HISTORY

700 BCE – Osage and Tamaroa tribes settled near the Meramec River Valley.
1670s – Initial contact with the Osage tribes is established by French fur traders, or “coureurs des bois.”
1820 – The first wood cabin is constructed in what would be called the City of Pacific. Settlement begins, the original structure partially stands, hidden beneath the St. Bridget Parish Office.
1849 – The Railroad Convention is hosted in St. Louis and creates the Pacific Railroad.
1853 – The Pacific Railroad lays track through the town of Franklin.

1855 – First School is opened.
1859 – The town is renamed Pacific from Franklin in honor of the railroad.
1860 – A post office in Catawissa is opened.
1864 – The Battle of Franklin (Pacific) is fought.
1871 – The Pacific Railroad closes and becomes the Frisco and Missouri Pacific. The last strongholds of the Osage tribes are taken over by the United States and they are forced to relocate.
1878 – The first school for black children, the B.F. Allen School, is opened in Pacific.

1933 – Route 66 begins construction in Pacific.
1934 – The Red Cedar Inn is built.
1950s – The Meramec River Valley schools are desegregated.
1961 – Rail service from Pacific to Saint Louis is discontinued.
1965 – Interstate 44 is opened.
1970 – The Meramec Valley R-III school district is created.
1971 – The Missouri Pacific is reorganized into the Union Pacific.
1978 – The Pacific Depot is torn down.
1985 – Route 66 is officially decommissioned.
2003 – The Red Cedar Inn is added to the National Register of Historic Places.

2017 – The City of Pacific purchases the Red Cedar Inn property.
2023 – The Red Cedar Inn Museum and Visitor Center opens to the public.