Cole County has a wonderful, diverse history. We became a county in 1820, while Missouri didn’t officially become a state until 1821. Many people think the Germans were the first settlers of Cole County, but in actuality, our first citizens were English, Scotch-Irish from Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. They bought land in Central Missouri because it was cheap, less than $1 an acre, and bountiful.
Also, Missouri was admitted into the Union as a slave state so the Southerners brought their slaves with them. In the Stringtown-Lohman area, one of the first settlers was John Churchill Gordon, a Virginian who bought a large amount of land in the Zion, Stringtown region.
This area grew as Germans started integrating into the area in the 1830s. It took on the name of Stringtown because it was built along the stagecoach line between Jefferson City and Springfield and was “strung out” across 4 miles. It was also a stagecoach stopover station, and the story goes that Jesse James robbed a stagecoach near Stringtown. Many of the German settlers were Lutheran, Catholic or Evangelical, and in 1852 St. Paul’s Lutheran Church was organized. Stringtown prospered and grew, and by the 1850s had a post office, two churches (one Lutheran and one Catholic), a school, general store, two hotels, blacksmiths and even a dentist.
Millbrook was another German community about 4 miles from Stringtown-Lohman. It took its name from a flour mill established by John Kirschner in the 1850s. His son-in-law John Scheperle became a partner, and a town grew up around the mill. Kris Scheperle, Cole County western commissioner, is a relative of John Scheperle.
The Stringtown, Millbrook, Russellville area of Cole County continued to prosper and grow, but in 1881, the coming of the railroad changed all of these towns.
The Jefferson City, Lebanon and Southwest Railroad — the “Bagnell Branch” — connected Jefferson City with Bagnell in Miller County.
It started at Millbottom in Jefferson City with stops at Scruggs Station, Lohman, Russellville, Enon, Olean, Eldon and Aurora Springs.
The train did not go through Stringtown or Millbrook, but it did pass below St. John’s Lutheran Church, which had been established in 1867. St. Paul’s Lutheran Church had voted to leave the Missouri Synod and join the Lutheran Iowa Synod. A group of parishioners could not abide by this action and created St. John’s Lutheran Church on the outskirts of Stringtown. Its first pastor was the Rev. Friedrich William Sandvoss, who also served Zion, Trinity in Jefferson City and Immanuel Honey Creek.
Lohman became a stop for the Bagnell Branch in 1881 and began receiving mail in February 1882.
Charles Lohman ran a general store in Stringtown, and in 1882, he built a warehouse along the railroad line and also built a station with his name, Lohman’s. Charles had also been Stringtown’s postmaster since 1875, and he closed that post office and moved it to Lohman’s Station in 1882. Lohman also moved his store and inventory to his new location in March, and quickly a town grew up around his station. By the beginning of the 20th century, Lohman had a hotel, three stores, two taverns, two blacksmith shops, a livery stable, two mills, a restaurant, a pool hall and a school.
In 1909 the Farmer’s Bank of Lohman was incorporated with $12,000 in capital stock, 120 shares at $100 a share.
On April 7, 1910, Lohman was incorporated with five trustees and a town marshall. At their second meeting in May, W.E. Meyer was appointed chairman (mayor); George Strobel, member, town marshall and street commissioner; the Rev. George Finkenscher, member; J.J. Scheperle, member; and A.S. Blockberger, member. The board immediately met and their first action was to build a city jail. George Strobel as marshall was tasked to build the jail, and by Aug. 3, 1910, the jail was done at a cost of $51.50, plus $19.50 to George Strobel for its construction. Lohman got sidewalks of cement in 1915, and in 1919 posted speed limit signs of 12 miles per hour, increased to 15 miles an hour in 1921 along Main Street. Missouri Power and Light brought electricity to the area in 1929.
Lohman was a prosperous community that began with Charles Lohman’s entrepreneurship in 1881. Other businesses in Lohman included Soell and Plockberger General Store, Linhardt and Fischer General Store, Strobel’s Grocery Store and Restaurant, and in the 1920s, Linsenbardt’s Garage. In the late 1950s when Tate Linsenbardt retired, his son took over the business doing automobile repairs, and also sold televisions.
In 1930, the Lomo Club was opened by Andy Kirschner and although it has gone through many transformations, it still stands.
As with many of our small towns in Cole County, with the arrival of the automobile and the improvements to our roads and highways these towns have become bedroom communities. Lohman-Stringtown felt this, and when the railroad quit operating in 1962, it hurt their economy even more.
Today Lohman-Stringtown is a beautiful area with well-maintained homes, Lutheran churches and, of course, the Lomo Club. For a really run time, attend the annual Lohman 4th of July Fireworks Festival. It’s a wonderful event, and parking is much easier than in Jefferson City.
Sources: Patty Ott and Ron Klatt; St. John’s Lutheran Church “150th Years Book;” Palmer Scheperle’s “Stringtown-Lohman History;” and Gary Kremer’s “Heartland History.”
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].