The town of Chillicothe, in Livingston County, Missouri is rich in historic resources dating from the mid-nineteenth century. Many of the town’s most notable buildings resulted from its status as the governmental seat of Livingston County and from its location along several railroad lines and two major highways. The town’s proximity to major transportation routes made it a convenient base for a wide variety of commercial enterprises. Manufacturing plants of all kinds were constructed in Chillicothe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century; Chillicothe was a livestock and agricultural trading center; and the establishment and development of the Chillicothe Normal School (later Chillicothe Business College) made the town an educational center as well.

Chillicothe is located in the center of Livingston County approximately eighty miles northeast of Kansas City, Missouri. Missouri Highways 65 and 36 intersect at Chillicothe. A corridor or commercial development stretches along the entire section of Missouri Highway 65, which runs through town. However, the core of historic commercial buildings, anchored by the Livingston County courthouse, is located between Calhoun Street, Ann Street, Cherry Street and Vine Street. Another pocket of commercial development is located in the railroad corridor south of the downtown area. The residential areas of Chillicothe radiate out from the commercial center in all directions.

Prior to 2001, no systematic survey of architectural resources in Livingston County existed and only one property in the county, the Grace Episcopal Church and Building in Chillicothe, had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. However, in the spring of 2001, an architectural and historical survey of downtown Chillicothe was begun. The survey inventoried 101 buildings in the commercial core of Chillicothe. Of the 101 buildings inventoried, 16 buildings were determined to be potentially eligible for individual listing on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, 62 buildings were determined to retain sufficient integrity to be eligible for inclusion in a historic district and potential boundaries for a commercial historic district were suggested. Furthermore, an informal survey revealed a number of other buildings throughout the town that are likely candidates for individual listing as well as several areas that have district listing potential. 
The Multiple Property Documentation form is being used to lay the foundation for the systemic nomination of historic resources throughout Chillicothe, Missouri. The multiple property listing “Historic and Architectural Resources of Chillicothe, Missouri is organized around the commercial and public architecture of the city. One historic context and two property types have been developed for this listing. Several other historic contexts and property types were identified but not explored in this cover document either because the resources have yet to be surveyed, too few resources remain from the period, or the theme did not fall within the scope of this listing. Future amendments to this multiple property listing may develop these themes. It should also be noted that the potential for historic archaeology throughout the community is strong; evaluation of such potential is highly recommended, but is beyond the scope of this project.

EARLY SETTLEMENT: 1837 -1852
The first permanent settlers in the area known today as Livingston County, Missouri arrived in the early 1830s. The majority of the early settlers to the area were Americans, “hardy and resolute emigrants from the older counties, as well as from Kentucky, Tennessee and other states.” Joseph Cox and his family, the first permanent settlers in Chillicothe Township, were living in Ray County, Missouri near the present town of Richmond, when one of Cox’s horses was stolen by Indians. Cox tracked the thieves into the territory that would later become Livingston County and recovered his horse. He liked the land that he saw on his trip so much that he decided to move there. By 1833, Cox, his father and his sons had all built cabins and moved their families to the area. When Livingston County was officially formed out of Carroll and Chariton counties in 1837, it was in Joseph Cox’s house, located approximately five miles north of Chillicothe, that the first term of the county court was held. Cox was also appointed one of the first judges in the county.

In 1837, the same year that Livingston County was formed, the county court took the first steps towards establishing the town of Chillicothe. John Graves, the owner of the Graves Hotel and one of the earliest settlers in the area, was appointed to “lay off into lots the county seat, where the commissioners appointed by the State Legislature shall locate it.” It was also ordered that the county seat “shall be denominated and known by the name of Chillicothe.” The town was named for Chillicothe, Ohio, and the difference in the spelling of the name in the initial order appears to have been simply a case of misspelling. The name Chillicothe was originally derived from the Shawnee Indian word “Chillicoathee” which means “the big town where we live.” 
John Graves was appointed trustee to lay out the town and sell lots, and he is often referred to as the founder of Chillicothe. However, he resigned the day of his appointment. Nathan Gregory, another early settler and a surveyor, was appointed in place of Graves and did the actual surveying of the town site. Chillicothe was laid out using the Shelbyville Square plan, the most common central courthouse square plan in Missouri. In the design of Shelbyville Square, one block of the grid is reserved for the courthouse square and the lots on the surrounding blocks are arranged to face it.

In October 1837, the first sale of lots in Chillicothe took place and that same year, the first Livingston County Courthouse was also constructed in Chillicothe. However, the town was not officially named the county seat until 1839. The town of Chillicothe also was not officially incorporated until 1851 and as a result, there was no municipal government, no authority to compel the care of streets, the building of sidewalks and street crossings, the enforcement of sanitary measures, etc.; and so there were but few, if any, sidewalks, save in front of some of the stores on the public square; people waded to and fro in the mud, threw filth and slops into the street, and lived a life of liberty, if not comfort.

The west side of the Chillicothe Square as it looked in 1843. 
From “Missouri’s Highway Historic Marking, 1958 Part 1.” by Floyd C. Shoemaker, Inscriptions by Ruby M. Robins” Missouri Historical Review. April 1959, p. 210.

A drawing dated 1843 of the west side of the Chillicothe square shows just a scattering of one and two story frame buildings. (Figure One) The second Livingston County Courthouse, a two story building with a cupola which was constructed in 1840, was undoubtedly one of only a few brick buildings in Chillicothe. According to the History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties, Missouri, prior to the building of the railroad, Chillicothe “was small and unimportant. Nothing but the fact that it was the county seat kept it alive.” The 1851 business directory for Chillicothe shows the limited development of the town. It listed “two attorneys, a newspaper, a physician, a carding machine, a hotel, two blacksmiths and two or three general stores.”

The Railroad Era: 1852-1883
Two events in the early 1850s led to a marked change in the development of Chillicothe. On August 13, 1851, “On a petition of two-thirds of the inhabitants, [Chillicothe] is hereby declared a boddy Polatic (sic) and corporate.” The official incorporation of the town led to the establishment of local laws and improved living conditions. Four years later, the town’s second incorporation made Chillicothe a city. The final incorporation of Chillicothe in 1869 established the city as a corporation led by a mayor and councilmen.

In 1852, construction on the track for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad began. The track was constructed by two crews working from both ends of the state. The point where the tracks met was approximately three miles east of Chillicothe. On February 13, 1859, the golden spike was driven into the completed track. “The very next day a train made the through run from Hannibal to St. Joseph, thus inaugurating rail service between the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers.” As a result of the railroad construction, Chillicothe entered its first boom period between 1852 and 1860. The population reached nearly 1000, many new businesses were started, and the downtown landscape changed from a “squalid little settlement” to a respectable railroad town. The 1860 Missouri State Gazetteer and Business Directory reported that the town could boast “a weekly newspaper “Chillicothe Chronicle” edited by A. S. Hughes, two steam saw and one flouring mill, two hotels, two tobacco manufactories, and about twenty-five stores of various kinds.” The first bank in Chillicothe, a branch of the State Bank of Missouri opened in 1858 and provided capital for the many new businesses brought to town by construction of the railroad.

Just as Chillicothe was becoming an established trading center, the advent of the Civil War in 1861 put a halt to the town’s prosperity and growth. The slump in the town’s economy lasted throughout the war. Chillicothe was viewed as a key post on the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad. As a result, from 1861, shortly after the war began, until 1865, Chillicothe was under Federal control. On June 14, 1861, the day after a parade of volunteers for the South was held in Chillicothe, Union troops moved into town. “A proclamation was read stating that they were there to put down rebellion and insurrection against the United States of America and that they hoped that the orderly process of government and commerce would continue.” Additional local distress was caused by the fact that Chillicothe and Livingston County citizens were divided in their loyalties. “Some people were Southern secessionists; some were strongly for the Union; and another rather large group didn’t want to leave the Union nor to see slavery abolished.” Despite the tense conditions, the city of Chillicothe was only sparsely damaged by the events of the Civil War. Only one building, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, was said to have been burned by Federal soldiers. One other major building in Chillicothe was also lost during the war years, but it was not a casualty of the war. The second Livingston County Courthouse was condemned and demolished in 1865. From 1865 until 1914, the courthouse square, also known as Elm Park, “remained open and available to the public.”

As soon as the Civil War ended, prosperous times resumed in Chillicothe. Two additional rail lines, the Chillicothe to Omaha Railroad and the Chillicothe to Brunswick Railroad (later known as the Wabash) completed in 1867 and 1869 respectively, made Chillicothe even more attractive to settlers and businessmen. In the five years following the war, the population of Chillicothe grew from 1500 to nearly 4000, and Chillicothe grew into an agricultural trading and shipping center. During this period, business and manufacturing interests, as well as construction of all types, boomed. A column in the March 8, 1866 Chillicothe Constitution described the growth of the town.

Our city presents just now a fine show of prosperity and thrift. It is growing fast and buildings are seen going up on every hand....There were 15 new places of business built last year, and many dwellings, while business increased very much. The prospect for the coming year seems very flattering. There are six brick buildings going up on the west side of the Public square, and six or seven on the north or north-east portion of it. These are already projected plans out and everything getting in readiness for their erection. They are to be fine, large business houses. A gentleman of observation said a day or two since that there will be over two hundred dwellings built this year.

As Chillicothe grew into a trading center, the hotel and saloon business also benefited. Ten hotels and fourteen saloons are listed in the 1869 business directory for Chillicothe. One of the most notable of the hotels was the Browning House, which was located in the second and third stories of a building on the southeast corner of the square. Although the Browning House was undoubtedly one of the nicer hotels in Chillicothe at the time, it is the death of a famous traveling musician in the hotel that sealed its place in the historyof the town.

In 1868, Nelson Kneass, the composer of the popular song “Ben Bolt” came to Chillicothe as part of a small troupe of performers. “The little band of barnstormers landed in the town almost penniless, a 10-20-30-cent company playing “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” “Ten Nights in a Bar Room,” and “East Lynne” in the town hall.” While in town, Kneass took ill and died of pneumonia in the Browning House. He was given a Christian burial by the women of the Grace Episcopal Church. A benefit performance by the barnstormers and other local talent raised funds for Kneass’ wife and children to return to their home in the East. Although “cities all over the nation raised amounts for memorials for the composer of “Ben Bolt” and asked to have the honor of caring for his remains, Kneass’ wife refused these offers. Several years later, when she returned to Chillicothe with another theatrical troupe, she purchased a headstone for Kneass’ grave. Kneass’ grave was later moved to one of the most desirable plots in the cemetery. The town of Chillicothe further memorialized Kneass when a movie theatre constructed in 1949 was named the “Ben Bolt.” However, the Ben Bolt Theatre, an exceptional Art Deco style theatre, was demolished in 1999. The Browning House burned in early twentieth century.

Earliest known photo of Milbank Mills, Source: “Revolution of a Nineteenth Century Mill,” Old Mill News. Vol. 27, No. 3, Summer 1999, p. 16.

In addition to the development of retail businesses of all types, Chillicothe’s advantageous location on three rail lines encouraged the establishment of a number of manufacturing facilities there. By 1869, Chillicothe had a bee hive factory, a hoop skirt factory, a carriage factory, two flour mills and a brick factory under construction. The City Mill, one of Chillicothe’s oldest businesses, was established in 1867 by George Milbank. (Figure Four) It was the first merchant mill in the area, thereby providing both a local source for flour and animal feed and a source of cash for local farmers. Milbank flour was marketed as far away as Florida and Texas. Milbank Mills is still in operation today producing animal feeds; the flour milling portion of the business was halted in 1960. However, the original mill was destroyed by fire in 1964.

During the early 1870s, the rollercoaster economy of Chillicothe was, once again, on the downhill slope, and the town’s future looked uncertain. In six years, the population decreased by almost 500. One description of the town notes that the public square was overrun with black locust trees, underbrush and weeds....The streets were littered with corn stalks, corn cobs and hay. Pigs ran grunting and rooting here and there. Cows were permitted to run loose in the streets, eating the feed from the farmers’ wagons.

Although Chillicothe lost both businesses and residents during this period of economic turmoil, the town recovered quickly. More than one hundred businessmen are listed in the 1879 Missouri State Gazetteer and Business Directory. Included in this list of businesses and businessmen in Chillicothe are two banks, four hotels, eight physicians, nine grocers, three booksellers, four druggists and eight saloons. The construction of new commercial buildings also markedly increased in the late 1870s. According to the History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties, Missouri, in 1877, “more buildings were erected and improved than in the six years preceding and Chillicothe was back on track.” 

The Victorian Era: 1883 -1900
During the last two decades of the nineteenth century, the population of Chillicothe increased from 4078 in 1880 to 6905 in 1900. The city’s commerce and industry continued to parallel this growth. The 1899 Missouri State Gazetteer and Business Directory noted that the city had “all the appointments of a prosperous commercial center.” By the turn of the century, Chillicothe could boast four banks, six newspapers, and more than a dozen factories.

The founding of four educational institutions in Chillicothe between 1887 and 1898 also contributed significantly to the town’s growth and prosperity. The State Industrial Home for Girls and the Chillicothe Conservatory of Music were established in the late 1880s. In the following decade, the Chillicothe Normal School, later known as the Chillicothe Business College and Maupin’s Commercial College were founded. Two of these institutions, the State Industrial Home for Girls and the Chillicothe Business College, continued to operate until the mid-twentieth century.

The selection of Chillicothe for the State Industrial Home for Girls gave the town statewide recognition. In 1887, the state legislature appropriated $50,000 for the construction and operation of the institution under the “cottage plan.” A plot of land approximately two miles southwest of the public square was purchased for the institution. The first cottage, Marmaduke Cottage, named after Governor Marmaduke, was completed the following year. By the early twentieth century, the campus of the State Industrial School for Girls, later known as the State Training School for Girls, contained three cottages, a school building and chapel, a boiler house and an administration building, and the institution housed 225 girls. In 1981, the State Training School for Girls closed, and the campus was revamped into a women’s prison, which continues to operate today. Noted Missouri architect, M. Fred Bell, designed some of the original buildings on the State Industrial Home for Girls campus.

Two years after the State Industrial Home for Girls opened, the Chillicothe Normal School was founded. In the fall of 1890, the first two buildings on the college campus, which was located eight blocks north west of the public square, were completed and classes began. 

During its first twenty years, the Chillicothe Normal School flourished. However, in 1911, faced with declining enrollment, Allen Moore, the school’s founder and owner, changed the name of the school and the curriculum. The Chillicothe Normal School became the Chillicothe Business College and the focus of the school became business training. Not only did the school provide practical business training and assistance with tuition in the form of work-study, but also, the school “guaranteed the students a job when they graduated and if they didn’t have a job they didn’t pay the tuition listed on the note.” The Chillicothe Business College grew into the “largest business college in America.” By 1936, a few years before the school’s fiftieth anniversary, the College’s campus consisted of more than 100 acres, thirty buildings and a stadium.

The Chillicothe Business College closed in 1952, but the college buildings were used by other educational institutions for several years. Gradually, however, the college buildings were sold or demolished and in the 1970s, the remaining buildings were converted to a glove factory. The prosperity of Chillicothe in the late nineteenth century brought numerous public improvements and enabled Chillicothe to boast the amenities of a modern city. Chillicothe was literally brought out of the mud when the streets around the square and a few blocks adjoining the square were paved in the early 1880s. In 1886, Chillicothe was given an additional boost with the completion of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad through town. Several years later, the Chillicothe Street Railway Company established a streetcar system. The mule and horse-drawn trolley cars, which began operating in 1888, ran along tracks from the depots to the public square, to the fairgrounds and to the Chillicothe Normal School after it opened. The town was also brought out of the darkness when, in 1885, electric streetlights were installed and operated until midnight six days a week. In 1886, L. J. and Louis Jarrett installed the first telephone exchange. That same year, a franchise was granted to establish a water works. The New York City firm, Comegy and Lewis, bound themselves to erect the necessary pumping engines...with ninety double fire hydrants for fire protection, a steel stand tower 140 feet high and 12 1/2 feet in diameter..., the machinery to have a capacity of furnishing our inhabitants two million gallons of clear, pure and wholesome water every twenty-four hours. The water and power utilities were operated as private enterprises until the city took over ownership in the early twentieth century.

The first hospital in Chillicothe, St. Mary’s Hospital, also opened in the late 1880s. The Sisters of St. Mary, founded in 1872 in St. Louis, established convents and hospitals in a number of cities. However, the hospital in Chillicothe was the first hospital organized by the order in a rural community. In response to a proposal written by the Franciscan friars of Chillicothe’s St. Columban Catholic Church, four sisters came to Chillicothe in 1888 and purchased a frame farmhouse to use as a hospital. The hospital, which was expanded several times in the late nineteenth century, was operated by the Sisters of St. Mary until 1916.

Chillicothe’s prosperity in the late nineteenth century was also reflected in the town’s architectural development. A number of notable buildings, which are still extant today, were constructed in downtown Chillicothe in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. The Leeper Hotel, originally called the Leeper House, was constructed in 1884 on the northwest corner of Washington and Webster Streets. Between 1909 and 1916, a fourth story was added to the three story brick building and, in 1929, the building’s buff brick facade was refaced with red brick.

Three of the towns four banks built new buildings in downtown Chillicothe in the 1880s. Prior to the construction of the Leeper Hotel, the People’s Savings Bank occupied the lot on the corner of Washington and Webster. As part of the agreement for the sale of the property for the hotel, the People’s Savings Bank was given a ten-year lease for the corner room on the first floor of the hotel building. The original Citizens National Bank and the First National Bank also built facilities on lots fronting the public square during this period. The original First National Bank building at 703 Webster is the only one of the two that exists today, and it is an excellent example of a Queen Anne commercial building.

The original First National Bank Building, 1887.
Source: Survey of Downtown Chillicothe, Becky L. Snider, 2001.
During the 1880s and 1890s, commercial buildings in downtown Chillicothe were constructed with much more elaborate detailing than the buildings constructed in prior decades. In part, this change was due to the nationwide interest in Victorian styling, but it was also a result of the widespread proliferation of premanufactured building components. By 1890s, pre-fabricated
metal building components were being used on commercial buildings in Chillicothe as they were across the country. In some cases, only a few individual components such as a cornice or decorative pilasters were used; on other buildings, entire storefront "kits" were employed. In addition, older buildings were "updated" with ready-made parts such as pressed tin ceilings and pressed tin panels for the facade.

Mass-produced architectural elements were available from a number of manufacturers. The St. Louis firm, Mesker Brothers, was one of the leading producers of prefabricated storefront components and their products have been identified on buildings all over Missouri. In fact, architectural historian, Richard Francaviglia, noted that their "mass-marketed standardized facade components…found their way to every corner of the country." However, most of the cast iron components found on buildings in downtown Chillicothe bear the manufacturers mark of the F. Way Foundry, a local company, or the Quincy, IL-based Smith-Hill Foundry & Machine Co. The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad made the shipment of products from Quincy, IL to Chillicothe simple and quick. The Scruby Building, which is located at 508 Washington is a good example of the use of mass-produced architectural elements in Chillicothe. It was constructed in 1893 and has a wide cast iron cornice with brackets and dentils, a cast iron frieze bearing the building’s construction date, and several sizes of cast iron pilasters. It is one of the most intact buildings from the period in the downtown area.

The Highway City: 1901-1952
Prior to the turn of the twentieth century, Chillicothe’s status as the county seat and its location on several rail lines drew new businesses and inhabitants. However, during the early decades of the twentieth century, Chillicothe’s business and municipal leaders recognized that the continued growth and development of the city would depend on marketing the town’s amenities. To this end, the Chillicothe Commercial Club, later the Chillicothe Chamber of Commerce, was formed in 1899. The Chamber of Commerce was quite successful in drawing new business and industry to the city and Chillicothe became manufacturing hub. In a special Magazine Supplement to the Chillicothe Constitution that was published June 24, 1916, a section titled “Factories Chillicothe Has,” enumerated forty-three companies with manufacturing facilities in Chillicothe. Several very large factories are included in this list. The Jenkins Hay Rake & Stacker Co, manufacturer of farm machinery, employed sixty to one hundred people; the Hamilton Glove Factory had one hundred operators; and the Chillicothe Gun Stock Manufacturing Company, employed three hundred workers. The latter company was the world’s largest gunstock manufacturing plant. According to the article in the Magazine Supplement to the June 24, 1916 Chillicothe Constitution, nearly 1000 people were employed by the manufacturing industry in Chillicothe thereby generating an annual worker’s payroll of $478,000.

The need for large facilities and the fact that many of new businesses shipped their products nationwide resulted in the establishment of many of these new industries in the area around the depot rather than in Chillicothe’s central business district. However, retail and service-oriented businesses continued to prefer the downtown locations. By the early twentieth century, most of the lots within a two-block radius of the public square were filled with commercial buildings and commercial development extended several blocks further along the major thoroughfares. Only a few frame buildings remained in the core of the business district by 1910. 
The frequent occurrence of fires and the construction and renovation of buildings to accommodate new or relocating businesses resulted in continuously evolving downtown streetscapes. Not only were the commercial buildings that were constructed in Chillicothe after 1910 generally more austere than those built late-nineteenth century, but also most lacked allegiance to any particular architectural style. In addition, in the early 1900s, some nineteenth century buildings were stripped of their elaborate ornamentation in an effort to “update” them. 

Chillicothe’s three most important public buildings, the Livingston County Courthouse, the Federal Building and the Chillicothe City Hall, were all constructed between 1910 and 1930. The first of these major buildings to be constructed was the courthouse. The commencement of its construction was quite a momentous occasion because the county offices had been scattered throughout downtown for fifty years. In 1864, the second Livingston County Courthouse was demolished because it was unsafe. From that time until 1914, Livingston County did not have a courthouse; the square in which the previous courthouse was located was just an open park. A countywide election was held in 1912, and the vote required to raise taxes to finance the courthouse won by a big margin. An article in the Chillicothe Constitution reported that “a special election held Tuesday to levy 25 cents on the $100 valuation to build a $100,000 courthouse in Elm Park, carried nearly three to one in the county.” Two years later, the stone courthouse, with its large Doric columns on all four facades, was completed.

Although Chillicothe was awarded a $65,000 appropriation for a post office building in 1910, the combination Post Office and Federal Court building was not built until 1915. The funds to cover the additional cost of court facilities as well as the post office were not appropriated until 1914. The Beaux-Arts style Federal Building, located one block south of courthouse, cost $125,000 to build. In 1965, the Post Office moved to a new facility, and the Federal Building was purchased for the county library. Unlike the construction of the Courthouse and the Federal Building, the construction of the new Chillicothe City Hall was not a long-awaited event. The Chillicothe City Hall, that was designed by Bonsack and Pearce architectural firm and constructed by S.E. Schultz in 1926-27, was constructed less than a year after the second city hall, which was on the same site, burned. The two-story, brick Classical Revival building originally housed both the city offices and the fire department. It has a large auditorium on the second floor.

The Chillicothe Commercial Club, which became the Chamber of Commerce in 1911, initially promoted Chillicothe as a railroad center. However, the group quickly recognized the importance of good roads in developing the city as a trade center. The first right-of-way for a road in the area was negotiated and paid for by the Commercial Club in 1900. Since that date, the Chamber has negotiated a number of right-of-way purchases to facilitate better highways into and through Chillicothe and enhance it as a trading hub.

The work of several members of the Chillicothe Chamber of Commerce in the Cross-State Highway movement, which began in 1911, resulted in the town becoming a highway crossroads. One the most influential members of the Cross-State Highway movement was Chillicothe businessman and owner of Adams Automobile and Supply, C. F. Adams. Adams was looked upon as a chief promoter of better roads in northern Missouri. He was president of the Hannibal to St. Joseph Cross-State Highway Association and later served as national president of the Pike’s Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway Association. The hard efforts of the Commercial Club in the highway movement paid off and Chillicothe’s claim-to-fame became its status as the city with more state, interstate and national highways than any other city in the United States. “By 1914 and 1915, so many highways had entered to and through Chillicothe that the Manager of the Blue Book, the official annual publication of the American Automobile Association came to Chillicothe to investigate. After making his survey, he went back to Chicago and designated Chillicothe “The Highway City,” in the next issue.”  Several years later, when the Missouri State Highway Department was formed, and all highways were to be given a number, Chillicothe businessman, Harry W. Graham, who had fought many a highway organization battle, applied for numbers for twenty-six highways at Chillicothe, one for every highway that passed through the city. In the end, only two numbers were assigned for the state highways that passed through Chillicothe, one for the North/South route and one for the East/West route. However, the city still retains its nickname, “The Highway City.”

Postcard of Adams Automobile and Supply Co. Building
Chillicothe physician, A. J. Simpson, was the first owner of an automobile in Chillicothe. His new “horseless carriage” was shipped to Chillicothe from St. Louis in 1902. Although Simpson’s Oldsmobile was a novelty when he purchased it, automobile ownership increased in Chillicothe at a rapid rate, just as it did throughout the country. Two photos of Chillicothe that appeared in The Heritage of Missouri, which was published in 1963, show the change in the appearance of the city between 1910 and 1923 as a result of the increase in automobile ownership. As cars became more prevalent, automobile related businesses popped up throughout town. Between 1916 and 1927, four new filling stations were constructed in the downtown area; many former liveries became auto repair business; and carriage and wagon makers became auto salesmen. Two of those buildings, 600 Webster Street, the former Standard Oil Station and 605 Jackson Street, the former Phillips Filling Station, are still extant, but neither operates as a gas station today. One of the largest buildings in the downtown area was constructed solely for automobile sales and service. The four-story Adams Automobile and Supply Company, at 440 Locust Street, was constructed in 1915, and it was designed with every modern amenity. A full-page article in the June 24, 1916 Magazine Supplement to the Chillicothe Constitution was devoted to the Adams Automobile and Supply Company and the company’s new building.

This new and modern garage contains every modern device and convenience known to the automobile industry and there is room for hundreds of cars....In the new building, which is 70 x 112 feet, with four floors, is a ladies’ department, rest room, steam heated and an electrical elevator will convey the largest car, as well as patrons, to any floor of the building. As a result of the rise in automobile ownership, the construction of Highway 36, and the designation of Washington Avenue as a highway, commercial development began to expand out of the central business district along Washington Avenue, particularly to the south in the direction of Highway 36. Today, few dwellings are left on Washington Avenue and most of those that remain are used for commercial purposes.

Although a few factories and businesses in Chillicothe closed and some residents lost their jobs, the increased automobile traffic through the city kept the worst of the depression beyond Chillicothe’s boundaries, and the city’s population continued to grow at a steady rate. By 1930, almost 8000 people called Chillicothe home. Despite the hard times brought on by the depression and World War I, buildings continued to be constructed and remodeled in Chillicothe; business continued to flow through the city; and public improvements to the city continued to be implemented. Military and government-sponsored programs based in Chillicothe helped to bolster the city’s economy.

The hotel and entertainment businesses in Chillicothe weathered the financial turmoil caused by the depression and the war better than many other types of businesses. In 1929, the Leeper Hotel, two blocks north of the Strand, underwent a major renovation, and the building’s buff brick facade was replaced by red brick walls with stone ornamentation. Several years later, the Strand Hotel, which was originally constructed in 1920, was doing well enough to add a fifth floor to the four-story building. In 1935, after a fire destroyed the adjacent Dickinson Theatre, the Strand Hotel expanded again. The annex to the hotel contained additional hotel rooms, a banquet hall and a coffee shop.

Two new theatres opened in Chillicothe in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1931, the Masonic Temple Building was remodeled to create the Ritz Theatre and in 1949, the Ben Bolt Theatre, the city’s largest and most luxurious theatre was completed. Both of these buildings were demolished in the 1990s. In the mid-1930s and early 1940s, a number of government programs, including the Public Works Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Work Projects Administration kept many Chillicothians employed and helped the local economy. Local projects made possible through these programs included new and improved city park facilities, road grading and the construction of the Chillicothe National Guard Armory. The Armory Building, which was completed in 1940, is one of the only Art Deco commercial buildings in Chillicothe. A number of local businesses also benefited from a large Armed Forces contract. In 1942-43, the Chillicothe Business College, became a clerical training school for Army Air Force students. During the seven months that the training school was in operation, the Chillicothe Business College gymnasium and the Strand Hotel were converted to barracks to house the students.

The amenities offered to Chillicothe citizens continued to increase in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1937, a new hospital was constructed. The Chillicothe Municipal Hospital was built on the same site as the original St. Mary’s hospital, which Dr. H. M. Grace and Dr. A. J. Simpson had owned and operated since 1916. Dr. Grace and Dr. Simpson’s widow donated the hospital and grounds to the city and “a proposition to divert $35.000 from the emergency funds of the city light and water department to be used for the purpose of erecting and constructing a city hospital” carried by a six-to-one margin in a special election. Citywide garbage collection was also a welcome addition to the city’s services. The service helped to alleviate what was referred to as by the local newspaper as “deplorable sanitation conditions which exist in the city.” In 1940, the Chillicothe Chamber of Commerce initiated a campaign for a municipal airport. Five years later, the Chillicothe Municipal Airport began accepting airline traffic.

Chillicothe’s population, its economy and its boundaries continued to grow in the second half of the twentieth century. Although this growth has not been remarkable, it has been steady. In response to this growth, commercial development has continued to expand beyond the central business district. By the mid-1970’s, retail centers had been constructed on Highway 65 (Washington Street) to the north and south of downtown. Today, Washington Street is a major thoroughfare lined with all types of businesses and strip shopping centers. Despite the development of this commercial corridor, the downtown area has not been abandoned and clusters of intact pre-1952 buildings still exist throughout central business district. Of the 101 buildings in the central business district which were surveyed in 2001, only 10% had vacant storefronts. Furthermore, although the installation of metal covering over historic facades and the demolition of historic buildings for new development and surface parking lots has altered some of the downtown streetscapes, a few buildings have been sensitively rehabilitated and interest in preserving and restoring the historic character of downtown Chillicothe has increased in recent years.

Chronology of Notable Events

• 1821 Missouri becomes a state

• 1831 ca. First permanent settlers in the area

• 1833 Joseph Cox is the first to settle in what is Chillicothe township today

• 1837 Livingston County is created out of Carroll and Chariton counties.
  The town of Chillicothe is laid out and lots are put up for sale.

• 1838 Chillicothe had two buildings - a log house and a log courthouse

• 1839 Chillicothe is officially named the seat of Livingston County.
  The second courthouse, a two story brick building with a cupola, was constructed.

• 1843 The Grand River Chronicle, the first newspaper in Livingston County, began 
  publication.

• 1851 Chillicothe is incorporated as a town by the county court.

• 1855 Chillicothe is incorporated as a city by the state legislature.

• 1858 A branch of the State Bank of Missouri opened in Chillicothe.

• 1859 Plat for the City of Chillicothe officially filed.
  Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was completed in Livingston County.

• 1860 The Chillicothe Journal and the Constitution, the town’s second and third newspapers, began publication. 
  Chillicothe population - 994

• 1861-1865 Chillicothe under Federal control.

• 1864 The second Livingston County Courthouse was demolished.

• 1866 People’s Savings Bank opened.

• 1867 The Chillicothe to Omaha Railroad was constructed.
  Milbank Mills was established.

• 1869 The first city hall, a two story brick building, was constructed at a cost of $20,000.

• 1870 Chillicothe population, 3978.
  The Wabash Railroad (earlier called the Chillicothe and Brunswick) was completed 
  through Chillicothe.

• 1876 City Hall burned. A new City Hall was constructed on the corner of Calhoun and 
  Washington Streets.

• 1880 Chillicothe population - 4078.

• 1884 The Leeper Hotel was built

• 1885 Electricity came to Chillicothe
  Streetcars began running between the depots and up to the square.

• 1886 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad completed through Chillicothe.
  Telephone system established by L.J. and Louis Jarrett - 16 phones.
  Waterworks established by Comegy and Lewis.

• 1887 Chillicothe Constitution began publishing daily
  The State Industrial Home for Girls established in Chillicothe by an act of the 34th 
  General Assembly.

• 1888 Sisters of Mercy Hospital opened.

• 1889 Citizens National Bank founded.
  Marmaduke, the first cottage on the State Industrial Home campus was completed.

• 1890 Chillicothe population - 5717
  Chillicothe Normal School established.

• 1898 Maupin Commercial College established.

• 1900 Chillicothe population - 6905

• 1902 First automobile owned in Chillicothe by Dr. J. A. Simpson.
  1910 Chillicothe population, 6265

• 1911 A new city-owned light and power plant was completed.
  Chillicothe Normal School becomes Chillicothe Business College.
  The Cross-State Highway Association was formed
  Chillicothe Chamber of Commerce organized.

• 1914 Livingston County Courthouse (third) completed at a cost of $100,000.
  Chillicothe is dubbed the “Highway City” in The Blue Book , an annual publication 
  published by AAA.

• 1916 Federal Building and Post Office (now Livingston County Library) completed at a 
  cost of $180,000.

• 1920 Chillicothe population - 6772
  Strand Theatre, capacity 1000, completed.

• 1925 City Hall burned.

• 1926 A new City Hall was constructed at a cost of $80,000.

• 1927 Highway 36 was completed.

• 1928 The Tribune and the Constitution newspapers merged. 
  City swimming pool constructed.

• 1930 Chillicothe population - 8177

• 1934 Chillicothe Business College, enrollment 3000, becomes the world’s largest 
  institution devoted to business education.

• 1940 Armory, a W.P.A. project, was completed.
  Chillicothe population - 8012

• 1947 Chillicothe Airport opened.

• 1950 Chillicothe population - 8694.

• 1952 Chillicothe Business College closed.