MOUNTAIN GROVE

A short history of Mountain Grove

A post office called Mountain Grove has been in operation since 1875. The community owes its present name to a stand of trees near the original elevated town site.

In 1841 a settlement was built on land east of Mountain Grove near a spring in a grove of hickory timber. A post office was established in Hickory Spring, the original name of Mountain Grove, in 1851, but was removed in 1861.

On March 9, 1862, there was a skirmish in the town during the American Civil War. Company "B" of Phelps' Regiment of the Missouri Volunteers under command of Captain Josephus G. Rich was notified via a scout of a Confederate party located at Fox Creek "some 10 or 15 miles from the Mountain Store." Rich, one Lieutenant Flint, and 30 federal troops marched from Marshfield. The company was reinforced with around 30 troops from the Missouri Home Guard at "Lick Skillet". Later on, the company "Formed a junction on the head of Clark's Creek, at Todd's...", being bolstered by around 50 cavalry men of the 4th Regiment from Lebanon. On Sunday, March 9th, they would march from Todd's to the Mountain Grove Seminary, and encounter a Confederate force amounting somewhere between 35 and 40. In a later report from Rich to Colonel Phelps, he stated that the Confederate force suffered 13 killed, 7 wounded, and the rest taken prisoner, excluding two who may have fled. Among the prisoners were Colonel Campbell and Captain Holt, the latter of which was described in Rich's report as "badly wounded." Rich reported that the Union forces suffered no casualties, though it is likely that Rich's forces suffered 10 killed, and 2 wounded. Captain Rich would later, on March 12th, draft a report to Colonel John S. Phelps of the events mentioned.

A new post office was named for Judge Robert W. Fyan, a prominent figure in early county history. In 1859, a general store was built at the crossroads about one mile west of Hickory Spring. The Fyan post office's name was changed to Mountain Grove, with reference to its location on a ridge in a grove of trees, in 1878.

This became known as the "mountain store, mountain grove or the mountain" due to its elevation of 1,525 feet (465 m). One of the most famous incidents in Mountain Grove occurred in the middle of May 1883, when what was called a "nipping frost" caused every tree, sapling and shrub in the community of Fyan and the Fyan depot to be cut clean as from an axe. Thus, the joining of Mountain Grove and adjoining Fyan occurred. In June, the name of the depot was changed to Mountain Grove. The town reapplied for a charter in 1886, changed its boundaries and held its first election.

Buildings within or near the city listed on the National Register of Historic Places include the Administration Building, Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station, Mountain Grove Bandstand, and Mountain Grove City Hall.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Mountain Grove, Missouri, revision 1381206029 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.