In southeast Missouri
there are many small towns which have sprung up, which nearly
all of us living in the district have heard of, but which very
few of us know anything about. Many people do not even know
about their hometowns. I was one of those, and until I started
looking in books, interviewing old settlers and interviewing
people who had heard tales of Chaffee, I just knew that I was
living in a small town in southeastern Missouri with a
population of about 3,049-a town in which nothing much ever
happened. But I found out that even the most insignificant towns
have histories-that people come to them for various reasons, and
meet either success or failure. Chaffee is one of those towns
and I would like to tell you about it.
Chaffee is situated in
Kelso Township in the northern part of Scott County. It is
Approximately twelve miles southeast of Cape Girardeau and about
twenty-eight miles north of Sikeston. Where the town of Chaffee
is now standing was once the bed of the Mississippi River, but
the river broke through the Commerce Gorge changing its course
to the present location and leaving the Chaffee area one of
fertile soil. The town is 338 feet above sea level. (1)
The land on which Chaffee
is located was bought from the government in the early part of
the 19th century by a man named Mr. Cox and was known as the
"Old Cox Farm." The land adjoining this tract was
entered about the same time by Mr.Wylie. Both pieces of land
have played an important part in the development of the town.
Most of the "Old Cox
Farm" was left uncultivated until1890 when John Witt, a
farmer from Sikeston, bought the land and moved his family
there.
The town was started by a
real estate company, which was made up of influential men from
St. Louis and Effingham, Illinois.
These men bought several hundred acres of land from Mr.
Witt and, in 1905, sent surveyors to the site to make plans for
the laying out of a town.
The weather conditions
that year made the surveyors task a difficult one. Mr. Witt had
promised to turn the land over to them by July 15. However, due
to incessant rains, he did not get his wheat threshed by that
time so the work was delayed. On August 15 they went into his
fields and began tearing the wheat out. If the rain had
continued, Mr. Witt would have lost most of his wheat crop. (2)
About 150 acres of this
land purchased by the real estate company was given to the
Frisco Railroad to make a terminal for the River Division. This
was considered an ideal location for a terminal because it was
approximately halfway between St. Louis and Memphis. Cape
Girardeau was at first selected for the division point, but
there was not enough room there for the needed expansion of the
railroad, so the Frisco authorities welcomed the change. When
the town was laid out and shops and the terminal moved to
Chaffee the Frisco operated a "dummy" train between
Cape Girardeau and Chaffee to carry employees back and forth.
His was done for about two years to give them an opportunity to
secure dwellings in the new town. (3)
It has been generally
agreed by the citizens of Chaffee that the town was named in
honor of General Adna Chaffee who served during the
Spanish-American War. (4)
However, this was disputed by Mr. J. Claude Wylie. Mr.
Wylie said that it was named for a Mr. Chaffee who was a
prominent real estate man in St. Louis. (5)
Chaffee was laid out with
a circle park at the intersection of Third Street and Yoakum
Avenue. There were five streets running north and south, and
another has been added since then. There are eleven avenues
running east and west. All of these except two were named for
railroad officials and outstanding real estate men. Heeb Avenue
was named in honor of John Heeb, a pioneer farmer, and Helen
Avenue was named in honor of Helen Gould, the daughter of a
railroad magnate. Another avenue was planned, but it was never
laid out. This was to be called "Wylie Avenue" after
the owner of the land that adjoined the "Old Cox
Farm." (6)
When Chaffee was first
begun there was only one tree in the town. This was on the
corner of Parker Avenue and Third Street. Soon, however, trees
were set up in Circle Park and along the most important streets
by Mr. F. W. Loy, head of the real estate company in Chaffee and
early resident of the town. (7)
Before any buildings were
erected, tents were scattered around the town and men working on
the rai1road lived in coalhouses. (8) The only houses standing
in the town were farmhouses, two of which are still standing
today. (9)
The first building
erected after the founding of Chaffee was a frame building on
Yoakum Avenue. It was used as an office building for the real
estate company and also for a post office. (10)
The first residence in
Chaffee, now owned by Mr. George Biernert, was located on the
southeast corner of Main Street and Elliott Avenue. Mr. A. T.
Price, contractor and carpenter built the house. This same Mr.
Price was the father of "Chaffee" Price, the first
child born in the new town. (11 )
The most prominent
merchants of Chaffee's early period were Mr. Graham, Mr.
Clifton, Robert Wright, Elwood Alley, H. F. Stubbs, H. A. Osman,
and Robert W. Finley. Mr.
Graham and Mr. Clifton were the first two men to have a grocery
store in the town. In
addition to selling hardware the Alley Wright firm also
handled hay, corn, and coal, later adding farm machinery.
Shortly after their store was established Mr. H. F.
Stubbs set up a similar one. Stubbs Hardware Store, now run by
Mr. Stubbs son Clyde, is the only one in town at the present
time. (12)
Mr. Osman was in the
grocery business, although later he owned a variety store. But
the variety store was in operation for only a short time. Mr.
Finley was a druggist, and is sti11 in business. The first meat
market in town was owned by Mr. William Guethle and his sons.
Their market was operated in a tent, but was later moved to a
frame building on Yoakum. (13)
Among the first places of
business opened were saloons. Two of the oldest saloonkeepers
were J. V. Bandy and J. J. Astor. Mr. Bandy later sold his
saloon to Levi Bechel who was operating it when the Eighteenth
Amendment went into effect.
Jack Black also owned a saloon and a shooting gallery in
the town. ( 14 )
On August 6, 1906,
citizens of Chaffee filed the following petition with James
McPheeters, Clerk of the County Court of Scott County:
"We, the undersigned taxable citizens of the Town of
Chaffee, Scott County, Missouri, do hereby respectfully petition
you Honorable Court that we are desirous of incorporating said
Town of Chaffee into a city of the 4th class, being entitled
thereto under the law for Government of Cities, to organize as
such, having a population of between 500 and 3,000
people." This petition was signed by most of
the citizens of the town. In the same petition they asked for
the appointment of the following men to act as city officials
until a general election could be provided for by law:
Robert Wright, Mayor; Frank Wilkinson, Marshall and Collector;
and August Heeb, C. D. Rice, J. D. Foucht, Otto Stiehl, and L.
E. Lentz, Aldermen. This petition was granted on December
8, 1909. It became a 3rdClass City in 1922. (15)
During the period in the
early history of Chaffee there was a great deal of lawlessness
in the town. A 1ot of gambling went on, and a secret civic
organization hired a private detective from St. Louis to find
out what he could about this. Also, one morning the good
citizens of Chaffee woke up to find a man hanging from a tree on
the hill east of town. No one knew who he was, who hanged
him, or whey he still had his hat on. They never found,
although it has been rumored that the Ku Klux Klan was
responsible. (16)
Along with the
development of Chaffee came the introduction of telephones in
the various business establishments. By 1907 about 70 of
75 of the residences also had telephones. The first
telephone office was located in a four-room frame building on
Wright Avenue and the old crank system of ringing was
used.(17).
The first doctors in town
were Dr. Lucas, Dr. McCabe, and Dr. Cordrey. In addition
to practicing medicine, Dr. Cordrey had a drug store. In 1908
Dr. G. A. Sample came to Chaffee, and is still practicing here.
Dr. Frost was the first dentist.(18) At the present
time there are two medical doctors, one chiropractor, and two
dentists in Chaffee.
There is some dispute as
to who owned the first car in the town. According to
Druggist Finley it was owned by Dr. Lucas,(19) but most of
the pioneer citizens say that it was Dr. Cordery.
Dr. Sample says that he was the first man to own a new
car. This was of a 1911 model Ford, and, according
to Dr. Sample, was capable of making at least 25 miles an hour
if a good road could be found.(20)
Chaffee's post office was
moved to the town from Rockview, a small village about two miles
north of Chaffee.(21) The first postmaster in the
town was a Norwegian by the name of Carl Norseen.
Mr. Norseen was succeeded by Elwood Alley. On April
14, 1914, Claude Wylie took charge of the post office and it was
due to his influence that free mail delivery was
established. Mr. Wylie established three mail routes
in Chaffee, but only one of these was in operation when he left
the office. At the present time there are three mail
routes. (22)
As the population of
Chaffee grew there came a demand for schools and
churches. The first church service in the town was
held by the Baptists in a tent. They had just built
a small church on the Wylie farm and when Chaffee was
estab1ished, this church was placed on rollers and moved to
town. The first pastor of the Baptist Church was T.
A. Bowman, although he was not a regular pastor. In
1925, while Rev. J.W. Cunningham was pastor, the old frame
building was tom down and a large brick bui1ding erected in its
place. This building is in use at the present
time and is located on the southwest corner of Parker Avenue and
Third Street. The present pastor is W.L. Keeney.
(24)
The Methodist also began church work in
Chaffee at a very early date, also holding Sunday School and
church in the old wheat granary and over the Alley Wright Store.
After a revival service was conducted, the congregation decided
to build a church. They built a frame building to which
additions have been made from time to time. Perhaps the most
prominent of Methodist leaders was Rev. A. S. H. Baldridge.
Besides being active in the Chaffee church, Mr. Baldridge
established the Methodist Church at Rockview in 1912. The
present Methodist Church is on the northeast corner of Parker
Avenue and Third Street; Rev. Archie N. Holt if now
pastor.(25)
The Catholic Church was established at
an ear1y date. In 1907 the Catholics of the community applied to
Archbishop Glennon of St. Louis for a resident pastor and the
Archbishop asked the Vincentian Fathers of Cape Girardeau to
attend to the matter. In June 1907, Father Anthony Rohling
became the resident priest. This same Father Rohling was
active a few years later in establishing a cemetery for Chaffee.
In 1918, the Catholics established a grade school and in the
following year a high school was added. The high school,
however, has since been discontinued.(26) In 1941,
the Catholic Church burned, leaving them to hold their services
in the basement of the school. Plans are being made to erect a
new church in the future with an approximate cost of $120,000.
(27) The priest of the Catholic Church at the
present time is Father Gerathy.(28)
The Presbyterians organized a
congregation in 1916 and held services in the Christian Church.
In January 1921, they bought ground at Third Street and Davidson
Avenue and built the church now owned by the Christian
denomination.
The Christian Church was organized
several years before the Presbyterian Church, but they did not
have a regular pastor. They built a small stone church on the
corner of Wright Avenue and Third Street. In 1924
they bought the Presbyterian Church on the corner of Davidson
Avenue and Third Street. Rev. U.S. Childs acts as
pastor there now.(30)
In 1921 a Lutheran Church was organized
under the influence of Mr. Gus Thomas, Mr. Himmelspoch, and Mr.
Hutchison, holding their first services in the City
Hall. A frame building was erected and dedicated in
November 1921. The first pastor was Rev. Schulke. In
1922 the Lutherans established a grade school in the same
building, with the pastor also serving as teacher. This
grade school is no longer in existence.(31) The
Lutheran Church is located on the corner of Gray Avenue and
Second Street, with Rev. G.B. Seboldt as pastor.
(32)
The first school was established in
Chaffee in 1905 and a two-room frame building on Gray
Avenue. However, the first successful school year began in
September 1907. School was held in the wheat granary
and in a frame building across the street from there. There was
an enrollment of one hundred thirty four in the first grade that
year. In the following year this increased to one hundred
fifty seven. This number was so large that the pupils had to be
divided into two groups, one group attending school in the
morning and the other in the afternoon. There were no
library books, references, charts or blackboards that first year
and portions of the walls were painted to serve the purpose of
blackboards. In the following years, Miss Finley and Miss
Hicks, two of the teachers, secured public subscriptions to
begin the first school library .(33)
In 1909 a brick building with four-rooms
and an office was erected on the corner of Fourth Street and
Elliott Avenue. In 1910 a one-room frame school was
built and used for the primary grades for three
years. In 1912 an addition was built to the brick
school which made an eight-room school. In 1916 a
three-story brick high school was built on the corner of Yoakum
Avenue and Fifth Street. In 1921 a high school
gymnasium was built on the campus by public donations.(34)
By this time nearly forty percent of the
population was enrolled in the public schools and more room had
to be provided. Therefore, at its monthly meeting in
May 1922, the Chaffee Board of Education passed a resolution
creating the Chaffee Junior and Senior High Schools.
The new arrangement called for the services of several more
teachers and additional room, so the Board of Education
authorized and addition to the school. When it was
finished the high school was a twelve-room building.
On June 24, 1922, the cornerstone was laid. In the
same year a Commercial Department was established and in 1931 a
Horne Economics Department was added. Due to the
influence of Superintendent Charles Scott, a night football
stadium was erected in 1930. (35)
A tornado destroyed the old gymnasium,
and in 1937, the construction of a new one was
completed. This gymnasium is very modern and
contains four classrooms. (36)
In 1940 work was completed on a Manual
Arts building which was constructed for the use of the
Vocational Horne Economics Department, the Commercial
Department, and General Shop Work. It was also
designed with the idea of sometime adding Vocational Agriculture
if and when a department of this type was needed.
The Manual Arts Building was a project of the Works Progress
Administration, the plans being furnished by the State
Department of Education. (37)
Judge J.W. Heeb was the first president
of the Board of Education and has continued to be a member of
the Board almost constantly since that
time.(38) Mr. Fred Lewallen is Superintendent
of the Public Schools of Chaffee.
The first bank in Chaffee was organized
in 1906 and was known as the Chaffee State Bank. It
was located on the corner of Main Street and Yoakum
Avenue. The bank was first opened for business on
May 31, 1906, at which time it had a capital stock of
$10,000. F.W. Loy was its first president and John
Rotherheber its first cashier. A short time later
Adolphe and Paul Reissaus took charge ofthe bank.
On October 26, 1910 the stockholders met
and voted to increase the capital from $10,000 to
$25,000. Application was made in November of that
year to change the Chaffee State Bank into a First National
Bank.
The First National Bank of Chaffee was
authorized to operate on February 7, 1911. This was
the first National Bank in Scott County . This bank
continued in operation until November 1931.
The German-American Bank was organized
and opened for business in January 1911. In 1914
this bank was changed to the Chaffee Trust Company, remaining
under that name until 1917 when it was changed for the third
time to the Security Savings Bank. The Security
Savings Bank was closed by the Board of Directors and gave
voluntary liquidation on November 15,1925. (39)
After the First National Bank closed its
doors, Chaffee went for several years without a
bank. But immediately after the sale of the assets
of the closed First National Bank the business men and citizens
of the town started a drive to secure another bank for Chaffee.
This was accomplished in 1938 when the Bank of Chaffee was
organized. At the present time, the Bank of Chaffee
is the only one in town and has a capital of $25,000 (40)
As Chaffee progressed, industries of
various kinds began to develop. In 1907 William
Pfefferkorn started a lumber company near the edge of the
city. It was organized as the Chaffee Lumber Company
in 1909 and was incorporated in 1911. The Chaffee
Lumber Company is still one of the most important businesses of
Chaffee and is now managed by Paul Pfefferkorn. ( 41 )
A similar establishment was organized by
Mr. S.A. Ruch in 1907. This was the Hoop
Mill. For many years this mill employed a large
number of the citizens of Chaffee, and, at one time, made an
average of 6,000 hoops a day. But unlike the Chaffee
Lumber Company, this company is no longer in existence. (42)
Probably two of the most important years
in the history of Chaffee were 1910 and 1911. It was
in 1910 that the first mayor and council were elected by the
citizens of the town. Until that time appointed
officials had been in control of the city
government. J.M. Massengill was elected as first
mayor and the following men were chosen for aldermen: J. V.
Bandy and Grant Martin first ward, Armor George and Joseph
Flynn, second ward; James Chewning and F.H. Dierssen, third
ward; and Levi Bechel and L.S. McConchie, fourth
ward. Other officers were; H.C. Hester, city clerk;
W.E. Massey, chief of po1ice; George Tomlinson, po1ice judge;
S.A. Townes, collector; Jobn Rotbgenheber, treasurer; and John
Brennan, Jr., city attorney. (43)
The new officers began their work by
voting for the establishment of waterworks in
Chaffee. The men started digging for water, and one
man, X.0. Ray, who was later to become mayor of the town, got
the idea that they might strike oil. Oil was never
found, but Chaffee is now unique in the fact that she has a
2,200 feet well. Under Mr. Massengill, too, the
first electric streetlights were put up in town. (44)
In the same year the first and only
weekly paper of Chaffee was estab1ished. This paper
was established at Oran, Missouri, April15, 1910, as the
"Oran Leader." Because of lack of
patronage there it was moved to Chaffee on August 26, 1910,
where its name was changed to the "Chaffee
Signal." The first owner and editor of this
paper published every Thursday was Mr. C. E.
Mattocks. Ralph Mattocks has been the editor of the
paper since his father's death in 1924. (45)
In March 1911, a meeting of citizens was
called for the purpose of establishing a company to make ice and
handle storage. The name which was selected for the
new firm was the "Chaffee Ice and Storage Company" and
Mr. J. S. Wahl was elected president. Today this
firm performs invaluable services to the citizens of the
town. (46)
Chaffee also had its first airdrome
theater in 1911. In May of that year, Mr. Grant
Martin and Mr. Clifton erected the building and purchased a new
machine. A similar theater was established on Yoakum
Avenue a few years later, but neither of these theaters are in
operation now. The present theater is called the
"Paramount" and is owned by Mrs. Donna Horstman and
Mrs. Paul Montgomery. (47)
Several new laws were initiated by the
mayor and the council in 1911. One of these was the
"Curfew Law." Mr. Mattocks, editor of the
Chaffee Signal, endorsed this law heartily. The
following paragraph is taken from an article written and
published in the paper by Mr. Mattocks on March 10,
1911. "One oft he crying needs of this town is
a curfew law. There are entirely too many
temptations in this city for any boy under 18 years of age to
face and Come out of it unscathed. Every father of
boys in Chaffee should get busy and vote for the man who
supports the curfew law." (48)
In June 1911, under the influence of
General Foreman Harvey, The Shop Boys organized a volunteer fire
department which was called the Frisco Fire Fighters No. 1
(49) In February 1937, the city purchased a $4,250
fire truck, so that the volunteer department would have modern
equipment with which to work. (50)
The most disastrous fire occurred in the
winter of 1913. In this fire the Astor Building,
located on the northwest corner of Yoakum Avenue and Main Street
was destroyed. The three-story brick Astor Building
housed a saloon, a barber shop, a hotel, the post office, a drug
store, and the light plant. This fire caused the city to draw up
a contract with the Missouri Utilities Company, and Chaffee
still secures its power from this source. (51 )
The burned were not replaced until1925
when a large brick building was built in the same place
previously occupied by the old Astor Building. The
present building houses the Byrd Hotel, the Stovall Store, and
various other business establishments. (52)
In April 1922, the men of the 140th
Infantry Band planned and contracted for equipment to set up a
radio station in Chaffee. They issued one hundred
membership cards to the Radio club of Chaffee. These
cards were to admit members to the armory at any radio concert
during 1922. The first concert was given on June 1,
1922. Later on in the year Glenn Packwood, the
Assistant-Cashier of the Security Bank, located a station on the
rear of his residence lot on the corner of Second Street and
Davidson Avenue. Daily news was received and placed
on the window of the bank. (53)
The most important event in 1922 and
probably one of the most outstanding in the history of Chaffee
was the great Frisco Railway Strike. Several months
preceding the strike, all available efforts were made to prevent
its occurrence. However, on July 1, 1922, almost all
of shop men employed in the Frisco yards walked out.
On July 5, the stationery firemen and others also walked
out. Two coaches of state troops from Poplar Bluff
were shipped into the Frisco yards to maintain
order. They began patrolling the yards on the
morning after their arrival. Some of them mounted
machine-guns on coal chutes, the roundhouse, boxcars, and on the
hill overlooking the town. The citizens of Chaffee
objected to these troops and circulated a petition for their
withdrawal on the grounds that they were not needed. (54)
Several reports of disorders in the town
were published in some of the St. Louis newspapers.
This irritated the strikers more than ever. Several
letters were written from Chaffee to the editors of the
newspapers. One of these was written by Dr. W. 0.
Finney. Dr . Finney wrote; "I am requested to
write to you to inform you that the statement recently published
in the St. Louis papers regarding strike disorders at Chaffee,
Missouri, or in this vicinity, are entirely erroneous and base
fabrications. This city and vicinity are in the
midst of a peaceful strike, free from any disorders.
I am authorized by prominent citizens to guarantee the rai1road
expense for a reporter to come to this city and investigate the
supposed disorders. Will you please publish a
correction or this letter, in order to correct the wrong
impression created." (55)
But in spite of Dr. Finney' s assertion,
and also the stories of other city officials, there was some
disorder in the town. A man was murdered, and
everyone else in town was afraid it would happen
again. Evenings found almost no activity on the
streets because all the people were at home with doors and
windows barred. (56)
After many months, the strike finally
ended and has undoubtedly had a great influence on labor
conditions in Chaffee since 1922 This strike was
accompanied by the removal of many families from town, some of
them being among the very best of citizens. Since
1922, there have been a few minor strikes, but none with far
reaching effects.
During the summer of 1925, the most
disastrous fire in the history of Chaffee occurred.
It started by a bonfire behind the City Grocery, a store on
Yoakum Avenue owned by George Grace. The wind was
high and the flames spread rapidly. All but one or
two of the buildings were frame so it did not take long for the
fire to get completely beyond control of the local fire
department. The fire departments from nearby towns
were called upon for help, but arrived too late to be of much
assistance. Buildings on both the north and south
sides of the street were burned to the ground. It
took some time to completely rebuild the destroyed business
establishments, but today nearly all of the stores have been
replaced with brick buildings. (57)
During the next few years the
development of the town was rapid. In a
comparatively short time three factories were built.
They were; The Bumper Factory, under the management of Mr. Payne
of St. Louis, The Premier Manufacturing Company, under the
management of Mr. L. J. Heyman; and the National Garment Factory
under the management of Leo Rothbar. (58) At the present time
this last one, now under the name of the Patton Garment Company,
is the only one still in existence. This company
manufactures men and boys' polo shirts and ernploys only about
twenty people. It is under the management of Mr. Carl J.
Rosenquist. (59)
The old Premier Manufacturing Company
building was taken over on June 13, 1935, when Mr. Oscar
Bukstein opened up the Chaffee Manufacturing Company, which
manufactured men's' trousers. The factory was
started with twenty-nine workers and sixteen machines. (60) In
1939, the company was much in need of a new building to expand
its production, and enough bonds could not be sold to provide
for a new building. It was rumored that the factory
would have to be moved to St. Louis. After this
rumor spread, the people of Chaffee really got behind the sale
of the bonds, and soon the money was raised for a new factory.
(61) Today the Chaffee Manufacturing Company is one of the
outstanding businesses of the town, ernploying two hundred
eighty-eight workers with an annual payroll of over a half
million dollars.
In 1937, the old Bumper Factory building
was used as a basis for the large new shoe factory building that
was to house a branch factory of the Collins-Morris Shoe
Company. However, the Collins-Morris Factory did not
last long in Chaffee, and on November 10, 1939 a new company
took its place. This was the Sports Specialty Shoe
Company, with the Vice-President, Mr. L. H. Ward, being in
charge of the Chaffee factory. Today, Sports
Specialty ernploys 450 workers and has a very high yearly
payroll. (63)
A few years later, Mr. Ward's wife
started a baby shoe factory in collaboration with several out of
town businessmen. This factory was at first started
in the Ward basement, but it has since been moved to more
spacious quarters. The company is known as the Jay-Allen
Ward Company and employs approximately thirty workers. (64)
In the winter of 1938, work was begun on
a swimming pool for Chaffee. This pool had long been
desired by most of the citizens of the town and had its chief
champion in Mayor Oscar T. Honey. The pool was an
elevated one modeled after one at Grundy Center, Ohio.
Opened in the summer of 1940 the pool is one of the most
beautiful and modern in Southeast Missouri. (65)
Although Chaffee is not in any sense a
large city, it is a thriving town. Besides the
railroad industry and four factories, Chaffee has three lumber
companies and many stores and other places of
business. The Frisco Railroad and two bus lines
connect it with other sections of the state and
country. In 1948, the yearly payroll was over
$1,500,000. New houses and stores are springing up
all over town, and recently 447 dial telephones were installed
to replace those using the old crank system. Even if
Chaffee doesn't claim to be a "City of beautiful homes,
schools, and churches" as many of the Southeastern Missouri
towns do, she does have her share of these and can look forward
to a prosperous future.