|
 |
 |
| Quick
Links | Contact
Us |
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Swamps
to Timber, Railroads, Residents
and Fertile Farm Land.
The Beginnings—
Chilletecaux, Butler, Kennett
Kennett was an indian village
long before the county was settled,
and as the Indians thought it
a desirable centralizing point,
so did the early settlers. They
located and built small log cabins
near its present site, until the
pioneers dignified it by calling
it Chilletecaux — for a
Delaware Indian chief living here
at the time.
In 1845, Dunklin County was organized
and Chilletecaux was chosen as
the county seat. Later the town's
name was changed to Butler, as
citizens thought Chilletecaux
too long and hard a name for the
county seat. Butler proved unsatisfactory
also, as mail for Butler town
and Butler County were continually
getting mix, causing delays and
annoyance. In 1851, it was renamed
Kennett for St. Louis Mayor L.
M. Kennett.
Trappers to Timbermen
to Township
Early settlers, hunters and trappers,
found the flat, alluvial plain
abundant with timber — tupelo
gum, bald cypress, sycamore, oak,
elm, hickory, ash and cottonwood.
They were followed by others who
came to harvest the forest.
Kennett grew as a trade and legal
center — and a noted cotton,
soybean and livestock farming
area. The first circuit court
met in 1846, in a 10' x 12' round
pole hut, scarcely high enough
for them to stand in. Jurors A.
D. Bridges and Holtzhouser helped
lay the "puncheon" slab
floor. H. H. Bedford, one of the
lawyers in attendance, assisted
in lining the wall with coarse
cotton fabric to protect the lawyers'
papers from the wind which whistled
through the openings between the
poles. Slabs with peg legs were
the only seats, except for a few
chairs borrowed from citizens.
The shelter also served as the
first school and church. By 1847,
a 40' square, one and one half
story courthouse of hewn gum logs
replaced the pole hut.
Independent State
of Dunklin
During the Civil War in 1862,
Dunklin County adopted a resolution
to secede from the Union. It became
known as the "Independent
State of Dunklin." Union
troops occupied Kennett briefly
in1863, and guerilla raiders roamed
the area constantly.
Kennett was growlingly steadily
and had good prospects when the
war broke out. This left it, as
it did the remainder of the country,
in a very deplorable condition;
business had been suspended and
a heap of ashes marked the remains
of what had once been the courthouse.
In short, the town had been destroyed
and had to be rebuilt.
Recovery began with the coming
of the Little River Valley and
Arkansas Rail Road (Cotton Belt)
to Kennett in 1892. In 1893, Kennett
boasted of newly-built brick shops
on the south side of the downtown
square, four attractive churches
and a $9,000 public school building
with over 400 students enrolled.
Swamps to Farms
That same year effective land
reclamation began when the state
organized county drainage districts
and levees on the St. Francis
River. Bottomland forests were
cleared and a massive grid of
north-south canals were constructed
to drain the swamps. Today drainage
of 300,000 of Dunklin's 347,524
acres, makes Little River Drainage
District, the largest drainage
system in the US. Drainage Districts.
The Little River Drainage District's
nearly 1,000 miles of canals and
over 300 miles of levees turned
southeast Missouri swamps into
fertile farms of soybeans, wheat,
corn, rice, and cotton. The conversion
was almost total. Fragments of
swamp and bottomland forest are
preserved in Dunklin County, including
Ben Cash Memorial State Wildlife
Area at Kennett; Hornersville
Swamp State Wildlife Area and
Warbler Woods State Natural Area
at Hornersville; Cochran's Opening
at Cardwell; Taylor's Slough and
Kinamore Slough near New Madrid.
These remaining cypress-tupelo
swamps, open marsh, flooded timber
and row crops all add to the ability
to attract waterfowl.
The rich Dunklin County soil makes
it the state's top cotton producer
— and ranks it 10th nationally
in the number of cotton bales
harvested. It also produces more
watermelon and cantaloupe than
any other Missouri county.
Dunklin County
Facts:
Dunklin County was organized February
14, 1845, from that portion of
Stoddard County south of the parallel
of 36 30". In 1853 a strip
nine miles wide was added to this
territory on the north. The county
was named in honor of Daniel Dunklin,
Governor of Missouri from 1832
to 1836.
The county, nearly fifty miles
long, embraces an area of 540
square miles. It is the shape
of the letter R -- 11 miles wide
at its northern extremity, five
miles near the middle and 22 miles
along its southern boundary. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kennett Chamber
of Commerce
P.O. Box 61 • 1601 First Street
Kennett, MO 63857 |
866.848.5828 • 573.888.5828
Fax: 573.888.9802
Email: info@kennettmo.com |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
©2007 Kennett Chamber
of Commerce | Website Designed by The
Cooper Franchise & 3
Degree Media, Inc.
Photography Compliments of Charles Jolliff, Kennett, MO. |
|
|
