Early Days
Edna Drexler
The town was Edna, Missouri.
This was the first name given to the town now called Scott City. The name of Edna was given to honor the
granddaughter of a pioneer citizen.
However, the name of Edna soon gave way to Fornfelt because of a mail
problem.
All the mail kept going
to Edina, Missouri. Then Fornfelt
became the name of the town to honor a resident family of that time. Fornfelt in recent times has become Scott
City.
It is interesting to note that the first school was held in the
city hall. The first eight grades were
taught. Miss Lois Williams was the very
first teacher. This first teacher is
known now as Mrs. Grover Smith. She is
now in her nineties.
A nice new brick school house was built later. The new school was built upon a hill about
four blocks from the new Scott City Bank.
Eight grades were taught in this school for many years.
In the early days of Scott City the first high school was
located north of the Cottonbelt Roundhouse and the railroad yards. This high school was used until recently
when a new high school was built west of Scott City.
If you remember some of the western movies on television of the
early days, you would get a rather good picture of how it was in the
towns. Many tough characters came and
the law men were busy maintaining the laws.
As I recall the first church in Scott City was built on a
hill. It was a little white frame
building. The location of this church
was north of the Broadway Methodist Church, which was built to replace the old
church.
Letter to the Editor
The Jimplicute, Scott City, MO 63754
Dear Editor,
The
Fourth of July has always been a great outdoor holiday. It is a day when people want to picnic in
the park, play baseball, swim, dance and eat plenty of good food. People liked to celebrate the same way years
ago.
I
remember the picnics that the Scott County Farmers� organizations had at the
old courthouse grounds at Commerce. The
county seat had been moved to Benton and this location was ideal for picnics.
There
were may activities for people to enjoy and they came from all parts of the
county for the big celebration. Some
men and womn who spread qulits under the cool shade trees for the babies to
play had a good social time talking.
Sometimes in the big field nearby there would be horse racing. Everybody in those days were interested in
horses and especially the fast ones.
I
was in a horse race once � but it was not intentional nor by choice. My family had a spirited young mare reported
to have trained for the track but we used her for a buggy horse. We loved her very much. She could run fast � this I knew.
One
day I went horseback riding on her and stopped and picked up my girlfriend who
rode behind me. We rode for a while and
then my friend got off the horse. I was
still on the horse when it happened.
A
young man, whom I knew, came riding down the road on his very fast horse and
when the horse was even with my horse began to race with the other horse. We were going at a very fast gait when my
saddle loosened and I fell to the side of the road. I was stunned and barely knew what happened, but when I looked up
there was my horse standing there with her head on me. She had come back.
The
other ride saw what had happened and he tied his horse and ran back to see how
I was. I was not hurt so he fixed my
saddle more securely and I got back on the horse and went home. I never told anyone � not even my family
what had happened. Many times since I
thought how tragic it could have been.
Sincerely
Edna
Drexler
Dear Editor:
Happy New Year!
It was a joyous crowd of partygoers that rang the school bell
loudly at the first New Year�s party ever held in Fornfelt (Scott City) to
welcome in the New Year of 1907. The
party was held in a new school building.
The school building was on the west side of town. The principal and his wife lived in two
rooms upstairs in the school. In these
early days there were not many pupils so only two teachers were needed to teach
the classes downstairs. The principal
who came from Charleston, taught the upper grades and an older woman, from
Jackson, taught the lower grades. In
later years the school had many pupils and became the grade school that the
people of the town were proud of for excellence of teaching and achievement.
At this time, New Year�s Eve, the principal and his wife had
invited all the young married couples and a �grass widow� to a party. There was music and dancing. The musicians with a guitar and violin
furnished some lively music. It was
called old-fashioned fiddle tunes.
There was a popular new dance called the Two-Step that everyone was
dancing. The �grass widow� was cheered
by watching her friends .dancing the two-step.
At midnight everyone stopped dancing and went to ring the big
new school bell. The bell had not been
permanently installed but the problem was soon solved and the bell was rung
loudly and clearly for all to hear that the New Year had arrived. The party was over and about 1 a.m. everyone
went home with the hopes that the new year would be better for everyone.
Sincerely,
Edna
Drexler
