Colony, Missouri

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Colony is a community located in Knox County, Missouri, a few miles southeast of where the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway line goes through Rutledge.

[edit] History

Settlers from Kentucky founded the town of Colony some time after 1830 and before a post office was established in the area in 1853. The early settlers probably considered this area between the North Fabius River and the Middle Fabius River to be productive farming land with water nearby.

It was originally called Kentucky Colony and formed by a group of four or five families in a location about two miles northeast of the present location. The present location of Colony was at first called Centerville because it was halfway between Monticello in Lewis County and Sandhill in Scotland County.

In 1836, the Methodist Episcopal Church formed a congregation at the Colony. Then in 1847 the first church building in the county was constructed at the Colony and named Wesley Chapel. In 1890, a Baptist church was built.

The Colony area was the scene of numerous incidents during the American Civil War. Several houses were burned and several persons killed, including a southern sympathizer named James Meriwether, who was shot in Colony by William Hubble and William Killen on July 20, 1866. The two were not officially charged for the killing until the next year and were acquitted. During the Civil War a store building burned and for many years there was but one store in Colony.

By 1873, Colony had two stores, an entertainment house, ten dwellings, a church, a blacksmith shop and a schoolhouse. The one-room schoolhouse was enlarged in 1915 with another room and a hall.

In 1950, Colony had two stores, two churches, a Masonic Hall, a community Hall, a switchboard, twenty dwelling houses, and a schoolhouse. In October 1939, electricity was brought to Colony by the Rural Electrification Administration, and in 1950 the first state highway was completed through Colony connecting it with Baring and LaBelle.

[edit] Demographics

The community of Colony is within what the U.S. Census Bureau calls Colony Township. As of the 2000 census, Colony Township has 173 people, 58 households, and 47 families. The racial makeup of the township is 99.4% White and 0.6% from two or more races. 0.6% of the population are Hispanic or Latino (more specifically, Mexican American).