Cole Camp, Missouri

The Cole Camp area was settled in the early to mid-1830s, and the community took its name from Cole Camp Creek, which in turn was probably named after Captain Stephen Cole, a famous Indian fighter who had camped in the area in the early 1800s and who later served in the Missouri Legislature. A general store opened on Cole Camp Creek sometime before or during the year 1839, when a post office was established at the store under the name Cole Camp. Later, the post office was moved a short distance away to the current location of Cole Camp when a new store opened at that location, with the post office retaining the Cole Camp name. 

The town of Cole Camp was laid out in 1857, and it became a flag stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail route, or the Butterfield Stage route as it was informally called, when that mail service began in 1858. The Butterfield Stage operated until 1861, when it was discontinued because of the Civil War and because of advancements in transportation and telecommunication. 

Many of the early settlers in and around Cole Camp were of German ancestry.

On June 19, 1861, near the outset of the Civil War, a skirmish, sometimes dubiously called a battle, took place at Cole Camp, when Southern-allied Missouri State Guard forces, on their way to southwest Missouri after their defeat at Boonville, routed a Union Home Guard force northeast of Cole Camp. The local Home Guard, composed mostly of German soldiers, suffered considerable losses while the number killed, wounded, or missing Southerners was relatively small. 

By 1874, Cole Camp had grown to a village with five stores, one hotel, one flour mill, one sawmill, and one church. By 1900, the town had a population of about 650, and in 1910, it boasted a population of over 900 residents.

When a reporter for the Springfield Missouri Republican visited Cole Camp in the fall of 1911, he considered the town "the heftiest municipality in Benton County." He went one step farther and called it "the best town between Springfield and Sedalia" on the route that would become US Highway 65. He said the only thing about Cole Camp he could find to criticize was its name, because a lot of people, when they heard the name, thought it was "Coal Camp" and assumed that the area was rich in coal. 

Among the going concerns in Cole Camp in 1911 were a water works, an electric power plant for lighting, a telephone company, a newspaper, two banks, several general stores, a lumber store, a restaurant, at least two hardware stores, two saloons, a jeweler, a couple of real estate agents, a bakery and confectionery, a theater, a grist mill, a couple of drugstores, three doctors, at least one attorney, a public school, several fraternal organizations, and four churches (one Congregational, one Catholic, and two Lutheran).  

When Highway 65 was built, it passed through Cole Camp, following the old Butterfield Stage route through the county, but the highway was later moved west, bypassing Cole Camp. It's been that way as long as I can remember, because I have traveled Highway 65 between Springfield and Sedalia numerous times, but I've never been to Cole Camp.

After the Springfield reporter's visit to Cole Camp in 1911, the population of Cole Camp fluctuated slightly over the next 60 years until it passed 1,000 inhabitants in 1970. The population has since remained fairly steady, as the number of residents according to the 2020 census was slightly over 1,100.