BLODGETT CELEBRATES 150 YEARS

            One Hundred Fifty years ago on October 21, 1870, a plat was filed at the Scott county seat in Benton, MO and a small settlement began that would become known as the Village of Blodgett, MO, and many years later as the “City of Blodgett”.  The original board of trustees for the “Village of Blodgett” would be, Ben F.  Marshall, Charles Stubbs, George Buchanan, R. A. Sparks, and John Austin.  At this point in history Blodgett was considered a swamp, but out of this swamp its early forefathers carved out a little community that would survive the challenges of a changing society through the 19th, 20th and into the present day 21st Century.  The community established their first post office in 1870, and has been able to survive the changing times.  The Blodgett Post Office still operates today.  Blodgett grew over the years, and by the beginning of the 20th century, had become a thriving community situated on the St Louis Iron Mountain Railroad.  The railroad played a large part in the early growth of Blodgett, because of the agricultural opportunities the area offered.  It had grown from a small handful of settlers into a village with its own bank, hotel, grist mill, blacksmith shop, canning factory and B. F. Marshall Mercantile CO.  By 1905 the Little River Drainage District, along with the townspeople drained the community, providing valuable farmland for the area.  Blodgett was well known for its sandy soil conditions, and this enabled the farming community to grow some of the largest and high-quality watermelons in the world.  During the 1904 World’s Fair in St Louis, Ben F. Marshall, a well-known farmer and retailer in Blodgett, nicknamed “melon king” received an award confirming that Blodgett was the “Watermelon Capital of the World.”  At turn of the century it was the largest watermelon shipping center in the world.  During the melon season loaded freight trains from the wagons of the growers would be shipped north.

 In 1913, one hundred fourteen carloads of melons were shipped from this small town in Southeast Missouri in one day (1300 melons per carload).  This product alone made the economy for Blodgett one of the strongest in Scott County at the time. Present Mayor David Russell has pushed for many years to make the melon industry the focal point of Blodgett. Mayor Russell designed the City Signs, the City Flag and last but not least his design of the largest manmade watermelon float pulled by a steam locomotive. In light of this, Mayor Russell, City Council and Citizens proclaimed this the theme of Blodgett’s Sesquicentennial. The full history of Blodgett is documented and will be shared in the Blodgett portion of the 2021 Scott County Missouri Bicentennial book.  A special thanks goes out to Blake Wade Melon Company for supply of event watermelons and the citizens who volunteered to assist in the event, inserting over 100,000 tissue paper into the wired mesh attached over the watermelon structure.  I also would like to thank Representative Holly Rehder, Mike Marshall and the Jack Marshall family for joining in the festivities.  The below depicts the highlights of the Sesquicentennial.

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