Editing Bismarck, Missouri (section)

==History==
Bismarck, situated in the western part of [[St. Francois County, Missouri|St. Francois County]], owes its origin and early growth to the farming interests about it and its location at the intersection of the Belmont branch with the main line of the [[St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G-AlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA386 | title=History of Southeast Missouri: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People and Its Principal Interests, Volume 1 | publisher=Lewis Publishing Company | year=1912 | pages=386| isbn=9780722207536 }}</ref> Bismarck was first laid out and [[plat]]ted in 1868.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xcxWsmxRzVEC&pg=PA90 | title=Missouri Roadsides: The Traveler's Companion | publisher=University of Missouri Press | author=Earngey, Bill | year=1995 | pages=90| isbn=9780826210210 }}</ref>  It was named after the Iron [[Chancellor of Germany]], [[Otto von Bismarck|Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck]], as there was a strong desire to attract [[Germans in the United States|German immigrants]] to the growing railroad area.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mostfran/towns/bismarck_history.htm |title=FIRST CAME THE TRAINS (A History of Bismarck) |first=Roger |last=Forsythe |work=[[Daily Journal (Missouri)|Daily Journal]] |date=June 29, 1993 |access-date=2019-03-11 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

The railroad ran through the town from the northwest to the southeast. All of the original streets of Bismarck, with the exception of Main and Center, were named after trees.

In 1877, Bismarck was incorporated as a town by the County Court and the first trustees were William H. Gullivan, Benjamin Schoch, C. C. Grider, George H. Kelly and A. H. Tegmeyer. In the year 1881, this incorporation was abolished. Since that time, Bismarck has been reincorporated. According to folklorist Margot Ford McMillen the name of the town caused some difficult times for residents following America's entry into [[World War I]].<ref name="McMillen">{{cite book|last=McMillen|first=Margot Ford|title=''Paris, Tightwad and Peculiar: Missouri Place Names''|year=1994|publisher=University of Missouri Press|pages=59–60|location=Columbia, Missouri|isbn=0-8262-0972-6}}</ref> With patriotism running high, a town named for a famous German leader was seen as "un-American", and prompted some citizens to advocate changing the name to "Loyal". However the majority of residents soundly rejected the idea.<ref name="McMillen"/>

The population about 1910 was 848. It is now 1,579.