Caledonia, Missouri – Stepping Back in Time

Nestled in the serene Bellevue Valley of Washington County, Missouri, lies the quaint village of Caledonia, a place where time seems to stand still. This small town, with its rich history and well-preserved architecture, has earned the distinction of being a National Historic District. As you stroll through its streets, you’ll be transported back to the 19th century, where the houses, streetscapes, and landscapes remain largely unchanged, a testament to the vision and craftsmanship of its early settlers.

The Bellevue Valley: A Pioneer Settlement

The story of Caledonia begins in 1798, when emigrants from Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia began to settle in the Bellevue Valley. The area was heavily forested, but the fertile land attracted farmers, primarily of Scotch-Irish descent. These pioneers transformed the landscape, clearing the forests to cultivate crops and raise livestock. The valley’s economy thrived on agriculture, with livestock, hay, and small grains as the primary products. The nearby mining and metalworking industries provided additional employment opportunities, markets for agricultural goods, and affordable iron and lead products. The abundance of pine and hardwoods in the area also supported a thriving timber industry, with residents supplying wood products to other communities.

By 1803, following the Louisiana Purchase, a second wave of settlers, predominantly Presbyterian Scotch-Irish, arrived from North Carolina. Among them was Robert Sloan, who, along with others, sought to establish a legitimate claim to land before the December 1803 deadline, after which Spanish grant claims would no longer be honored by the American government. Sloan built his home on the site where the present-day Presbyterian Church stands, marking the beginning of a strong religious presence in the community.

In 1807, another wave of Scotch-Irish emigrants from North Carolina arrived, further solidifying the area’s cultural identity. Residents actively encouraged others to settle in the valley, contributing to its growth and development. Methodist church members also acquired land north of the future townsite, and both Presbyterians and Methodists constructed log churches that served their congregations for generations before relocating to the "town."

The Birth of Caledonia

The land that would become Caledonia was originally part of the Miles Goforth Spanish Land Grant. In approximately 1812, Goforth sold a portion of his land to William Buford, a Virginian who constructed a home in 1816 that still stands in Caledonia today.

By 1817, a small cluster of businesses and residences had emerged near the banks of Goose Creek. These included Fergus Sloan’s blacksmith shop, Joshua Morrison’s distillery, and the store of Alexander Craighead and Andrew Henry. Andrew Henry was a prominent figure in Missouri history, having been associated with William H. Ashley in the Rocky Mountain fur trade. Henry had arrived in Ste. Genevieve from southeastern Pennsylvania in 1804 and married into a prominent Creole family. He was a founding partner of the original American Fur Company in 1808 and a principal in the 1809-1812 expedition to the Upper Missouri River. During the War of 1812, he served as a Major, second in command to Ashley of the Sixth Missouri Regiment from Washington County.

In 1818, Miles Goforth sold the remainder of his Spanish Land Grant claim to Alexander Craighead, a 26-year-old Scotch-Irish entrepreneur. Craighead laid out the town of Caledonia, naming it after Scotland (Caledonia is Latin for Scotland), and sold lots for $1.50 to $5.00 in 1819.

Craighead became the first postmaster when a post office was established in September. The first two businesses were Tom Sloan’s Blacksmith Shop and Fergus Sloan’s Brewery. However, the brewery was short-lived due to protests from the Methodists. Caledonia quickly became the first official village in the Bellevue Valley and the foremost town in the St. Francois Mountains. The oldest property in the historic district, the Craighead-Henry house and store, likely predates the town’s founding in 1818 and is located on College Street.

Industry and Enterprise

The families of Eversole and Peery, Virginians who became pioneer entrepreneurs of the Bellevue Valley, played a significant role in the area’s economic development. In addition to farming, they established stores, built mills, and constructed the Springfield Furnace between Caledonia and Potosi in 1823. The partners in the Springfield Furnace were Andrew Peery, Jacob Eversole, and Martin Ruggles, an early emigrant to the valley. Peery and Ruggles provided the capital, while Eversole, an engineer, built the plant. The trio also erected a grist and sawmill a few miles downstream from the furnace, which they soon sold to Andrew Hunter and his son John, who operated it for many years.

Martin Ruggles, originally from Massachusetts, possessed a Spanish land grant and the crucial entrepreneurial qualities of education, talent, ambition, and wealth. He served as the first trustee of the Methodist Church property, an elder of Concord Presbyterian Church, and the Master of the Masonic Lodge. By 1840, he had become a money lender and owned substantial real estate holdings.

The Springfield Furnace, built on the bank of Furnace Creek, was the first attempt in Missouri to smelt iron ore. Initially known as the Eversol, Peery, and Ruggles Iron Furnace, it processed ore from Olaer Creek and Iron Mountain. The furnace’s success stemmed from its owners’ business acumen, marketing their products as far away as St. Louis. They offered a wide range of goods, including bar iron, custom castings, fireplace backs, brine kettles, mill iron, lead ore wagon boxes, lead molds, steamboat furnace grates, windowsills, sugar mill rollers, steam engine cylinders and pipes, and domestic holloware such as pots, kettles, skillets, and ovens. They also secured a government contract to produce cannonballs during the Blackhawk War of 1832, making Springfield Furnace the first Missouri ironworks to produce and market such a diverse range of products.

The furnace complex also provided various services, including lumber sawing, tool sharpening and repair, horseshoeing, wheel hub making, and wagon repair. The furnace’s reliance on charcoal led to the development of a subsidiary charcoal-burning industry.

The partners also established a general merchandise store that sold meat, dairy products, salt, groceries, textiles, hardware, shoes, boots, gloves, sewing materials, and medicines. It became the largest and best-stocked store in the Bellevue Valley, providing jobs and injecting much-needed cash into the local economy. Between 1828 and 1830, John Peery acquired the works, and it became known as Peery’s Furnace. In later years, it was called the Springfield Iron Furnace and continued to operate until 1842.

The Ruggles, Peery, Eversole, and Hunter families, along with their relatives, were instrumental in building Caledonia and ensuring its prosperity.

Landmarks and Lore

In 1824, Jacob Fischer built the Stage Stop Inn on present-day Main Street, where stagecoaches would arrive, allowing passengers to disembark for a stay. The inn initially had twelve rooms and a dirt floor basement. Separate quarters were provided for slaves in the back of the house. In the late 1840s, underground tunnels connected the inn to the Jane Thompson house to the south, the Ruggles house to the north, and extended under present-day State Highway 21, exiting near a nearby creek. Local lore suggests that these tunnels were used by the families to move between buildings and to work in the fields. Some accounts claim that the tunnels also served as part of the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, the building was used as a temporary hospital for Union soldiers wounded in the Battle of Pilot Knob.

Over the years, the building was updated and became the residence of the Crenshaw and Ramsey families. Today, the restored three-story building houses the Wine Cottage Bed & Breakfast and the Twelve Mile Creek Emporium, where visitors can enjoy meals, craft beers, and wine, and shop for primitive home decor. The building, located at 128 S State Highway 21, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A two-room school was built in Caledonia in the 1830s, reflecting the community’s commitment to education.

In 1848, Jane Thompson, a single woman, built a beautiful Greek Revival style home on Main Street to serve as her residence and store. Thompson had come west with family members from Virginia in 1826 and settled in Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. In 1831, she was asked to come to Caledonia after the death of Andrew Peery to care for his orphaned daughters, Margaret and Malinda.

Thompson managed the girls’ estate and, in the 1830s, bought the store of James White, which she incorporated into her new home in 1848. The house was designed with the store in mind, with the south downstairs rooms dedicated to business. By 1860, Thompson owned 525 acres of land, livestock, equipment, and five slaves.

Thompson and the Peery sisters lived in the house, and none of them ever married. Thompson managed other estates and acted as an agent for professional traders and speculators. Her old house, located at 307 Main Street, is now a private residence.

Elijah Starr Ruggles and Jane Alexander Thompson, the only two merchants enumerated in the 1850 Bellevue Township census, built the "twin" Greek Revival houses on Main Street, the finest in the town.

Ruggles, heir to his father’s land and fortune, built his stately house around 1849. However, in 1853, he and his family moved to California. James S. Evans, from whom Ruggles had bought the lot, reacquired the property. Evans and his family occupied the house until 1910, after which it was sold to banker W. J. Dent. Today, the Ruggles-Evans-Dent House, a two-and-a-half-story structure located at 116 S State Hwy 21, is home to the Old Caledonian Bed & Breakfast and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1852, a new Methodist Church was built south of the present-day church.

In 1854, William G. Eversole, son of Jacob Eversole, built a Georgian-style house at Main Street and Webster Road. The two-and-a-half-story home, characteristic of eighteenth-century Georgian-plan houses in Virginia and Carolina, once stood behind a spacious farm. Eversole owned 688 acres, 210 of which were improved, with stock and equipment valued at $9,000. He also owned five slaves, and a slave house still stands behind his historic home. Today, the building houses Miss Molly’s Boutique, selling antiques, vintage items, furniture, and home decor.

In 1864, the St. Louis Conference of the Methodist Church began construction on the Bellevue Collegiate Institute on College Street. The coeducational school opened in 1867 and accepted students from grammar school to a baccalaureate degree. Despite its small size, the school attracted teachers from across the country. However, it closed in 1902, and the unused building was razed in 1952.

Incorporation and Reconstruction

Caledonia was incorporated in 1870, becoming the smallest incorporated town in Missouri.

In 1872, a new brick Presbyterian Church was completed at College and Henry Streets, replacing the old church that had burned down. The church, a blend of Neoclassical and Gothic Revival styles, is now the oldest organized Presbyterian congregation west of the Mississippi River. The original Presbyterian Cemetery remains where the original church stood.

Caledonia’s population peaked at 236 in 1880. The town boasted four general stores, a hardware store, a stagecoach inn used as a hospital during the Civil War, the Rocky Hollow Cheese Factory, Harvey & Casey Flouring Mill, tanneries, and a blacksmith shop.

In 1909, a devastating fire destroyed several buildings on the east side of Main Street. The fire swept away everything from the corner of Henry Street south across Alexander Street and up to the Methodist Church.

In the aftermath of the fire, seven new commercial structures were built in a similar style, replacing the old gable-frame-and-white-paint look of the 19th century. The town acquired a concrete block machine, and the new buildings were constructed with concrete blocks, covered with decoratively stamped sheet metal, and featuring large windows.

The first buildings constructed were the Caledonia Bank, Benton Sinclair’s general store, and Stewart McSpaden’s Golden Rule Store. Subsequently, four smaller business buildings were interspersed, matching the same style and general design.

A new Methodist Church was built across the street from the Golden Rule Store. The Romanesque-style church still holds services today.

Stewart McSpaden’s Golden Rule Store, now the Old Village Mercantile, is the only business in town to survive time intact. The store features 600 varieties of old-fashioned candy, fudge, a coffee house & smoothie bar, an antique gallery, gifts, homemade premium ice cream, and old-fashioned bottle sodas. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and its interior is one of the best examples of an "old-fashioned" general store.

The Masonic Lodge was built in 1919 at the intersection of Main and Webster Road, replacing a former lodge that had burned down. The original Masonic Lodge, the 12th organized in Missouri, was organized in 1825 and is the oldest lodge in Missouri still operating under its original charter.

The Conoco Service Station, built in 1930, is an example of the roadside corporate Colonial Revival style typical of the 1920s and 1930s.

Caledonia Today

Today, the Caledonia Historic District encompasses 33 buildings in the central business district and surrounding residential sections of Caledonia, primarily on Main and College Streets. These buildings, established between 1818 and 1936, include 21 dwellings, two churches, a lodge, a school, and eight commercial structures. Many old homes and buildings have been lovingly restored and now serve as antique shops or restaurants.

Caledonia today conveys an old-fashioned country dignity, as well as a sense of rural prosperity and civility. The population of Caledonia is about 130. In addition to its historic buildings, shops, and bed & breakfast venues, the town sponsors numerous events throughout the year.

Caledonia is located 13 miles south of Potosi on Highway 21.

As Thomas Flanders noted in preparation for the National Register listing in 1992, "Most obvious to the visitor perhaps is that it remains ‘unspoiled.’ Not only is it free of modern franchise glitz and roadside ‘conveniences,’ but it retains in its streets, lots, dwellings and public buildings, its barns, gardens, fences, walls, yards, and walks, the imprint of its history. Still evident in its landscape is the intention of its founders that it be spacious, rational, enlightened, and Protestant Christian."

Also See:

Lost Landmarks & Vanished Sites
Missouri Ghost Towns
Missouri Ghost Towns & Forts Photo Gallery
Missouri Main Page

Sources:

Caledonia, Missouri
Caledonia Historic District Nomination
Missouri Historic Towns
Paranormal Task Force
Wikipedia

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