I am a collector of old phone books, and I have Jefferson City phone books dating back to the 1920s. The early city phone books list only those residents who had telephones, and they were two-, three- and four-digit numbers that went through a switchboard, so you might have a number like 371 Black or 250 Red. Early phone numbers were even lower; Coca-Cola and Moerschel's had two phone lines: 27 and 117.
There was also a Cole County book put out, and I have a 1930 and 1936 Cole County Farm Directory. Since most rural farms did not have telephones, and in many cases no electricity, these directories "listed all farm residents of the county together with information as to post office address, route number, township and telephone number, the latter from exchange in same town as address unless otherwise listed. It also designates whether farmer is owner or renter. Most did not have phones, and the majority of those farmers owned their land.
"In this directory also may be found facts and information pertaining to the Farm Bureau, its aims and accomplishments along with other interesting articles on farming industry as prepared by specialists of the Missouri College of Agriculture at Columbia."
The directory was published in cooperation with the Cole County Farm Bureau. The Jefferson City Telephone Directory was published by the Capital Telephone Company, manager Houck McHenry, and only listed those individuals and businesses who had telephones. Sam Bushman lived at 1012 Moreau Drive, and his telephone number was 888X.
The Irwin and Bushman Law Office was in the Delmonico Building, 300 E. High St., and their phone number was 841. This is from the 1928 city phone book, and this Sam Bushman was my grandfather.
Returning to the Cole County Farm Directory, their history is fascinating. "On February 19, 1919, about three hundred leading Cole County farmers met in the public library in Jefferson City and organized the Cole County Farm Bureau. Soon after organizing a committee was appointed to go before the County Court (today's County Commission) to ask for an appropriation for a county agent for Cole County. This committee met with the Court (Commission) on March 7, 1919, and the Court granted an (amount) of $1,500 a year for a three-year period. That was the beginning of county agent work in Cole County."
"During the eleven years of Farm Bureau history in Cole County (this is the August 1930 directory), the organization has striven to assist farmers in cooperative marketing, having organized the first livestock shipping association in the county. Associations were organized at Lohman, at Jefferson City, at Osage City, at Meta for St. Thomas, at Marion, and at Henley. Assistance has also been rendered in legislative problems and matters of taxation and transportation, and education of farmers in better practices." The Cole County Farm Bureau's office was located in Room 203 of the courthouse.
Cole County Farm Bureau was separate but associated with the Missouri Extension Service, and yearly meetings were held at Waters Hall, the headquarters of the Extension Service of the Missouri College of Agriculture.
In the October 1936 issue of the Cole County Farm Directory, it was stated "the purpose of the Farm Bureau is to promote, protect and represent the economic interests of farm people." It has achieved this through "supporting appropriations, state and national, for Extension Service, Vocational Agriculture, and College of Agriculture." This directory recognized the Missouri College of Agriculture, the Missouri Agricultural Extension Service and the 4-H program. The 4-H was established in 1914 by an act of Congress to operate through the Cooperative Extension Service as an educational project. In 1936, there were more than 15,000 4-H Club members in Missouri.
The directory also featured worthwhile tips to farmers on soil, sanitation, the Missouri Plan of growing healthy chicks, fruit sprays and spraying, common injurious insects and their control, how to control pocket gophers, and even three ways to rout rats. In the 1936 directory, there were articles on the Missouri Dairy Extension Program cropping systems for Cole County soils, home economics Extension Service and a section on Cole County schools.
In 1936, Cole County had elementary schools in 34 one-room, seven two-room, five three-room and one four-room schools, enrolling 1,600 students. There were four rural high schools located at Eugene, Russellville, Taos and Centertown with 250 students enrolled. Students living in close proximity to Jefferson City received their secondary education at the Jefferson City, St. Peter and Immaculate Conception high schools. The Jefferson City Junior College was located at the top floor of the high school.
In the Cole County Farm Bureau directories, farm residents were listed alphabetically. In the 1930 book, the first listing was John Able, RFD St. Thomas-St. Thomas phone, who owned his land in Osage township. In 1936, the Adrian Brothers, Henley-phone Eugene, who owned their land in Clark townships, were listed first. There were many Bernskoetters, all in Osage City and Jefferson City RFD3 in Liberty township; Boessens in St. Thomas; Engelbrechts, most in Jefferson City RFD4 in Osage township; Jungemeyers in Lohman and Russellville, Moreau township; Luebberings all in St. Thomas; Rackers in Osage and Liberty townships; and many Stroebels in Lohman and Russellville.
I assume advertisers paid for these directories, and the 1930 edition, there were seven bank ads, including the Bank of Osage City, Eugene State Bank, Farmers Bank of Lohman and Russellville Exchange Bank. Russellville Exchange Bank had capital and surplus of $30,000, and the Bank of Osage City had capital and surplus of $18,000. In 1936, two were listed in the directory - Central Missouri Trust Company and Exchange National Bank. The stock market crash of 1929 must have been devastating for the county's smaller banks.
I love the history of Cole County, and old phone books and directories can give one a lot of information on the people and businesses of our county. With today's smartphones and computers, phone books are becoming archaic even as I pen this story. Yes, I still write my articles longhand with a fountain pen.
Sources: Capital Telephone Directory, issued January 1928; Cole County (Missouri) Farm Directory, issued August 1930; Cole County (Missouri) Farm Directory, issued October 1936.
Sam Bushman is the presiding commissioner on the Cole County Commission. He shares his perspective each month on county issues. He can be reached at [email protected].