Two centuries ago this month, (yes – 200 years!) the first post office Callaway County (aka The Kingdom of Callaway) opened in Cote Sans Dessein on the north side of the Missouri River, just downstream from its confluence with the Osage.
Left: Osage River joins the Missouri River near Bonnots Mill, on the south side of the Osage, in Osage County. Bonnots Mill “is a continuation of Dauphin that was founded by French traders a few years after Zebulon Pike passed by (1805).” (p. 290, Damming the Osage.)
To mark the occasion, the post office in Tebbetts, Missouri, which now serves the area once served by the Cote San Dessein post office, will offer a “special anniversary postmark.” This special cancellation will be available at the Tebbetts Post Office through April 26.
Read all about it in the Jefferson City Tribune.
Additional information on the history of the area is available at the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society.
Damming the Osage: The Conflicted Story of Lake of the Ozarks and Truman Reservoir is available at this website, amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in Springfield.