County of community: Montgomery County
Location of community: MO-J, about 1 mile S. of I-70 at the Danville exit
Population 23
"In central- west Danville Township. Laid out in 1879 by Harvey E. Scanland, owner of the site, and named Mineola, an Indian name meaning "healing water." Later someone suggested the spelling Minneloa would make the name in honor of Minnie Scanland, daughter of the founder, and Ola Gregory, a friend. Efforts to change the spelling, however, were unsuccessful. Located on the site of the abandoned Loutre Lick settlement. Eaton erroneously states it was named for Mineola, Texas." ~ Eaton, pg 333; Everett Barton, Edgar Scanland
"The little village of Mineola occupies the site of the far famed Loutre Lick, of pioneer notoriety, and even of later-day prominence, whose name was mentioned in the United States Congress as early as 1824 by Henry Clay and Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun as the "Bethesda mentioned by the honorable Senator [Thomas Hart Benton] from Missouri,"' ~ Springfield-Greene County Library
"The site of the town and considerable of the region round about -- 460 acres in all -- was originally granted by the Spanish Government when Missouri belonged to Spain, and before the treaty of Ildefonso, somewhere about 1800, to Col. Nathan Boone, son of Daniel Boone.
"In the winter of 1812-13 Thomas Massey, Sr., of the settlement of St. Charles, rented the land about Loutre Lick of Col. Nathan Boone, came up and cleared off the land on the south side of the lick and little stream now called Sale's Branch, and built a cabin on the north side ... It was the next spring that Massey's boy, Harris, was killed by the Indians ...
"Massey made no further attempt to live at the Loutre Lick after his family was driven away by the Indians. In 1815, Col. Boone sold the land to Maj. Isaac Van Bibber ... Col. Boone married a cousin of Isaac Van Bibber.
"Major Van Bibber repaired the Massey cabin ... and also added one or two cabins to the collection and some stables. Here, also, the first elections were conducted after Missouri emerged from territorial conditions.
"A store was opened at Loutre Lick by Charles Drury in about 1830 ... In 1834 Mr. Drury removed his store to Danville. It is said that other stores were here from time to time ...
"The village of Mineola was laid out on the site of Loutre Lick in the year 1879 by H. E. Scanland, the owner of the land, and named for Mineola, Texas ... It was the intention of Mr. Scanland to make of it not only a trading post and mailing point, but a place of resort for invalids, who should come to drink of the medicinal spring and spend a season of recreation and rest ... The first house in the place was built by John R. Pate, in April, 1880 ...
"In the summer of 1880 the spring or lick was improved by being cleaned out ... and was enclosed and a building erected over it. G. W. Taylor opened a stock of goods in the spring building soon after its completion. The post-office was established in the fall of 1880, and G. W. Taylor was the postmaster.
"In 1884 the village contained 2 stores, a mill, a black smith shop, a wagon shop, a wine and beer saloon, and a dozen dwelling houses." History of Montgomery Co., pp. 777, 778, 779.
Mineola is located in western Montgomery County, about six miles south of Montgomery City and about one south mile of Interstate 70. Its post office closed in 1967 and mail now comes from Montgomery City. The community was founded in 1879 by a land grant to Daniel Morgan Boone, and Jess Boone lived here. Jesse Boone a Missouri Legislator who nominated Thomas Hart Benton to become the first Missouri US Senator.
The town thrived as a great stop for travelers between Kansas City and St. Louis, when highway 40, built in the early 1900s, ran through the heart of town. Building I-70 greatly reduced traffic through the town. All restaurants, lodging and gas stations closed.
Parts of Mineola were destroyed in the late 1800s when a tornado hit the area. Although the town was rebuilt, it was hit several times by a floods beginning just 3 years later
Just N. of this community and in the median of I-70 is a big hunk of rocks, people blow past every day, and this rock cluster is protected by law because of its historic impact on the area. It is known as Slave Rock and better history that the aforementioned link is this article: Journal