Osage County, MO

Once a booming railroad town on the Missouri Pacific Line, Bonnots Mill is now a quiet little community. It is nestled among massive hills, ending in sheer bluffs that overlook the junction of the Osage and Missouri Rivers. Many people consider it Osage County's prettiest town, and certainly the view as one approaches the town by road is magnificent.
 
 Bonnots Mill is really a descendant of the first settlement, originally called Cote sans Dessein (hill without design). Settled by early French fur traders, Cote sans Dessein was located in Callaway County, across the Missouri River from Bonnots Mill. Soon after, perhaps as early as 1805, the Missouri River began to wear the hill of Cote sans Dessein down and build up the south bank. Gradually, some of the French people moved across the river and settled at a site about one­fourth mile downstream from the Bonnots Mill depot. This place became known as French Village.
 
 The river changed its course again and moved toward French Village. The Great Flood of 1844 overtook the community and the last residents moved to higher land. The new site was called Dauphine, probably after a province in France. Felix Bonnot, who laid out the town in 1852, was born in France in 1828, and had come to America with his grandfather when he was nine. Felix settled and married in Dauphine. He established saw and flour mills in Dauphine, and people began to talk of going to Bonnot's mills. The town then received that name.
 
 In 1855, the Missouri Pacific Railroad constructed its tract from St. Louis to Jefferson City, right past Bonnots Mill, but established a station, business activity in the community soared and Bonnots Mill became one of the most important towns in Osage County. Bonnots Mill was the shipping point for a good part of the western and central areas of the county. Residents were witness to much activity and noise, from the piercing whistle of an approaching locomotive, passengers boarding, freight and animals being loaded for market, to men stacking cross ties along the track. All of this, however, was not destined to last. As motorized trucks took over hauling freight and railroad activity declined, Bonnots Mill began to nod and then to slumber, becoming the peaceful town it is today. The railroad depot closed.
 
 As one leaves Bonnots Mill, he may hear the far-off sound of a rumbling train, bringing back memories of energy and importance, memories which cannot be forgotten by the old and, hopefully, will be inherited by the young

Information provided by: Brian & Tracy Klinkner owners of the Bonnots Mill General Store