Villages of Crawford County, Missouri - HINCH The settlement of Hinch, at one time also called Union, was named for William Hinch an old time settler and resident in the area about 1830. About sixty years later Richard Lee Summers and wife, Alice, moved to the area. In 1896 residents petitioned the government for a post office to be established. The petition was granted and Richard Lee Summers became the first Postmaster. During the years the administration at Washington changed and Mrs. Beulah Padgett became Postmistress.She was succeeded by Mrs. Keeney and some time later the Position was granted to Miss Alice Fisher. On September 17, 1917, Mrs. AIice Summers, wife of the first postmaster, was commissioned postmistress.She served until June 10, 1921, when Mrs. Summer's daughter, Mrs. Mae Lea became Postmistress. She served for twenty-four years until the office was officially closed on January 31, 1954. For many years, including the period that the Summers family resided at Hinch, a little country store was operated in the same building as the post office. When automobiles came into use the needs of the community were served by a filling station. The day finaIIy came, about 1925 when many two-year high schools, called Job schools, were established throughout the state. Hinch residents, in addition to grade school that had been one of the pioneer educational institutions, succeeded in establishing the high school.The high school e@sted for several years and during the period two of the high school principals were F. E. Brenton and William R. Curnutt. As the Job schools closed the Hinch High School went out of existence. Sometimes interesting neighborhood items are found in making research.Valuable historical information was revealed when the author found in a copy of "The Cuba Telephone" printed July 17, 1903, the following Hinch items: "THE FIRST IRON FURNACE,, GRISTMILL, AND SCHOOLHOUSE IN THE COUNTY "It may not be known to the residents of Crawford County that the oldest frame dwelling west of the Mississippi River is within her borders, but such is undoubtedly the case. The house was built by Captain Ashley in 1822. There were plenty of log houses before that date, and some brick houses near Ste.Genevieve, but this is the first frame house-built entirely of sawed stuff. The weatherboarding was sawed by the primitive method of sawing, called whipsawing. The house now [1903] belongs to Benjamin Harrison on what is known as the old Crawley Place. The first iron furnace built in the county was built by William Harrison and Jo Reeves. It was built on Thickety Creek, about 1 1/2 miles above where Dowler's Mill now stands and was built in the year of 1820. The first gristmill erected by William Harrison on Brazil Creek on the farm now [1903] by the Kirchoffer brothers in the year 1826. The first school in the county did not arrive till 1838 and was called Cedar Grove and stood about three-fourths mile from where the Vilander post office now stands. "We do not like to brag about being the best people in the county, but none of the people of Hinch raised H--l on the Glorious Fourth and those that did not go elsewhere to attend picnics and witness rows stayed home and observed the day in soberness." The editor of "The Cuba TeIephone" was John Harris, who is now [1972] ninety-seven years old and lives in Florida. ------ CRAWFORD COUNTY AND CUBA MISSOURI James Ira Breuer, 1972 p. 44-46 ==================================================================== 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 ====================================================================