The City of Chamois was established in 1856.
We have a rich history founded by the German farmers who migrated to the area following the Civil War. Part of the land upon which the town is built was bought and entered at the U.S. Land Grant Office on December 8, 1818, by Daniel Shobe. It was in Section 11, the northeast quarter and included the western third of Chamois.
The town was named by Morgan Harbor, who was inspired by the similarity of the countryside with that of the Alpine regions of Europe where the agile chamois (sham-wa) a goat like antelope lives. Morgan built the first big building in 1854 at the center of town – a double two-story log structure on the north side of the tracks on the west side of Main Street for a hotel and saloon.
The town shares this name with only one other town worldwide – Chamois Italy.
Chamois is surrounded by hills and valleys on the south, probably created by glaciers during the glacial period. The great bluffs, rising over a hundred feet to the east and to the west along the railroad tracks, are objects of beauty especially when the trees are ablaze with color in the fall. The river is to the north.
The town is 100 miles west of St. Louis and 25 miles east of Jefferson City by railroad. +
The town was laid out in 1856 as recorded in Book F, Page 10, in the office of the Circuit Clerk and ex-officio records at the Court House in Linn.