Moses Bates first surveyed the junction of
Bear Creek and the Mississippi River north of St. Louis in 1818,
and a cabin was built. By the 1830 census only 30 people were
recorded living in the broad valley between Lover's Leap and
Cardiff Hill, and the land titles were not clear. Finally, in
1837 the town of Hannibal was incorporated. By 1840 the census
showed 1034 residents, including the Clemens family, whose son
Samuel would grow up to be the famous author, Mark Twain.
In 1845 the town became incorporated as a
"city," and by the 1850 census 2020 people called Hannibal
home. The next 10 years would see the population triple as waves
of immigrants made their way west. Many came from Ireland, including
widower John Tobin with his young daughter Kate. His name was
among the 1860 census listing 6505 inhabitants.
But the real boom came with the railroads.
In 1859, the Hannibal-St. Joseph line was completed linking the
Mississippi with America's West. It was this railroad that brought
the letters to the famous Pony Express, which in turn carried
mail all the way to California. In 1860 Hannibal was Missouri's
third largest city, only exceeded by St. Jo and St. Louis. The
railroad turned Hannibal into a major industrial city. Lumber
floated down river from the forests of Wisconsin and Minnesota
was brought ashore and milled by Hannibal's "lumber barons."
Tobacco was a major crop and at one point Hannibal had twelve
factories devoted to processing cigars and bulk tobacco.
This golden era of prosperity lasted for about
40 years. The city continued to grow through the turn of the
century peaking at around 20,000 citizens. Then the river traffic
declined along with the lumber industry. One hundred years after
being the third largest city in Missouri, it had dropped to 18th
by 1960. Its current population stands around 18,000.
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