Arrow Rock
FOUNDED IN 1829, the village of Arrow Rock was situated for success atop a bluff at the intersection of the Missouri River and Santa Fe Trail. The town grew quickly, flourishing as a center for trade, commerce, and politics. The shifting course of the river was one of many economic blows that had landed on …
In early America, taverns were as ubiquitous as churches; every town had at least one. In Arrow Rock, that tavern was owned by a man named Joseph Huston. A founding father of the town, he arrived in Missouri in 1819, and helped transform the settlement into a thriving village where the Missouri River and the Santa Fe Trail intersected.
Missouri is defined by its small towns as much as anything else. Between our state’s two great metropolises lies our state’s heart—where tiny towns populate great plains and small communities dot the rugged landscape of the Ozark hollows. Some sit high above the Missouri on great river bluffs; some are tucked away in the woods.