Information Sheet

 

 

R         Saint Francois County (Mo.).

248                  Booklet, 1925.

                                    One folder.

 

 

 

This is “A Message to the Homeseeker,” a booklet advertising the towns of Bonne Terre, Farmington, and Flat River in St. Francois County, and Fredericktown in Madison County, Mis­souri.  There are descriptions of 157 businesses and illustrations of 85 commercial establish­ments, pub­lic buildings, and churches.

 

Neither author nor publisher is named for this promotional booklet, which appears to have been a joint effort by the business communities of the four towns.  Rather than a treatise on emi­gration, “A Message to the Homeseeker” contains brief general statements introducing the sec­tions for each community, followed by descriptions of the leading business establish­ments.  Pho­tographs of approximately one-half of the businesses accompany the profiles.  Sev­eral churches and public institutions are also pictured.  The descriptions are couched in lan­guage typical of early twentieth-century “boosterism.”  Bonne Terre, Farmington, Flat River, and Fredericktown are presented as clean, progressive towns, whose citizens, invariably de­scribed as “live” and “wide-awake,” enjoyed considerable economic success.

 

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