Biohazard Cleanup Near West Gerald Gerald, MO

Gerald is a city in Franklin County, Missouri, roughly 80 miles west of St. Louis.

Gerald owes its existence to the railroad: the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was completed through the area in March 1901, a depot was built in 1902, and the village was incorporated in 1907.

The rail stop was named for the local physician, Dr. Fitzgerald, who owned much of the land in the area — with the 'Fitz' prefix dropped during the naming, leaving just Gerald.

Gerald eclipsed the older community of Shotwell, a trading post founded in 1855 on the Springfield Road stagecoach and cattle-drive route two miles east; as businesses and trade moved to the rail stop, Shotwell faded away.

Gerald's depot is the only surviving Rock Island Railway depot along the 205-mile corridor of the Rock Island Trail; the first depot burned, and the present depot, built to replace it, served the line until the Rock Island's 1975 bankruptcy.

Passenger train service through Gerald, which had run since the town's founding, was cancelled in March 1950.

On January 26, 2024, Gerald hosted the first groundbreaking along the eastern 144 miles of the Rock Island Trail, the rail-trail being built on Gerald's old rail corridor.

The Old Gerald School, at 111 West Third Street, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Gerald had 1,361 residents at the 2020 census, up slightly from 1,345 in 2010, within a total area of about 1.49 square miles.