Big Apple Township, Oregon County, Missouri (1895)

The state of Missouri prided itself on its apple growing in the 1890s. A book, Among the Ozarks: The Land of the Big Red Apple, was published in 1891. Willow Springs, Missouri, was called “Home of the Big Red Apple” in an article in the Springfield (MO) Daily Democrat on May 26, 1891. The slogan “Land of the Big Red Apple”  would be used by areas in several states.
 
A “Big Apple Township” was established in the apple growing region of Oregon County, Missouri, in 1895.
 
 
Wikipedia: Big Apple Township, Oregon County, Missouri
Big Apple Township is an inactive township in Oregon County, in the U.S. state of Missouri.
 
Big Apple Township was so named on account of apple orchards within its borders.
 
Wikipedia: Oregon County, Missouri
Oregon County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,635. Its county seat is Alton. The county was officially organized on February 14, 1845, and was named for the Oregon Territory in the northwestern United States.
 
Census Reporter
Big Apple township, Oregon County, MO
County Subdivision in: Oregon County, MO, Missouri, United States
541 Population
54.6 square miles
9.9 people per square mile
Census data: ACS 2023 5-year unless noted
 
Newspapers.com
26 May 1891, Springfield (MO) Daily Democrat, pg. 3, col. 3:
WILLOW SPRINGS
A growing city in Howell County,
Missouri.
HOME OF THE BIG RED APPLE!
(...)
The passenger department of the “MEMPHIS ROUTE” have recently published a book entitled, “AMONG THE OZARKS, THE LAND OF THE BIG RED APPLE,” which gives an extended report of the character and quality of the soil, and other information which must necessarily be omitted from a newspaper article. A visitor here is readily convinced that the “land of the big red apple” is no myth, but an actual reality, and that Willow Springs is in the midst of it.
 
Newspapers.com
15 June 1895, Missouri and Kansas Farmer (Kansas City, MO), pg. 4, col. 3:
The County Court of Oregon County have formed a new township, naming it “Big Apple” township. Koshkonong will be the voting precinct.
 
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3:24 AM · Nov 26, 2016