374 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI Allenville Allenville, an incorporated village iu Cape Girardeau county is situated at the junction of the Jackson branch of the Iron Mountain with the Belmont branch of the same line. It was laid out as a town in 1869 on the building of the railroad. It has a jiopulation of 257 with the usual business interests. There are Baptist and Alethodist churches and a pub- lic school. Burfordville is on Whitewater river near the old site of Bollinger 's mill. It has been a village for many years and has two or three stores, a church and its population is about 150. Millerville is in Whitewater township. Cape Girardeau county. It has stores, two churches and a school. Its population is 99. Oakeidge Oakridge is in Apple Creek township. It was settled in 1852 and its present popula- tion is 256. Bank of Oakridge was organized in 1904 and its capital is $10,000. There are three churches, and business interests of vari- ous kinds. Oakridge has always supported a good school. Gordonville Gordonville is one of the oldest settlements in Cape Girardeau county, the tii-st settlers having come to the vicinity during the Span- ish regime. Its present population is 170. The Bank of Gordonville was chartered in 1910 and has a capital of $10,000. There are several church organizations and the town is on the Jackson branch of the Iron Mountain Railroad. Other villages in Cape Girardeau county are Dutchtown, Pocahontas, Fruitland, New Wells, Shavraeetown and Deray. Malden Maiden, Dunklin county, was laid out in 1877 under the direction of Major George B. Clark. It was the western terminus for a time of the Little River Valley & Arkansas Rail- road which then extended from New JMadrid to JMalden. The first house was built by S. W. Spiller and Daniel Haynes and was occupied by them as a store. They furnished supplies to the men engaged in building the railroad. Another early merchant was James Gregory and some who came with him were Jackson Erlick, William Ilarkey and Sisel and Plaut. The J. S. Levi Mercantile Company was or- ganized in Maiden during its early years and has been one of its largest stores ever since that time. The town had the usual growth of a country town. Its situation on the railroad gave it an advantage and it attracted various interests from Clarkton and became for awhile the largest town in the county. It was built largely of wood and the greater part of the business interests in town were destroyed by fire in January, 1899. The burnt bixildings were replaced by brick and the town has had a steady and substantial growth since that time. Maiden was incorporated at the April term of the county court in 1878 and the first trustees were Daniel Haynes, James Gregory, S. W. Spiller, Samuel B. Dennis and J. P. Laswell. One of the men most closely associated wdth the growth and prosperity of the town was George W. Peck, who was a native of New York, was educated in the State Normal School, taught for a time, equipped himself as a surveyor and came to Missouri as one of the engineers on the Little River Valley & Ar- kansas Railroad. He made his home in IMal- den and engaged in buying and selling grain. He added to his interests an insurance busi-
