In 1835 a committee was appointed to select a spot for the county seat of Stoddard County. The spot chosen was on fifty acres donated by Absalom Bailey, after holding court in a local home, a small brick courthouse was constructed along with a log jail. In 1856, money was set aside to build a new courthouse. Bloomfield was incorporated in 1835 and quickly became one of the most important communities west of the Mississippi River (The Bloomfield Vindicator October 26, 1977).
Bloomfield Courthouse
The first courthouse in Stoddard County was built in 1835, it was a small brick house located on the present site of the courthouse. A log jail house was erected nearby. In 1856, $10,000 was set aside for a new courthouse to built under the supervision of Solomon G. Kitchen and built by Daniel Kitchen. This courthouse was burned in the fall of 1864. It is unclear who burned the courthouse. Union authorities said the courthouse was burned by Confederate General Sterling Price's men when they entered the town in September 1864. Members of the 8th Missouri Confederate Cavalry entered Bloomfield to chase Union general, John McNeil out of the town. Three companies of the 8th Missouri were from Stoddard County, many of those men lived in and around Bloomfield. It seems plausible that those men would not burn down the courthouse located in a town many of them were from. Confederate sources blame McNeil for torching the courthouse on his evacuation of the town. No known photographs of the original courthouse made of brick or the later one built in 1856, are known to exist. According to Goodspeed's History of Southeast Missouri, the records housed in the courthouse were saved by Maj. H. H. Bedford, a former Missouri State Guard officer from Bloomfield (Goodspeed 358).
This building was built in 1870 under the supervision of Col. William G. Phelan.
The courthouse square in Bloomfield was designed after "Lancaster Square," a layout style modeled after that of Lancaster, Pennsylvania where four roads joined a common square around the courthouse with one road on each side of the square (The Bloomfield Vindicator, October 26, 1977).
N. Prairie St.
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Just after the turn of the century, Bloomfield began to host Chautauqua where Missouri and Viola streets intersected. Bloomfield was the hose to many special programs such as a stock show, parades, and even the occasional speaker such as William Jennings Bryan who visited Bloomfield to promote his populist ideas (Bloomfield Vindicator, October 26, 1977).
Looking north from the courthouse.
Looking south from Missouri St. and North Prairie intersection.
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Bloomfield Vindicator Photo from October 26, 1977 issue.
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Northeast Corner of Courthouse Square, 1900.
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Looking north on North Prairie St.
Bloomfield Fire, 1912
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Poor Farm
A building was erected in 1921 on the county farm to be used to, "shelter and care for the poor and unfortunate." The building was a two story main center building with one story wings.
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Poor Farm Resident. Circa 1920sArnold Collection"The kicker regretted to learn last month of the mental derrangement of Rufus J. Cate, a good Stoddard county farmer, of Pike township, who was taken to the Farmington asylum. Mr. Cate was an active Socialist of much influence, but "the system" is no respecter of person, and is keeping the asylums, prisons, and poor houses crowded."
-From the Scott County Kicker, January 8, 1916 |
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Poor Farm ResidentsArnold Collection |
Stoddard County Poor Farm, 1924 to 1928
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Shawnee and Spring St.
President Truman in Bloomfield
(Arnold Collection)
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Bloomfield Bottling Company
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Looking east from the school, January 1903
Bloomfield Churches
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Parsonage of the Bloomfield Methodist Episcopal Church
Bloomfield School
The first school in Bloomfield was located in the Methodist Church until 1853 when Solomon G. Kitchin, Orson Bartlett, Henry Miller, D.B. Miller, and Michael Wilson formed the Bloomfield Educational Society. Education halted during most of the war but started back up as a private school until 1871 when the public school system was established. In 1886 a frame house was constructed for $3,000.
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Missouri Street (J Hwy) looking east, school to the right.
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Evans Pottery
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The Scoundrel Jim Jones and the Murder of City Marshal George Greer
On April 26, 1904, a very drunk Jim Jones was raising cane on the streets of Bloomfield, Missouri. He sought Ezra Boyles, a relative of his girlfriend, for some unknown reason and openly threatened to whip him if he found him. Boyles heard the commotion while he was in the Indian Restaurant and went outside to see what had Jones in such a fuss. Jones went at Boyles but Boyles managed to get the upper hand and won the fight. Hearing the commotion, town marshal George Greer and night watchman, Henry Bolin, took Jones to the city jail. Jones was soon released on bond, but refused to leave the marshal, instead choosing to pick a fight with him. Eventually Marshal Greer convinced Jones to go home and sleep it off. Jones went to a friends house and retrieved a shotgun and walked uptown to challenge the marshal. When he began to take aim (Greer was speaking with friends in an alleyway entrance some distance from Jones), the shotgun accidentally discharged missing Greer. Jones took off for his home under fire from the marshal and night watchman. When Greer and Bolin approached Jones' residence, old man Wash Jones (father to Jim), answered the door. Wash made the marshal promise that he wouldn’t shoot his son, which he did. Greer called for Jim to come out and when he didn’t answer Greer entered the front door and was met by Jim who raised his pistol and shot Greer on the left side of the chest. The marshal stumbled backward and into the front yard, “He has killed me,” Greer said, before dropping dead. Bolin forced his way in the house and fired his first shot, but he missed because the old man had shoved him off balance. The second shot grazed Jones’s left arm. At that point, Jones threw up his hands and surrendered. Bolin took him to jail.
Marshal George Greer was buried in Walker Cemetery. His widow, Lizzie, moved in with family in Des Moines, Iowa. It took her twenty-three years to get up enough courage to return to Bloomfield and visit his grave. In May, 1904, Jones was sentenced to 20 years in jail for the murder of Marshal Greer, but never served a day of that sentence when the case was throw out during an appeal on a technicality.
More on Jim Jones
In 1905, Jones was sentenced to three years in the state penitentiary for assault. After an evening of drinking, he went to see his girlfriend, Nettie Boyles at the Barret Hotel in Bloomfield where she worked as a cook. The manager asked him to leave since the girls were busy, which Jones appeared to do at first, only to return a short time later where he tried to get the attention of Nettie through an open window. Nettie threw hot water on him which angered Jones and he hurled a brick at her striking her in the hip. He served six months for assault and was released on good behavior.
In June 1907, Jones was again arrested in Bloomfield, this time for grand larceny, he plead guilty and was sentenced to two years in the state pen, but only served 6 months.
In January of 1916, Jones again went on a drinking binge and intended to cause trouble. He walked into the Miller Hardware store where he bought a .32 caliber Colt DA revolver. He grabbed a box of shells on his way out, which much to his later surprise, turned out to be rimfire cartridges, not the centerfire cartridges required to fire the Colt. Jones then walked to Maupin’s Restaurant next to the Bank, this is where he was when City Marshal McAlister witnessed the drunken state of Jones and escorted him outside and told Jones to go home. The two men traveled about twenty feet and were directly in front of the bank when Jones pulled his revolver and attempted to shoot the marshal. When the cartridges didn’t go off, Marshal McAlister pulled his own revolver and shot Jones twice, killing him.
Jones was buried in the Bloomfield Cemetery, he was 38 years old. “Jim Jones when sober was an honest, upright citizen, of a most worthy family. His parents were well thought of in this city where everyone knows them. Not a word could be spoken against the family or Jim personally when sober, but when intoxicated he was quarrelsome and pugnacious.” Bloomfield Vindicator, January 21, 1916.
In June 1907, Jones was again arrested in Bloomfield, this time for grand larceny, he plead guilty and was sentenced to two years in the state pen, but only served 6 months.
In January of 1916, Jones again went on a drinking binge and intended to cause trouble. He walked into the Miller Hardware store where he bought a .32 caliber Colt DA revolver. He grabbed a box of shells on his way out, which much to his later surprise, turned out to be rimfire cartridges, not the centerfire cartridges required to fire the Colt. Jones then walked to Maupin’s Restaurant next to the Bank, this is where he was when City Marshal McAlister witnessed the drunken state of Jones and escorted him outside and told Jones to go home. The two men traveled about twenty feet and were directly in front of the bank when Jones pulled his revolver and attempted to shoot the marshal. When the cartridges didn’t go off, Marshal McAlister pulled his own revolver and shot Jones twice, killing him.
Jones was buried in the Bloomfield Cemetery, he was 38 years old. “Jim Jones when sober was an honest, upright citizen, of a most worthy family. His parents were well thought of in this city where everyone knows them. Not a word could be spoken against the family or Jim personally when sober, but when intoxicated he was quarrelsome and pugnacious.” Bloomfield Vindicator, January 21, 1916.