296 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI ^ learning. Its trustees were S. G. Kitchen, Orson Bartlett, Henry Miller, D. B. Miller and Michael A. Wilson. The societ}' built a two-story frame structure and carried on the school in it until the breaking out of the war. The town was one of the most prosperous in the district. Perhaps no other town away from the river grew quite as rapidly and sub- stantially during these years as did Bloom- field. It was surpassed in size, perhaps, only by Cape Girardeau. The war, however, put an end to the prosperity of the town, and in fact, resulted in its almost complete destruc- tion. Practically every building was either torn down or burned. The site was taken possession of by Fed- eral forces who erected a fort soon after the fire. On the close of the war the town had practically ceased to exist but was reincov- porated in 1869 and in 1870 a new court house was built at a cost of $25,000. The first news- paper published in the town was the Herald, established in 1858 by A. M. Bedford and J. 0. Hall, it w-as discontinued in 1861 ; in 1866 the Argus was started by James Hamilton and published until 1873 ; in 1878 the Cosmos began to be published but was later discon- tinued ; the Bloomfield Vindicator, the present paper, has been published since 1878. In 1899 the town had a population of 2.200, and there were about 40 bvisiness establishments at that time, there were also churches, IMetho- dist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal South and the Catholic. Up to 1896 the tovm was without railroad facilities of any kind. In that year a line was built from Bloomfield to Zeta on the St. Louis Southwestern. In 1898 Mr. Houck built a line from Broomwood to Bloomfield and rebuilt the line to Zeta. The improved methods of transportation and the erection of large woodworking plants, chiefiy stave mills, increased the town's prosperity very greatly and it grew rapidly for a number of years. It was well-built with substantial brick build- ings, many public improvements were made, and it became one of the most rapidly advanc- ing towns of the section. The practical ex- haustion of the timber, however, led to the logs of the mills and this dealt the prosperity of the place a heavy blow. For a time its population began to decline. In 1910 there were only 1,147 people there. This condition is changing now and population is once more increasing. There are about forty business establish- ments of various kinds. One of these is a pottery factory and kiln. There is a good system of public schools, and several church organizations. The farming country about the town will always support it and it has too the interests which gather about the county seat and add to its prosperity One of the old papers of the southeast is the Bloomfield Vindicator an ably edited weekly. Democratic in politics. Bloomfield Bank was chartered in 1895 and has a capital stock of $50,000. The City Bank was organ- ized in 1900. Its capital is $15,000. Ironton, County Seat of Iron The present county seat of Iron county, Ironton, was laid off as a town immediately after the organization of Iron county. At that time there were in the county only three villages: Arcadia, Middle Brook and Pilot Knob. Pilot Knob was a settlement of miners at the base of the mountain of the same name. Two men who were interested in the site of Ironton determined to lay off the town there, and if possible to secure the county seat. The election was held September 7th, 1857. and there were three places asking for the county seat : Arcadia, Middle Brook and the pro-
