Barn Quilts of the Boonslick 2022

hen the Missouri River washed away the orig inal town of Franklin in 1823, in the first of a series of historic floods, settlers platted Fayette in the rolling farmland of central Howard County and made it the county seat. They named the town after the Marquis de Lafayette, a French citizen who served as a gener al for George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Today, it is hard to find a more pastoral, peaceful community any where in mid-Missouri, but during the Civil War, Fayette was the scene of much mayhem. On September 24, W FAYETTE FayetteMainStreet.org

1864, William “Bloody Bill” Anderson and George Todd led about 250 pro- Southern guerrillas in an attack upon forty or so Union troops stationed in Fayette, which was decidedly pro- Southern in its popular sympathies. Thirteen of Anderson’s men died in the unsuccessful attack, while the Union forces lost only one. The state has placed a commemorative marker on the campus of Central Methodist University (CMU), just north of down town Fayette. More than one thousand students attend classes at CMU, where love ly buildings date back as far as 1848. The state-of-the-art Ashby-Hodge

Gallery of American Art, located in the renovated Classic Hall, hosts five exhibitions a year and displays a permanent collection. The Little Theatre at CMU produces four main stage shows a year and hosts several visiting professional companies. Theater-lovers will also want to check out the Fayette Area Commu nity Theatre, which hosts three shows each year. Driving around Fayette, it’s hard to miss the domed Morrison Observato ry, located at the edge of a park on the west side of the city. The observatory was originally built in Glasgow in 1875. CMU moved the observatory to Fay ette in 1935. Its twelve-inch refracting telescope, built in the late 1800s, is a thing of finely crafted beauty. Speak ing of beauty, many of the antebellum homes and buildings around town are listed on the National Register of His toric Places. Outdoor enthusiasts can hike, pic nic, and fish around three city lakes lo cated just west of town. Festivals are popular here and draw visitors from all over the Midwest. They include the Juneteenth celebration in June at the courthouse square, Strawberry Festival in June at Fayette City Park, the Fourth of July celebration at Fayette City Park, and the Festival of the Arts on July 31, 2022 at the Court house Square.

The Wright Building

Howard County Courthouse

22 / BoonslickTourism.org