The village of Mayview was laid out in 1866, by John P. Herr, George Houx, Stephen Wentworth and William Morrison. It is located on a high ridge, a part of the Blue Hills running from the Missouri River at Lexington and in the early days the entire chain of hills presented a grand panorama.
The name, Mayview, was suggested by John P. Herr as he and the three men with him stood on a hill about where the United Church of Christ now stands and looked out over the countryside. It was the month of May and thinking of the recurring beauty each returning springtime, Mr. Herr suggested the name Mayview.
The site of the town was once known as Heth's Mound, where a bloody Indian battle took place in 1812. The British were bringing to bear every influence they could to have the Indians engage in hostilities against the Americans, and bands of the Osage and Kaws took to the war-path. Capt Heth, an old settler of Coope Co., was out on a scouting party from Boonville, or Old Franklin, and encountered a band of these hostile Indiansa few miles west of the mound, but feel back to it and there made a determined stand. There the sharp and bloody battle took place with Capt. Heth's party victorious. Thereafter the place known as Heth's Mound.
Mayview is the only town in Washington Township and around it is woven much history. The early settlers in the surrounding country came mainly from the Virginias, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Locating in this section of the country where the headwaters of Tabo and Davis Creek find their sources, these pioneers found a farming section scarcely excelled in any part of Missouri.
From the best record obtainable, Richard Powell was the first man to locate in this township, coming in 1820. He settled on land west of Mayview, later dividing his holding among his two sons, David and Thomas J. and a daughter Jane and her husband Eli Adams.
Others who came very early and claimed some of this excellent land were John Jennings, Bentley Barton, Rev John R Whitsett, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, Judge Julius Emmons, Charles Smith, John Ingram, Nimrod Scott, Norman Pool, James S Whitsett, Henry James, Thomas Hutchinson, Ephraim Pool, John McNeal, Morgan Cockrell, James Baker, and others whose names are not available.