Rushville, Missouri
Rushville (elevation 810 feet)
Rushville is an incorporated town in Buchanan County, laid out in 1847 by Perman Hudson and James Leachman. Five railroads pass through the town, which had a population of 300 (1901). (–Conard, Vol. 5, 415.)
Rushville was formerly called Columbus, but in 1851, the name was changed to Rushville. (–History of Buchanan County, 1881, Birdsall, Williams & Co., p. 372.)
It is situated at Secs. 13 & 14, Twp. 55 N, R. 37 W, on Highway 116, east of 59.
A Directory of Towns, Villages, and Hamlets
Past and Present
of Buchanan County, Missouri
Immediately following the passage of the territorial act the immigration
of Missourians to Kansas began, and, indeed, before its final passage the best
of the lands had been located and marked for preemption by the Missourians.
This was true, apparently, in the case of George M. Million, whom the rec-
ords disclose was the first settler in Atchison county, after Kansas was made
a territory. Mr. Million was of German descent and came to the vicinity
of Rushville in the hills east of Atchison from Coal county, Missouri, prior
to 1841, where he was married to Sarah E. Dixon before she was fifteen
years old. In 1841 Million occupied the present site of East Atchison as a
farm. At that time the bottom land just east of Atchison was covered with
tall rushes and was known as Rush bottom. The town of Rushville was
originally known as Columbus, but the name was subsequently changed to
Rushville because of the character of the country in which it was located.
RUSHVILLE.
The town of Rushville was laid out in 1847, by Perman Hudson and James Leachman. It was formerly called Columbus, but in 1851, the name was changed to Rushville.
BUSINESS FIRMS.
The present mercantile business of Rushville includes William Wells and Archibald Cooper, general stores ; Richard W. Jones, dealer in drugs and groceries ; William H. Allison, grocery store and the post office.
There are three saloons.
Two butcher shops.
Three blacksmith shops.
Two hotels, kept respectively by C. Cooper and J. H. Allison.
Three physicians — Drs. B. W. Culver, W. S. Morrison and T. H. Davis.
The present officers of the town are : William Prosser, Justice of the Peace; William Buntin, Justice of the Peace; John S. Dyer, Constable.
SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, ETC.
There are two good frame school buildings, in which six and eight months schools are taught during the year.
There are in the town two churches. The M. E. Church. South, a frame building, 36×50 feet, completed in 1869, at a cost of $2,300; and the Christian Church, a frame of the same dimensions, built in 1876, at a cost of $2,000. There is besides in the township another house of worship, known as “Sugar Creek Church.” This (the property of the Chris-
tians) is a frame building, erected in 1879, at a cost of $2,500, on the site of the old church, the first built in the township, in 1855. The Baptists have also a church membership at Sugar Creek of twenty-two members.
The country surrounding Rushville is heavily timbered, not more than one thousand acres in the township being prairie.
It presents a striking diversity of surface, rolling upland, often abruptly broken, but always fertile, with fair average improvements.
The river bottom near the town is about three miles wide, and where not cleared, is covered with a thick growth of timber of valuable varieties. There are near the town some of the finest orchards in the county. The country is well supplied with water. Excellent building stone abounds, and coal is believed to exist there.