386 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI self. In February, 1883, and in March, 1885, the town was seriously damaged by fire and the Lead Company's works were largely de- stroyed on each of these occasions. The principal industry of the town is, and has been from the very first, lead mining. The number of persons engaged in this business has made the town a good market for all the produce of the surrounding country. The largest lead smelter in the United States is in Bonne Terre and there are a large number of other business establishments in the town, their number being about a hundred, including banks, flouring and planing mills, brick yards, machine shops, hotels and stores. The town has organizations of the principal secret or- ders and is well supplied with churches, there being Catholic, Congregational, Methodist Episcopal and Methodist Episcopal South. The Catholics maintain a school and the pub- lic schools are among the best in this part of the state. Not only is the city unique among South- east Missouri cities because of its unincorpo- rated condition and lack of municipal govern- ment, more than any other town in the sec- tion it is developing a distinctive character of architecture. There are a number of build- ings which are quite different from those now found in any other of the towns. One of the.se is the building occupied by the St. Jo- seph Lead Company as a store. It is English in its style, the first story being of brick and the second of frame and plaster. Another building of marked individuality is the Con- gregational church, a new and handsome building of the English style. This church is set in the midst of a beautiful lawn and forms an altogether chaniiing addition to the town. The central school Iniilding is also very differ- ent from that of most school buildings. An- other unique and ehaiuning building is the Memorial library. This is a small building, but handsomely constructed and well suited to its purpose. The Mississippi River & Bonne Terre Railroad maintains extensive shops and roundhouses here. The population is more than 5,000, though no exact estimate can be made as the place is not incorporated. Bismarck Bismarck, a town at the intersection of the Belmont branch with the main line of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway, in St. Francois county, was laid out in 1868 by C. T. Manter, P. R. YanFrank, J. H. Worley and E. H. Cordell. The town was supported by the farming interests about it and pos- sessed some advantages in transportation. Its population is now 848. The principal indus- tries are the stores, hotels and flour mills. In 1877 the town was incorporated by the county court, the first trustees being "William H. Gulliver, Benjamin Schoch, C. C. Grider, George H. Kelly and A. H. Tegmeyer. The Bank of Bismarck was organized in 1902 and has a capital of $25,000. Delassus Delassus is situated two miles west of Farmington on the Belmont branch. It was laid out by A. DeLassus in October, 1869. For many years it was the principal shipping point for both Farmington and Doe Run. It is now connected with Farmington and other towns in the lead belt by interurbau railway. It was the residence for many years of A. DeLassus who was a descendant of Lieuten- ant Governor DeLassus. Seven miles south of DeLassus on the Bel- mont branch is a little town known as Knob Lick. Its importance is due to the fact that it is a shipping point for the granite quarries in this part of St. Francois county. Just
