Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/345

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 285 and was then usually consigned by him to some commission merchant in St. Louis to be sold on accoimt. Furs were for many years an important item in the county's wealth and these were often bought by traveling agents for fur houses in the cities. All these condi- tions prevented the town from acquiring any considerable importance. A few men, however, saw the possibilities of the development of trade and the building wp of a town, and kept working and planning for their own and the town's prosperity. The foremost of these men was W. F. Shelton. whose early struggles and final success form a most interesting chapter in the town's his- tory. Other men who held on and kept faith in the town's eventual success were Tatum Bros., T. E. Baldwin, W. G. Bragg, R. H. Jones, D. Y. Pankey, Dr. A. B. Mobley and J. B. Blakemore. Modern Town Dates prom Railroad Many plans were made for ending the town's isolation by the building of a railroad, but nothing was actually done imtil 1891. In that year E. S. McCarthy and associates built a line from Campbell on the St. Louis South- westei'n, to Keimett. The first train reached the town January 1, 1892. The road soon came into possession of Louis Houck. It was eventually extended to Caruthersville, giving an oiatlet to the river ; later it was built to the south. Coupled with the coming of the rail- roads were other changes which added to the prosperity of the town. Population of the county grew rapidly, the products of the farms became more varied, new business methods were introduced, capital for opening up new enterprises became abundant. The timber, which was very abundant, became valuable, and its development brought large sums of money. The countv became one of the most prosperous in this part of the state, and Kennett shared in this prosperity. Frame buildings were supplanted by brick, sidewalks were built, and other public improvements made, so that in the short time since the rail- road reached the town it has been transformed from a country village with a population of 500 or 600 to a thriving and prosperous town with modern improvements, good schools, churches, handsome residences, good bu-siness establishments, and a population of more than 3,000. It is now one of the fastest growing towns in Southeast Missouri, is situated in the midst of a most fertile farming country, and it has also the advantage of nearness to large bodies of timber. Its railroad facilities are good. It is on the St. Louis and Gulf line of the Frisco, which gives it connection with th3 Cotton Belt at Campbell, with the main line of the Frisco at Cape Girardeau and Hayti, and also connects it with the Paragould & Southeastern Railroad to the south. Besides the Frisco, the town is the terminus of the St. Louis, Kennett & Southeastern, which ex- tends from Piggott, Arkansas, to Kennett. This line is owned by home capital and is important to the town because it opens up great bodies of timber and much valuable farming land. There are about fifty business establishments of various kinds, including some large general stores, office buildings, drug stores and furniture and hardware estab- lishments. Besides these there are some large wood working plants engaged in the manu- facture of staves,' heading and lumber, and the town has one of the few cotton oil mills in Missouri. It possesses the usual church or- ganizations, all of which have good buildings, and there are two banks in the town — the Bank of Kennett, which was organized in 1891 and has a capital stock of $25,000. and the