County of city: Chariton County
Location of city: US 24, northern county
Location of city hall: 128 W. 2nd St., Salisbury
Elevation: 735'
Population: 1,572 (2013)
"The City of Salisbury is a 4th Class City and is governed through a Mayor/Council form of government. The council meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month at City Hall and meetings are open to the public. We encourage all our citizens to participate and take an active role in our community. There are many boards, commissions and organizations that are in need of qualified individuals to serve. Contact City Hall for complete details and/or to express your interest" ~ City of Salisbury
Just south of downtown is a historic district of magnificent Queen Anne homes.
"The Salisbury Square Historic District encompasses nine houses located along South Broadway between
4th and 6th Streets in Salisbury, Chariton County, Missouri. Eight of the houses are on the west side of
Broadway, and one house is on the east side. The District has one non-contributing house and six noncontributing
garages. The District is located one block south of Salisbury’s downtown on a block platted
as Salisbury Square with the founding of the town in 1867. The contributing houses include Salisbury’s
most intact cluster of Victorian-era houses. These buildings illustrate the spectrum of the Queen Anne
architectural style constructed between the late 1800s thru the early 1900s, as well as historically
significant alterations to these dwellings. While all of the contributing houses exhibit elements of the
Queen Anne style, they range from simple footprints and restrained ornament to more elaborate designs
for decoration and massing. Built for Salisbury’s merchant class, the dwellings reflect building trends
popular during the town’s most important era of growth." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"Salisbury, Missouri is located on the north side of the Missouri River, approximately 95 miles east of
Kansas City and 160 miles west of St. Louis in Chariton County. Salisbury took its name from Lucius
Salisbury, the acknowledged founder of the town.
"Lucius Salisbury, born in 1824, grew up in Vermont and moved to St. Louis in 1843 to work for his
brothers in their shoe and boot store. The company sent him to open a branch store in Keytesville,
Chariton County, where he remained until 1858. In 1856, Salisbury paid James Bennett $400 in gold for
two quarter-sections of land east of Keytesville. Two years later, Salisbury moved to the farm and erected
a temporary structure. He donated 160 acres to become the town of Salisbury. He eventually built his
home on the area platted as the Salisbury Square subdivision along South Broadway. The original plat for
Salisbury Square contained 5.20 acres and encompassed a solid block on the west side of Broadway
between 4th Street and 6th Street.
"Lucius Salisbury was elected Presiding Judge of Chariton County in 1859 and to the Missouri State
legislature in 1862, where he served four terms. He married Harriet Hutchinson in 1847 and the couple
had two surviving children. In 1892, Judge Salisbury traded his 1200-acre farm in Cockrell Township for
another in Kenton, Ohio, where he and his wife retired.
"In April 1867, Lucius Salisbury, G.W. Williams and O.W. Lusher laid out the city of Salisbury, but residences and businesses were established prior to the platting. The first business was a blacksmith shop,
soon followed by a post office and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The town’s public school was
also organized two months before Salisbury was platted.
"By 1870, the population of Salisbury was 626 and by 1890 it reached 1,700. The town’s population
peaked at the turn of the century, with 2,500 residents in 1896. Salisbury became a “city of the fourth
class” in 1882 and was acknowledged as the “metropolis of Chariton County.” The town’s location on the
main line of the Wabash Railroad contributed to its success, linking Salisbury and the surrounding
farmland to the St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago markets. In 1896, the proud city boasted an electrical
plant, in addition to the established post office and school system, ten churches, an amusement park, three
parks with artificial lakes and an opera house. Businesses included canning, cigar and soda pop factories,
two banks, three hotels, two newspapers, a machine shop, two flour mills, two livery stables, and a
lumber yard. Residential professions included six physicians, seven lawyers, a dentist, silversmith,
carpenter, bricklayer, plasterer, and painter.
"The growing commercial activity created a merchant class that required new and fashionable housing.
Salisbury’s rapid growth between 1890 and 1897 instigated the development of Salisbury Square, the
group of stylish houses just one block from the downtown businesses. Two prominent houses were
already located on the block, 504 South Broadway previously belonging to Judge Lucius Salisbury and
408 South Broadway built for his daughter. The highly desirable location and Lucius Salisbury’s 1892
departure from the area (and sale of his land) made the street ripe for building." ~ NRHP Nomination Form by Missouri Department of Natural Resources