County of sign: Morgan County
Location of sign: US-50, eastern limits, Syracuse
Sign Text:
CITY LIMIT
SYRACUSE
POP 172
Marker Text:
BUTTERFIELD
OVERLAND MAIL
IN MISSOURI -- 1858~1861
The George Shackelford Relay and Meal Station stood ½ mile south of Syracuse in Morgan County. In 1859, when the railroad reached Syracuse, it succeeded Tipton as Stage Terminus. Civil War activity closed the terminus in March, 1861.
In Spring of 1861 Union troops moved into Syracuse, MO (a Southern sympathy freighter town). They drug Southern sympathizers into the street and killed them (over 180 civilians) and burned the warehouses for both the freight companies and the Butterfield stage warehouses and station. When this got back to Washington, the contract was withdrawn and given to Wells Fargo for the Northern Route