Snapshots of History by Mike Avitt

By Editor | August 5, 2026 |

I have further information on the ghost town of Eugene which was located halfway between Shannon City and Tingley. I stumbled upon an old ledger which contains the secretary minutes of the Eugene United Presbyterian Church beginning in 1872, before the Eugene U. P. Church was built in 1874.
But, let’s go back to 1858. A half mile north of Eugene, which got its post office in 1857, was the farm of Michael Bever. The first church building built in Ringgold County was erected on this farm in 1858 with Michael Stahl overseeing the construction. The name of the church was Mt. Zion, but would later be called Pleasant Ridge. The newspaper said the United Brethren denomination originally occupied the first church building. The Bever family left in 1869 and sold the land to John Stevenson. Before leaving, the Bever clan started a cemetery with the Grimes family. John Stevenson’s son Thomas would be a leading figure in the Eugene area for years to come.
The March 6, 1873 Ringgold Record newspaper gives us a description of this part of Jefferson Township. The article states the congregation from Eugene was meeting in the first church building, but the secretary minutes of fall 1872 say the congregation was meeting in the Pollock Schoolhouse. Eugene was on the same circuit as Mount Ayr and a former Mount Ayr preacher, Rev. William Brown, was the minister at Eugene. Before the town of Eugene came into existence (1874), it was just a post office. The United Presbyterian congregation was called Pleasant Ridge, named after the original church building, which they probably met in at one time.
The U. P. Church in Eugene was built in the summer of 1874 and by the fall money was being raised to complete the interior. In 1875, the town was platted and a hand-drawn plat map appears in the secretary minutes showing the church, J. H. Taggarts store and five streets — three east/west and three and two north/south. The north/south street on the east was named Main Street and I’m guessing that is the gravel road that exists today. Early leaders and merchants were Dr. Louis St. John, Edward Heaton, Thomas Steveson, William Brown, George Swain, John Taggart, Mr. Dunlap, John Stevenson, J. Coie, Alexander Pollock, C. Carmichael, William Henderson, C. K. Grimes, et al. Dr. St. John and George Swain were the first two merchants in Tingley in 1882.
I don’t know how big Eugene got, but in 1877, Alson Dunsmoor bought land adjoining Eugene and laid out 24 more lots, calling it the Dunsmoor Addition. Eugene was an important post office because of its location. In 1869, Afton got the railroad and most of Ringgold County got its mail from Afton (at that time, the county seat of Union County). Eugene was halfway between Afton and Mount Ayr. So, Eugene was a good location for a post office, but a bad location for a railroad. The Humeston & Shenandoah RR went south of Eugene in 1882 and the Chicago, St. Paul, & Kansas City RR went northwest of Eugene in 1887.
But, so strong was the U. P. Church at Eugene that a U. P. Church wasn’t built at Tingley until 1888 and Shannon City until 1893. The congregation from Eugene transferred to Shannon City in 1893.
The railroads also created the need for more post offices and the competition from Kew to the southwest, Mortimer to the west, Tingley and Shannon City forced the closure of the Eugene Post Office in 1887.
All that is left of Eugene is the cemetery and two signs that mark the location of the cemetery and the long gone church. Two signs also mark the location on Mt. Zion (Pleasant Ridge) and the Bever-Grimes Cemetery. I have not completely deciphered the secretary minutes as the ink is faint and the writing is in cursive, which is difficult for me to read. It may take me a few years.

Posted in Snapshot of History by Mike Avitt