Newburg, Missouri

Newburg, Missouri has one of the most literal place names in the Ozarks. When the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway built its engine roundhouse at this spot in Phelps County, the name is said to have come from railroad men calling it "the new burg."

The town grew up around that roundhouse, which was the reason for everything: engines were changed here, repaired here, sent back down the line. Iron ore deposits in the surrounding hills inspired investors to build a blast furnace nearby, hoping to make Newburg a smelting center, but falling iron prices ended those attempts by the early eighteen eighties. What remained was a railroad town, compact and practical, tucked into the Ozark hills along the Gasconade River watershed, still carrying the blunt nickname the railroad men gave it.