Boom to doom: Graysboro, Missouri

Graysboro, Missouri, was a small town located at Grays Point on the Mississippi River in northeast Scott County.

The town's short life left a lasting impact on the area. Its short life of eight to 10 years is a "boom to doom" story caused by rapid railroad growth. U.S. Postal records show a post office in existence there between 1898 and 1907.

The town was platted in 1898 by Edmund Gray Jr. (1834-1912), who was born in Ohio and moved to St. Louis in 1854 with his family. He followed in his father's profession as a riverboat captain, receiving his pilot's papers earlier than most young men. His interesting burial can be found in an article dated Sept. 25, 2014, in the Southeast Missourian by Sharon Sanders.

Gray did most of his piloting of the Mississippi between Cape Girardeau and Vicksburg, Mississippi. He served one term in the Missouri legislature, 1870-1872. It's said he built his own steamboat -- "The Last Resort" -- in 1867. After politics, Gray ran a transfer boat for the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company (Cotton Belt) from Graysboro to Thebes, Illinois, until the Thebes Bridge was completed in 1905. The State Historical Society has a collection of Gray's personal papers.

Gray established a limestone quarry and kiln around 1890 at what would become Graysboro, and by 1898 a town was platted with a post office. Within a year the Cotton Belt Railroad announced it was abandoning its transfer operation between Byrd's Point, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois, to relocate its northern terminus to Gray's Point, establishing a new transfer system to ferry trains to Thebes connecting to the Illinois Central terminal. Businesses opened and lots sold quickly. Soon a Cotton Belt addition was platted for the railroad's new terminus. In 1900, a bill was introduced in Congress for a wooden railroad bridge to be built at Gray's Point. The bill failed to get approval in the first session and, when Congress opened its second session in December, a new bill for a steel bridge to be built at Thebes was introduced. The bill met little opposition, passed Congress and moved quickly to President McKinley to sign into law. In January 1901, crews began work at Thebes.

The economic boom the Cotton Belt created in 1900 for Graysboro became an economic doom for the town by 1901 as people left for the new Cotton Belt yards being created in Illmo and Fornfelt (now Scott City). A large depot, roundhouse and 24 tracks meant plenty of work in the new yards. In 1907, the post office at Graysboro closed, signaling its fate. Some people brought their houses from Graysboro to Illmo. I grew up on a block that had three such houses according to my father. The only thing remaining today of Graysboro is a memory. I think Edmund Gray would be proud to know the economic prosperity he envisioned for Graysboro transcended his town leading to the growth of Scott City and the SEMO Port, north of Gray's Point.