History of Arrow Rock, Missouri
Native Americans long ago gathered flint from Arrow Rock bluffs for arrowheads, hence the name of this significant landmark. Lewis and Clark noted the bluff and nearby salt licks as they labored up the Missouri River in 1804. Westbound explorers and traders paused at Arrow Rock Spring, and in 1829 some settled and founded a town.
On Sept. 1, 1821, a party of men with packhorses left Franklin and crossed the Missouri River near the Arrow Rock ferry. Led by William Becknell, this expedition successfully opened trade with Santa Fe, N.M. Becknell led another expedition the following year and wrote, "...on the 22nd day of May 1822, I crossed the Arrow Rock ferry, and on the third day our company consisting of 21 men, with three wagons, concentrated." The Big Spring of Arrow Rock, associated with the early Santa Fe trading expeditions, is now certified as part of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail.
In 1829, the town of Arrow Rock was founded on the bluff above the ferry crossing. Originally named Philadelphia, the town’s name was changed in 1833 to coincide with the landmark. Its situation on the Missouri River and Santa Fe Trail meant that large numbers of travelers heading west passed through the town. In 1834, Joseph Huston, a native of Virginia, began construction of a two-story brick structure known today as the Old Tavern.
By 1860, Arrow Rock had become Saline County’s most important river port, with a population of more than 1,000. Nearly half that number was African-Americans. The stone gutters on Main Street, the Old Tavern and other early structures remain as a monument to the labor these immigrants from the upper South provided in building the town.
Notables lived & lingered here. Many noted Missourians have been associated with Arrow Rock - three 19th century governors; entrepreneur and medical doctor John Sappington, who was a pioneer in the treatment of malaria; and frontier artist George Caleb Bingham, who used Arrow Rock as the backdrop for some of his best known paintings.