A few weeks ago, in a couple of my posts about towns in the Ozarks that grew up around springs during the mineral-water craze of the late 1800s, I mentioned Monegaw Springs in St. Clair County and Eldorado Springs in Cedar County. Cedar County was also home to at least a couple of other famous springs, Cedar Springs and Jerico Springs.
Cedar Springs, another town that I passed through coming home from Sedalia recently, was laid out in 1884 and originally called Balm to suggest the healing powers of its waters. Like quite a few such towns, Cedar Springs declined rapidly after the mineral-water craze passed, and today it is little more than a wide place in the road along Highway 54 east of Eldorado Springs.
Jerico Springs, located in western Cedar County near the Barton County and Vernon County lines, was laid out in 1882, although the area was reportedly known for the curative powers of its waters long before that date. The name of the town came from a combination of the biblical city of Jericho and a man named Carrico, who had formerly owned the land on which the town was built. Bath houses were opened in Jerico Springs in 1883, and the town's springs were advertised as the "Fountain of Youth." Today, Jerico Springs, with a population of a couple of hundred people, has declined since its heyday, but it has not yet faded to near extinction the way Cedar Springs has.
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A quick view of Google Maps shows a carefully laid out Jerico Springs. There are even sidewalks lining the wide roads. However, there's little in the way of business left in the town, and it looks like the roads are all gravel.
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