
392540N 0941053W Lawson USGS
The Wee Village
see Millville
Moser
Weislaus Landing River boat landing just west of the Ray/Carroll county line 1894 MO River Map
Westover Watkins family farm near Richmond (source records simply read Westover, Ray County, Missouri). This was not actually a town.
Wilmont
town in Grape Grove township
p. 243 Ray County History 1881
Wilmott
(Wilmot)
post office

A post office was opened here in 1874 with Charles L. Bowen as official in charge, followed by Alvina Bowen in 1879, then being discontinued in 1887. It's location is 4 miles north of Fox-Russellville, 6 miles south of Tinney's Grove and 4 ½ miles southeast of Ovid.

Loc: 53: 26: 5, 8 Source: 1877 Atlas Property Owners
USGS; OT; 1877 Atlas
Wood Heights
populated place
.
.
. . 392022N 0940945W Excelsior Springs USGS
Woolard Place
seat of Justice in 1827
p. 229 Ray County History 1881

Source:

1895 Atlas: website

USGS: US Geological Survey, National Mapping Information; website

OT: Old Towns. Extracts from an article written by Virginia King McBee "Gone But Not Entirely Forgotten" (Probably written in the 1970's)

A directory of towns, villages, and hamlets past and present of Ray County, Mo. / compiled by Arthur Paul Moser website

1894 Missouri River Commission Maps calibrated by Wayne Johnson; website


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since April 1, 2002


Last Updated 1/28/2013