Wartrace was located two miles west of Grantsburg on State Route 146 on the south side of the highway. At this point the Ganntown- Reevesville blacktop road leads off to the south. The old Wartrace Cemetery is located just off this road a quarter of a mile from Route 146. The state highway at this point is on the old Lusk Ferry (Golconda) to Cape Girardeau Post Road. This trail passed through Vienna, Jonesboro and Clear Creek.
     It is not clear how the name Wartrace was given to the village. One story was based on a lynching. The facts of the lynching are authentic. A Reverend A. Franklin, a Civil War chaplain, lived on a farm near Wartrace. On Saturday, December 3rd, at noon, a stranger named James Patillow from Boulding Green, Ky, came to Franklin’s house and wanted to trade horses. Franklin refused to trade but invited the man to have a noon day meal with the family. Patillow ate and when he left he took Franklin’s horse and saddle and left his. When the minister discovered what Patillow did, he and his son pursued and overtook him. An angry dispute followed; Patillow shot and killed Reverend Franklin. When news reached Wartrace a posse was formed. The posse overtook Patillow before he reached the Ohio River.
     Patillow was taken back to Wartrace and put under guard, to await trial. The prisoner was guarded at Doctor W. J. Fern’s farm. On Monday, December 5th, 1868, a mob formed and overpowered the guard. They took the prisoner and hanged him to a walnut tree in Wartrace. Legend says that Dr. Fern remarked, "I hope this is the last trace of war", and Wartrace got its name from this remark.
     Wartrace was in existence long before the lynching and was called Wartrace. This fact gives no support to the legend. Another explanation that is more reasonable is that Wartrace was on an Indian war path. This path was cut out into a one lane road that was called a trace. Thus, the name Wartrace.
     Wartrace was also called Old Grantsburg, but it existed long before General U. S. Grant was known outside of his local community.
     A store was opened here by the Howell family in the late 1850’s. Rev. Henry Simmons, pastor of the Baptist Church opened a general store and post office March 13, 1861 but it was discontinued December Dec. 14, 1869. The post office was reestablished July 12, 1899, and continued until March 15, 1907.Dr. Walker was the village physician. he also operated a drug store. His wife, Missouri Walker, was a brilliant and cultured woman. She was educated in the east in a conservatory of music. She was prominent in school and church affairs. These constituted practically all the social events of the village.
     The names of Stout, Howell and Walker are prominent on the stones in the old cemetery. The oldest legible burial was Howell. These names were prominent in the village a hundred years ago.
     Then "Aunt Sarah Howell" was the oldest member of the community. Her wisdom and her kindness to all who knew her, made her a legend in the years to come.
     Nellie Simmons taught the school for nearly half a century. The school was located a mile and a half west of the village. Other teachers came and went but Nellie taught the first seven grades while the others taught in the other room giving the pupils special attention so that they would pass the final examination given by the County Superintendent of Schools.
     In 1890 the Illinois Central Railroad built a branch line from Carbondale through Marion and Simpson to Paducah. This line missed Wartrace by two miles. Wartrace station was established but named Grantsburg for General U. S. Grant. Soon a depot and section houses were built at Grantsburg. Lots were laid out and houses built there. All of the goods for Wartrace had to be brought in by wagon and team. Goods could be sold in Grantsburg cheaper than in Wartrace. Wartrace began to decline. When a house burned in Wartrace the occupants moved to Grantsburg or Vienna. When a family died out no one came to occupy their house, Wartrace gradually faded into the past. It had once been a thriving village located on the Old Lusk Ferry to Cape Girardeau Trail.
     Today two houses remain. The school house stands delapidated and the yard grown up in underbrush. This is all there is left of the once thriving village on the old Lusk Ferry to Cape Girardeau Trail."

     In 1997, the well kept Wartrace cemetery is the only original thing left in Wartrace. The Vienna and Shawnee Department of Corrections is located across Route 146 north of Wartrace. The Ferrell Gas Company has an Office across the Ganntown Reevesville blacktop northeast of the Cemetery. New homes were built west of the Cemetery after a windstorm destroyed the older two houses that had remained from the past.