Cassville 175th Anniversary Historical Tribute, Part 1

August 13, 2020
Sheila Harris
Since my family immigrated here from Iowa when I was 12 years old, Barry County has bewitched me. Its near-mystical
environment of hills, hollows, nooks, crannies and bubbling streams have enveloped me and provided a haven for my sometimes-reclusive nature.
It's been only recently that I discovered the fascinating history of Barry County and Cassville, prompted by my
first visit to George Washington Carver National Monument last winter. Since then, I’ve been caught up in learning about the people who trod this land before us. If it’s not being done, I would love to see local history taught in Barry County school districts. We sit on a trove from a colorful (and, at times, dark) past that many people, especially newcomers
to the area, are unaware of. Sadly, when history is lost, it has a way of repeating itself.
Following is Part 1 of an overview of Cassville’s history, with information drawn primarily from Senator Emory Melton’s “The First 150 Years in Cassville,” as well as from other sources - many found on the Barry County Museum website at barrycomuseum. org. As always, many thanks go to Jeremiah Buntin at the museum.
I suspect an attraction to the topography in Barry County prompted the original pioneers – mostly from
Tennessee and Kentucky - to settle here, much as I have been attracted and my father before me. One early pioneer
resident referred to southwest Missouri as the “Land of Six Bulls,” which makes no sense unless you know that “Bulls” was his pronunciation of “Boils,” an alternate word for “Springs.”
James and Josiah Keet (some of the earliest pioneers of Barry County) first found their way to the area in the
early 1800s and established a trading post known as Keetsville, where a community soon sprang up. The location is now known as Washburn. Keetsville was the nearest place to do business for settlers in the Cassville area, until they established a commercial center of their own in 1845.
Cassville’s first small mercantile business, and later the first courthouse, was maintained for a time in the home
of one of its first residents, William Kerr. His house was located on the south side of 7th Street, west of Flat Creek,
across from the LeCompte lumber building.
One of the early pioneers to Cassville was Jacob Hawk (1828 - 1922), whose family moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas,
from Tennessee, then northward to Washburn, then to Cassville in 1845. As a young man, Hawk left
Cassville to participate in the California Gold Rush, but returned in time to fight for the Union in the Civil War, after
which he operated a stage line between Springfield and Fayetteville. He is also noted in historical records as being one of the founders of the Christian Church in Cassville.
Another early resident, Littleberry Mason, owned a goodly amount of property on the east side of Flat Creek, also on the south side of 7th Street, southward to the junction of Highways 76, 248 and 112. The Mason house was purported to be a mansion by the standards of the day. However, the Masons’ attempts to provide hospitality to both Union and Confederate
troops during the Civil War proved to be the demise of their house, which was destroyed by fire in retaliation for their refusal to “take sides.”
In 1845, 142 lots covering 50 acres were platted and purchased at auction by prospective residents and business
owners in the new town of Cassville, named after U.S. Michigan Senator Lewis Cass, an 1812 War veteran and popular public figure at the time. The town was incorporated in 1847.
Cassville quickly flourished. Businesses and log cabin residences quickly sprang up around the original log and hewed-plank courthouse constructed in 1847, after the county seat of Barry County was relocated from Mount Pleasant (west
of Pierce City) to McDowell (then known as McDonald) to Cassville, after redistricting of the county. The log courthouse was replaced with a two-story brick structure in 1858; both buildings were situated in the in the center of the square, in the
same location as the current courthouse.
All seemed to bode well for Cassville, with its idyllic location along Flat Creek and the main road between Springfield and Fayetteville, Arkansas. Cassville was served by a local mail route between Springfield and Fort Smith, Arkansas, called “The Underland Mail,” which contracted with the federal government in 1855. A telegraph wire was also established along
the same road, and the name “Wire Road” (later, "Old Wire Road") was given to it.
The same route was adopted by the newly-formed Butterfield Overland Mail Service in 1858, when John Butterfield established an ambitious 2,700-mile route to carry both passengers and mail between Tipton, Missouri, and the west coast.
The road entered Barry County in the northeast corner, near Osa, continued southwesterly to McDowell, then ran alongside Flat Creek into Cassville. In a diary entry, a Union foot soldier declared that Wire Road crossed Flat Creek
13 times between McDowell and Cassville, surely a challenge for both horses and men. From Cassville, the Wire Road continued southwest through Washburn, then on into Arkansas.
On the original Butterfield Coach line, stops were made for the changing of horses at Smith Station, at Wise Spring
near Osa, in the northeast corner of the county. Another stop was made at Crouch Station, a few miles north of
Cassville on the county road which continues north where Y Highway ends. Markers denoting Smith and Crouch
Stations remain for those with eyes sharp enough to spot them.
The stage coach’s final stop in Barry County was at Harbin Station, a mile south of Washburn. No evidence remains
of this final stop, although the Old Wire Road can still be traced. South of Washburn, it runs past Rock Springs Baptist Church, down what is now Farm Road 1050 into Arkansas. It’s a beautiful journey, but not for the faint-hearted. In the road's splendid isolation which runs directly along the edge of a creek, it's easy to imagine those who once traveled it.
By April of 1861, Cassville was the largest town in Barry County, with some 300 residents. The only other notable
towns at the time were Keetsville (Washburn), McDonald (McDowell) and Gadfly (Corsicana).
The rumblings of war, however, were on the horizon, rumblings which didn’t bode well for Cassville.
(To be continued in Part 2)
Sheila Harris
Since my family immigrated here from Iowa when I was 12 years old, Barry County has bewitched me. Its near-mystical
environment of hills, hollows, nooks, crannies and bubbling streams have enveloped me and provided a haven for my sometimes-reclusive nature.
It's been only recently that I discovered the fascinating history of Barry County and Cassville, prompted by my
first visit to George Washington Carver National Monument last winter. Since then, I’ve been caught up in learning about the people who trod this land before us. If it’s not being done, I would love to see local history taught in Barry County school districts. We sit on a trove from a colorful (and, at times, dark) past that many people, especially newcomers
to the area, are unaware of. Sadly, when history is lost, it has a way of repeating itself.
Following is Part 1 of an overview of Cassville’s history, with information drawn primarily from Senator Emory Melton’s “The First 150 Years in Cassville,” as well as from other sources - many found on the Barry County Museum website at barrycomuseum. org. As always, many thanks go to Jeremiah Buntin at the museum.
I suspect an attraction to the topography in Barry County prompted the original pioneers – mostly from
Tennessee and Kentucky - to settle here, much as I have been attracted and my father before me. One early pioneer
resident referred to southwest Missouri as the “Land of Six Bulls,” which makes no sense unless you know that “Bulls” was his pronunciation of “Boils,” an alternate word for “Springs.”
James and Josiah Keet (some of the earliest pioneers of Barry County) first found their way to the area in the
early 1800s and established a trading post known as Keetsville, where a community soon sprang up. The location is now known as Washburn. Keetsville was the nearest place to do business for settlers in the Cassville area, until they established a commercial center of their own in 1845.
Cassville’s first small mercantile business, and later the first courthouse, was maintained for a time in the home
of one of its first residents, William Kerr. His house was located on the south side of 7th Street, west of Flat Creek,
across from the LeCompte lumber building.
One of the early pioneers to Cassville was Jacob Hawk (1828 - 1922), whose family moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas,
from Tennessee, then northward to Washburn, then to Cassville in 1845. As a young man, Hawk left
Cassville to participate in the California Gold Rush, but returned in time to fight for the Union in the Civil War, after
which he operated a stage line between Springfield and Fayetteville. He is also noted in historical records as being one of the founders of the Christian Church in Cassville.
Another early resident, Littleberry Mason, owned a goodly amount of property on the east side of Flat Creek, also on the south side of 7th Street, southward to the junction of Highways 76, 248 and 112. The Mason house was purported to be a mansion by the standards of the day. However, the Masons’ attempts to provide hospitality to both Union and Confederate
troops during the Civil War proved to be the demise of their house, which was destroyed by fire in retaliation for their refusal to “take sides.”
In 1845, 142 lots covering 50 acres were platted and purchased at auction by prospective residents and business
owners in the new town of Cassville, named after U.S. Michigan Senator Lewis Cass, an 1812 War veteran and popular public figure at the time. The town was incorporated in 1847.
Cassville quickly flourished. Businesses and log cabin residences quickly sprang up around the original log and hewed-plank courthouse constructed in 1847, after the county seat of Barry County was relocated from Mount Pleasant (west
of Pierce City) to McDowell (then known as McDonald) to Cassville, after redistricting of the county. The log courthouse was replaced with a two-story brick structure in 1858; both buildings were situated in the in the center of the square, in the
same location as the current courthouse.
All seemed to bode well for Cassville, with its idyllic location along Flat Creek and the main road between Springfield and Fayetteville, Arkansas. Cassville was served by a local mail route between Springfield and Fort Smith, Arkansas, called “The Underland Mail,” which contracted with the federal government in 1855. A telegraph wire was also established along
the same road, and the name “Wire Road” (later, "Old Wire Road") was given to it.
The same route was adopted by the newly-formed Butterfield Overland Mail Service in 1858, when John Butterfield established an ambitious 2,700-mile route to carry both passengers and mail between Tipton, Missouri, and the west coast.
The road entered Barry County in the northeast corner, near Osa, continued southwesterly to McDowell, then ran alongside Flat Creek into Cassville. In a diary entry, a Union foot soldier declared that Wire Road crossed Flat Creek
13 times between McDowell and Cassville, surely a challenge for both horses and men. From Cassville, the Wire Road continued southwest through Washburn, then on into Arkansas.
On the original Butterfield Coach line, stops were made for the changing of horses at Smith Station, at Wise Spring
near Osa, in the northeast corner of the county. Another stop was made at Crouch Station, a few miles north of
Cassville on the county road which continues north where Y Highway ends. Markers denoting Smith and Crouch
Stations remain for those with eyes sharp enough to spot them.
The stage coach’s final stop in Barry County was at Harbin Station, a mile south of Washburn. No evidence remains
of this final stop, although the Old Wire Road can still be traced. South of Washburn, it runs past Rock Springs Baptist Church, down what is now Farm Road 1050 into Arkansas. It’s a beautiful journey, but not for the faint-hearted. In the road's splendid isolation which runs directly along the edge of a creek, it's easy to imagine those who once traveled it.
By April of 1861, Cassville was the largest town in Barry County, with some 300 residents. The only other notable
towns at the time were Keetsville (Washburn), McDonald (McDowell) and Gadfly (Corsicana).
The rumblings of war, however, were on the horizon, rumblings which didn’t bode well for Cassville.
(To be continued in Part 2)