Count of centennial: Chariton County
Location of mark: MO-11 is a main artery in this county. MO-CC goes N. as the access to town. It is on your right.
Mark erected: September 30, 1990
Town founded: 1871
Moved to current location: 1890
Plaque text:
MENDON CENTENNIAL TIME CAPSULE
Buried at this site
Sept. 30, 1990
To Be Opened by
Mendon Residents
Year of 2040
"Mendon is a city in Chariton County, Missouri, United States. The population was 171 at the 2010 census.
"Mendon was laid out in 1871 by Christopher Sharp. However the area had previously been several homes and businesses were in operation in the area several years prior to the town plat actually being filed. Among the earliest was a general store built around 1865 by Mr. Bostich and Mr. Eastman. With the coming of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in the 1880s the citizens of Mendon were faced with a monumental choice. The rail line was projected to pass by over a mile away. Thus when the railroad tracks were laid in 1887 and 1888 a new Mendon was created at the current site and the former location mostly abandoned. By 1899 the community contained over twenty stores, a school, a bank, and two hotels. Additionally, a newspaper, the Mendon Citizen, was first published in 1886. The estimated population in the late 1890s was 350 residents"
"Although the Santa Fe railroad still passes through regularly, little remains of Mendon's business community. Education for the town and surrounding rural area is provided by Northwestern High School. The school's athletic and academic teams compete in Missouri Class 1, the smallest of all classifications. Mendon's close proximity to the Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge has proven a source of income for the community with business catering to waterfowl hunters who come to the region." ~ Wikipedia