The former town of Hanover, located just west of the city of Festus, has never been much more than a whistle stop on the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad.
And now Hanover is not even that. The town has disappeared from the map. In its place, however, is a subdivision called Bailey Station that commemorates the Bailey Railroad Station that was once located there.
Bailey Station was located along the railroad tracks near the intersection of Harrison Lake Road and Old Hwy. 21A, or West Main. There also was a post office, and nearby, local residents, mostly farmers, gathered at Shekinah Lodge No. 256 of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (A.F. & A.M.), which was chartered Oct. 15, 1868, according to the History of Jefferson County.
The tracks that passed there were part of the railroad from St. Louis to De Soto that was completed in 1857. As soon as it was finished, little towns appeared all along the tracks, according to an article about the town, written by Lisa K. Gendron.
“In an 1866 Jefferson Co. Leader newspaper, William S. Howe, Trustee, advertised that he would sell at public auction on Saturday, May 26th, 1866, lots at the town of Hanover. It stated that Hanover was the only station on the east side of the Joachim and because of the fine farming and fruit-growing country to the east and south of St. Louis, in point of business it had no rival. Terms were one-tenth cash, balance six months credit,” Gendron wrote.
The railroad station was named for John M. Bailey, a farmer, who purchased 140 acres of land in 1846 where the railroad station was built and a portion of the town was later laid out, Gendron wrote.
Bailey, born in 1820 to Henry and Barbara (Drybread) Bailey, died in 1909 at the age of 89.
“He was, at his death, the oldest member of the Masonic Lodge in this county,” according to the article.
On March 26, 1884, the Shekinah Lodge moved to Limitville (now Festus), Gendron wrote.
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