THE 19TH CENTURY - THE FOUNDING AND CONSOLIDATION OF THIS AREA

• THE GRATIOT LEAGUE SQUARE  The very first beginning settlements in the area of Dogtown go back to the land grant of Charles Gratiot which dates back to 1785. In the story in this file you will read of the impact of Charles Gratiot and his family in the development of Dogtown.

• THE MUEGGE FAMILY AND ALBERT MUEGGE'S WATERCOLORS OF EARLY CHELTENHAM  The story of the Muegge family and its contribution to early Dogtown, and digital copies of colored photos of the water colors Albert Muegge did of this area in the 19th century.

• MAP AND LIST OF THE MINES OF CHELTENHAM (DOGTOWN)  Dogtown (Cheltenham) was settled as a mining community with the making of bricks central to it. This file contains a map of the location of mines. The list following the map contains a great deal of information on the various mines. This information is relevant to both the 19th and early 20th century history of the area.

• GITTINS HOTEL in 19th Century

• A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OAKLAND AREA by Norbury Wayman

• ALL ABOUT BRICKS   Discussion of many aspects of the brick industries of this area

• 1875 MAP OF CHELTENHAM  This is the area from Tamm to Mackland, and from Wilson Ave. (just about where I44 is now) to about Clayton Ave. I present this map first in its whole, then in several close-ups to analyze some things about Cheltenham of this period.

• The CHELTENHAM ICARIAN SETTLEMENT: 1859-1864    Various essays about the French utopian communistic society which settled in early Cheltenham.

• NEWSPAPER ARTICLE - SUBLETTE PROPERTY dated May 3, 1916    On the finding of casket on former Sublette property

• NEW! - NEW HISTORY OF CHELTENHAM - 2015 Version - by Louis Schmidt

• ORIGINAL HISTORY OF CHELTENHAM - by Louis Schmidt
    A few essays of Louis Schmidt which are especially interesting to this period.   I am deeply indebted to Louis Schmidt for his foundation work on Dogtown on which I have built. Louis is now retired and living in Branson, but he was born and raised on Brock, just up the hill from Dale. A few years ago he began working on Dogtown history and has allowed me to post lots of his work here. See    the full list of his essays at Louis' special page. I do apologize that I have just not had the time to transpose Louis' essays from their "all caps" formate into regular type. For this period of the 19th century I call attention especially to four essays:
  • The Gratiot League Square   Louis Schmidt situates the time period and historical situation of the huge land grant (Gratiot League Square) given to Charles Gratiot. Schmidt follows the division of the land until one arrives at the area of Cheltenham/Dogtown.
  • Bill Sublette and his propety in Cheltenham   These are notes about William Sublette taken from the main book written about him. Schmidt selects passages that are concerned about the property he owned in the Cheltenham area and the development of both Sulphur Springs and the racetrack that was there.
  • William Sublette: Death, Will and Legacy
  • The Confederate Raid on Dogtown in the Civil War    During the Civil War, on September 29, 1864 there was a Confederate raid on the Federal Post Office at Muegge's Store at the corner of Dale and Manchester in Dogtown. Louis Schmidt not only reports on the story, but speculates about the larger ramifications of Confederate activity in Missouri at that period.