County of sign: Chariton County
Location of sign: W. Broadway St. (US 24) & Buchanan St., Brunswick
Sign Text:
CITY LIMITS
BRUNSWICK
POP 858
Bottom Sign:
Hometown of
Radm Wayne E. Meyer
"Father of Aegis"
Navy Ship DDG-108
"For thousands of years varying cultures of indigenous peoples settled by the Missouri River. At the time of European contact, historical tribes in the area included the Missouri, Osage, Kaw, Otoe and others. In 1723 Etienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont built Fort Orleans near here, established on the Missouri River near the mouth of the Grand River. It was occupied 1723-1726 as the first multi-year European fort and settlement in present-day Missouri. It was to be a trading centerpiece of La Louisiane, the new territory claimed by the French.
"Following the Louisiana Purchase and the end of the French colonial period the area saw a large influx of immigrants from the U.S., especially Kentucky and Tennessee. They brought African-American slaves and slaveholding traditions with them. The new land owners planted and cultivate crops similar to those in the Upper South: hemp and tobacco. Chariton was one of several counties along the Missouri River to become known as Little Dixie.
"The original town of Brunswick was laid out in 1836 by James Keyte. Keyte, an English immigrant and Methodist minister, was also the founder of Keytesville, Missouri, the county seat of Chariton County. It was named after Brunswick, in England. The original town plat was about 500 yards south of its current location, but due to changes in the Missouri and Grand rivers, the location is now underwater. A Mr. Keyte established the first store in the town, and its first industry, a sawmill. Early growth was slow for the community, with the population estimated at around 125 citizens by 1840. However, in the early 1840s a large influx of new residents increased the size of the town and scope of business offerings. They included a hotel, a wagon maker, brick factory, and a pork packing facility. Doctor Edwin Price, brother of famed Confederate general Sterling Price, was an early settler.
In the decades leading up to the American Civil War surrounding counties had no railroad over which to ship or receive goods and crops, thus Brunswick with its steamboat access, became a regional trading center. In 1849 Brunswick recorded 534 arrivals and departures by steamboats. The first school was established at Brunswick in June 1840 with approximately thirty-five students and a one-room log schoolhouse. It was also in 1840 that the first wave of German immigrants arrived in the Brunswick area. Another influx of Germans took place in 1842. The Brunswicker, the town's first newspaper, began publication in October 1847 and continues today, making it one of the state's oldest.[ Brunswick's first bank, a branch of the Merchants Bank of St. Louis, opened.
"After the Civil War and the loss of their slaves, farmers shifted to other less labor-intensive, crops. However, in 1880 Chariton County still led the state of Missouri in tobacco production, with 14 million pounds harvested. After nearly ten years of delay due to the war, the railroad finally reached Brunswick in 1867, reducing the reliance on steamboats to transport goods and people." ~ Wikipedia