Granby

History

In 1850, while traveling through Missouri on his way to St. Louis, Missouri, William Foster discovered galena ore while digging along Gum Spring Branch (Creek) on the property of settler Madison Vickery. Mr. Foster & Mr. Vickery opened the first shaft harvesting this ore, leading to the "Granby Stampede" two years later, a mine rush that populated the town. A post office was founded in Granby and has been in operation since 1856. The community took its name from Granby, Massachusetts.That same year, the towns first railroad tracks were laid. In 1857, Peter F. Blow and F. B. Kennett formed The Granby Mining and Smelting Company to smelt the mined lead. By 1859, Granby was a boom town of more than 8,000 people. The Granby Mining and Smelting Company lasted throughout most of the Civil War, held at various times by both Union and Confederate troops, until the Confederates finally blew up the furnaces to keep them out of Union hands. Mining was the chief industrial activity in Granby throughout the 19th century, with heavy concentrations of lead, zinc, galena, and calamine, Until the early 1950's when the ore, once thought to be inexhaustible, petered out. The company dissolved and shut down the mines.

Geography

Granby is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. There are virtually no chat piles left in Granby today as evidence of the boom of lead and zinc mining as part of the Tri-State district back in the early 20th century.

Race & ethnicity