268 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI ionr general stores iu the tovm and about fifty other business institutions, but no factories of any considerable importance. There are three banks and the town is supplied with electric lights. The Union American Lead Company owns and has operated mines in the vicinity of the town, but the company has suspended operations for some time. Among the impor- tant interests of Fredericktovn are Marvin college, and its good system of public schools. In another place we gave an account of the founding and some of the history of the col- lege, which attracts to the town a number of students and families who come for the pur- pose of educating their children. Diring the last four or five years Frederick- town has suffered in an unusual way from calamities, a number of destructive fires have swept away some of the best and most impor- tant buildings and, too, the town has been damaged by serious floods ; it is situated on the Little St. Francois river and some of the town is on ground subject to inundation. Its situa- tion is a delightful one and few places offer a more pleasant site for residence than Fred- ericktown. Its population is 2,632. It is situated on the Belmont branch of the Iron Mountain Railroad and is now and has been for many years the county seat of Madison county. There are two weekly newspapers published in the town. The Democrat-News is Demo- cratic in polities and The Tribune is Repub- lican.
