Villages of Crawford County, Missouri - FANNING John Fanning, an Irish emigrant, came to Cuba with the building of the railroad. In 1861 he moved to a farm four miles iw st of Cuba. 'Me Frisco Railroad built a little station adjacent to his farm and it was called Fanning. Several years later a post office was established and John Fanning's daughter Mrs. Sue Wood, was appointed postmistress. The post office was kept in the Fanning-Wood home over the years. For years all the houses in Fanning were located on the south side of the track. About 1912 the village consisted of about three houses, a blacksmith shop operated by August Polter, a general store owned by C. A. Beckham, and the Frisco agency and post office operated by Mrs. Sue Wood. By 1915 all of these enterprises had ceased operating. The blacksmith shop had been closed. The store was operated by A. L. Branson a short while after 1912, then vacated, and finally it burned while it was being used as a dwelling. Sam Vitali built a store across the railroad track from the site of the Beckham Store and the depot in July 1930. Shortly after this time the post office was moved from the Wood home to the new Vitali Store. Sam Vitali was then appointed postmaster and served until 1952, having held the position for twenty-tb-ree years. For a short while Mrs. Audrey Martini was postmistress, until a rural route was established and the office closed. Prior to 1930 Joe Bacbialli, brother-in-law of Sam Vitali, had built a tavern. Following these years all the business of the village was on the north side of the Frisco tracks. At the present time about seven homes are on the new site. The railroad company removed the little depot several years ago and at present four homes are located on the south or original site. ------ CRAWFORD COUNTY AND CUBA MISSOURI James Ira Breuer, 1972 p. 77-78 ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe L. Miller ====================================================================