This book is a collection of Tipton's history in words and pictures. It was compiled by Tipton area residents for the Tipton Bicentennial Committee. Although it is not meant as a scholarly, historical account of Tipton, all dates and facts listed have been verified by more than one source whenever possible.

Although the committee has strived to make this history as complete as possible, in this size book, there is much of Tipton's history that has been forgotten or is yet to be uncovered. A time capsule, which was sealed in a building in downtown Tipton in 1891, should yield a wealth of information when it is found.

In working on this book, we were guided by three earlier histories of Tipton: "The Early History of Tipton" by Miss Mina Schricker, printed in the April 9, 1920 issue of The Tipton Times; "The Story of Tipton" by J.A. Conn, published in The Tipton Times as well as the Centennial Book₁ published in 1958; and J.E. Ford's "History of Moniteau County, Missouri, published in 1936. Much of the information in this book came from files of The Tipton Times from 1877 to the present.

This book represents many hours of work by a large number of persons. It is impossible to list and thank all those who took time to hunt old pictures, write out information, or verify information we obtained from other sources.

The name of those contributing pictures is listed with each picture. Among those donating much time to this book besides the committee are Myrtle George, who typed many articles from the early Tipton Times, Monte Howard, who, on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, obtained many of the 1976 business write-ups; and Dean Knipp, who assisted with the editing.

Our thanks go to Mr. Herbert Bracht for piloting the plane and Mr. Don Hofstetter for taking the aerial pictures of Tipton.

Our thanks go also to the staff of The Tipton Times who have worked very hard to layout and print this book.