The Early Settlement

Some of the earliest settlers in the Washington area were followers of Daniel Boone, who blazed a trail from the hills of Kentucky to the wilderness of east-central Missouri. 

A natural river landing, at what was to become the Washington site, made this an ideal place to begin a settlement. In the first three decades of the 19th century, the small community grew upon south bank of the Missouri River.

German Heritage

The German populace for which Washington is known began with the arrival of twelve Catholic families in the fall of 1833. This group and other later German immigrants were sometimes called "followers of Gottfried Duden," who for two years lived at nearby Dutzow and wrote glowing reviews of the area for readers in his homeland. The lush, green, rolling hills and the river valley reminded Duden of the area in Germany from which he came.