Directory of Towns, Villages and Hamlets Past and Present of Missouri

Compiled by Arthur Paul Moser

This web site contains some of the counties from Moser's Directory of Towns, Villages and Hamlets Past and Present of Missouri. The complete print Directory can be viewed at the Local History & Genealogy department at the Library Center.

The Directory is an annotated gazetteer of place names of populated places arranged alphabetically by county and thereunder alphabetically by place name. Each individual directory includes a description and brief history of the county, and the individual civil townships. This is followed by an alphabetical list of place names. The descriptions vary, but generally include the name, legal description (range township and section), and date of settlement. Many entries include information on local businesses and whether or not there was a post office or railroad station.

Arthur Paul Moser researched place names in Missouri over a period of about twenty years, beginning in the 1960's. The first Directory was for Greene County, Missouri, apparently as a volunteer project for the Greene County Historical Society. He then continued to research counties one at a time until he had completed a gazetteer of each county in Missouri.

Moser relied heavily on several existing historical gazetteers and available county histories and maps. Some of the descriptive information is based on interviews with individuals familiar with the place described. The directories are especially valuable in that they draw information from several sources to include in each brief entry.

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