Napier is an extinct hamlet in
Holt County, in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
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 ...
.
History
Napier was established as a
station on January 1, 1882,
and named for a railroad promoter. In 1887, the
St. Joseph and Nebraska Railroad was built from Napier west to 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 ...
across from
Rulo, Nebraska.
A post office called Banks was established in 1884
later called Napier in 1889. and remained in operation until 1943. In the early 20th Century, Napier boasted a hotel, an opera house, and a prominent train station in Holt County. On September 2, 1974, the train station was abandoned.
The
BNSF
BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide ...
railroad still runs trains daily through where Napier was.
Geography
Napier was located in the easternmost sections of
Minton Township.
It was the junction of two
Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railways, the
Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, which traveled west beginning at Napier, and the
Kansas City, St. Joseph, and Council Bluffs Railroad, which traveled northwesterly/southeasterly through the town.
The
Davis Creek Ditch passes by east of the town. It is at the southwest corner of
Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge.
References
Former populated places in Missouri
Former populated places in Holt County, Missouri
1882 establishments in Missouri
Populated places established in 1882
{{HoltCountyMO-geo-stub