Montrose was founded upon the lands of D. C. Cross and Joseph Patten in 1871. At the time of the founding of Montrose, Germantown, which was located four and one-half miles northwest, was a thriving little village of several hundred inhabitants, and was the business point of quite an extensive scope of country. Until 1870, Germantown seemed to have a bright future, but the location of the railroad three miles away attracted people to the present site of Montrose. Some ancestors of present day residents arrived by Orphan Trains in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
The town was presented to the Court for action of incorporation on July 23, 1874. The Court granted the petition on the same day. Montrose then became an incorporated town, and since that time has grown and prospered. The first officers were W. Hart, Mayor; H. C. Beckman, Clerk; H. S. Marvin, Treasurer; A. J. Baker, Marshal; Andrew Wally, Ed Hart, H. Halden, and M. Heiman, Aldermen. In 1971 the city officials were Elmer Linenberger, Mayor; Charles Tenholder, Clerk; Richard Strope, Collector; Ted Conrad, City Attorney; Bill Colson and Bill Roos, North Ward Aldermen; Merle Schmedding and Norman Walker, South Ward Aldermen; Carl Conrad, City Marshal; and Lester Dorse, Police Judge. During the city’s 125th celebration, city officials were Susan Cummings, Mayor; Dolly Culver, Clerk; Joanne Bauer, Collector; Marc Reed, City Attorney; Dale Bailey and Phil Stoddard, North Ward Aldermen; Wayne Boden and David Munsterman South Ward Aldermen; and Edward Hess, Chief of Police.
Among the early industries represented in the newly incorporated town were a flour mill, one, elevator, several grain warehouses, one bank, two hotels, two hardware and implement stores, two furniture stores, three dry goods stores, five grocery stores, two wagon and carriage shops, two restaurants, one lumber yard, two drug stores, four blacksmiths, two barber shops, three millinery shops, two newspapers, and a livery stable to name a few.
The Montrose Savings Bank was organized June 4, 1895 and began operating the following day. The first directors were: R. H. Dugan, E. W. Blew, O. P. Wilson, Henry Welling, Nick Erhart, Joseph DeBold and W. S. Winkler.
Churches in 1900 were Baptist, Christian, Methodist Episcopal North, Methodist Episcopal Methodist South 1876, Cumberland Presbyterian 1869, Presbyterian, and Immaculate Conception Catholic 1879. Other churches in the community were: Mt. Hope, St. Ludger’s Catholic 1832, Adobe Presbyterian 1850, Hopewell Cumberland Presbyterian 1872, Bear Creek Methodist 1830’s, Stone’s Chapel Methodist 1838, and Teays Chapel 1881. In 1971, the number of churches had dropped to three-Cumberland Presbyterian, United Methodist, and Immaculate Conception Catholic.
The ancestors of many people living in this area were affected either directly or indirectly by the issuance of Order No. 11 by Brig. Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr. that occurred early in the summer of 1863 until March 1864 during the Civil War.
Entertainment has been an important part of Montrose History. Some of the bands and groups established were a Cornet Band, GAR Choir, String Quartet, Minstrel Show, Montrose Orchestra, Plays, Montrose Band, String Quintet, Brass Quintet, Kitchen Klatter Band and Montrose Chorus. Many performances were given at the Sickman Auditorium and the scene of many home talent shows and school performances. The Auditorium had a seating capacity of 500.
VFW Post #8820 was formed on December 6, 1946. They began meeting on the second and fourth Thursday of each month in the upstairs of their current location. In 1948, the Post purchased the building & completed payments in July 1950. The Knights of Columbus Council #1125 was formed in Montrose on June 24, 1906. In 1971, they moved to their current location. Other groups and clubs that have organized through the years are: Ancient Free & Accepted Masons #408 1871, the Montrose Country Club, Rural Home Improvement Club 1914, Senior Citizens 1969, Community Betterment 1971, Women’s Activity Club (WAC), Men’s Activity Club (MAC) 1976, Adults in Motion (AIM) 1997, Montrose Busy Beavers 4-H Club, Germantown Cloverleaf 4-H Club, and Montrose Area Historical Society organized in 2000.
The town schools and rural schools have played an important part in the history of Montrose. St. Mary’s School was opened in 1887 after remodeling the old Immaculate Conception Church building. The school consisted of two rooms. The early day public school was purchased in 1903 by the Catholic Church for $1,500 and served as a parochial school until 1917 when a new school was erected at the present location.
The Montrose Public School was first taught in 1870 in an old house in the woods, one mile south of town. In 1871 the school was moved to town and was taught in four different locations until 1873 when a building was erected by the present day Catholic Church. In 1877 another new building was constructed in the 300 block of East Third Street. The Public School became a four-year high school in 1921 with R. H. Divine as superintendent. The present building was constructed in 1959.
Some of the rural schools were Willow Branch (1875) located in the Bear Creek Community, Cleveland (1888) located near Hopewell, Enterprise west of Montrose, Mount Hope northwest of Montrose, Maple Grove, and St. Ludger’s School (about 1866) at Germantown.
The history of the present community of Germantown has played a vital role in the Montrose area, that a brief history must be included. About 1830 a pamphlet written by Gottfried Duden giving a glowing description of Missouri was circulated in Westphalia, Germany, creating a desire in many to emigrate to the United States and Missouri. At this time there was much unrest in Germany because of social, political, and religious discord. Some of the earliest settlers were Schmedding, Westhusing, Walbert, Hageboeck, Koch, Schussler, Puthoff, Goth, Teeman, and Vogelman.
The first log church was built in 1834; however, church records began with the baptism of John Freyrik in 1832. After Father Minkman returned to Germany, Jesuit Fathers tended to the early settlers from the Osage and Pottowattomi missions from Indian and Kansas Territory. During the Civil War from 1862 to 1864, a company of 110 Union soldiers occupied the church using it as a fort. Considerable damage was done to the church. The soldiers also stabled their horses in the church. The school started about 1849 in St. Ludger’s Church.
The first store opened in 1857 by Jacob Goldsmith. By 1870, the town was booming with two stores, two saloons, two hotels, two blacksmith shops, a post office, a millinery store, and a public well. Later a school and convent were built. In 1870, the MKT railroad volunteered to help the village along and place a depot along the outskirts, but in its attempt to do so, found much opposition, especially from the mayor of Germantown, who refused the right-of-way through his land, so the railroad changed its course and located a depot in Montrose. From that time the once prosperous village was doomed; as Germantown declined, Montrose grew.
The present community of Germantown has had in its history a number of names. Since the town was located so close to Deepwater Creek, it was first called “Deepwater”. Later, while it was a way-station for the Pony Express it was changed to “Noah”. Finally after the Civil War, the town was called “Germantown,” no doubt because of the national descent of its people.
(Resource used for the above information was taken from the Montrose Centennial Book, 1971, compiled by Constance Clark Welling, Maxine Moss Dugan, Wilfred H. Dugan, Maud Brown Kelland, Frank O. Kelland, Violet Lennartz Kennish, and Roxy Shouse Rotert, typist. The information was condensed and updated in January 2002.)