The story of Marion City - "the metropolis of the West" - is the longest and most exciting chapter in the life of William Muldrow. Muldrow lived in Marion County, and had dreams of making this area the hub of the nation.
Courier-Post Sesquicentennial Edition
Marion City - Muldrow's Colossal Failure
By JOHN LYNG
Courier-Post Staff Writer
The story of Marion City - "the metropolis of the West" - is the longest and
most exciting chapter in the life of William Muldrow. Muldrow lived in
Marion County, and had dreams of making this area the hub of the nation.
To understand Muldrow and how he became the founder of the colossal failure
of Marion City, one must take a look at some of his other schemes.
Muldrow was a founder of the first state-chartered college in Missouri -
Marion College; he invented the "prarie breaker," a plough that could deal
with the Western prairie land; he sank the first machine-drilled salt well
west of the Mississippi at Spalding Springs; and was the founder of four
"cities" in this area of Northeast Missouri.
He had idea after idea, made and lost fortunes, and started this area on a
course that could have made it the center point of the new Western lands.
Marion City was his masterpiece. His grandest scheme and his grandest
failure.
The site chosen for this new metropolis was six miles from Palmyra, a little
north of due east. The place had been a steamboat landing operated by a Dr.
Green. In earlier writings, such as the catalog of Marion College, it is
referred to as Greensport or Green's Landing.
The area looked highly unlikely as the site of a future great city. The
bottom country was three miles wide and subject to annual flood. It was
populated by "frogs, crawfish, and mosquitoes, with turtles in frequency and
water snakes galore."
However, Muldrow reasoned that St. Petersburg was built in a marsh and
Chicago upon a swamp, so the river did not seem to bother him.
He joined in partnership with [...]
... fee on all the bottom land around Green's Landing, and the area was
entered in the joint name of Muldrow and Gallaher.
The splendid City of Marion was laid off on a grand scale. It had ample lots,
wide streets and alleys, public squares, and several sites for churches, a
college, a female seminary, and an opera house. On paper it looked great.
Muldrow drew up all the best arguments for the planned city. He met all the
detractors head on. He turned one principal disadvantage of the site into an
advantage.
The city was to be located a a bend in the river. A slough ran a direct
course "behind" the city, up nearer to the bluff. During high water, the
slough would fill up, making the city an island.
Of the slough Muldrow said: "Now, gentlemen, this is but one of the many
fortunate features of the project. We have but to deepen the mouth of the
slough at the upper end and the river will cut a permanent channel. Then that
part of the stream will be spanned by draw bridges, as will indeed the
Mississippi itself, landings will be built along the west side of the city
too, and we will have a veritable island city. Nothing, gentlemen, could be
more ideal."
Thus, Muldrow planned steamboat navigation all around Marion City, making it
the complete port.
It was not long before others got in on the act. Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely and John
McKee, both from Marion College, began engaging heavily in land speculation.
They invested in Marion City, and in adjoining Shelby County forty miles west,
they laid out another metropolis they called New York. Near the upper
college, Muldrow laid out a third city, called Philadelphia. Here then were
to be two large cities in the West named for the ...
Maps. handbills, and other advertisements of these cities were sent back East
to potential investors. Muldrow and Ely had maps made of all the new
cities,with the Marion City map lithographed in four colors. Ads were placed
in newspapers throughout the country.
The first railroad ever surveyed in Missouri was begun. It was to begin at
Marion City and run west through "Railroad Street" in Philadelphia with ...
.. city. In 1835 the golden age arrived in Marion City. Carpenters worked
at an exorbitant $2 a day and laborers were paid as high as $1 per day.
Homes, stores, a Presbyterian Church, a hotel, a sawmill, storage buildings
and warehouses were all under construction.
As the work on the railroad progressed, Muldrow and Ely left for the East to
sell lots in Marion City. They returned with...
.. miles. Muldrow and Ely were satirized in jokes and cartoons. They were
cursed as swindlers and denounced for perpetrating the Marion City "fraud."
The proprietors stood by their city, nevertheless. Muldrow let it be known
that the city would not be abandoned. John McKee circulated a document
stating the May, 1836 flood was unprecedented, and that protection could be
had from other such floods. The planners said they would lend all assistance
within their power to the suffering Marion City.
Ely, Muldrow, and the others offered to cancel notes or give refunds to those
who wished to leave, but added that the city would continue.
The places of those who left were soon filled by others. Several substantial
buildings went up, including the ever-present companions on the American
frontier, a church and a tavern. A Presbyterian Church was completed, as was
the tavern and hotel of Charles C. Morgan. The mercantile houses of Haines &
Darrow and Rufus Bartlett were also constructed. Steamers landed regularly at
the new warehouse, and work resumed on the railroad and levee.
For a time the city appeared to prosper. It became a very healthy village -
it was never a city.
It was a noted shipping point, with hacks running back and forth to Palmyra.
Barnabas B. King operated a ferry across the river in 1839, followed the next
year by the Hansacker brothers. In 1845 a large pork packing firm was
established by Thompson and Heiskell.
In 1845, Muldrow began a new road to Palmyra, running half a mile up river
from the warehouse, then across the bottom to the bluff, It served the double
purpose of levee and road.
On November 6, 1845, the ...
But the whole place began to fall into decay. Building began to be moved
elsewhere. Things began to rot generally. The old warehouse burned in 1861.
The railroad and the levee road were never ...
