"At the turn of the 20th century Farmington,
as I remember it – I am past 77 years of age and never had any other address –
was more of a “settlement” than it was a “city”. Although it was the “County Seat”, (of St. Francois County), there were no industries to
supply employment of any consequence, so it might be said that it thrived, as a
“trading center”, for a prosperous farming community surrounded it. The court house, of course, had a full retinue of
elected officers who functioned without much extra help; the Post Office, a Postmaster,
but it operated on a “come-and-get-it” basis – no free delivery, zip codes,
etc., so it didn’t have need of many clerks; a couple of banks, whose chief worry was
Jesse James; two wagon manufacturers, each employing a couple of specialized journeymen
and a painter who could finish the job and “brand” them with a Company’s
name; a couple of blacksmith shops, each with a horse-shoer and a couple of iron workers
with the “mighty brawn”; some “general” stores, where they weighed out
your requirements of sugar, salt, beans, coffee, crackers, etc. from wooden barrels –
the coffee came in the bean only, (about 8 lbs. for a dollar), and they would grind only
– no coarse, fine, drip, percolator, or other options), or you could take it home and
grind it in your home grinder that you sat in your lap or between the knees to give it
stability; a cigar store that “rolled their own” Havanas; a hotel; a couple of
barber shops, where every customer had their own private shaving mug and could get his
“weekly” shave for a dime; a drug store, that filled prescriptions and sold
patent medicines instead of the wide variety of inanities that you find on their shelves
today; good family doctors that came when you
called them, stayed as long as they were needed, and sent you a bill if they thought you
were able to pay – none of them had to buy farms, etc. to avoid income tax; good
butcher shops – their meats were probably not Federally inspected, but one could buy
a choice steak without having to cash in a Govt. Bond in order to pay for it; modern flour
mills; and a privately owned ice plant that, incidentally, supplied the only electricity
that was available to the community at that time. The town, of course, had it’s share
of saloons, with an occasional brawl or someone even getting shot, but the rules
concerning minors were strictly observed and, with the aid of a 10 o’clock curfew,
you never saw any teenagers drunk or carousing around at night after bedtime.
CHURCHES & SCHOOLS
Farmington has always been recognized for it’s
churches and schools, and at this time had active churches by the Presbyterians, Northern
Methodist, Southern Methodist, Christian, Baptist, Lutherans and Catholic. The Negros also had a Methodist and a Baptist
church. There may have been some other sects
operating in the community at the time but I do not remember them as having any church
building. The Methodists supported a college, (Carleton
College), which was later dissolved and Dr. G.W. Watkins, (and I would suppose other
interested parties), either rented or bought the building in 1928 and converted it into a
hospital. This enterprise failed and the
property now belongs to the Catholics, who use it as their High School. The Presbyterians also operated a Seminary, (which
in effect was a school for girls only), which was later converted into a home for
children, which is still in operation, plus the addition of a retreat for aged people
– non-denominational in use. The Baptists
also supported a Baptist College, located on the property used as a Junior High School
today. The college building was also later converted into the, (as I remember),
the Will Mayfield Hospital that was in operation around 1906, but I don’t know when
it was closed and the building acquired for the Farmington High School. This building was destroyed by fire somewhere
around 1940’s (added in pencil 1934) and was replaced by the building that now serves
as the Junior High School. If I remember
correctly, there was only one High School and one Grade School in the year 1900, located
on a tract of land on South “A” St., in the southern section of town. There, of
course, was a separate school for the colored people; and at the time of our forced
integration, they had a nice 4-room brick, principalled by Miss Daisy Baker, who enjoyed
almost national renown as a leader of the colored people and who is still living - at what must be nearing the century mark, but is
still active. This building was located
adjacent to what is now the Senior High School and was sold to a private individual, who
converted it into an apartment for rental. Farmington
never had any racial problems. Years ago a
fellow ran for office as Alderman on the theme of “colonizing” the negros –
well, he was out on a called third strike without ever reaching first base. The next Farmington grade school was built in the
early 1900’s on North Washington, known as the Annie Lloyd School. The building was later condemned and abandoned and
now, (after reconstructing), is occupied by the County Dodge car agency. Since then there has, of course, been two more
grade schools erected and another one is on the drawing boards, plus the new Senior High
and the expansion program that will take the Junior High buildings clear out to
“A” Street.
It is obvious from the foregoing that Farmington, even in the
1900’s, had the nuclei for growth and improvement.
The first big break came when on Jan 1, 1903 Hospital #4 accepted it’s
first resident patients, with the first substantial pay roll that had ever been dumped
into the coffers of Farmington’s business establishments. The Hospital needed coal, (by the carload), for
it’s power house, creating the need for a rail line and the St. Francois Co. Railway
– an electric line leading from the Belmont Branch of the Mo. Pacific through
Farmington to Ester to connect up with the M&I that could bring coal from Illinois. This required electricity and resulted in Farmington
building it’s own power plant, with a converter from A.C. to D.C. for use of the
railway, and a distribution system that put electricity in all of the homes. The income from this enabled the city to sink new
deep wells, expand their water lines that people might have water in their homes, build a
sewer system that would do away with outhouses, sumps, etc.
Mud streets suddenly became macadamized, (crushed limestone), causing
citizens, (property owners), to take pride in their possessions and build sidewalks. The old brick courthouse, with its iron-picket
fence, horse troughs and “fresh-air” bandstand was no longer abreast of the
times so was demolished and a new courthouse erected in it’s place. Farmington had become a place in which people
wanted to live and there started an influx of retired farmers and others who either bought
or built that was the beginning of a building program that has been continuous ever since. I think it worthy of mention that all of this was
accomplished through the stimuli of private enterprise and was “cash on the barrel
head”, without any noticeable inflation. We
had undergone depressions before, (one of the worst in 1901), but the people, when left
alone, worked their way out of it. But in 1930
one certain FDR decided that the people didn’t know how to do things for themselves,
so began “priming the pump” and spending the taxpayers’ money until we are
now 350 billion in debt and it has currently probably cost me more to get my house painted
than it cost to build the house in the first place in the early 1900’s.
ENTERTAINMENT:
Farmington was on a Chautaqua Circuit and, in season, had the
usual circus, dog shows, medicine men, (whose elixirs were guaranteed to cure anything
from ingrown toe-nails to falling hair), rope walkers, and other forms of outdoor
entertainment, but the only established place of entertainment was the “Opera
House” – which happened to be the third floor of the only three-story building
in Farmington. (Note: This building was just recently razed and a new building – to
become the home of a Building & Loan Assn. – is under construction). There were
no regular schedules of events at the time but it afforded a stage, seats, curtains, and
other facilities for school and other local plays, as well as itinerant troupes or
individuals who could be “booked” for a night or two’s entertainment. Shortly thereafter the first “picture
show” was opened, (corner of Jefferson and Liberty), where one might enjoy an entire
evening’s entertainment for the sum of one dime – no extras for stage
attractions – and, if one was a particular friend of the ticket “picker
upper”, he might be able to use the one ticket as a sort of a “season
pass”. In the course of time, the crowd
outgrew the seating capacity of this location and a sort of “temporary
structure” was built on the corner of S. Washington & First St., (contemporary
names, the streets were not then named and numbered), which was later destroyed by fire
and a real “theater-type” building erected at the present location of P.N.
Hirsch’s store at Washington & Columbia St. – sometime in the early or
mid-20’s. The pictures were, of course,
still silent and it took a Charlie Chaplin or a real “blood-and-thunder” picture
to draw crowds. The St. Louis theaters were
beginning to use large organs for some realistic sound effects but a small-town theater
couldn’t afford such an investment. The
dynamic speaker, (actuated by electrical current, with a full range of VPS), had come into
being and, in order to modernize our little theater, I personally helped to install
dynamic speakers at each side of the screen, with a turntable in the projector’s
booth, where the appropriate record – synchronized with the film –gave
Farmington it’s first “sound” pictures.
The theater was destroyed by fire in the early 60’s – no more
picture shows. A new building was erected on
the site and, as previously mentioned, is occupied by the P.N. Hirsch store.
There are probably a lot of other interesting things that I
could relate, but I am becoming tired and this “brilliant” mind of mine seems to
be bogging down in a quagmire of quicksand. I know you will excuse me if I have made any
number of typing blunders. Anyway, with the
advent of the automobile, concrete highways, mammoth trucks, airplanes, and improved transportation facilities, a variety of industries
have been attracted into the community – Trimfoot, dress & clothing factory,
Matco, and other lesser manufacturing concerns within Farmington proper – and, with
super markets and other business establishments using probably ten times as many clerks
and other employees as were needed in 1900, am sure that Farmington has kept pretty well
abreast of times and that anyone who really wants to work can find a job."
NOTE: The above is a portion of a letter
written by Elbert John Hunt in 1969 concerning his personal recollections of Farmington.
This very interesting letter was contributed to us by his
granddaughter, Jeanne Hunt Nassaney. According to Jeanne, Elbert
John Hunt was the grandson of Missouri pioneers John and Margaret (Stuart) Hunt who
settled in Sprott around 1848. They raised 10 children (two died
in early childhood) and two others were in the Civil War ( one dying in Louisiana).
EJ's father, Lewis Tice Hunt moved from Sprott to just outside Farmington around 1900
raised 18 children (two marriages) and her grandfather, Elbert J. Hunt, married and
bought his home in Farmington around 1917 where he lived the rest of his life. |
