Cote Sans Dessein is an extinct town within the still extant Cote Sans Dessein Township in southern

Callaway County Callaway County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 United States census, the county's population was 44,283. Its county seat is Fulton. With a border formed by the Missouri River, the county was organized Novemb ...

in the

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Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. The site was on the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

floodplain across the river from Dauphine or Bonnots Mill in Osage County. The town of Cote Sans Dessein survived repeated destruction by flooding, until it was finally largely abandoned and its population mostly dispersed.

History

A Native American settlement near here meant "upland forest" in the

Osage language Osage (; Osage: ''Wažáže ie'') is a Siouan language spoken by the people of the Osage Nation in northern Oklahoma. Their original territory was in the present-day Ohio River Valley, which they shared with other Siouan language nations. Slow ...

. ''The History of Callaway County'' by John G. Provines indicates that a patent for a survey of the area was granted in 1800 by the Spanish military government of Louisiana, before transfer to France lasting two years, and indicating that the area had rich soil and abundant fish and game. Some references indicate that a settlement specifically at Cote Sans Dessein was made around 1803 by a colony of French traders (near the time of the historic "

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" treaty made between France and the USA). A first-hand observation of the settlement in 1817 was written by local historian T J Ferguson. Cote Sans Dessein is a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

name often interpreted as "coast without design". A post office was established at Cote Sans Dessein in 1818, and remained in operation until 1907. At the time of initial Missouri statehood in 1821, the town was among those proposed as the site for the new state capital of Missouri after its transfer from St. Charles, but it was later decided to locate the capital in

Jefferson City Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Missouri. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 United States census, ranking as the List of cities in Missouri, 16th most popu ...

due in part to warranted considerations of possible flooding. Following early destruction by Missouri River floods, the town was relocated about one mile inland from the Missouri River shore in west-south-central Cote Sans Dessein Township, or about two miles southwest of the village of Tebbetts. Maps of 1876 show it on the shore of the river, and maps of 1897 show it inland from there. The second location was also substantially destroyed by floods, at which time many or most survivors moved elsewhere, followed by the shutdown of the post office in 1907.

Etymology

"Côte" means "coast" or "shore" or (sometimes interpreted as) "hill" in English; "sans" usually means "without"; "dessein" usually means "design" or "intention".Oxford Hachette French Dictionary / Le Grand Dictionnaire Hachette-Oxford, Oxford University Press, Oxford UK, 2007. Among the various possible translations, this would logically refer to a river shoreline or possibly a hill-like or island-like formation sometimes altered due to a periodically changing river current. The exact "intention" of the name would require records of those who originally named the settlement, if such records exist.

References

External links

History of Cote Sans Dessein per nearby historical resident T J Ferguson on website of Callaway Historical Society.A detailed historic map of Callaway County townships
{{coord, 38.5878768, -91.9869590, type:city(0), display=title, format=dms Ghost towns in Missouri Former populated places in Callaway County, Missouri