The village of Steedman is named for Dr. I.G.W. Steedman of St. Louis.
Location
Steedman is located in southeastern Callaway County in the Missouri River bottom, on the north side of the KATY trail, and extends up the river bluff. It is located in Twn. 45N, Rng. 8W, Sec. 3. The USGS coordinates are Latitude 38°70’63”N Longitude 91°81’58”W.
Settlement
Steedman is located near the center of Survey 1712 and was laid out as a village in the early 1890s on the new Missouri Kansas Eastern Railroad. Survey 1712 was a Spanish land grant obtained by Auguste Chouteau on January 25, 1789, consisting of 6,002.5 acres of land. The land was parceled out and sold off in 1903.
Growth
The railroad was first known as the Missouri, Kansas and Eastern Railroad, and was taken over by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad about July of 1893. In the beginning, there was a depot station and later they also had a depot agent. In the earlier years, the passenger trains made regular stops.
The general merchandise store was built in 1893 by E.W. Lawrence. The name of the store was Lawrence & Co. and was managed by Frank Stolle and Chris Bezler. The store was sold to Charles Becker in 1912.
The Steedman Post Office was opened January 31, 1894, in the back of the store. Frank Stolle was the first postmaster. The post office has changed locations several times since it opened, with the present location being on the site where the last blacksmith shop once stood. It was built by Mr. and Mrs. Charlie O’Neal while Dorothy O’Neal was postmaster.
A grain elevator was built and owned by Charles Becker sometime after 1912. Farmers drove their fat hogs on foot for miles to the weigh scales to be shipped out to market by railroad. Sometimes they received as much as three cents a pound.
The first blacksmith shop was operated by Sam Hopseeker in 1900. The last blacksmith shop was owned and operated by F.E. Burre. Ed Becker was the barber in Steedman for many years.
John A. Binggeli and J.T. Wren opened a garage in 1919. Wren left Steedman in 1924. The garage closed in 1947.
The Steedman Bank was chartered in 1915. The first board meeting was held on July 15, 1915.
Members of the original board of directors were: Mr. Chris Bezler, W.H. Harvey, John Krebs, Thomas Klick and S.W. Tate. Guy H. Bezler was the first cashier and held that position until his death in 1971, with the exception of approximately 17 months while in the service of his country during World War I. On September 23, 1915, the capital stock was $10,000.00, with assets of $23,781.00. On June 30, 1983, the capital stock was $50,000.00, with assets of $7,341,000.00. The bank merged with The Callaway Bank in 1993 and the bank in Steedman closed.
Education
The first school was a log building located about one-half mile south of Steedman in the river bottom. Later a new one-room schoolhouse was built north of the store, with one teacher teaching all eight grades. The school was closed when the new South Callaway R-2 District was formed on April 12, 1957, including 18 or more rural schools.
Today
The railroad ceased operations on October 4, 1986, and abandoned the Missouri-Kansas-Eastern line in 1987. Sometime around the year 2000, the 240-mile corridor from Machens (St. Charles) to Sedalia was converted to a hiking and biking trail that became known as the Katy Trail State Park. Steedman sits at mile marker 121.4 on the trail and witnesses hundreds of bicyclists and walkers each year.
The Steedman Cemetery, located on the hill north of town, was organized in 1918. The plot of ground was purchased from John Lincolnfelter. The first grave dug in the cemetery was for Ben Becker who was called into service in World War I and died a short time later on April 5, 1918.
The Steedman Methodist Church is the only church in town. The building was dedicated on August 9, 1896. The church disbanded on October 12, 2019.
Steedman still has a post office which is open only two hours each day.
Compiled January 2021
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Steadman, Missouri
IMAGES OF Steedman, MISSOURI
