Osage County

The county and its river carry the name of a people who remain a nation. The Osage call themselves Wazhazhe, the Middle Waters, and by the 17th century many lived along the Osage River in western Missouri. On November 10, 1808, at Fort Osage, then called Fort Clark, their chiefs ceded all land east of a line running due south from the fort, the cession this plaque dates to 1808. Later forced from Kansas into Indian Territory, the Osage Nation is a federally recognized tribe in Oklahoma with about 25,000 enrolled citizens.

What the plaque says

Osage County Named for the river on its west border, Osage County was organized, 1841. A seat of justice was centrally located the next year and named Linnville, later Linn, for Lewis F. Linn, Missouri's "Model Senator." J. W. Robinson gave land for the site. The Osage County area was first settled by French Canadians around 1805 before the Osage (French name for Wazhazhe Indians) ceded claims to the region, 1808. Their settlement, French Village, was near the confluence of the Osage and Missouri rivers. American pioneers were in Osage County by 1820 and the 1830's and 1840's brought a large German immigration. Westphalia, on a hill above Maries Creek, was founded by Westphalians, 1835. First German settlement in the county, it was partially laid out, 1838, by Father Helias, Jesuit missionary to central Missouri, who had headquarters there for a time. The St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Westphalia was built, 1848. Two more German Catholic settlements were made in the county by 1845; one at Rich Fountain by Bavarians, another at Loose Creek by Rhinelanders. (See other side) Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1958 Osage County (Continued from other side) Osage County, with fine valley farms, impressive Roman Catholic Churches, high wooded bluffs, lies in the Ozark foothills. Encompassing the rugged plateau between Osage and Gasconade rivers, the county is a grain, poultry, and dairy farming area with timber, clay, and limestone resources. By 1855 the Pacific Railroad (Mo. Pac.) ran along the Missouri in northern Osage County. Along the route is Bonnots Mill (first called Dauphine), laid out by Felix Bonnot, 1852, near the site of old French Village. Also on the route is Chamois, first settled, 1818. Named by Morgan Harbor, it was laid out by J. M. Shobe, 1856. Other towns founded in mid-1800's are Cooper Hill, Hope, and Koeltztown. On the Chicago, Rock Is., & Pac., built in 1904 in south Osage County, are Freeburg, Argyle, and Meta. Folk and Freedom date from late 1800's. History of German Catholic settlement in the county is told in manuscripts of Father Helias in Archives of Saint Louis Archdiocese. Nicholas Hesse, who lived in Westphalia, 1835-37, wrote of the pioneer period in his book "Western North America." Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1958

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lincoln University and the Soldiers' Memorial — 12 mi
  The school that Black soldiers of the 62nd and 65th U.S. Colored Infantry paid for out of army wages in 1866, now a land-grant university on its Jefferson City hill.
• Missouri State Capitol — 12 mi
  The 1917 capitol on the Jefferson City bluff, built after lightning burned its predecessor, with the State Museum downstairs and Thomas Hart Benton's mural of Missouri in the House Lounge.

More markers nearby

• Jefferson City — 13 mi
• Maries County — 19 mi