TRIBUNE COLUMN
Digging reveals history, not reason, for Gold Dust

The signs says "Jordanville," but don’t be fooled - you’re really at Gold Dust.

Jordanville? Gold Dust? Yep. They’re now one and the same. And where might they be?

That’s the question Ol’ Clark asked about Gold Dust in a Sunday history column several weeks ago. After several phone calls, he found himself in the midst of beautiful, downtown Gold Dust, now a part of Jordanville.

Howard County has more than its share of erstwhile country schools with names found nowhere else - Possum College, Tick Ridge, Spanish Needle, Little Egypt Upper School, Cottage Home, Central Hill, Grape Ridge, Forest Cottage - and Gold Dust.

Most have a logical reason for their names, but Gold Dust? There was never a gold rush in Howard County, nor was it the home of a famous jack by the same name.

Unanswered questions are the reason old columnists exist. Here is the answer, thanks in part to a charming history of Howard County’s country schools compiled by the Boonslick Historical Society.

The original Gold Dust school was located on the west side of today’s Missouri Route 3 a mile north of the Highway 5 intersection between Fayette and Armstrong.

Parents in the area had to get their kids to either Steinmetz or Washington schools, at least three miles distant. In 1898, they proposed a new school district between the two, but the proposal was voted down.

In 1900, the new school district won approval, and a small building, built for Negro children but never used, was available. It was located where Howard County Road 215 intersects Highway 3. Two old cedars and a lake mark the spot.

The school soon needed more room than the half-acre it occupied, so an additional half-acre was purchased from Robert Gibbs, whose adjacent farm was known as, you guessed it, Gold Dust Farm.

The school opened in 1900 as Gold Dust School. The teacher for the first two years was Mae Pledge.

The original school was only 15 by 20 feet. Though it was expanded by 10 feet, the addition could not handle the school’s 35-40 students, and in 1917 it was replaced by the current building, half a mile closer to Highway 5. It closed in 1956.

In the spring of 1949, David Jordan was a senior at Armstrong High School. He was a good student. Mrs. Orland Lake had been the teacher at Gold Dust for three years, but with eight weeks left in the school year, she resigned.

David, who had attended Washington School and lived nearby, finished the school year as Mrs. Lake’s replacement - 18-year-old high school senior. Things were a lot different in 1948.

Today, David Jordan owns Gold Dust School. It is part of David and Nina Jordan’s Jordanville Flower and Garden Center. The 90-year-old school building serves as a very necessary part of the greenhouse operation, just as it had been a very necessary part of growing up in Howard County for more than half a century.

The old school today has brick-red metal siding, the cloakroom is now an equipment storage area, and the old classroom is now a warehouse and work area. On the north wall is one remaining section of the original slate blackboard.

The school had remained empty from 1956 until the former teacher bought 18 acres, including the school, in 1968 and built the house and business the Jordans now call Jordanville.

The Jordans have been married for 58 years and have spent most of their days in the Gold Dust area.

David played basketball from the fourth grade through high school and for 10 years of town ball. He was one of seven in his graduating class of 1958. Nina graduated a year later, and the couple were married soon after.

The Jordans have farmed in the area since they were able to buy 53 acres and a two-room house in 1952 for $100 down and 4 percent interest. The good old days!

David worked for many years at Craig’s Dairy but avoided a 3 a.m. wake-up finally by starting the Jordan Plumbing and Electric Co., which he operated for 15 years along with a Yorkshire hog operation, exhibiting the hogs at shows across the Midwest before shifting gears again in 1989 and becoming a greenhouse operator.

"I like to go to work every day and to try different things," David summarizes.

Along the way, he has built five country homes next to Gold Dust, and they are a part of Jordanville.

Nina, who attended Sweatnam School, just east of Washington, handled voter registration in the county clerk’s office from 1973-94.

The Jordans have two daughters, and they, too, have become an integral part of Howard County life.

Joyce is the manager at Merchants and Farmers Bank in Fayette, and Pat Hilgedick is a retired Fayette elementary school teacher.

The Jordans today enjoy three grandkids and one great-grandchild, serving the Armstrong Baptist Church, keeping watch over 200 acres and being the city council of Jordanville.

Now you know all there is to know about Gold Dust - except why Robert Gibbs called his farm "Gold Dust."

---

Bill Clark’s columns appear Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 474-4510.

---

Advertisement