HISTORY

The Story Behind Maramec Spring

     A band of Shawnee Indians camped one day in 1825 on the grounds of Thomas James, A Chillicothe, Ohio, banker and merchant.  Their decorative peace paint interested him.

     They told of the tall trees, the swift waters, and the colored earth.  Upon their return from Washington for a visit with the Great White Father, they invited him to journey west.  James sent Samuel Massey, his business partner, to inspect the hematite mine and enormous spring.  A favorable report led to construction of the Maramec Iron Works in 1826.

     Thomas James sent his son, William, to Maramec in 1843, where he remained to manage the Works until it closed in 1876.  At its peak, the company town had an estimated population of 500.

     Accessible ore, water power, and a hardwood forest for charcoal made it an advantageous site, though the remoteness of markets and insufficient transportation facilities were major drawbacks.

     In the early days, its iron was used for kettles, plows, and other utensils that could be hauled in wagons.  Later, its bar and pig iron were floated down the Meramec and Gasconade Rivers to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.  When the railroad came, the iron-laden oxen trudged to rendezvous with it at Gray Summit and St. James.

     By the middle 1850’s, the advent of hot-blast furnaces, coke fuel, and the opening of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal were making definite inroads.

     Modernization and particularly the tremendous demands brought on by the Civil War helped keep the Maramec Iron Works in business until 1876 when the furnaces grew cold.   

Following the death of William James in 1912, his granddaughter, Lucy Wortham James, acquired ownership of Maramec Spring with the forest and farmland surrounding it in 1920.

     Upon her death in 1938, she made her residuary estate a part of a Trust and authorized creation of The James Foundation.

    

To her executors she wrote:
“As this is considered to be the most beautiful spot in Missouri, it is my great hope that you will arrange that it may ever be in private, considerate control, and ever open to the enjoyment of the people.”