A
city situated at the junction of the main line and the
Hannibal branch of the Hannibal & St. Joseph division
of the Burlington Railroad, fourteen miles west of Quincy,
Illinois, and the same distance from located was
originally settled upon by Hugh White, who, on March 24,
1819, conveyed it to Samuel K. Caldwell and Obadiah
Dickerson. Later an interest in the land was sold to Joel
Shaw and John McCune and the town was laid out. In 1827 it
became the county seat of Marion County. It is
delightfully situated in the "elm lands," and
the streets are regularly laid out, well shaded and kept
in ,excellent condition. In the early days of the county,
Palmyra was a very important town. In 1836 it had a
population of 1,5oo, was a lively business place and had
three brick churches, Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal
and Baptist. It then contained several sawmills, and a
flourmill to which the people for forty miles around
carried their grain to have meal and flour made. Owing to
the close proximity of Hannibal and Quincy the city has
not increased materially in population for the last thirty
years. It has waterworks, electric lights, a fine
graded-public school, eleven churches, an opera hall,
lodges of the different fraternal orders, two weekly
newspapers, the "Spectator" and the
"Herald," and about ninety business houses,
including two banks, three flouring mills, a sawmill, two
planing mills, two wagon factories and numerous stores and
small shops. There are two hotels in the city. The
population in 1900 was 2,323.
Source:
1901 Encyclopedia of Missouri |