After his wedding in 1845, William B. Ferguson and his new bride left their home town of Marietta, Ohio and headed westward in their covered wagon looking for a place to make their home. One evening, several weeks later, they made camp beside a spring 12 miles northwest of St. Louis, amidst what Ferguson felt was the most beautiful land he had ever seen. It was here that they decided to make their home.

Ferguson bought a 177-acre tract of land and built a log cabin that he later enlarged into a beautiful frame house. In the 1850’s, officials of the North Missouri Railroad entered into a contract with Ferguson whereby he donated land for a right-of-way through his property. They, in turn, were to make a stop here, put up a depot, and call it Ferguson Station.

This depot became the center of activity and growth and served as the "hub" from which the city developed, grew, and prospered. As a result of this expansion, the population reached 1,000 and Ferguson was incorporated as a fourth class city on November 12, 1894. James E. Hereford served as the first mayor.

Another prominent name in the early history of Ferguson is that of Thomas T. January. Born in Maryville, Kentucky, in 1809, he moved to Illinois at the age of 29 and two years later, along with his brother, moved to St. Louis where they opened a wholesale grocery business.

After the end of the Civil War, Mr. January gave his former slaves and their families’ deeds in perpetuity for property on Eddy Avenue. This land was located north of the January estate and houses and a church were built there.

With Mr. January’s connection to the original Wabash line that ran west of the Mississippi River, along with the fact that he served as a director and member of the Location and Construction Committee of the North Missouri Railroad Company in 1855, it is felt that this must have affected the decision to build a station here. Within a short time, the railroad contracted to use and enlarge the lake that had been built to the east of the January home. An underground pipe was laid from the pond to the watertank on the west side of the tracks, and as late as 1883, the railroad company had a perpetual license to flood seven acres of the January property.

Three years after his death in 1886, his son, Charles, sold nineteen and one-half acres of the property to the railroad for use as a recreational area for its employees. Called the "Wabash Club," it was popular with the residents of Ferguson as well as the railroad people. As the years passed and it was used less and less, the City of Ferguson purchased it from the railroad in 1948. It is now the site of January-Wabash Park.

In addition to his other activities, Thomas January served as the Treasurer of the first St. Louis County government, being appointed to that post in 1877.

The early roll call of those 1,000 hardworking citizens includes names such as Darst, Douglas, Adams, Hereford, January, Brotherton, Tiffin, and many others. Many of these names have been given to the streets in the community in honor of these pioneer residents.

Ferguson is predominantly a community of single-family residential homes. "Well, here is home," Mr. Ferguson said almost 145 years ago, and "Home" it is today.

Sources: FERGUSON A City and Its People © 1976