Opinion: A community surrounded by water on 3 sides

Sam Bushman
Sam Bushman

In two of my past articles on the history of Cole County, I mentioned the early roads in the 1820s in the county were our rivers. We did not have roads as we know them today, so the Missouri and Osage rivers were the quickest and most efficient means to travel across the state.

Lewis and Clark traversed and marked the Missouri River, but the Osage River was charted by Zebulon Pike. Pike camped near St. Thomas in 1806 and continued up the Osage to camp the next night near modern day Tuscumbia. He continued to move west to Colorado and Pike's Peak!

St. Thomas was founded in 1832 after the Federal Land Grant Office in Fayette threw open land for settlement in this area at $1.25 an acre. Because of its isolation, much of the land at St. Thomas was sold for as little as 25 cents an acre.

Most of today's St. Thomas was settled between 1832 and 1858, and the early population was 60 percent English and Yankee and 40 percent German origin. The German immigration to St. Thomas took place in the 1850s through the 1880s. One of the early St. Thomas citizens, Whitney Fowler, served as presiding judge (commissioner) of the Cole County Court (Commission) for 27 years.

Throughout the 1800s, the best way to get to St. Thomas, which was surrounded by the Osage River on three sides, was by riverboat. There were at least 27 steamboats that operated on the Osage, and St. Thomas had two major landings, one with a grain warehouse.

An interesting sidebar is through the 19th century, steamboat captains were able to hire inmates from the Jefferson City Penitentiary, and convicts would work as laborers on these steamboats.

Because of St. Thomas' location on the Osage River, ferry-service was a necessity. The earliest ferry service began in 1853 and connected St. Thomas to Teal Bottom. It was a small ferry boat just large enough to carry one wagon and team. A second ferry was added later, and ferry service to Teal Bottom continued into the late 1940s.

The ferry I remember crossing on as a small boy began in the early 1860s. It was a small barge, oar-powered, that could transport people and horses and wagons. The ferry continued to grow, and in the 1930s, it could carry two automobiles and was powered by a motorboat engine. Approximately 15-20 vehicles a day crossed the Osage River. By 1945, the ferry was a three-car barge powered by a tug boat. During this time, people began working in Jefferson City, and the ferry operated 24 hours a day averaging around 40 cars round-trip. The final ferry that I remember was a steel-hulled barge built in St. Louis by owners Urban and Leroy Strope, who also built a new steel tug boat. It operated until 1966, when the construction of the St. Thomas Bridge over the Osage River was completed.

St. Thomas was a community unto itself. It contained two hotels, general stores and mercantiles, a wagon maker, shoe maker, a blacksmith shop, a bank, and many saloons.

The heart of St. Thomas was, and continues to be, St. Thomas The Apostle Catholic Church. When Father Helias first visited the St. Thomas area there were few Catholic families, but he would hold Mass once a month in private homes. In 1948, land was deeded to the Jesuits of St. Louis University, and shortly afterward, a log church was built. In 1874 a parish school was built with 37 children attending. The cost to build the school was $625. The log church became too small for the 144 families, and in 1884, the church we recognize today was built for approximately $8,000. This would not have been possible without labor and materials provided by its parishoners. St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church has undergone many changes, but it continues to host one of the best parish picnics around and also a fantastic annual country ham breakfast.

Every township in Cole County is unique and different, but they all have a wonderful history. As I explore our towns, I learn so much and meet nice people.

Cole County will be celebrating its bicentennial in 2020, and these communities are our heritage. They make Cole County such a wonderful place to live and work.

Sam Bushman is the presiding commissioner on the Cole County Commission. He shares his perspective each month on county issues. He can be reached at [email protected].