William N. Barron

Who is William N. Barron?

William Nelson Barron was a lawyer from who settled in Poplar Bluff, Missouri in about 1894. In 1900, he became the plant manager and president of a factory that manufactured barrel staves and headers, known as the Brooklyn Cooperage Company after 1910, a subsidiary of the American Sugar Refining Company.

The unassembled barrels were shipped to Cuba and other sugar-producing countries. Barron oversaw the construction of the Butler County Railroad connecting Piggott, Arkansas to Poplar Bluff, Missouri, which was used primarily to haul lumber before being sold in 1928 to the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. Barron named the towns along the railroad, which included:

Broseley, Missouri, after his wife's hometown of Broseley, England.

Tipperary, Missouri, after the song "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". Workers had to walk a "long way" to install a railroad switch there.

Batesville, Missouri, constructed on Horace Bates' farm.

Spread, Missouri

Fagus, Missouri. Fagus is the Latin botanical genus for the European Beech native to his home country of England. Barron was surprised to actually find beech trees growing nearby.

Quercus, Missouri.