On August 14, 1902, William Helms (June 5, 1835 – December 13, 1917), a 72-year old farmer and civil war veteran, was walking along the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway (later the Missouri Pacific Railroad) where it crosses Big River outside of Irondale (Washington County, Missouri), collecting lumber for a barn he intended to build.
At the time, Norias was the headquarters for the southern most portion of the 825,000-acre King Ranch and was also used by the Missouri Pacific Railroad to water their trains.
Leaving school at the age of fourteen, he began working for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, sweeping floors for $2 a month.
Missouri | Pacific Ocean | Kansas City, Missouri | Pacific | Canadian Pacific Railway | Pacific War | Missouri River | Baltimore and Ohio Railroad | South Pacific | Pennsylvania Railroad | Union Pacific Railroad | University of Missouri | Pacific Islands | Pacific Northwest | Northern Pacific Railway | Underground Railroad | Springfield, Missouri | Pacific Islander | New York Central Railroad | Southern Pacific Transportation Company | 2011 Pacific Games | Indo-Pacific | Columbia, Missouri | Alaska Railroad | St. Charles, Missouri | South Pacific (musical) | United States Pacific Fleet | Perry County, Missouri | Erie Railroad | University of the Pacific |
There he served as city attorney, and was an attorney for the Missouri Pacific Railroad and Wabash Railroad from 1881 to 1894.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad and Loop 1 (also known as Mopac Blvd.) both run through the middle of the site.
His grandfather, Dr. Pleasant John Graves Lea (also grandfather of Homer Lea, author of The Vermilion Pencil: A Romance of China), is the namesake for Lee's Summit, Missouri, although the name became spelled with an "e" instead of "a" because a stone culvert next to the Missouri Pacific Railroad station was set this way.
Following the Browns 4 game to 2 win of the 1886 World Series over Chicago White Stockings, the Missouri Pacific Railroad honored several of the St. Louis players by naming some of their towns after the players.
Other towns still existing along the Missouri Pacific Railroad's route are Sugar City, Crowley, and Olney Springs.
The Mopac Expressway, State Highway Loop 1 in Austin, Texas, named after the Missouri Pacific railroad whose tracks bisect the expressway.
In 1916, the Missouri Pacific Railroad placed a switch known as Ridge in the community, and the community became known as Ridge.