UPDATE: You must physically
visit this location to be able to log this as a find. Virtual
visits are not allowed.
Charles D. Eitzen was born 20 August 1819 in Bremen, Germany,
and was one of the original settlers of the colony of Hermann. At
the age of 21, he started a business that would eventually make him
a millionaire:
He hauled iron ore and white pine lumber up to Hermann
from the Maramec Iron Furnaces and Ozark forests, a distance of
about 65 miles. He engaged in this business from 1840 to 1860.
Previous to the establishment of the Chouteau Iron Works in St.
Louis, these 100 lb. iron blooms found their way to Cincinnati,
Wheeling and Pittsburgh. About two tons was the usual load for a
team of from 4 to 8 yoke of oxen. These teams always returned to
Maramec loaded down with dry goods and provisions for the men
working there. Eitzen owned the local mercantile store in Hermann.
The iron ore and the pine lumber were transshipped by steamboat and
rail. [1]
He served as a delegate to the Missouri state constitutional
convention in 1875 [2].
Charles D. Eitzen died in Hermann on 1 January 1896. In his
will, he left $50,000 to Gasconade County for the construction of a
county courthouse in Hermann. The courthouse was completed in 1898
and is still in use today. It is believed to be the only courthouse
in the United States that was erected with private funds.
On 15 December 1896, a bronze bust of Charles D. Eitzen was
presented to the city of Hermann by his widow, Jane, and mounted on
a monument in what later became known as Eitzen Park. Robert P.
Bringhurst of St. Louis was the sculptor. To claim a find for this
virtual cache, email to me the last word of the last line of the
inscription on the monument. Do not post it in the logs, even if
encrypted.
[1] "Official Program" for the Hermann
Sesquicentennial, 1986. Author and publisher unknown.
[2] http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/eichelroth-elcan.html