Latham named after doctor who practiced in the area

LATHAM, Mo. - It's not a big community, but the people who live there have nothing but nice things to say about their home town.

Located about 12 miles southwest of California in Moniteau County, Latham has been a rural farm community since the mid-1800s.

Bob and Marilyn Schatzer cross Route E, the main road that runs through Latham. Bob serves on the board of the Tipton-Latham Bank which is housed in a building where Marilyn's grandparents once ran a store and restaurant. (Ra'Vae Edwards/News Tribune photo)

First named Bitsville, the town was founded around the 1860s and later named for Dr. H.W. Latham, who was a widely known and much-needed doctor during those times.

Marilyn Schatzer, 71, grew up in the middle of Latham and said she has many fond memories. “I'd say there were about 100 people here back then,” Schatzer said. “Of course there's not that many people here now but if you count all the people around Latham, there would be quite a few.”

During her childhood, Schatzer said her father, Arthur Hoefener, operated a garage in town and her grandparents ran a restaurant. She remembers several other businesses at that time, including three merchant stores, a blacksmith shop, a barber, a feed mill and an exchange.

“There was one store owned by the Sterling family that are kin to the Tisings that had the store in High Point,” Schatzer recalled. “One store was run by a man named B.L. Fulks. I believe the post office was in his store for a while. And then also Z.M. Pettigrew ran an exchange and a mill. He sold groceries and things like that.”

Two businesses survived many years in Latham and are still in operation today.

“The post office and the bank are still here after all these years,” she said. “I don't know for sure how long they have been in Latham, but I'd guess about a hundred years or so probably.”

The Latham School was established in 1865 and still serves more than 50 children of the Latham community. It operates as a public school with kindergarten through eighth-grade classes.

“When I was in the fifth grade they discontinued the high school here,” Schatzer said. “I went on to go to high school in California then.”

Noel Bayne, 84, also grew up in Latham. Although he now resides in Jefferson City, he remembers quite a bit about his home town.

“It was more of a progressive little town back then,” he said. “I think it's more of a sleepy little town now.”

Bayne said he graduated high school in Latham in 1941 and then left to join the United States Air Force, where he would spend 33 months serving in World War II.

“Latham was a nice place to live back in those days and it's still a nice little town today,” Bayne said.

Schatzer married her husband, Bob, in 1953 and they continued to live in the Latham area. They raised eight children, and five of them still live close by.

The history of Latham has not been written in the form of a history book, but longtime residents summarized it as a “self-contained town back in the day.”

“We would travel to Tipton or California, or even sometimes Versailles, a few times a year,” Schatzer said. “But it wasn't often that we would have to go any further than that because we had what we needed right here.”

Finding entertainment wasn't hard, Schatzer said. “Back when I was a little bitty thing, some guys would come in to town about once a week and show old movies - the old western shows,” she said. “We could go up and watch them for a nickel or dime, I can't remember which for sure. We all enjoyed them.”

Another popular form of entertainment was softball. “After the war, some of the men in town put together softball teams and they would sometimes play several games a night,” she said. “I remember my dad would play on the men's league and they had ladies' leagues and even a league for the children and people would come from all over to play. Times were so much different back then.”

Fun Facts about Latham

* The school, founded in 1865, is still in operation in the original building. This year, 53 students are registered in kindergarten through eighth grade. After graduating eighth grade, students have the choice of attending high school in either California or Tipton.

* There is a large settlement of Bethel Mennonites on the outskirts of Latham who have been in the area for well over 75 years. The children attend private Mennonite schools scattered throughout the rural area.

* At one time there was a hospital in Latham that was founded by H.W. Latham, the man for which the town was named. The hospital was later moved to California. By the 1930s, the old hospital building had been converted into a chicken house.

There are several Mennonite homes and farms on the southern edge of Latham where it is common to see a horse and buggy. (Ra'Vae Edwards/News Tribune photo)