Cedar County places we've never been...and a few we have

Reprinted here with the permission of the "Cedar County Republican Newspaper".

Cedar County places we've never been...and a few we have

by Aaron Sims

In our efforts to recall places around Cedar County, some were inadvertently omitted. Others were given with misinformation. We say "thank-you" to our readers who pointed out our errors and provided information on additional places around the county.

We also thank the late Arthur Paul Moser for his work "A Director of Towns, Villages and Hamlets Past and Present of Cedar County, Missouri" and the Cedar County Historical Society for its 1998 publication "Cedar County, Missouri History and Families" which were used to gather information for the series. In June, the first installment of the series was published and included the Cracker Box store. Several readers passed along information on the location of the former business, most notably Kathy Bridges. Bridges said the store was operated for a number of years by her great-grandparents, George and Pearl Burchett, near the intersection of what now are N and J highways, northeast of Stockton. The former store building now is used as a shed, with additions later built on for more space.

Bridges said her great-grandparents and other family members also operated the Claud store east of "Moon Hill Road."

George Landers and Ruby Dean Fidler provided information on the location of Dixon's Store. The two said the store was located about 1-1/2 miles east of Needmore or about 2 miles northwest of Masters. They said nothing remains at the location today.

Locations that were omitted - some of which were mentioned by our readers - included Lamer Corner, Lauraville, the Jot 'Em Down Store, Engleman's Store, Root Store, Hanby Store, Cline Hill, Burton and Connaway Island.

Burton was a trading post located near Arnica by the Burton family in the 1800s. An exact location or dates of operation at the business are unknown.

Cline Hill was located off of what now is Highway 39, south of Cedar Springs. Charlie and Viola Schmidt, who was a brother to John Schmidt who ran a store at Leila, operated the store in the early 1900s. The trading post was a gathering place for area farmers who traded produce and farm products for items they could not produce at home. The store closed in the 1930s.

Connaway Island was a piece of property owned by the Connaway family around 1900. The property was called Connaway Island because it nearly was surrounded by the Sac River, north of Stockton. The property often was cut off from neighboring areas when the area flooded.

Engleman's Store was built and operated by Walter Engleman around 1910 and remained in operation until the mid-1920s. The store was located about a half a mile south of the Crabtree Cove area on what now is Stockton Lake, or about one-quarter mile west of the Friendship Hills subdivision.

Hanby Store was a store mentioned by a reader who called our offices and left a message about the business. The caller, whose name was not recorded, said he remembered the store from his childhood, but did not tell where the store was located.

The Jot 'Em Down Store was located on what now is Highway 54, about a mile east of Cedar Springs. The building originally was built for a home and later was used as a store. The store closed in the 1950s and a portion of the building remains along the highway. The store was named for the business on the popular radio program "Lum and Abner."

Lamer Corner or Fitzgerald Store was a business about one-quarter mile east of Cedar Springs on Highway 54. The store was typical of others in the area as it served as a trading place for farmers to sell their produce and purchase the things they could not grow. Ed Atkins built the store in the early 1930s, with the business changing owners several times before closing.

Lauraville was a small community in the northeastern part of the county, northeast of Claud, or seven miles east of Caplinger Mills. Dates of operation for the store were unknown.

Root Store was another business operated in the Arnica area for a number of years in the late 1800s and early 1900s by the family of Theron Root. Exact location of the business is unknown.

One of the places we heard the most about was Rookins. No one disputed where we had Rookins located on the map or in print, but we heard from several who told us the photo we had was not right at all.

Diana Crain e-mailed to let us know the photo was neither the store, which her grandparents Essie and Roy Burton ran for many years, nor of their home. The photo we had was of the home of Myrtle Anderson, which was south of the Rookins store.

Rookins was north of Stockton on Highway J, about a mile past the junction of J and N highways.

Anna Lee Lower phoned to tell us we had placed Jaketown too far north on the map. The trading post near the Mollie post office actually was located nearer Highway A than Highway N, on what now is 1300 Road.

Bill Moomaw let us know Pleasant View was not on Highway 54, but north of Highway 39 and then west along the creek, near Hackleman Cemetery.

A couple of calls came in about Graceland and Silvercreek. They were familiar with the name Graceland, which was in Washington Township, but not with Silvercreek, which also was supposed to have been in Washington Township. We still don't know either.

Maxine Williams protested our having put the remnants of Umber into the waters of Stockton Lake. The village actually was across what now is a stretch of the lake and was located in what now is Stockton State Park, near Gordon Cemetery, which still exists.

There most likely are other stores and places in Cedar County that have been omitted. Thank you for joining us on our journey to Cedar County places we've never been, and some we have.

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