Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/443

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST. MISSOURI 383 Lithium Lithium, same county, was surveyed as a town in 1882. At that time the settlers were Dr. Henry Clay Tish, Richard P. Dobbs and James G. Christian, all of whom came to Mis- souri from Illinois. The town was incorpo- rated in 1883 and the first maj'or was Richard C. Lisenby. The first store was opened by Brown and Hartley in the spring of 1883. A public bath house was built by Thomas King in the same year. The location of the town was determined by certain mineral springs. They were very popular and the town grew very rapidly for about a year. There are two of these springs of water both of them being highly prized on account of medicinal quali- ties. One of them belongs to the town and the other is owned by Mrs. Richard P. Dobbs. The town is situated on the Cape Girardeau, Perryville & Ste. Genevieve Railroad and is two miles from the Frisco. These are two churches in the town, a Baptist church organ- ized in 1885, and a Catholic church organized in 1896. The town has two general stores, a Hour mill, a grist mill, a blacksmith shop, lirick yard and a feed stable. Its population is 98. Wittenberg Wittenberg, in Perry county, was laid off as a town and incorporated in 1867. It is sit- uated at the mouth of Brazeau creek and as its name indicates is a settlement of Gennan Lutherans. It is a shipping point on the river and is a station on the Frisco from St. Louis to Memphis. Longtown, an inland village of Perry county, was laid out in 1871. It has a church, school and three stoi'es. Seventy-six is a flour- ishing village on the Frisco with a population of 367. It was for a long time only a ship- ping point on the river and was called Sev- enty-six Landing. With the construction of the railroad it assumed new importance. It has a flouring mill, stores and churches. Schumer Springs, a village in Perry county two miles from the line of the Cape Girardeau & Chester Railroad, is a health resort famous for the medicinal character of its waters. Other villages in the county are Menfro on the Frisco with a population of 365, LTnion- town, Yount, Frolma and Farrar. Bunker Bunker is a new town on the line between Dent and Reynolds counties. The first settle- ments in the neighbcrhood of the town were made about 1840, but there was not even a village before 1907. The town was incorpo- rated in 1909 and Dr. J. B. Gordon was the first mayor. It is now a thriving town with eight general stores and one large saw mill. The town is lighted with electric lights and has a population of 106. It is the terminus of the Missouri Southern Railroad which runs from Leeper in Wayne county. Ellington Ellington, while not the county seat of Rey- nolds county, is the most important town ex- cept for the transaction of legal business. It is near the center of the county and is on the Missouri Southern Railroad. It is a thriving business community with mills, stores, churches and a good school. There are two banks in the town. The Bank of Ellington was incorporated in 1905 with a capital of $25,- 000 and the Farmers State Bank in 1909. It has a capital of $25,000 also. These amounts show the extent of the interest of the commu- nity. The town is largely supported by tim- ber and farming interests.