Shiloh Museum of Ozark History - Scenes of Boone County: Pioneers

James O. and Mary Snelson Nicholson, early pioneers,
about 1900.
J.W. Nicholson/Boone County Library Collection (S-87-38-7)

Senator James Townsend “Town” Hopper, sponsor of legislation to create Boone County, early 1900s.
Jessalee Nash/Boone County Library Collection
(S-87-127-69)

Ed Pendley house under construction, near Hill Top, 1913.
Steve Erwin Collection (S-97-144-50)

In the 1830s and 1840s, homesteaders looking for free land came by river and military road to the area then known as Carroll County. They built log cabins, hunted and farmed, established post offices, and started businesses such as general stores and a bear-grease rendering plant (for lamp oil).

After the strife of the Civil War, Union and Confederate forces fought once again, but this time for positions of leadership. James Townsend Hopper, a former Union soldier, was elected to the state Senate. There he sponsored legislation to create a new county, since local government was controlled by ex-Confederates. In April 1869, with the help of a Republican legislature, land from the east side of Carroll County was taken and Boone County was born.

Scenes of Boone County Home

Scenes of Boone County Gallery

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