Essex
Essex, Missouri about 1910
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A town in the northern part of Elk Township. The town was laid out in 1873 when the Cairo, Arkansas, and Texas railroad was built, by a Mr. Essex, an engineer of the railroad, and the town was named for him (a 1930 article in the Dexter paper said it was named by a "traveling real estate man"). A post office was established in 1876.
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The city was laid out in lots only twenty-five feet wide, this was done because Holmes & Swain owned the land and wanted to control what industry moved into town. They wanted to build a milling business so they made sure they would have the only sizable lots to do so.
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In 1873 Jack Wicker built a simple wooden saloon building next to the railroad. and a grocery store was built near the saloon by R. B. Jones the same year. Wicker and Jones bought their property from John R. Swain who gave the railroad land to build on. Swain laid out lots near the railroad and sold them to prospective business owners and families, by 1874 twenty people had moved to Essex. In 1875, John A. Collins built a third business in Essex that sold general merchandise (In 1882, Collins was a vice president of the Stoddard County Immigration Society).
 William Jasper Hux owned this building until his death. His nephew took over the business after W.J.'s death.
In 1886 W. J. Hux bought the store owned by R. B. Jones and began his own mercantile store. Hux's store was a two store building on the south side of the railroad tracks (there is a church there today). The bottom floor was for merchandise and on the top floor he sold coffins. The building was destroyed in 1939 by a tornado.
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William Jasper Hux (1856 - 1932)
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By 1933 Essex was a booming little town with 600 residents. It had four stores, a hardware store, a grocery store, three restaurants, two grain elevators, two cotton gins, one drug store, two blacksmith shops, a bakery, two insurance companies, a bank, and several automobile related shops. It also had two doctors. After the timber was all cut, the land cultivated, and tractors became common, the population of Essex began to decline as work became harder to find in the Town. By 1985, there were around 400 residents, roughly the same number live there in 2021.
Made by American History Students (Mr. Arnold's Class)
Looking west down N. Main St. Street to the right is Cypress (Photo Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett).
R. A. Davidson Drug Store
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-On July 18, 1910, the cash register of the R. A. Davidson was robbed by breaking the front door lock (Bloomfield Vindicator, July 22, 1910).
-September of 1913, The Missionary Baptist members rented the hall above the drug store and moved their Sunday school there (Bloomfield Vindicator, September 13, 1913). |
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Essex Hotel (Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett)
The Essex Hotel was located on the south side of the railroad tracks. It was originally managed by Mary Ada Travis (Mother of O.M. Hux), who ran a hotel in Idalia before moving to Essex.
In 1926 and in 1928, the proprietor of the Essex Hotel was Henry Corlew (Bloomfield Vindicator, May 4, 1928). In 1927 Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Dillard operated the hotel. Corlew was later the town marshal of Essex and in 1943 he accidentally shot eighteen year old Earl Miller while escorting him to the jail. Miller was arrested for riding his horse up and down the sidewalks and the steps of the churches (Dexter Statesman, February 12, 1943). |
L. D. Black Store on N. Main (Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett)
L. D. Black Store, N. Main St. (Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett)
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The Farmers Bank of Essex closed October 30, 1931 due to the Great Depression.
1920 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Essex, Missouri (Missouri State Archives)
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Essex School
First brick school in Essex.
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Essex School, 1900
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School teacher Minnie Davis' classroom, 1st and 2nd graders at Essex in 1927.
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The first school in Essex was a log hut (formally a church) and began in 1874. The first teacher was Bill Thompson who was paid one dollar a month. It was one room, mostly filled with pews for the students, with a table for those students old enough to write. Around 1876, another one room school was built to replace the smaller school. It had no glass in the windows, just shutters secured with leather strips to keep them closed during storms. The blackboard was a smooth board painted black. Improvements were eventually made to the school, like glass windows, and the building was used until about 1890. In 1906 the population of Essex had grown to 560 people, a new school house was built that year that was a two story brick school with four rooms. Until 1911, Essex only had an elementary school, that year, one year of high school was added to the curriculum, then in 1914, another year was added. In 1919, Essex had a complete school system from elementary to high school, in 1924, the state officially approved of the organization. School lasted four or five months.
Essex News
Attempted Murder
May 26, 1881 - "W. T. Hoffman, who attempted to kill O.B. Miller at Essex, Stoddard County, and fled to Texas, has been arrested and brought back for trial." (Iron County Register)
July 6, 1881 - "Last Saturday Officers Kinnear and Mahanny arrested a negro on Ohio levee for carrying concealed weapons. They lodged him in jail, intending to try him for the offense on Monday. But with Monday also came the information that the negro was W. T. Huffman, who escaped on Saturday morning from Essex, Stoddard county, Mo. where he was under bond awaiting trial for murder. Coroner J. H. Hambleton, of Stoddard county and J. A. Collins, Huffman's bondman, arrived here yesterday and took the negro to Bloomfield with them after having left, with our officers, two hundred dollars, which was the reward offered for his capture. Huffman was out on bond, but his hondman becoming dissatisfied the sheriff of the county attempted to arrest him. A fight ensued which resulted in the negro's escape to this city over the Iron Mountain railroad." (The Daily Cairo Bulletin, July 6, 1881)
May 26, 1881 - "W. T. Hoffman, who attempted to kill O.B. Miller at Essex, Stoddard County, and fled to Texas, has been arrested and brought back for trial." (Iron County Register)
July 6, 1881 - "Last Saturday Officers Kinnear and Mahanny arrested a negro on Ohio levee for carrying concealed weapons. They lodged him in jail, intending to try him for the offense on Monday. But with Monday also came the information that the negro was W. T. Huffman, who escaped on Saturday morning from Essex, Stoddard county, Mo. where he was under bond awaiting trial for murder. Coroner J. H. Hambleton, of Stoddard county and J. A. Collins, Huffman's bondman, arrived here yesterday and took the negro to Bloomfield with them after having left, with our officers, two hundred dollars, which was the reward offered for his capture. Huffman was out on bond, but his hondman becoming dissatisfied the sheriff of the county attempted to arrest him. A fight ensued which resulted in the negro's escape to this city over the Iron Mountain railroad." (The Daily Cairo Bulletin, July 6, 1881)
Col. Solomon G. Kitchen commanded the 7th Missouri Cavalry, CSA. After the war he became an influential political leader.
Murder
February 28, 1882 - Col. Solomon G. Kitchen, picked up Thomas Dixon (sometimes spelled Dickson) at Essex for a murder it was believed he committed two years prior, two miles south of Essex. Dixon worked for a man that farmed south of town and was working with him to dig a trench in order to sink a log into it in order to be able to farm the ground on that spot. Dixon struck the man with an ax and buried him under the log. Dixon stole three horses, a wagon, and $400 (The Rock Island Argus, February 28, 1882). On May 2, 1884, Thomas Dixon was hanged in Bloomfield, Missouri in front of 4,000 spectators for the murder of James McNab. During his brief speech just before he was to be hanged, he professed his innocence (Sacramento Daily-Union, May 3, 1884).
Killed at a Dance
March 12, 1898 - "Sam Rodgers, a half-breed Indian, was shot and instantly killed by Henry Spittorff in a row at a dance at the latter's home, three miles southeast of Essex, Stoddard county." (The Cape Girardeau Democrat March 12, 1898)
March 12, 1898 - "Sam Rodgers, a half-breed Indian, was shot and instantly killed by Henry Spittorff in a row at a dance at the latter's home, three miles southeast of Essex, Stoddard county." (The Cape Girardeau Democrat March 12, 1898)
Killed on the side of the Road
June 7, 1935 - The body of a thirty-six year old Grey Ridge man, Elzy Knight was found about a mile and a half west of Buffington. Stoddard County officers believed Knight had been "clubbed" in the head and drug to the ditch on the side of the road and submerged, then he was placed back on the highway to make it appear that he had been hit by vehicle. He was known to carry large sums of money in his billfold and only $1.10 was found on him at the time. Police arrested three people on suspicion in the crime, Millard Owens, twenty-eight, an unemployed laborer, and Blackie Corey, about thirty, a day laborer at Sikeston, and Claude Comstock, a forty-three year old employee of International Shoe in Sikeston.
June 7, 1935 - The body of a thirty-six year old Grey Ridge man, Elzy Knight was found about a mile and a half west of Buffington. Stoddard County officers believed Knight had been "clubbed" in the head and drug to the ditch on the side of the road and submerged, then he was placed back on the highway to make it appear that he had been hit by vehicle. He was known to carry large sums of money in his billfold and only $1.10 was found on him at the time. Police arrested three people on suspicion in the crime, Millard Owens, twenty-eight, an unemployed laborer, and Blackie Corey, about thirty, a day laborer at Sikeston, and Claude Comstock, a forty-three year old employee of International Shoe in Sikeston.
The First Airplane in Stoddard County
The first airplane owned in Stoddard County was bought by Essex men in 1919. Frank McMullin, Ran Landley, Marvin Wyatt, James Faulkner, Leonard McMullin, Jack Langley, Riley Willis, Leo Reed, D. W. Fogle, and Ottie Miles. They purchased it in Montgomery, Alabama and it was to be used for commercial and pleasure purposes (Bloomfield Vindicator, October 31, 1919).
Churches in Essex
The first church in Essex was built by the Methodists in 1884, it was organized by N.C. Chasteen and five other members. Service was held when the weather and high water would allow. The General Baptists organized in Essex in 1901 (up to that point the Methodists and Baptists used the same church). The Christian Church organized in 1916 and had a congregation of just under 100, this brought the total number of churches up to three.
Essex Baptist Church (Arnold Collection)
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Unidentified Church in Essex (Photo Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett)
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Located on Wamble Curve, south of Essex on Hwy 114. Destroyed by a tornado around 1910 (Arnold Collection).
Rural School near Essex, Mo (Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett)
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Essex Girls Basketball Team abt 1935
(Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett) |
Large home in Essex (Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett)
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Large home in Essex (Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett)
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Oxen near Essex, Missouri (Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett)
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Sawmill Near Essex, Mo (Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett)
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Recently dredged ditches near Essex, Mo (Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett)
Essex Baseball Players (Courtesy of Caleb Bartlett)
Frisco
A small settlement in the northern part of Elk Township. A post office was established in 1896 in this community locally known as Pinhook, because of a fancied resemblance of the ridge to a pinhook used by the loggers. This place is not on the Frisco Railroad, but Judge Tucker says it was so designated because the people of the community hoped to induce the railroad officials to build a track through the community.
(Arnold Collection)
Frisco Main Street
(Arnold Collection)
Located one half mile south of Frisco (Arnold Collection).
Venson
A small community located south of Frisco in western Elk Township, named after John Venson, a local land owner and prominent citizen there.
Fields' Store (Arnold Collection)