Owensville
| Listing
#1
Name: JESSE LOEB Title: MAYOR Phone Number: 573-437-2812 |
Listing
#2
Name: GARY WENKEL Title: ALDERMAN Phone Number: 573-437-2812 |
| Listing
#3
Name: HAROLD HIBLER Title: ALDERMAN Phone Number: 573-437-2812 |
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#4
Name: CHRIS CANTRELL Title: ALDERMAN Phone Number: 573-437-2812 |
| Listing
#5
Name: MARY DIESTELKAMP Title: ALDERMAN Phone Number: 573-437-2812 |
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#6
Name:BRIDGET HENGSTENBERG Title: CITY CLERK Phone Number: 573-437-2812 |
| Listing
#7
Name: JEFF LIMBERG Title: PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR Phone Number: 573-437-2812 |
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#8
Name: Title: Phone Number: |
Demographics
Year Organized1911
Population...2,500 (2000 Census)
Top Employers...Von Hoffmann Graphics, Grimco Signs, Jahabow Industries, Jefferson Products, Laclede Christy Clay Products, Lyn-Flex West Co., Marconi Data Systems Inc., Toolroom Inc., Super Wal-Mart, Walk Easy Mfg.
Class of City...4th
Schools...Owensville Public Schools
Industrial Park...Owensville Industrial Park and West Side Industrial Park
Attractions...Public Swimming Pool, Tennis Courts, Parks and Golf Course, 15 Mile to river access
Transportation Access...Highways 19 & 28, Missouri Pacific Railroad
Economic Developer...Jim Decker, 573-437-2812
Planning and Zoning...Jeff Limberg, 573-437-2812
History
By 1840, the territory now known as Gasconade County had been settled, and a small community was taking shape at the crossroads of a St. Louis to Springfield trail and an ox cart path used to transport iron ore from Maramec Iron Works near St. James to riverboat docks at Hermann. At the crossroads a general store, blacksmith shop and a few other buildings were in fact the beginnings of a city to be called Owensville. It was probably a summer day in 1847 when the store owner, Francis Owen, and the blacksmith, Edward Luster, met for a game of horseshoes. Luster, who was good at pitching horseshoes as at making them, won the game according to legend. Whether or not the two had set out, as the legend suggests, to name the settlement after the winner is conjecture. But Luster won the game and, noting that "Owensville sounds better than Lusterville", named the wide spot in the road after Owens. A little known fact is that what is now Buschmann's Park was land set aside on which the County Court House was to be built. A post office was soon to follow and the community thrived. By the turn of the century the village had grown and was a small but thriving business center. Agriculture products and clay now being mined and hauled by some of the men who had guided ox teams and iron ore from St. James to Hermann were among the first industries and provided considerable business for the railroad that snaked its way through the area. A corn cob pipe factory provided industrial employment for awhile and then a shoe factory opened and by the 1930's was a mainstay of the city economy that was to play an important part. Agriculture, clay and shoes were the economic mainstays of the community until after World War II, when the industrial community began to diversify. Plastics fabrication and commercial printing firms settled in Owensville in the late 1960's and by 1979 had provided the city with a strong and growing economy.
Resources
Owensville Chamber of Commerce website
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