Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/348

 288 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI Martin ; though the paper continued to be the property of Mr. Whitcomb. It is said that there was a school conducted in a log cabin near the site of Charleston prior to the laj'ing off of the town. It was Imown as the Indian Grove school. Some of the first teachers were Hartford Hayes, James L. Moore and John C. Thomas. There were fifteen business establishments in the town in 1859, including general and special stores. Among the merchants were K. Gorman, L. Kosenberg, Hayes & Bartlett, Frank Myrick, J. H. Bridges, W. G. Cooley, W. A. Lynn and F. J. Jecko. At this time the town's physicians were B. J. Moore, S. D. Golder, T. C. Poor, J. L. Haw and A. E. Simp- son. There was a strong bar, and a number of attorneys made their homes here. Among them were Robert Waide, A. M. Bedford. N. E. Quinby, Sam C. Moore, Joseph C. Moore and M. Ward. The first bank in the town was a branch of the old Union Bank organized in 1860. John Bird was made president and J. C. Moore cashier. The directors were among the mo.st influential citizens of the town at that time. They were G. W. Whitcomb, C. C. Kalfus, Thompson Bird, J. S. Bledsoe, Noah Handy, James Smith, J. L. Moore and K. Gorman. The bank was taken possession of by Con- federate soldiers under General Jeff. Thomp- son in 1862 and $58,000 in gold and .silver was carried away and afterward turned over to the depositors. This action was taken to pre- vent the funds falling into the hands of the Federal forces. The next bank was the Bank of Charleston, chartered in October, 1887, with a capital stock of $15,000. A. H. Dan- forth was its first president and Scott Alex- ander cashier. This bank now has a capital of $100,000 and J. J. Russell is president: Scott Alexander is still cashier. The Missis- sippi County Bank was chartered in 1891 and has a capital of $40,000. In 1902 the Peoples' Bank was organized and its capital is $35,000. Ch.vrleston op the Present The town is one of the most pleasantly situ- ated in Southeast ilissouri ; it is on a sandy ridge and in the midst of the most fertile and easily worked soil in the entire section. It is distinetl.y a city of homes and has developed the characteristic life of the older settled communities of this part of the state. It is at the crossing of the Belmont branch of the Iron Mountain and of the Cairo & Texas be- tween Poplar Bluff and Cairo ; it has ample railroad facilities and is not a great distance from the river. The general business interests are well represented and there is a large flour- ing mill and other smaller manufacturing plants. The town is distinguished on account of its interest in churches and school system ; all the usual church organizations exist and the ^lethodists and Baptists have recently completed the erection of two unusually well constructed church buildings. The public school system is of the highest grade, there being two buildings, both of them new and well adapted to the work of the schools; a four years' high school course is fully ac- credited and takes high rank among the schools of the section. The population is 3,141. The town is the county seat of ]Iis- sissippi countj-. The newspapers are The Eiiterprisc, a Democratic weekly, and The It'cpiiblican. which is Republican in politics. Charleston is the headquarters of the South- east IMissouri Telephone Company, which op- crates exchanges in many of the principal towns of the southeast.