William Franklin Switzler

William Franklin Switzler was an American journalist, publisher, and historian of the 19th century from Columbia, Missouri. He studied law under Abiel Leonard and James Sidney Rollins. In the 1840s he edited the Columbia Patriot eventually going into business for himself, printing the Columbia Statesman. In 1882 he published a History of Boone County, Missouri. In 1866 and 1888 he ran for congress, unsuccessfully, but was eventually appointed Chief of the Bureau of Statistics. Switzler Hall on the David R. Francis Quadrangle at the University of Missouri is named after him.