Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/311

 CHAPTER XVII yTE. GENEVIEVE AND ST. MARYS. Shipping Center of Mineral Region — Ste. Genevieve-Iron Mountain Plank Road — 150th Anniversary Celebrated — U. S. Senators prom Ste. Genevieve — Ste. Gene- viEVE op Todat — St. Marys. Ste. Genevieve, the oldest town in the state, continued its period of prosperity during the greater part of these yeai-s — 1820 to 1860. The succe.ssful application of steam to the propulsion of boats on the Mississippi river added very greatly to the river commerce and all the to^^^as situated on the river reaped the benefit of this increase. Ste. Genevieve in particular was fortunate in this matter. Shipping Center op Miner.-vl Region. Until the construction of the Iron Mountain railroad, Ste. Genevieve was the shipping point for almost all the mineral region. The lead from Washington and Jefferson coun- ties, and the iron from Iron county was all brought to Ste. Genevieve to be reshipped upon boats. Prom 1846, when the iron indus- try became very important, until the year 18.58, when the Iron Mountain Railroad reached that region the quantities of iron which went by Ste. Genevieve were very large, indeed. The town became one of the greatest commercial centers of the state. The lead and iron traffic was like a living stream cf prosperity that poured by the town. The building of the railroad, however, and the consequent change in the shipping point from St. Genevieve to St. Louis marked the begin- ning of the town's decline. It is hardly too much to say that had the railroad been built from Ste. Genevieve to the mining region, rather than from St. Louis, the probabilities are that Ste. Genevieve, rather than the latter town, might have become the great commer- cial city of the state. As is set out in the chapter on schools and education, one of the principal things which marks the history of the towTi diu-ing these years was the establishment and conduct of .schools. The Ste. Genevieve academy, which was established by a corporation in 1808, was for many years a flourishing institution. The public schools were not neglected either, the first board of directors being chosen in 1846 and a public school conducted from that time until the present. The first telegraph line in Missouri was the line which connected Nashville with St. Louis. It passed through Ste. Genevieve and was con- structed in the year 1820. Its use, however, was abandoned after a short time. Ste. Genevieve-Iron Mountain Plank Road. One of the most important improvements of the early period was the plank road built in 1851 between Ste. Genevieve and Iron 251