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A Look Back at Dexter History Provided by the Dexter Chamber of Commerce Before the year 1869, the place we now call Dexter was covered with a forest. There were no roads here, only paths such as Indians make in their native haunts. This large forest was located on a hill; at the east was "Beaver's Pond". Large beaver dams stood on the ground that is now known as the "Lizzie Wilson Place." These dams caused the water to spread over a great area of land now owned by J.J. Dowdy and Lee Williams. It spread as far north as John Norman's and Jeff Rainey's land. The state highway west of town was built on ground that at one time was covered by this water. Before 1869, there was a road that led from Cape Road. At this time, we know it as the Dexter and Bloomfield road. Bloomfield was the nearest trading town for the people around what is now Dexter. One mile south of what is now Dexter, Mr. John Miller ran a mill.This little town was called Miller's Mill. In one large building was a grist mill on which they ground wheat and corn on the same burrs and bolted the flour by hand. The building also housed a cotton gin and a press. Near this mill were a store, a saloon, a blacksmith shop and a wood shop. John Miller was the father of J.N. Miller, one of Dexter's first businessmen. About one mile south of Miller's Mill was a railroad right-of-way known as "the Old Fulton Road". On this right-of-way were a treadmill and a few houses. There were racetracks here where many races of the county were run. This place was named St. Luke. In  1869, the Cairo, Arkansas and Texas Railroad Company started building a line now known as the "Cat Line". This line came over the hills north of Miller's Mill. Between two of these hills ran Dex Creek. This creek was named after a Mr. Dex, who owned a farm on its banks. Also near this creek lived a Mr. Webb, who also owned a farm on its banks. He raised a fine racehorse and called him "Dexter" after the name of the creek. This horse, one of the most famous racehorses of its time, won many of his races on the track at St. Luke. Dexter's first business houses were built on the north side of the railroad. Business was carried on in these houses for a number of years, but they were eventually abandoned when business houses were erected on the south side of the railroad. About 1869, Dr. Dodd, Mose Wilburn, Mr. O'Shea, John Westers and J.R. Wilson built homes upon the hill east of Dex Creek, the part of town now known as Old Dexter. These people apparently thought the depot would be built there, but before any business houses were built, the railroad company built the depot where the present Missouri Pacific Depot now stands. The station was a two-story building. The agent lived upstairs. Joe Moran was Dexter's first depot agent. After the depot was built, the railroad company laid out the town and cleared the timber to form streets. On July 4, 1873, they held a sale of lots. This was the largest gathering that had ever taken place in the county up until that time. The lots sold from $25-$300. Most of these were covered with water. Three years after the railroad company began building a pump, the line was finished and the first train came though Dexter. In 1886, Andy Cooper formed a partnership with Albert Jorndt and built the first rolled process flour mill. This was also the first mill of this kind in the county and people came from miles around to see it work. Our first post office was in a drug store owned by Robert McClane. The postmaster's name was Mr. McAnally. The mail was carried from Dexter on the Star Routes, north and south by men on horseback. In 1893, Mr. E.C. Mohrstadt built the first telephone system in Dexter. This was a private line and was sold to Mr. Taccoth of Charleston. He later sold it to the Bell Telephone Company. The first mayor of Dexter was Tom Brown of Bloomfield. The first marshall was Wash Davis. Our first bank was the Stoddard County Bank. In 1886, two men came from Fulton, Kentucky, and organized this bank. But it is said they schemed to rob the people. The stockholders discovered their scheme and saved the bank, as it was said, "overnight." The Bank of Dexter was organized in 1892. The first school building was located on South Locust Street and had one teacher, Mr. McNall. Later, attendance increased and another teacher was added, Mrs. C.E. Smith. Both taught in the same room with half the seats facing in the opposite direction from the other half. The old pioneer spirit was needed in the building of Dexter; it was largely supplied by men who were used to hardships, who were schooled in the country homes of the county. People came from other states, but the bulk of our citizenship came from the pioneer stock of the county. Dexter was founded in 1853 and incorporated in 1873.

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