380 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI community. It was incorporated as a village in 1906. Among the early settlers were W. P. Anderson, M. S. Anderson, Frank E. Gideon and M. V. lilumma. The first merchants in the place were Gideon & Anderson, the owners of the mill. There are now general stores and other business establishments. There are also two sawmills, a stave factory, handle factory and planing mill. The town has electric light supplied by the mill company. There are two churches — Methodist aiul Baptist, a four-room school building, and seven acres of land has been set aside for a park. The country about Gideon is exceedingly fertile, and as it is drained and cleared will be supported by a fine farming community. Its population is 702. Parma lu 1!J00 the first settlers moved to the site of the present town of Parma, New Madrid county. This town is eight miles northwest of Maiden on the line of the St. Louis South- western Railway between Cairo and ilalden. It is not a great way from an earlier village which was known as Lotta. The site of the new town of Parma was determined by the crossing of a line of the Frisco Railroad at this point. The presence of the two railroads and construction of mills for the working iip of the great timber supplies, brought a con- siderable numlier of jieople to the town. It was situated in rather a low place and before drainage ditches were cut, was subject to con- stant overflow. This has been remedied, how- ever, by the cutting of the ditches so that its site now is a very good one. The timber is be- ing rapidly cut out and farming land opened up in the vicinity. Among the early set- tlers were: "William "Webb, Sol Hon and H. L.. Boaz. Boaz and "Wrather Brothers were among the early merchants. In 1905 owing to the wealth of the town and its importance it was incorporated and F. P. "Wrather was the first mayor^ The town now has six gen- eral stores and a number of other business in- terests, among them a handle factory and two large veneering factories. The financial in- terests of the town are cared for by the Bank of Parma, established in 1905, with a capital of .iilO,000. The more important buildings are the I. 0. 0. F. hall, recently constructed and the new brick school building erected in 1910, containing eight rooms and thoroughly equipped. The town has electric lights. Good sidewalks have been built in the central part of tlie town and some work done towards the paving of the streets. The population is now 905. LiLBOUEN One of the fastest growing towns in South- east Missouri is Lilbourn in New Madrid county, situated at the junction of the St. Louis Southwestern and the St. Louis & San Francisco railroads. The first town in the vicinity was called Papaw Junction and was situated about a mile west of the present site of the town where the New Madrid branch joined the main line of the St. Louis South- western. The town was incorporated in 1904, its first mayor being R. T. "Waring. Waring was one of the first settlers and also one of the early merchants of the town, others being D. H. "Wilkison and R. F. Baynes. The town has eight general stores and besides these several factories, broom, stave, handle, brick and tile plant and two saw-mills. There is one bank in the town known as the Bank of Lilliourn which was chartered in 1910 and has a capital of $10,000. The town is lighted with electric lights and is growing very rapidl.y. It is situ- ated in the midst of good farming country and has unusual railroad facilities. The popula-
