Perspective: Great bend in the Osage

Many people have probably never been to Osage Bend unless it’s been to a wedding or a parish picnic, but it played an important part in early Cole County history. When Missouri became a state in 1821 the rivers were the main source of transportation throughout the state. Zebulon Pike charted the Osage River as early as 1806. The Osage Indians had inhabited this area, and the name given to this land was “The Great Bend in the Osage.” In fact, the community of Osage Bend did not take that name until the early 20th century. The first settlers came from Virginia, North Carolina and other southern states. George and Thomas Lockett came from Virginia with 12 slaves, Louis Bolton from North Carolina with 23 slaves, and John and Edward Edwards from Tennessee with five slaves. John Edwards went on to become a Cole County judge, Missouri secretary of state, Supreme Court justice and governor of Missouri from 1844-48. His brother Edward was mayor of Jefferson City, Cole County clerk and also a judge. Edward Edwards acquired considerable land near Osage Bend, and besides his farm he operated Edwards Ferry, Edwards Mill, and the U.S. Post Office. The Edwards Mill Post Office operated until 1889.

Land was relatively inexpensive in the 1820s and 1830s, varying from 50 cents to $1.25 an acre, so many families owned more than 1,000 acres in this area. The 1840 Census listed 13 families as permanent residents of “the Great Bend in the Osage.”

Early industry was logging, and logs were cut and floated down the Osage River to the mills. Edward Edwards had mills on both sides of the Osage, plus there were the Hays Mill, Castle Rock and Osage City Sawmills — cutting logs for lumber, steamboats, and later, railroad ties. There were 30 steamboats operating on the Osage River in the 1850s so Osage City was a refueling port. There were also blacksmiths and carpenters in the area, but Osage Bend didn’t really become a community until the coming of St. Margaret of Antioch Parish in 1907. Louis Bode built the first general store and post office in Osage Bend in 1907. He sold it to Henry Bisges in 1919, and the Bisges family operated this store until 1967.

Beginning in the 1850s immigrants from Germany, Belgium and Eastern Europe started settling in the Osage Bend area, and many were Catholic. The closest Catholic churches were in Wardsville, St. Thomas, Taos and Folk on the other side of the Osage River. At times, a priest would come and say Mass in the one-room school in Osage City. Devout Catholics spent a great amount of time and with great difficulty attending Mass. Road were primitive and unpaved, so traveling by boat was another means of transportation.

By the turn of the 20th century, Osage Bend was ready to establish a Catholic parish. In 1907, the people petitioned Archbishop John Glennon of St. Louis to build a church and receive a priest. Permission was granted and St. Margaret of Antioch Catholic Church became a reality. The first Mass was celebrated in the new church in November 1907 by the Rev. Peter Joseph Wigger. A rectory and St. Margaret’s Cemetery were added in 1908. The church was a wooden structure covered in tin sheeting, as were other buildings in Osage Bend, which gave it its nickname of “Tin Town.”

The first school opened in Osage Bend in the late 1880s and was a 12-by-12-foot log cabin. A larger public school was built in 1910, and since the population was predominantly German Catholic, it operated like a Catholic school. Students attended Mass each morning before regular classes started. The original school was one room for first through eighth grade, and in 1938, a second classroom was added. Those students who wanted to attend high school had to go to St. Peter’s High School in Jefferson City or St. Francis Xavier High School in Taos. Because of the bad roads and distance, students had to board out of town. St. Mary’s Hospital in Jefferson City provided room and board for students attending St. Peter’s.

In the mid-1950s, Fatima in Westphalia was selected as the public high school, with children first through eighth grade attending Osage Bend School, and then traveling more than 20 miles to Westphalia for high school. Although Fatima was a public school, it still operated as a Catholic school with religion classes every morning.

In 1962, a new elementary school was built in Osage Bend, and in 1966, Blair Oaks High School in Wardsville opened so students didn’t have to travel as far for high school. Student population outgrew the Cole R-2 Osage Bend Elementary School, and by 1974, only first through fourth grade attended the school, with fifth- and sixth-graders attending school in Wardsville. In 1976, the Osage Bend Elementary School closed its doors and all students moved to Blair Oaks Elementary School.

Today, Osage Bend is a beautiful quiet community anchored by St. Margaret of Antioch Catholic Church. In 1957, the original church was replaced with the church that we know today, and in the 1980s, a new multipurpose parish hall was added. St. Margaret is the heart of Osage Bend, and in 1984, my wife, Linda, and I were married here with the Revs. Ignacio Medina and John Condit officiating. I have heard they are considering placing a plaque in the church to commemorate this, but it might just be a rumor!

Osage Bend hosts a wonderful parish picnic every summer with a fantastic quilt auction. I personally have commissioned their quilters to create a special Cole County quilt for our bicentennial in 2020. It will be on display throughout our bicentennial and then permanently hung in the Cole County Courthouse. Come see it at the Osage Bend Parish Picnic when it’s completed. I’ll see you there!

Source: St. Margaret of Antioch Catholic Church: River of Faith, 1907-2007.

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].