BOONVILLE \u2014 Boonville fits the mold for a small town.<\/p>\n
“Obviously Columbia is the centerpiece of mid-Missouri,” Boonville Economic Development Director Jim Gann said. “But I mean all of us \u2014 Fulton, Moberly, Ashland \u2014 we all have our own sense of culture and history.”<\/p>\n
For Boonville, the history goes back to the Civil War, when Union soldiers defeated The Missouri State Guard in 1861 during The Battle of Boonville.<\/p>\n
Today, Boonville has survived national economic dips, from the Great Recession of 2008 to the COVID-19 pandemic. And in terms of Boonville’s economic culture, manufacturing industrial plants like Kawasaki Motors and Caterpillar Inc. drive the most revenue for the town.<\/p>\n
But businesses in the downtown area are expanding, with about a dozen new businesses opening within the last six months.<\/p>\n
Gann said Boonville is growing economically, but the goal is to not grow too fast.<\/p>\n
“In Boonville, we wanted to be strategic \u2014 we wanted to have a moderate amount of growth,” Gann said. “Our school system could absorb over time, and our municipal infrastructure could absorb, so I think we’re seeing the benefits of that.”<\/p>\n
While new businesses and industries are contributing to Boonville’s economic growth, some shops that have held through the test of time are still a mainstay within the town’s culture. One relatively new industry and one well-known business paint a picture into what makes up the economy of Boonville.<\/p>\n
The new industry: Agrispray\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The largest distributor of agricultural drones in the country is right in Boonville.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Big drones that spray crops,” Agrispray founder and CEO Taylor Moreland said. “So, anything from fungicide to fertilizer and everything in between.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Agrispray employs over a dozen people, hiring both Boonville natives and people around mid-Missouri.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Starting a business in a small town, that has historically not been a great opportunity,” Moreland said. “This technology that we’re providing, these spray drones, actually reverses that trend.”<\/p>\n Agrispray distributes these drones to over 40 states but operates close to where its customers are \u2014 in rural farms.\u00a0<\/p>\n “No one would want to see us move our headquarters to the middle of Los Angeles,” Moreland said. “Because, you know, that’s not where our customers are.”<\/p>\n Moreland founded the company about five years ago, and since then, it’s made over $75 million in revenue for rural America and sprayed over 4.6 million acres of land.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Our mission statement (is) actually: ‘Empowering rural America,'” Moreland said. “We made that our mission statement after we saw what these drones were doing and how they were bringing people in across rural America.”<\/p>\n
Agrispray’s rapid scaling has allowed it to be more involved and give back to the Boonville community.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We’re involved in the Chamber of Commerce,” Moreland said. “We recently just made a donation to the school district, part of the ROTC program, where they use drones in that program.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The storied shop: Gordon Jeweler’s\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Since 1946, Gordon Jeweler’s has been right in the center of downtown Boonville, providing gifts and repair services.<\/p>\n “I grew up in the business,” owner Mark Gordon said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He means literally, as Gordon Jeweler’s has been passed down through the Gordon family through three generations.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The first memory growing up in the business is just being really young and like laying on the floors, in the salespeople’s way,” Gordon said. “In my mom’s way.”\u00a0<\/p>\n It was part of his childhood when he started out engraving custom pieces. Now, it has become part of his adult life.<\/p>\n “That was one of my first jobs was actually being the engraver,” Gordon said. “And that came from my grandma, and she was a hand-engraver when they started the business originally.”\u00a0<\/p>\n His mom, Roz Gordon, married into the business when her husband, Gordon’s father, took over ownership. They’ve seen the business go through ups and downs, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n “So, my husband and I we ran the business behind closed doors and opened it for (jewelry) repairs,” Roz Gordon said. “It’s not all roses.”<\/p>\n But both mom and son have said the reason they’ve been able to survive through it all is their customers: the Boonville community.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It’s family,” Roz Gordon said. “They’re our family.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
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