This town is situated at the present terminus of the Mansfield branch of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, and at the corner between Townships 4 and 5 north, and ranges 30 and 31 west. A portion of it lies in Scott county. It was surveyed and laid out in July, 1887, by John P. Hely, C. E., for the railroad company, and J. w. Harper. The latter was the original proprietor of the land on which the town is located, but sold 100 acres to the railroad company before the town was laid out. Mansfield is in plain sight of and only two miles distant from Huntington. The first business house in the town was built in October, 1887, by J. W. Harper, and the same month D. B. Johnson opened the first store in the place. Soon thereafter McKamey & Bonham and S. E. Smith opened their stores. Other enterprises soon followed, more buildings were erected, and the new town has already grown to contain the following business houses: General merchandise, D. B. Johnson, S. E. Smith, McKamie & Bonham, J. R. Frazier, J. R. Lane; groceries, Charles Humphrey, Parks & Bryan, B. Robinson; drugs, George Remley, T. B. Richardson; millinery, Mrs. F. J. Weymouth & Co.; livery, Thomas F. Martin; blacksmith and wagon shop, William Harp & Co.; planning mill, James Sloan' hotels, Barnett house, by T. B. Barnett, Frisco House, by C. H. Hackett; boarding houses by Thomas Cherry, William Morris; sewing machines, W. O. Martin. In addition to the foregoing Hart & Hodges have a steam power flouring and grist-mill and cotton-gin; George E. Otis & Co. are wholesale dealers in flour, salt and all heavy produce; James W. Harper deals in cotton and real estate, and Jesse Martin is a farmer and real estate agent.

Bowman Hall stands on the Scott County side of the line, as does also a large portion of the town. it was erected about the year 1874, and is a large two-story frame building, well finished, with a Masonic hall above and a church room below; the former is used by Reed Lodge No. 163, A. F. & A. M., of which mention is made in connection with the history of Salem, and the latter by the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mansfield has one physician, Dr. J. W. Gray, and one lawyer, Hon. E. T. Walker. Te latter is also a physician, but devotes his attention mostly to the law. Mansfield is situated on an even plain, inclining slightly toward the east, in Sugar Loaf Valley, and is 600 feet above sea-level. The Poteau Mountains are in full view on the south, the Sugar Loaf on the west, Huntington to the northwest, and the Black Jack Ridge to the northeast, the whole constituting a magnificent view of scenery. If Mansfield continues to be the terminus of the railroad it will remain an important distributive point of trade for several towns and villages lying south, east and west of it, and will undoubtedly become a large and prosperous town. The extensive beds of coal lying near and around it will, when utilized , add much to its prosperity.