Sesquicentennial Time Capsule - Washington, MO
Posted by: YoSam.
N 38° 33.627 W 091° 00.596
15S E 673391 N 4269878
Time capsule and Sister-City monument in this small garden within the Rennick Riverfront Park
Waymark Code: WMYY91
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 08/10/2018
Views: 1
County of capsule: Franklin County
Location of capsule: Elbert St., Rennick Riverfront Park, next to old Water Plant, Washington
Erected: 1989
Capsule Text:
TIME CAPSULE
To Be Opened 2039 A.D.
[City Seal of Washington, MO]
SESQ 89 GARDEN
"Located on the south banK of the Missouri River about fifty miles
southwest of St. Louis, Washington was advantageously sited at a good
natural ferry landing which was in use long before the town was
officially platted in 1339. Although there exist records of land
claims and scattered settlement in the Washington area dating to the
late 18th century, it was only after the War of 1312 that promise of
town development appeared with the steady migrations of native
Americans (chiefly from Kentucky, Tennessee ana Virginia) into the
Missouri River Valley. The organization of Franklin County in 1318,
followed by admission of Missouri into the United States three years
later, were incentives to homesteading which prompted a flurry of land
claims in those years.
"Among the pioneer Southerners who came to Franklin County in 1313 were
Kentuckians William G. Owens (1796-1834) and his wife, Lucinda, the
founders of Washington. The Owens took up residence a few miles up
river from Washington in New Port, the first county seat, but later
moved inland to Union in the late 1820s after it was selected as the
permanent seat of government. Trained as an attorney, William Owens
also began to invest heavily in real estate, and purchased farm acreage
in 1826 which included the Washington townsite, already known at that
time as "Washington Landing". With steam boats navigating the Missouri
by 1819, and a rich agricultural trade developing in the countryside on
both sides of the river, Owens clearly foresaw the potential for a
booming river town and began to sell town lots as early as 1829. The
town, however, was not officially laid out until 1339 by Mrs. Lucinda
Owens following her husband's untimely death in 1834.
"The original town of Washington consisted of a regular grid of twelve
whole and thirteen fractional blocks extending from the riverfront
south to Third Street, and from Lafayette Street on the west to Locust
on the east. The majority of the 144 lots measured a generous 66 front
feet by 132 feet deep; streets were laid out 49 1/2 feet wide. Owens
at first enticed settlers by offering a free lot to anyone who would
build a substantial house on it. The earliest stores and homes were
built of log by Americans on hillside riverfront blocks, but in the
early 1330s a fsw Germans began locating in the town. A visitor to
Washington in 1834 found only one brick house, recently erected by
blacksmith Phineus Thomas, and less than a dozen log or frame houses.
Within five years two substantial brick houses built outside the town
boundaries by Lucinda Owens and fellow Kentuckian Dr. Elijah McLean
introduced sophisticated architectural styling to frontier Washington with their Federal forms and detailing. McLean's house stood on a
large tract he purchased in 1830 from the Qwens: in 1850 he opened a
subdivision embracing the District's 500 block of West Front Street." ~ NRHP Nomination Form - Downtown Washington Historic District