Sesquicentennial - Washington, MO - Community Commemoration on Waymarking.com

County of capsule: Franklin County
Location of capsule: Elbert St., Rennick Riverfront Park, next to old Water Plant, Washington
Erected: 1989

Capsule Text:

"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

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