County of city: Macon County
Location of city: crossroads of US-36 & US-63
Location of city hall: 106 W. Bourke St. & Pearl St., Macon
Elevation 869 ft (265 m)
Population: 5,506 (2013)
"Macon is the seat of justice for one of Missouri's richest coal bearing counties. The town was laid out on rolling upland prairie, between the Middle Fork of the Salt and the East Fork of the Chariton rivers, 1856. Hudson, named for a railroad official, was laid out just west, 1857, and both towns joined as Macon City, 1859. The Hannibal and St. Joseph (Burlington) reached here, 1858, and the North Missouri (Wabash), 1859.
"A railroad center, Macon was a Union troop concentration point in the Civil War, and it replaced pro-Southern Bloomington as seat of Macon County, 1863. Organized, 1837, the county is named for Nathaniel Macon, Revolutionary War soldier and N.C. statesman. Here 11 military parole violators were executed by order of Union General Lewis Merrill, Sept. 26, 1862.
"Macon lies in the Glacial Plains Region of Missouri, territory claimed by Sac, Fox, and Iowa Indians until 1824. Pre-historic Indian mounds are found in the area and the Great Indian Trail is believed to have crossed the county near Macon. A pioneer trail, the Bee Trace ran north from here. First settlers, from the South, came in late 1820's, and soon many states and countries were represented. In the late 1860's, Welsh settled nearby New Cambria. Many Welsh and later Italians came to mine the coal.
"Early schools established in Macon were Johnson College (Methodist), 1866; St. James Academy and St. Agnes Hall (Episcopal), 1875 and 1884; outstanding Blees Military Academy, 1899; and south at College Mound, noted McGee (Presbyterian) College, 1853. Blees Academy was sold, 1914, and is now the Still-Hildreth Osteopathic Sanatorium.
"Macon owes much of its development to Col. F.W.V. Blees (1860-1906), Prussian-born educator, businessman, and philanthropist; and to Theodore Gary (1854-1952), utilities magnate, first chairman Mo. State Highway Commission, and town benefactor." ~ The State Historical Society of Missouri
"Macon, the county seat of Macon County was laid out in 1856. Before this the county seat was located at Bloomington, a thriving town which has since disappeared. During the Civil War the marked southern sympathizers of Bloomington aroused the indignation of General Lewis Merrell, commander of the Federal post at Macon. In 1862 he ordered Major Thomas Moody to burn the town. At the suggestion of Major Moody, who disliked to carry out such a harsh order, it was decided that Bloomington should be destroyed in a more humane manner. Major Moody was candidate to the legislature that year and he introduced a bill for the removal of the county seat to Macon. The bill was pased as an act of military necessity. It was named, as the county, in honor of Nathaniel Macon. "Macon City may be called the "City of Maples." Mr. James Terrill in the spring of the centennial year, gave all parties desiring trees, as many maple trees as they could plant." The original town, Macon City was laid out in 1856. The town of Hudson adjoining Macon City was laid out by the Hudson Land Company in 1857. It probably took its name from the land company. There had been much rivalry, between Hudson and old Macon City, but in 1859, the legislature incorporated the two towns under one name, Macon City. The legislature in 1863 passed a law changing the county seat from Bloomington to Macon, striking out the word City. The town was named for the county, (q.v.)." ~ HIST. RANDOLPH & MACON, pp. 763, 798; MACON COUNTY ATLAS, p. 58; Eaton, pp. 190-91; TOP. MAP, MACON QUAD.: P.O. GUIDE (1925), p. 853; Stevens, Vol. 1, p. 770