Palmyra has some very good roads for its use; US 24 and US 61 running together through the Eastern part of town, BR US 61 running through the center of town and SR 168 from the West joining BR US 61 and running with it until it departs for the Eastern in the Northern part of town.

This city of approximately 3,500 people was at one time an important stop for slaves escaping their owners. Around 1818, a settler from Kentucky came to the area and built a log cabin here. After Missouri became a state and this city was selected two early settlers contributed 50 acres to establish the town. Gardner House which was a stop on the St. Louis-St. Paul stagecoach route and the Marion County Jail still remain. Gardner House, with its colorful colonial garden, is now a museum and the jail is soon to be a museum. You will find homes and buildings here which are on National Register of Historic Places. Some of the buildings which still remain are homes of William Russell, co-founder of the Pony Express, Broadway actress Rose Inghram and film actress Jane Darwell, academy award winner for The Grapes of Wrath. Others worth seeing are St. Paul’s College which was one of several local colleges in the 1800’s, the building that served as the headquarters for the provost marshal during the Civil War and the Hanley Opera House.

Hon. Thomas Meade