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True Pioneer Spirit

While we were merely day-tripping in Boonville, many came before us who planted their roots. In fact, one of the first settlers in the territory was Hannah Cole. This woman embodied true pioneer spirit. After she and her husband moved to the area in 1810, he was killed by native Indians. She was left to raise their nine children by herself. Instead of packing it up and heading back east, she toughed it out and became the stuff of legends. Her house was used as a fort during the War of 1812, which provided safety for nearby settlers. In 1816, she was granted a license to operate the first ferry across the Missouri River between Franklin and Boonville. Talk about making your mark.

Keeping the Peace

As the land opened up, transportation became a big business in Boonville. The start of the Santa Fe Trail was just across the river on the banks of what was once Franklin, Missouri. River trade flourished, as new towns popped up farther upstream. The railroad came to town and challenged the river as the transportation method of preference. With so many ways to move cargo, Boonville was a sought after location during the Civil War. The city was growing and with it came the necessary support system. The local jail was kept busy by rowdy trails-men and even some notorious outlaws. Frank James, of James Gang fame, spent some time in the Cooper County Jail. Of course, we had visited another jail in Missouri that had him for a guest. Seems like he was well-known around these parts.

Paths Converge

When we first hit town, during our day-tripping in Boonville, we headed to the River, Rails, and Trails Museum. This place is filled with tons of information about the history of the city. It’s a great place to start your exploration. Inside, we found that as time marched forward, transportation migrated from the river, to wagons, and on to trains. Each of these modes of travel are represented in the museum. It also includes some interesting details about some of the other famous people to have visited or stayed in Boonville.

Transportation Advancements

We are all aware that the advancements in travel didn’t end with the railroad. While it did have an integral role in westward expansion, even this would be pushed to the side eventually. The days of the automobile were looming in the shadows. Giving people the control over when and where they traveled opened up new freedoms. By the turn of the century, motorized vehicles were making huge bounds on replacing the locomotive for independent travel. A slew of automakers were found across the nation, but some offered vehicles that were considered the “cream of the crop”. We had a chance to see many of them up close during a stop at the Mitchell Car Museum.

Keeping It Simple

Before beginning a driving tour of the beautiful homes found in and around the city, we decided to stop for a quick bite. Day-tripping in Boonville had worked up our appetites and we were fortunate to find Taylor’s Bake Shop ready to serve. It was a little too late for coffee, so we traded up to sandwiches and salads. During this stop, we met some locals and had a pleasant conversation about traveling. We love being able to connect with the residents of the destinations that we visit.

Day-tripping in Boonville, Missouri

After taking in some of the architecture from the 1800s, it was time for us to head on down the road. Day-tripping in Boonville had reminded us of the progression of travel that happened over the course of a short period. When we think about how our forefathers had to cross the prairies in wagons in the mid-1800s, it was only a half-century until automobiles made their appearance. There are many cities that did not see as many modes of transportation being used, as they have in Boonville. Clearly this city was meant to be on the move. Doesn’t this look like a great day-trip destination?

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An Early Start

You have to head back to the early 1800s to get to the beginning of this story. Over in Edinburgh, Henry Mitchell was working at a local wagon shop. After getting married, Henry and his wife, Margaret, sailed to America. Here he would take on a partner and proceed to open Mitchell Wagon Works. They produced some of the earliest wagons in Chicago. A few years later, he would move again, and this time land in Southport, Wisconsin. We learned this was a previous name for Kenosha, during our visit to the city along the lakeshore. Over time, the Mitchell family would grow and more would become engaged in the business.

Delivering the Goods

After the Civil War, William Lewis joined the business, after marrying into the family. Lewis bought into the company and the two of them established H. Mitchell & Co. The family business flourished and grew to the point of producing 8 to 10 thousand wagons per year. In 1880, disaster struck when the wagon factory burned to the ground. While many businesses would have been devastated, not so for this one. They not only regained their market share but became a leading world exporter of wagons around the world.

Next Steps

Much like today, the technology of the times was moving forward, as we saw at the Mitchell Car Museum. Mitchell and Lewis capitalized on these advancements by introducing a motorized bicycle at the tail end of the 1800s. When you think of today’s motorcycles, these early models paled in comparison. Many of the motorized versions were no faster than peddle-powered bicycles. Still, the lessons learned with each new model would move technology forward. In 1902, Mitchell Motor Cycle was outpacing its competitor Harley-Davidson with a whopping 600 motorcycles.

Moving Forward

Besides outpacing Harley-Davidson, there was another notable event in 1902. That was the year that Mitchell and Lewis introduced their first automobile. The following year they established the Mitchell Motor Car Company, which signified the move from wagons to autos. They started with two models that offered customers a choice between 4 or 7 horsepower motors. By 1904, they had streamlined their assembly process to the point that they built 82 new automobiles. The lessons they learned from the wagon industry helped them to establish themselves as an international car manufacturer. Soon they were selling Mitchell cars on nearly every continent.

Into the Blue

One of the things that caught our eye was the beautiful colors that we saw lined up in the museum. After visiting a slew of museums, we have seen a variety of cars from the turn of the century. Most auto manufacturers seemed satisfied with sticking to black as their main offering, but not Mitchell. They had a range of colors to choose from, with blue being their most recognizable. We have to say that when combined with all of the brass accents, it makes for a striking appearance. For this visit, our tour guide was Katie Gibson, who serves as Tourism Director for the City of Boonville. She pointed out that Mitchell was ahead of the pack by choosing to offer customers a higher-end product produced in an array of colors.

Coloring the Past

The Mitchell Car Museum holds a wonderful assortment of models from the company’s history. Their ability to produce a consistently superior product pushed them forward in the marketplace. By 1910, the Mitchell Motor Car Company had just under 3000 employees and was producing over 5600 automobiles. New advancements were coming almost every year. Soon the gas lamps would be replaced with electric lights. Hand-crank starters would be updated to self-starting devices.

Beauty Show

The company continued to prosper under the family’s guidance. In 1916, the company sold around 10,000 vehicles, but the family was reeling from the loss of its founder the previous year. Tiring of the day-to-day details, the family sold their interest in the business to investors from New York and Chicago. This would signify the end of an era for the Mitchell Motor Car Company. 1917 saw the world plunged into war, which had severe implications for the economy. The government had contracted with the company for four-wheel-drive trucks to be used in the war effort. Still, the company was able to produce multiple body styles at the same time.

Taking In the Mitchell Car Museum

As Katie led us through the Mitchell Car Museum, we were in awe of the beauty of these vehicles. The collection is in the care of Lewis Miller, who is a descendant of the original owners. His Mitchell collection is certainly unique and allows others to have a peek into the past. Most of the machines have been meticulously revived by Lewis. He is owner, operator, and caretaker of the Mitchell Car Museum and his love for these vehicles is obvious. Over the past couple of decades, he and his wife, Susan, have amassed the most extensive collection of Mitchell vehicles in the world.

Projects in the Works

As we were finishing up our tour, Katie had one more surprise for us. In a nearby garage bay, Lewis has another project in the works. Here we could see all of the detailed work required to reboot one of these vehicles into pristine shape. It obviously requires a lot more than a wash and wax. This 1914 Mitchell Touring Car needed plenty of loving care, as well as some new cast replacement parts. We can only imagine the cost associated with keeping all of these antique machines in running order.

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Charting the Land

Most people are well aware of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. After America and France finalized the Louisiana Purchase, an expedition was needed to chart this new territory. In the summer of 1804, the two explorers, along with 43 recruits, made their way past the area that would become Boonville. The River, Rails, and Trails Museum has a model of the keelboat used by the corps as they navigated the Missouri River.

River Town

Our visit to this museum gave us an opportunity to meet Katie Gibson, who serves as the tourism director for the city of Boonville. As she walked us around the space, she told us tidbits of history from the city’s past. The museum is a dual-purpose space, as it also serves as the city’s visitor center. Here we were able to get information about the various historic sites, local eateries, and shops sprinkled around the area.

Plying the Waters

The Missouri River has always been a key component to life in Boonville, Missouri. The River, Rails, and Trails Museum starts visitors off with a look at some of the crafts that navigated the waters. A collection of model boats is set up to show how the paddle-wheels worked on some early models. It was interesting to see the details included in each of these models. I have to admit that it was also fun to push the buttons and watch them burst into action.

Notable Name

The river was used not only to move people but to transport merchandise to communities along the way. Many of the general stores depended on their supplies being shipped upriver from St. Louis. Along the way, these ships faced a variety of hazards, which could change on a daily basis. Heavy rains would drag new flotsam into the river and create the potential of snags. Quite a few vessels became victims of these often hidden threats.

Common Hazards

In one of the exhibits, the museum highlights one of the victims of the river. The Missouri Packet was a steamboat that plied these waters in the early 1800s. This 120-foot long ship fell victim to one of these “snags” that were ever-present but often hidden. We had seen the engine from this vessel, which had been recovered and on display at the Arabia Steamboat Museum in Kansas City. Little did we realize that the Hawleys had been in this area previously to do the recovery of this historic wreckage.

Boone’s Lick

While many of the boats were used to bring in materials, they also served to transport items harvested from this region to the markets back east. The nearby salt lick was a booming business that sent this vital commodity back east for use in the meat-packing plants. Pioneers were also popular customers of the salt-production business, as they used it to preserve foods for their long journey west. Boone’s Lick became a vital business to help settle the new frontier.

Pioneer Travel

The River, Rails, and Trails Museum highlights the changing modes of travel used by people heading west. While the rivers were considered “Nature’s Highways”, they did have their limitations. Travel by these waterways would only get you to certain areas. Once they disembarked, the pioneers would still have to travel across land to their potential homesteads. For most, the wagon would be their choice vehicle to move their possessions westward. It was interesting to see the assortment of goods that would be carried by a family to stock up their new home.

Iron Horses

As these pioneers fanned out across the continent, there was another “highway” being built. The intercontinental railroad would become the preferred method of transportation for many decades. With routes and spurs diverging in all directions, the railroads would offer safe travel lanes throughout the nation. What used to take weeks could be accomplished in days. The grand age of rail travel would bring new residents to the towns and cities that sprung up alongside the rails.

Fun for All

After our tour with Katie, it was time to do a little closer exploration on our own. In the back of the River, Rails, and Trails Museum we located a kid-friendly section. A large model railway has been constructed to show a stylized version of Boonville. For a quarter, you can make the trains chug along the tracks for five minutes. We are confident that the kids will enjoy watching these diminutive replicas go about their travels as much as we did.

Play Place

Next door to the train display we found Cole Fort. This play area is designed to offer smaller visitors a place to explore while their parents investigate the rest of the museum. The small fort is named after Hannah Cole. This widow, and her nine children, moved to the Boonville region in 1810. She is believed to be one of the first settlers to move south of the river. Her arrival was actually a couple of years prior to the land being opened up for homesteading. Can you imagine the struggles she faced in the days before so many luxuries?

Worlds Collide

During the latter half of the 1800s, the Kemper Military School served as “The West Point of the West”. What began as a simple boarding school would morph into a highly successful enterprise. Prepping students for life in the harsh western environment required discipline, and many schools in the region adopted a military-style. The last decade of the 1800s would see Kemper’s most prominent attendee. Will Rogers would later go on to become a famous entertainer, after his stint at the academy.

Artistic Endeavor

We spent some more time examining the various exhibits at the River, Rails, and Trails Museum. Many were focused on local businesses and we saw a variety of artifacts from the past. As we made our way toward the end of the displays, we came upon a colorful area filled with local art. Three panels were constructed using found pieces of leftover materials. It was a good reminder that we need to be wise stewards of the waste stream to keep it from ending up in our waterways.

River, Rails, and Trails

Across from this artwork is a large exhibit that is used to educate visitors about their impact on our nation’s waters. Here you can see how various water features work to filter and feed the environment. It is a reminder that it is up to all of us to protect our rivers, lakes, and streams. Our last moments were spent exploring the small gift shop that is part of the visitor’s center. We found a nice assortment of memorabilia to choose from that would help us remember our time in Boonville, Missouri. Have you ever visited this historic Midwest city?

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