The romantic and exciting story of Fort Orleans and Etienne Veniard de Bourgmond, who established it, is especially interesting to the people of the Brunswick le of the Brunswick area, since hi was the first white man to set foot on the land near the great bend of the Missouri River at the mouth of the Grand River. When Indians attacked Detroit in 1712, a party of Missouri Indians came to the relief of the commandant, Dubuisson. Gilbert J. Garraghan, in "Fort Orleans of the Missoury", Missouri Historical Review, tells that de Bourgmond fell in love with a maiden of the tribe and, when the Indians retraced their steps westward, he went along with them. He is thought to have lived some six years with the Missouris, whose home was near the mouth of the nearby Grand River, having married into the tribe.

For five years, 1713-1718, de Bourgmond led the life of a courer de bois up and down the Missouri River. His description of the Missouri River country is the first detailed account of this area in what may almost be called the prehistoric stage. The French Colonial Council, wishing to strengthen France's claim to this area and the Company of therea and the Company of the Indies ordered Governor Bienville of New Orleans to furnish provisions, arms merchandise and other necessities. His and some forty Frenchmen, aided by the Missouri Indians made their voyage up the Missouri River, arriving at the village of the Missouris opposite the entrance of the Grand River on November 9, 1723.

They met many difficulties, but finally the fort was built according to the plan. The fort was a stockade with embrasures for cannon in the four corners. It enclosed quarters for the drummer, blacksmith, and storekeeper, and there were a guardhouse, powder magazine, store, laundry, and forge. There were also a chapel and a chaplain's house. This was the first house of worship in the Missouri Valley, and the priest, Father Jean Baptiste Mercier, was the first resident priest in the region. De Bourgmond's house of upright logs was thatched with grass and had no chimney. An interesting feature, recalling that windows were once and object of taxation in France, and theration in France, and therefore, a mark of affluence, is that the commandants' house had three front windows, the Lieutenant's, two and the Ensign's one. Round about, but unfenced, were a soldier's drill field and an icehouse.

Louis Houck, in A History of Missouri, Vol. 1, writes: The location of the fort is supposed to have been on an island, long since washed away, but which then existed, according to d'Anville's map, near the mouth of Grand River and not far from the present city of Brunswick. Other historians believe the fort was in Carroll County and there is an historical marker in that county.

It is thought that the first settlers in Chariton County were fur traders who located at or near the mouth of the Chariton. Lewis and Clark, while traveling up the Missouri River in 1804, say in their report: "The next morning, the 10th, we passed Deer Creek, and at the distance of five miles the two rivers called by the French the Charitons, a corruption of Thieraton, the first of which Thieraton, the first of which is thirty and the second seventy-five yards wide." On June 16 when near the mouth of the Grand River, they met a trading party from the Sioux nation, from whom they obtained the services of a guide. They camped that night at or near the location of Brunswick.

The earliest permanent settler in the county was one George Jackson, who came before the war of 1812, and afterward represented the county in the General Assembly. The next settlement was made in 1816 about twenty miles from Brunswick, on Yellow Creek.

The 1883 History of Howard and Chariton Counties tells of the first man to locate on Grand River as follows:

At a session of the Legislature which met at St. Charles in the winter of 1820, the act of organizing Chariton, Boone and Ray Counties was passed. All that section of country being north of Chariton County and extending to the Iowa line, was annexed to the Iowa line, was annexed to Chariton County, thus giving the county jurisdiction over the country west from the Howard County line to the eastern boundary of Ray County, the Counties of Linn, Sullivan, Putnam and a part of Adair and Schuyler Counties.

John M. Peck, D.D., visited the town of Chariton (the first town in the county) in January, 1819. From his memoirs we learn that the town at that time contained a population of about thirty families, which would probably make the number of inhabitants reach 175 persons. He also says that a tribe of Indians wintered upon the town side in 1816-17, and that during the following summer, which was the summer of 1817, three or four log cabins were erected. It is known that the Sioux and Fox (Sac) Indians were here then, and that these tribes remained in the county (going out in the summer and returning in the fall and winter) until 1828. The doctor speaks of organizing a "Female Mite Society," giving the names of officers, and says in the spring of 1820 the first Sabbath school west of St. Louis was organized in Chariton. When founded, Chariton was the most western town on the Missouri, and it gave promise of rivaling St. Louis. It is said that some of its settlers had sold property in St. Louis in order to buy land in Chariton.

In 1819, immigrants began to come in large numbers. They came in wagons, in carriages, in pirogues:

The Franklin lntelligencer of November 19,1819, in speaking of the subject of immigration said:

The immigration to this territory, and particularly to this county, during the present season, almost exceeds belief. Those who have arrived in this quarter are principally from Kentucky, Tennessee, etc. immense numbers of wagons, carriages, carts, etc., with families have for some time past, been daily arriving. During the month of October, it is stated that no less than 271 wagons and four-wheeled carriages, and 55 two-wheeled carriages and carts passed near St. Charles, bound pricarriages and carts passed near St. Charles, bound principally for Boonslick. it is calculated that the number of persons accompanying these wagons, etc., could not be less than 3,000.

Travel between St. Louis and Chariton County was done on horseback until 1820, when four-horse stages were put on the line. Soon after that, travel upon steamboats came gradually into use, the fare being the same by either mode-$10.50 for each passenger. The name "Traders' Landing" was used to indicate the place where steamboats stopped before Brunswick was established.

The following is a letter written from Brunswick, July 30, 1838, by Johnathan Herring describing his family's trip from Maryland to his uncle, William Wirtz, who lived near Fredrick, Maryland:

In 1818, James Keyte, a young Methodist preacher from England, arrived in St. Louis. He soon engaged in the mercantile business with Colonel John O'Fallon. Records show that in 1821, Mr. Keyte, who later founded Keytesville and Brunswick, was appointed pastor of the Boonslick Circuit, which included what is now Chait, which included what is now Chariton County. He settled in Chariton, conducting religious services there and in the homes of Methodist families in other parts of the county. The Baptists began the erection of a church edifice, but never finished it, for population of the town, which in 1825 had a population of almost two thousand, began to decrease. The Chariton River overflowed its banks and with the floods came sickness and death. Mr. Keyte purchased the land upon which Keytesville is located in 1830, so perhaps some of the inhabitants of Chariton came with him to settle Keytesville. About 1840 the town of Chariton was abandoned, men leaving without even trying to sell their property, and, in a few instances, leaving their half-finished houses to rot and fall to the ground.

In 1832, Mr. Keyte donated fifty acres to the county, upon which the courthouse and other public buildings were erected in 1833-34. The county seat was moved from Chariton in 1833 to Keytesville, the first term of court being held theref court being held there on July 16,1833. As early as 1831 Mr. Keyte erected a log cabin near the bank of Musselfork, where the residence known as the Hugh Bartz house stands. (This is now owned by Mrs. Carl Weger.)

This area's rich soil, timber, and the commercial advantage of a town located on the Missouri River probably influenced Mr. Keyte in choosing this site as the location for a new town, which he named Brunswick after his old home, Brunswick Terrace, near Manchester, England. Brunswick was laid out by James Keyte in 1836, on the northwest quarter of Section 11, Township 53, Range 20, which was at that time one mile below the mouth of Grand River, about four hundred yards south of the present site. However, in the course of twenty years, the banks began to crumble and fall into the river, and the business houses and the few residences near the river were moved to the base of the bluffs. Until 1847 the western limits of the town was Scott Street, just west of the Baptist Church and the American Legion Building. At that time the Western, Northern and Woodson Additions were surveyed and divided into lots in order to settle the Keyte estate.

The first house in Brunswick, a log house built by Mr. Keyte, was used as a store of general merchandise and post office. He also built a saw mill at the same time. John Basey, originally from Harrisburg, Kentucky, settled in Chariton County in 1834. He built the second house erected in Brunswick, a hotel building situated where the Nichols Building now stands. DeWitt Clinton Basey, son of Mr. & Mrs. John Basey, was the first child born in Brunswick.

Soon after the town was laid out, three general stores, two hotels, and two dram shops were opened. In 1840 there were added to the town, a wagonmaker, Mr. Wilson Elliott, two bricklayers, and a doctor, Dr. Edwin Price, brother of General Sterling Price. Mr. Keyte ran a steamboat line and to induce men to settle here he gave them grants of land free of charge. A cooper shop, a saddler, two lawyers and two tailors followed in quick succession.

The first postmaster in the town was James Keyte, the founder, who held the position until his death, which occurred in the fall of 1844. Prior to 1833 there were no mail facilities west of old Chariton and no mail on the north side of the Missouri River. James Wilson was the original contractor for carrying the mail westward from Chariton. One of the first mail-boys was John M. Davis, who later was Brunswick's first pioneer school teacher and presiding judge of the county. Davis carried the mail three months, commencing October 9, 1833. It required six days to make the round trip to Liberty and back. The compensation to the mail carrier was $9 a month, his board and expenses paid, the carrier providing his own horse. The westward bound mail bag would usually contain about three pecks of mail matter. The mail for the east, coming from Liberty and "way places," would usually measure about as oming from Liberty and "way places," would usually measure about as much as would fill an ordinary silk hat, consisting exclusively of letters, for there were then no printing presses west of Old Franklin, Howard County. During this time Miss Sarah Keyte, a sister of James Keyte, occasionally carried the mail from Brunswick to Keytesville while Mr. Keyte was postmaster, saying help was so hard to obtain that she preferred doing so.

In 1840 there were twenty-five votes polled in Brunswick, which indicated a population of about 125 persons. From that time the town grew more rapidly. The pork-packing interest of the town from 1838 to 1841 was quite extensive. The packing houses, where hogs were sold, were located near the landing. Here immense quantities of hogs were killed in the winter, salted down and then shipped in the spring by steamboat to eastern and southern markets. in 1849, 8,334 hogs were killed and 362 beef cattle. Peter T. Abell, Pugh Price, and two others named Perkins and Gates were owners of the packing houses. The hemp houses wouses. The hemp houses were also located near the landing and the hemp was either made into rope or baled and shipped to St. Louis.

In the year 1849 there were 534 steamboat arrivals and departures from Brunswick; fifty-five different boats were at the Brunswick landing. That year the exports from Brunswick were:

Wheat, bushels 42,386 Bacon, casks 1,253

Lard, barrels 3,252 Tobacco,

Pork, barrels 1,096 hogsheads 2,010

Other exports were flax seed, beeswax, dry hides, deerskins, furs, beans, wool, and mustard seed. The record shows that there were 8,334 hogs and 362 beef cattle killed by the packing company to be exported.

Brunswick wholesale and retail merchants imported a huge supply of many different products, for men in ox wagons came over bad roads from as far as the Iowa line to buy supplies. R. B. Price, the son of Dr. Edwin Price, lived in Brunswick until 1850. He recalled the time when "wagons lad50. He recalled the time when "wagons laden with tobacco, honey beeswax, deer and other skins came to Brunswick by the hundreds and their contents shipped by steamboat to St. Louis, returning home with supplies bought in Brunswick. DeWitt Clinton Basey, in "My Early Recollections of Brunswick," said, "Trade as far as the Iowa Line centered here. I have seen forty to fifty covered ox-team wagons in town, with six or eight oxen, as the roads were new and hilly and the loads heavy; pork, bacon, beeswax, honey, fur, and hides, also leaf tobacco being the products; getting in return flour, sugar, dry goods, salt, and hardware."

In the month of August, 1840, a colony of Germans came to Brunswick, being the second group of immigrants of that nationality to the county. Their names were: John H. Munson, Fred Feaker, Charles Feaker, J.

H. Mortimeyer, A. Bealer, and their families, and settled up the bottom, south of Brunswick. In 1842-43 another smaller colony settled in Brunswick. Among these wein Brunswick. Among these were John Lahmen, Samuel Yost, Charles Sasse, Henneger, Rudolph Zollah, John Tilman, Tchipatt, and others. It was not until 1853 that Louis Benecke and other German families came to Brunswick. These German families were hard working and thrifty people; some of them had had a good education in their native land. With the German people came also the love of good music. During the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century Brunswick's Silver Cornet Band became quite well known in the surrounding counties and was much in demand. Over the entrance to the Russell Opera House there used to be a bandstand used by the band.

In 1851 the St. Louis and Missouri River Telegraph Company was incorporated to erect and manage a line "extending from Jefferson City, Boonville, Lexington, Independence, Weston, and St. Joseph, and a lateral line connection with Brunswick, Glasgow, Columbia and Fulton, and such other towns on, or near the Missouri River as the said Shaffner and Ves the said Shaffner and Veitch may erect." For several years the company did well, but since the directors failed to keep the line repaired, the operation ceased. Later the telegraph became the principal source of information. Mr. Laurence Storer, a telegrapher and agent for the Wabash railroad for fifty years recalled setting up bulletin boards during election years and recording election returns for the crowds of people who gathered there. Before that time steamboats brought news from the outside world to the town, but in rural areas it was sometimes weeks before people knew who had won the elections.

Brunswick was a prosperous metropolis until the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was completed in 1856. It passed east and west through Linn County about nineteen miles north of Brunswick, nearly ruining the steamboat trade and decreasing the population of Brunswick. The steamboats continued to run, and St. Louis newspapers advertised steamboat trips "from St. Louis to Brunswick". In 1858 runswick". In 1858 Jasper Peery, who had established the first lumber business in the county, and three other young men, bought a large St. Louis-Brunswick packet steamer of which Mr. Peery was captain. He ran the DAVID TATUM as a weekly packet between St. Louis and Brunswick. In 1908 THE BRUNSWICKER printed the following item: "The big river steamer, Chester, bound from St. Louis to Kansas City, tied up at the mouth of Grand River".

In the Brunswicker (Oct 14, '47 issue), one L. H. Reynolds advertised that he would sell three lots in Grand River City. Mr. J. A. Williams came across this advertisement when he was editor. He had heard from his mother, the late Sarah F. Williams, that the town was at some point above Brunswick and not far from the mouth of the Grand River-which a hundred years ago was nearly a mile northwest of Brunswick. At that time, the Mi Brunswick. At that time, the Missouri River had almost a direct flow from Miami to this place.

Mrs. Florence Dotson, a member of the Brunswicker force in 1947, was sent to the Court House in Keytesville to learn something about the town and the data accompanying the plats. It was ascertained that Grand River City was established in July, 1844, but it is not known how long it lived. A memorandum does show that Grand River City was abandoned due to a "freshet." Plats show that lots in Grand River City and the present Herring Addition to Brunswick overlap to some extent. The abstract of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Patrick's home on Buchanan Street shows that the lot was in Grand River City.

Mr. Williams' mother for a time lived at the site of what was later known as Townsend Ferry, located about a half mile above the present Highway #24 bridge across Grand River. From her, Mr. Williams learned that Grand River City was established with the belief that it would eventually overshadow Brunswick as a y overshadow Brunswick as a business center. The founders of the town declared that its nearness to the mouth of Grand River was assurance that it would outdo Brunswick as a river port. According to accounts, the place did support a lively river business; however, due to the "freshet" and other factors the town undoubtedly "gave up" to its chief competitor-Brunswick. "At any rate," wrote Mr. Williams, "there is now of Grand River City only a memory and that a very hazy one."