Historical Marker
Hickory County
Hickory County · Missouri
The reservoir the plaque saw begun in 1957 was finished in 1961 for $14,946,784, one of the Corps of Engineers' flood-control lakes in the Osage River basin. Water storage began on October 29, 1961, and the lake reached its normal level on June 15, 1963, covering 7,820 acres of Hickory and Polk counties with 113 miles of shoreline; in flood it can spread to 16,100 acres. Route 254 crosses the dam. Muskies have been stocked since 1966, raised from eggs at the Lost Valley hatchery near Warsaw.
What the plaque says
Hickory County Here in the Ozark Highland of Missouri, Hickory County was organized 1845, and named for U.S. President Andrew Jackson, known as "Old Hickory." Lying in the Osage land cession of 1808, the county area was early known to French trappers. From 1819 to 1832, a Kickapoo Indian reservation was west of Pomme de Terre (Fr. Potato) River in the county. Settlers from Tenn., and Ky., came in the late 1820's. Hermitage, the centrally located county seat, on the Pomme de Terre, was laid out 1846-47, and named for Andrew Jackson's home in Tenn. South of town, 3 miles, in a beautiful scenic area, construction began in 1957 on Pomme de Terre Reservoir and Dam, flood control and recreation project. Through west Hickory County ran the route of the famed 1858-1861 Butterfield Overland Mail. In the county there was a relay and meal station at Quincy and a relay station near Elkton. During the Civil War, the county suffered troop movement, skirmishes, and guerrilla raids. The only railroad in the county, the K.C., Osceola & So. (Frisco) was built through Weaubleau, 1898. (See other side) Hickory County (Continued from other side) Encompassing 410 square miles of rough, hilly timber land and high, rolling prairies, Hickory County is a poultry, livestock, and grain producer. Lead and zinc are found in the county and zinc was mined in the 1890's near Pittsburg and Elkton. Weaubleau, site of an early settlement in southwest Hickory County, was laid out 1880, and first called Haren. Early school, Weaubleau Christian Institute, opened 1871 there. Among other communities and towns are Wheatland, laid out 1869, five miles west of the county seat, Hermitage; Cross Timbers, laid out 1871; Preston, laid out 1857; Pittsburg, settled in 1840's; Avery, settled in 1838; Elkton, settled in 1830's, and Quincy, laid out 1848, at site of county's first post office known as Judy's Gap for blacksmith Samuel Judy. At Bone Spring, near Avery on Pomme de Terre River, numerous mastodon bones were found in late 1830's and early 1840's. One skeleton put together by St. Louisan Albert Koch was sold, 1844, to the British Museum. An Indian quarry and mounds and campsites have been found in the county.
Where it stands
37.94082, -93.31560 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Harry S Truman State Park — 24 miA 1983 park on a peninsula in Truman Lake, the Osage River reservoir first planned as Kaysinger Bluff, with a marina, beach and glades found in no other state park.
- Bennett Spring State Park — 29 miMore than 100 million gallons a day out of a Niangua valley spring, a branch stocked with rainbow trout every day of the season, and the mill valley and CCC lodge that came first.