Montgomery County Historical Society Montgomery County Historical Society
Dedicated to preserving and perpetuating the rich local history of the Montgomery County, Missouri area.
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Blog Entries: 1 to 4 of 4
January 13, 2024 By: Web Master
Bygone Towns
This list is copied from a RootsWeb site called "Ghost Towns."  It describes several locations in Montgomery County that are long gone, but not forgotten.  Related resources include:
November 24, 2023 By: Web Master
County Officials
Thanks to volunteers for compiling extensive lists of Montgomery County Officials. Most lists are scanned and found under Museum & Library > Research Documents > County Officials. Some include short bios.
November 24, 2023 By: Web Master
Post Offices & Postmasters

MCHS has a list of the County’s Post Offices and Postmasters,complied in 1990 by the amazing volunteer and museum curator Marj Miller (1923-2017). The source is “Record Group Description 028 Postal Service Record of Appointment of Postmasters for Montgomery County, Missouri page 658 and Site location file R25/2716 Box 376.” Information after 1960 may have come from other sources. An unsubstantiated and undated newspaper article claims that “In 1894 Montgomery County became the first county in the US where the PO tired out its newfangled Rural Free Delivery [RFD] services.”

Click here for an Article on USPS Postal history website about RFD. The service began in 1896 to deliver mail directly to farm families. Before RFD, rural inhabitants had to pick up mail themselves at sometimes distant post offices or pay private express companies for delivery. More on RFD history from Wikipedia. In 2022, The U.S. Postal Service had almost 80,000 rural delivery routes serviced by some 133,000 rural letter carriers. See also the Missouri Postal History Society website.
July 15, 2023 By: Web Master
Americus Court Records & JOP B. S. Baker
A volunteer discovered an old municipal court docket book (1894-1909) in the MCHS files. The book is handwritten and includes civil and criminal court records of Justice of the Peace Benjamin Sharp “B.S.” Baker. The index is found here. Photos of some pages are found here.
 
B. S. Baker descended from one of the original settlers in Montgomery County, who was also a JOP. The JOP concept originated in England and filled a need in the United States in areas where there were few lawyers. It allowed minor cases to be addressed quickly. The Americus cases are mostly about debts owed, but disturbing the peace and assault cases are also documented. There was a sever intolerance for gambling - the fine for such was up to $25, whereas assault was penalized with a $1-5 fine. 
 
Click here for the article about the the court records and the Baker family. MCHS is thankful to Baker descendants Donald L. Baker, M.D. and Cheryl Baker Hagedorn for graciously sharing their family research and graphics for this article.