Saint Clement, Missouri

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saint Clement, Missouri
—  Unincorporated community  —
Saint Clement, Missouri (Missouri)
Saint Clement, Missouri
Location of Saint Clement in Missouri
Coordinates: 39°17′00″N 91°12′34″W / 39.283333, -91.20944
Country United States
State Missouri
County Pike
Elevation [1] 814 ft (248 m)
Time zone Central (CST) (UTC-6)
 - Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP code 63334
Area code(s) 573
FIPS code 29-29163
GNIS feature ID 64154[1]
[2]

Saint Clement is an unincorporated community in Pike County, Missouri, United States located on Route 161 about 3 miles south of Bowling Green.

Contents

[edit] Geography

Saint Clement is located at 39°17′00″N, 91°12′34″W (39.283377, -91.209312).[1]

[edit] Community

The community boasts St. Clement Catholic Church, and associated parochial school hosting grades K-8. The community is mostly of German immigrant descent, and prominent local families include the Hummel, Sick, and Deters families.

[edit] Economy

The community also supports a bar/restaurant, and a car dealership/mechanics shop, and a small construction company. Local population is mostly rural, and major industries include farming and husbandry.

[edit] Hay hauling

St. Clement was the base for the St. Clement Bale Crew, the last remaining professional hay hauling crew known to exist within northeast Missouri. This crew was formed by members of some of the most prominent families of St. Clement, and other colorful local characters including members of the Brueggen family. The original nucleus of the crew consisted of Doug Korte, Craig Bowen, Brian Orf, Bill and Patrick Deters, and Joe and Greg Sick, who began contracting their services after first joining in a community effort to haul hay to support their own families farms. The crew was derived from and trained by their ancestors who hauled hay only for the family farms. The professional crew lasted nearly 20 years as new members of the crew were trained from within the major families in the area. During the heyday of the crew several crews operated semi-independently, and hay and straw was moved in excess of 1/4 of a million bales per summer. Several members of the crew are reputed to have personally hauled more than 1 million bales during their tenure as members of the crew, including: Bill and Patrick Deters, and Joe Sick. The best known year was in 1992 when the official recorded bale tally for one 4 man crew alone was 110,584 bales. The longest known stretch of bail hauling was 33 days straight, also established in 1992. This crew was headed by Joe Sick at the time and established the very prominent reputation of the St. Clement Bail Crew. The crew is now mostly defunct, and last operated in the summer of 2007 as a single crew led by Thomas Brueggen, the youngest son of the Brueggen Family. The demise of the crew was fueled mostly by a switch to hay predominantly in the form of round bales, and a generational gap, as members of the crew moved away, got married, or took other full time jobs. Members of the major families can still be found living in the Bowling Green, Missouri area.

[edit] References

[edit] External links