Mountain Grove, Missouri

==History==
A post office called Mountain Grove has been in operation since 1875.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=MO&county=Wright | title=Post Offices| publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref> The community owes its present name to a stand of trees near the original elevated town site.<ref name="History">{{cite web | url=http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_wright.html | title=Wright County Place Names, 1928–1945 | publisher=The State Historical Society of Missouri | access-date=January 3, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624071616/http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_wright.html | archive-date=June 24, 2016 | url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1841 a settlement was built on land east of Mountain Grove near a spring in a grove of hickory timber. A post office was established in Hickory Spring, the original name of Mountain Grove, in 1851, but was removed in 1861.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Wright County |url=http://genealogytrails.com/mo/wright/history2.html |publisher=Genealogy Trails |access-date=7 April 2023}}</ref>

On March 9, 1862, there was a [[skirmish]] in the town during the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="MtnGroveSkirmish">{{cite web | url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/008/0334 | title=Mountain Grove Skirmish | publisher=Ohio State University | access-date=September 28, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="MtnGroveSkirmish2">{{cite web | url=https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/missouri.htm | title=Mountain Grove Skirmish Phelps and 4th | publisher=National Park Service | access-date=December 18, 2023 }}</ref>

A new post office was named for Judge Robert W. Fyan, a prominent figure in early county history.<ref name="History"/> In 1859, a general store was built at the crossroads about one mile west of Hickory Spring. The Fyan post office's name was changed to Mountain Grove, with reference to its location on a ridge in a grove of trees, in 1878.<ref name="History"/>

This became known as the "mountain store, mountain grove or the mountain" due to its elevation of {{convert|1,525|ft}}. One of the most famous incidents in Mountain Grove occurred in the middle of May 1883, when what was called a "nipping frost" caused every tree, sapling and shrub in the community of Fyan and the Fyan depot to be cut clean as from an axe. Thus, the joining of Mountain Grove and adjoining Fyan occurred. In June, the name of the depot was changed to Mountain Grove. The town reapplied for a charter in 1886, changed its boundaries and held its first election.

Buildings within or near the city listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] include the [[Administration Building, Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station]], [[Mountain Grove Bandstand]], and [[Mountain Grove City Hall]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref><ref name="nps">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/listings/20120309.htm|title=National Register of Historic Places Listings|date=2012-03-09|work=Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 2/27/12 through 3/02/12|publisher=National Park Service}}</ref>

[[File:Mountain Grove Skirmish Memorial 1.jpg|thumb|The front of the memorial dedicated to the Confederate soldiers who died in the Mountain Grove Skirmish in the American Civil War]]

[[File:Mountain Grove Skirmish Memorial 2.jpg|thumb|The back of the memorial dedicated to the Confederate soldiers who died in the Mountain Grove Skirmish in the American Civil War]]