County of Marker: Linn County
Location of Marker: Flora St. & Olive St., visitors center, Laclede
Marker Erected by: State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission
Date Marker Erected: 1955
Marker Text:
Laclede
Laclede is distinguished as the boyhood home of John Joseph Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War I. He was born near Leclede in Linn County, Sept. 13, 1860. At the time, his parents, John Fletcher and Ann Elizabeth Thompson Pershing, were living in a cabin between Meadville and Laclede, near the father's work as section boss on the Hannibal and St. Joseph R. R. then being built through here.
Later the family moved to Laclede and the father opened a general store. The Pershing Boyhood Home in Laclede and Pershing State Park, west of Laclede, are state memorials. The park, 1,836 acres of beautiful woodland, through which flows scenic Locust Creek, was established, 1938, and dedicated, 1948.
Pershing's appointment to head the A. E. F., 1917, topped a brilliant career followed since his graduation from West Point, 1886. In 1919 he was appointed General of the Armies of the U. S., the only one ever to have held that rank. He died, July 15, 1948, and lies buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Laclede, named for the founder of St. Louis, was laid out, 1853, by J.E. Worlow. It is one of several Linn County towns on the first railroad to cross Missouri, the Hannibal and St. Joseph (Burlington), 1859.
Northward is Linneus, seat of justice for Linn County. Settled, 1834, by John Holland, it is named for Swedish botanist Linnaeus. The county, a rich farming area, once quite heavily mined for coal, was organized, 1837. The name is for Lewis E. Linn, the "Model Senator from Missouri," 1833-43.
Linn County's real growth followed the chartering of the Hannibal and St. Joseph R. R., 1847. Towns on the line are Bucklin, laid out, 1854; Meadville, 1860; and Brookfield, 1859, all named for railroad employees. In the Civil War, raids were directed against the railroad held by the Union.
To the southeast, on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe R.R. is Marceline. Named for the wife of a railroad official, it was laid out, 1887. Walter E. Disney, creator of the world-famous "Mickey Mouse"a and other animated cartoons, lived as a young boy near here.