County of city: Audrain County
Location of city: SE corner of county: crossroads of MO-19, MO-N & MO-U
County is in the NE section of the state
Elevation: 810 ft (247 m)
Population: 307 (2016)
This community has been nominated as The Nicest Place in America in 2017 in a Readers Digest project
"A town in Loutre Township, laid out in November 21, 1857, and named for William Russell Martin, a Kentuckian, who settled in the county in 1851. The station previously was known as Hudson City, named by Martin for a friend, a traveling clockmaker, who was well liked in the community. He was quite a philosopher. The name was changed to honor the donor of the town site. Early spelling varies with Martinsburgh." ~ History of Northeast Missouri, Vil I, page 227; Plat Book 1
"Wm. H. and Jackson H. Bane were proprietors of the Martinsburgh elevator and corn sheller. Chas. E. Burchard was railroad agent. J. W. Douglas & Co., dealers in general merchandise; Patrick H. Gantt and John E. Fish, composing the first of Gantt & Fish, dealers in general merchandise; Oscar Krueger, dealer in general merchandise; Joseph S. Munster, carpenter and undertaker; J. R. Toneyson, blacksmith and wheel-wright." ~ History of Audrain County, pages 621, 630, 656, 659, 666.
"It had a church, school, picture frame factory, bank, newspaper the "Success", hotel, and about fifteen other business places, including stores, shops, etc. There were also coal mines in the vicinity. Population, 1899 (estimated) 300." ~ Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 1901, Conard, Vol. 4, page 210.
"Martinsburgh...on the St. L. K. C. & N. R. W. (now Wabash) 14 miles southeast of Mexico, had a population of about 500. It had 1 church, 1 school-house, 6 stores and a cheese factory." ~ Campbell's Gazetteer of Missouri, Campbell, 1874, page 49.
"It is situated in southeast corner of the county on Sec. 24, Twp. 50 N, R. 7 W at the junction of V, N & 19.
'It was laid out in January, 1859, by William R. Martin and named in his honor. He was a native of Kentucky and settled near the town site in 1854." How MO Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named, Eaton, First Article, p. 204.
Martinsburg, WV:
"Martinsburg is a city in and the county seat of Berkeley County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 18,773 at the 2020 census, making Martinsburg the largest city in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and the seventh-largest city in the state. It is a principal city of the Hagerstown–Martinsburg metropolitan area extending into Maryland, which had 293,844 residents in 2020." ~
Wikipedia