The process of retracing historic Hannibal footprints

This map segment shows a few of the key business locations in Hannibal’s Main Street vicinity, in 1854. Illustration by Mary Lou Montgomery, based upon the 1854 Hart and Mapother Map.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

The Hannibal Weekly Messenger, Feb. 9, 1854, carried William Shoot’s (born 1810) announcement of a planned ball at the Melpontian Hall, located on the northeast corner of Third and Center streets.

The event was to be held on Feb. 22, with advance tickets available for sale at Shoot’s establishment, the Monroe House, located at the northwest corner of Main and Center.

The newspaper announcement noted that the hall was large enough to accommodate some 300 persons.

A follow-up report on the ball, published in the same newspaper on March 2, 1854, noted that it was “the party of the season” which continued with gayety until the hour of 4 a.m. “There were a large number present from the neighboring towns and counties.”

To the casual observer reading this newspaper clipping, one might wonder: Where was Melpontian Hall? Also, where was the Monroe House? And where were the other landmarks so casually mentioned in historic newspapers describing events that took place on the same soil that citizens walk upon today? The buildings may be long gone, but the soil that generations have trod upon is the same.

Mr. Shoot’s neighbors

During his residency in Hannibal, Mr. Shoot rubbed shoulders with other Main Street merchants of his era, including:

T.R. Selmes, whose general store was located on the northeast corner of Hill and Main;

Thomas Jackson, a merchant doing business on the southwest corner of Main and Bird; and Smith S. Allen and William T. League, editors of the Tri-Weekly Messenger.

Fortunately, the  recording of Hannibal history from 1854 is unique in the fact that there is a detailed map of Hannibal’s downtown, accessible by researchers; as well as an extensive collection of newspapers available via newspapers.com

While street addresses weren’t typically assigned during this early era, it is sometimes possible to trace where a building was located through the descriptions in the newspaper advertisements.

For example, Gilchrist Porter, an attorney, described his business location as in “Collins’ new building.” (Hannibal Daily Messenger, Jan. 17, 1854.)

The Jan. 5, 1854 edition of the Hannibal Weekly Messenger located Collins’ new building on the corner of Main and Bird Streets, but didn’t specify which corner.

The 1854 Hart and Mapother Map pinpoints the Collins’ building on the southeast corner of Second (Main) and Bird.

Thus, we know that Gilchrist Porter’s law office was located on the vacant building site that in 2026 is owned by Kristy Trevathan, and maintained as Kristy’s Garden.

Commercial Row, often referred to during Hannibal’s early years, consisted of a row of buildings beginning on North Main, between Center and Bird, at the Shoot and Davis livery stable, and continuing north to the aforementioned Collins building.

Following the same location procedure, the Monroe House (a boarding house previously known as the Brady House, then operated by A.S. Robards) was located in a building which previously stood on the site where in 2026 Michael Ginsberg operates Main Street Bed and Breakfast: the northwest corner of Main and Center.

City Hotel, later renamed Planters Hotel, was located on what is now a parking lot in the 400 block of North Main Street, to the south of the Pilaster House (also historically known as Grant’s Drug Store) which is maintained by the Mark Twain Home Foundation.

The landscape of Main Street changed somewhat following the March 4, 1852 fire at John Garth’s tobacco factory, which was located on the west side of Main Street between Bird and Hill.

Neighboring businesses - including Collins and Breed dry goods store and Quarles and Caldwell stove business - in addition to the Messenger newspaper office -  were damaged, but saved from destruction by a timely rainfall which kept the fire from spreading. The Garth factory was essentially burned to the ground. New buildings soon sprang up in its place.

The Hannibal Weekly Messenger moved to a new location in early March 1854. The building was located on Lot 4, Block 12, near the southwest corner of Center and Main. Next door to the north, at the corner intersection, was the Post Office. J.O. Berry was postmaster in October 1854.

City Hotel ad: Hannibal Daily Messenger, Feb. 4, 1854. newspapers.com

Gilchrist Porter office, The Weekly True American, Nov. 30, 1854. newspapers.com

Monroe House ad: Hannibal Daily Messenger, Jan. 17, 1854, newspapers com

Map legend

1 Monroe House, northwest corner Main and Center;

2 Shoot & Co. Livery, northeast corner Main and Center;

3 One Price Store, southeast corner Third and Bird;

4 Thomas Jackson, grocer, southwest corner Main and Bird;

5 City Hotel, west side of Main, between  Bird and Hill;

6 Collins New Building, southeast corner Main and Center;

7 Messenger newspaper office, southwest corner Main and Center;

8 Commercial row, east side of Main, between Center and Bird;

9 Selmes store, northeast corner Main and Hill;

10 Melpontian Hall, northeast corner of Center and Third; and

11 Messenger building, near the southwest corner of Main and Center.

Mary Lou Montgomery, Suburban Newspapers of America Editor of the Year, Dailies, 2010, retired as editor of the Hannibal, Mo., Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on amazon.com by this author include: “The Notorious Madam Shaw,” “Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,” “St. Mary’s Avenue District,” “Live, on stage in Hannibal 1879: ‘H.M.S. Pinafore,’” and, the most recent, “South Hannibal, Foundation built upon fortitude & perseverance.” Montgomery can be reached at montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com