Warsaw, Missouri - A Rich History on the Osage River

Warsaw, Missouri - Rich History on the Osage River

Town lots for Warsaw were first sold in February, 1838 and the town slowly began to grow. The first Benton County Courts met in various homes in the area but a new site was soon chosen at the corner of Washington and Van Buren Streets (where the county jail now stands.) Money was raised for a new “temporary” courthouse building through lot sales and a 20’x 30’ log building was constructed. Two years later, construction on a permanent two-story courthouse began. The new structure cost $4,500 and county officials began to occupy the new building in 1842. The following year, the City of Warsaw was officially incorporated.

Many of Warsaw's oldest buildings still stand today, Kathy Weiser, February, 2008.

At the site where Reser’s Funeral Home is located today, was the Nicholas Tavern, later called the Farmers Hotel and Newman’s Hotel. The original building, built in the 1840s would later serve as a daily mail and stage stop for the Butterfield Stage Line from 1851-1861. Reser’s current building incorporates part of that early structure.

In 1840, an old fashioned Hatfield & McCoy style feud occurred in Benton and Polk (an area where Hickory County would later be formed) Counties. The feud was between the Hiram Turk family, who owned a store and saloon south of Warsaw, and the Andy Jones Family, who lived along the Pomme de Terre River. The Jones family, who evidently had a penchant for such habits as horse racing, gambling and counterfeiting, were not liked by the Turks, who, though well-educated, were known to never back down from a fight.

The whole affair began on Election Day, 1840 when Turk’s Store was established as a local polling place. There, Andy Jones and one of Hiram Jones’ sons, Jim, got into a dispute. Before it was over, members of both families were involved in the fray. In the end the Turks were charged with assault and starting a riot. Over the next several years, the feud would expand, both inside and outside of the courts, resulting in a number of killings, and dubbed the "Slicker War."

In 1857, the Mechanics Bank of St Louis was established at Washington and Van Buren Streets.It was considered the most expensive bank building in western Missouri. However, it would close just four years later when Warsaw was devastated by General Fremont’s troops in 1861. It stood empty until 1912 when it was bought by the Benton county court and converted into a jail, which is still used today.

The 1857 Mechanics Bank was later converted into the

Benton County Jail building, which is still used today,

Kathy Weiser, February, 2008.

Riverboat traffic remained brisk during the 1850’s, with as many as seven steamboats at the Warsaw wharf at any given time. However, when the Civil War broke out, guerilla terrorism on the Osage River stopped local trade.

At about the same time that Civil War was declared in 1861, Benton County had another worry on their hands – that of accused murderer Stephen Howser, son of one of the area’s earliest settlers, Stephen A. Howser.

More commonly called Hough, the younger man was accused of killing a man named Halloway while on his way to California, as well as a Gasconade County man named Farris in 1859. Though he had been sentenced to prison by a St. Louis Court in 1859, for whatever reasons, the killer was pardoned in 1861 and began to make his way back to Warsaw.

Along the way, he was said to have killed a man in Baldwin, Missouri. Soon after his return to Warsaw, he shot and killed a man named D.D. Jones, allegedly after robbing him. He soon fled the city, but was diligently tracked by Benton County lawmen. He was soon overtaken and killed in Vernon County, Missouri.

Though the murderer was no longer a concern for area citizens, violence would continue in the county, as Missouri was enmeshed in the Civil War. Despite the fact that Missouri was actively a slave-holding state, it would not succeed from the Union, creating a great deal of conflict within its own borders.

On April 23^rd, a crowd of citizens raised a rebel flag on the east side of the courthouse lawn. However, two months later, the State of Missouri would join the conflict on the side of the Union. Quickly, a regiment of Union soldiers, called the Benton County Missouri Home Guards was established on June 13, 1861. Made up of a number of Missourians primarily German descent, they would see combat just six days later at the Battle of Cole Camp. The battle resulted in a Confederate victory, with some 34 Union soldiers killed, another 60 wounded, and 25 made prisoners. The Benton County Home Guards officially lasted for only 90 days, after which its members either returned home or joined other regiments.

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1860's Confederate flag.

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