Dadeville School

Dadeville school today

Main street in Bona, Missouri

As you can see there are fewer houses in Bona now...

Hulston Mill

This is the main mill house... It built originally in the late 1830's and was called Pemberton mill. The mill was damaged by floods and was rebuilt in the early 1840's. The Mill was primarily a saw mill that used water power. During the Civil War however, a lot of food was produced by the mill to feed troops. In the 1880's the mill was purchased by J.C. Hulston and a new bigger building was built and the name was changed the Hulston Mill.

Here are some pictures of secondary buildings. They were actually part of a village that grew around the mill. The village included a post office, pharmacy, mercantile, a stable, and many other services. This area is now used for family entertainment which includes tours of the mill, stories about the mill, and families are even allowed to camp out on the property.

Some more pictures of the cemetary

I tore through the entire cemetary and this is the only grave that could possibly have belonged to the baby girl that passed away on the wagon train.If I am correct then her name was Lizzie Clark. This is just what I think though...

The Asbell Cemetary

This cemetary is located near Dadeville, MO. The story goes something like this.A wagon train was going through the area when a lady on the wagon train was about to have a baby. The people in the wagon train knew that they were ahead of schedule so they asked the people who owned the property at the time if they could camp out there for a few days so that the woman could rest. The baby became sick and died in the time that the wagon train was there and so they asked the owners of the land if they could burry their baby girl their. It was that day that the Asbell cemetary started.

Bona Church of Christ

Literally right across the street from my home and the Humbert Store is the Bona Church of Christ. I have attended services here since I was three years old. This congregation is said to be the oldest Church of Christ Congregation this side of the Mississippi River! The church was organized by some settlers from Kentucky and Tennessee in 1838. The first location of the congregation was actually in Dadeville, Missouri which is about 3 miles south east of Bona. The church met their up until 1862 when the church building along with the rest of Dadeville (then called Melville), MO was burned. The church continued to prosper until something caused the church to split. One part moved to Dadeville and the other portion moved to Bona in 1866. The group that went to Dadeville is known today as the Dadeville Methodist Church. In 1887 the congregation at Bona was given some land and they began work on building a church building at their present location. The building that they built at this time was destroyed in a fire in Febuary 1929 and a new building was finished at the same location in October of the same year. The church has continued to prosper in that location in the same old building ever since (of coarse being remodeled and updated along the way).

The Humbert store

This is a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Humbert's store. The store has been around for many years ( I could not get the exact year that it opened ). The store was known for their trading with the local farmers. At the time that the store opened the number one way to earn money was by running a family farm. Farmers would bring in milk, eggs, livestock, or anything else that they had and traded the Humbert's for credit at the store. The store also purchased black walnuts and hulled them out back. One of the men that I interviewed worked hulling the nuts at the store for a couple years. One thing can be said for the Humbert's that is that there is not anything negative to say about them. The store remained in the Humbert family until it closed its doors for good several years ago.

My home

This is my house. It was build in the 1970's by Mr. and Mrs. Tom Humbert. This couple was a very important part of Bona. They ran the local mercantile for many years (we will talk about the store later).

The story of my home's creation is a funny one. Story has it that Mr. Humbert did not know that the estate was going to be built until he looked out the back window of his store and saw the well being dug! After the seceret was out things began to get really interesting. Mrs. Humbert wanted to go with electric appliances while her husband wanted to stick with propane. They compromised by making the top half of the home electric and the bottom half of the estate propane!

Bona, Missouri population aprox. 40 persons, 25 dogs, 150 cattle, and 50 chickens

Bona, Missouri a little "town" out in the middle of no where. This place is so small that if you blink you miss it. It is a shame that the greatness of our village is not as well known as it deserves. I chose to do my project right here in my home town because I wanted to educate myself on the cool happenings that have occured in my own back yard. I hope that in sharing my experience with you that the legacy of Bona, Missouri will be remembered the way it should be. I hope you enjoy!