ST. FRANCISVILLE A post village of Clark county, Des Moines township, on the Des Moines river, between Missouri and Iowa, and on the line of the contemplated Keokuk, St. Francisville and Kansas City railroad, six miles from Waterloo, the county seat, 200 miles from St. Louis, and 200 miles in a direct It was first settled in 1820, by Jeremiah Wayland, and post office established in 1834. There are 4 two steamboat lines, viz., Keokuk, Ft. Des Moines and Alexandria, and St. Francisville and Ft. Des Moines; three stage routes, viz., Alexandria to St. Francisville, distance 10 miles; Alexandria, St. Francisville and Athens, distance 25 miles; Alexandria, St. Francisville and Memphis, distance 50 miles. It contains four churches, viz., Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, and United Brethren, one weekly newspaper, the Vox, published by M. W. Campbell and Jonathan Piper, one Seminary, Des Moines Valley Seminary, and Philomathean Institute, one Masonic Lodge, and one Lodge I. O. O. F., five stores, one flouring mill, two hotels, two saw mills, two stoves and tin ware, two brick yards, two wagon makers, and one plow maker. The chief products are wheat, corn, rye and pork—timber, walnut, cherry and oak—minerals, lead in abundance. The average price of lands improved and unimproved, is $10 to $40 per acre. Population 1100. (Missouri State Gazetteer..., 1860)