All Stories: 52
Brief History of Concordia Missouri
By University of Central Missouri History Program, Paul Atwood
Located 60 miles east of Kansas City and 20 miles north of Knob Noster, immigrants from the southern Hanover region of Germany platted Concordia in 1868. Prior to 1868, a Lutheran community began to gather in the German community of Freedom…
Brief History of Holden Missouri
Holden, Missouri is a town of roughly 2,000 residents located 20 miles west of Warrensburg, and named for Major N. B. Holden, a prominent Johnson County politician. In the fall of 1857, Isaac Jacobs purchased 160 acres of open prairie in Johnson…
Brief History of Knob Noster Missouri
By History Program at the University of Central Missouri MA in History Graduate Paul Atwood and Dr. Jon Taylor
Knob Noster is located in Johnson County Missouri just off of highway 50 between Warrensburg and Sedalia. Indigenous peoples known as the "mound builders" and members from the Osage nation and other Native American peoples occupied the…
Harry Truman Returns to Jackson County Missouri as President Grandview visit
By University of Central Missouri History Program
Harry Truman never missed an opportunity to visit with his mother when he came back to Jackson County. While his jaunt to Grandview was quick after the Memorial Building press conference, he was clearly pleased to see her. They probably met at her…
Harry Truman Returns to Jackson County Missouri as President University of Kansas City
After Truman finished greeting all of his customers at the Federal Building on Grand, including the delegation of African American leaders from Kansas City, he made his way to the quadrangle on the campus of Kansas City University to attend an…
Harry Truman Returns to Jackson County Missouri as President Memorial Hall Press Conference
The President's press secretary, Charlie Ross, who also was in the same 1901 Independence High School graduating class as the President, announced to the press before arriving in Kansas City that the President would hold an official press…
Harry Truman Returns to Jackson County Missouri as President RLDS Auditorium
On June 27, 1945, Harry S. Truman addressed his friends, neighbors, and nation at the RLDS Auditorium in Independence, Missouri. Just like the parade, the coverage of the address included members from the black and white press and the Kansas City…
Harry Truman Returns to Jackson County Missouri as President Dinner with Friends
After holding the press conference in the Memorial Building on the afternoon of June 27th, the president traveled to Grandview where he briefly visited with his mother. Then he traveled back to 219 North Delaware and rested a bit and prepared for…
Harry Truman Returns to Jackson County Missouri as President Arriving at 219 N. Delaware
Truman arrived at 219 N. Delaware a little after 2:00 p.m. after his motorcade had traveled through the Independence square. Well-wishers and on-lookers were there to greet him along the parade route and at 219 N. Delaware, which at the time did…
Harry Truman Returns to Jackson County Missouri as President Kansas City Motorcade
The Kansas City Star and the Kansas City Call, the city's African American newspaper, covered President Truman's motorcade procession to Independence via the streets of Kansas City. Well wishers, both black and white, lined the streets to…
Harry Truman Returns to Jackson County Missouri as President Fairfax Airport Kansas City, Kansas
The President's plane landed at the Fairfax Airport in Kansas City, Kansas, around 1:30 C.S.T. on June 27, 1945. He had just returned from San Francisco where he had signed the United Nations Charter that committed the United States to support…
Warrensburg, Missouri
By University of Central Missouri History Program Dr. Jon Taylor
Martin Warren, who was originally from Kentucky, established a blacksmith business at the northeast corner of present day College Avenue and East Gay Street sometime in 1833. He also established his residence there and it soon came to be known as…
Blind Boone Park
By University of Central Missouri History Program Paul Atwood & Dr. Jon Taylor
There have been several remarkable blind pianists and composers in the 20th century that have risen to great fame and are known for their pioneering sound. Predating Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder was a blind boy from Warrensburg, Missouri, who…
Missouri Pacific Depot Warrensburg, Missouri
By University of Central Missouri History Program Paxton Stover & Dr. Jon Taylor
In 1864 a wooden depot was constructed on this location; however, a fire in 1889 destroyed the depot and the Missouri Pacific lines decided to replace it with one constructed of locally quarried sandstone. The new depot opened for service in…
Howard School (no longer extant)
Shortly after the end of the Civil War, the American Missionary Association came to Missouri to establish Freedmen's schools for African American school children. Reverend George Candee identified Warrensburg as a potential site and in January…
Johnson County Missouri Historical Society
By University of Central Missouri History Program, Dr. Jon Taylor
The Johnson County Historical Society formed in 1958 and serves as an important center for helping residents of Johnson County and those interested in Johnson County history understand the significance of the county's past. The Johnson…
Warren Street Methodist Episcopal Church
The Warren Street Methodist Episcopal Church played an important role in the life of Warrensburg and specifically in the lives of its African American congregants who attended services there. The first congregation was formed right after the…
Masonic Temple Warrensburg Missouri
The construction of the Masonic Temple on Holden Street in 1894, just a couple of years before the construction of the 1898 courthouse, marked the permanent transition of the heart of the community from Old Town centered on Main Street to New Town…
Historic Johnson County Missouri Courthouse on North Main
In 1833 Martin Warren constructed a residence and opened a blacksmith shop at the corner of present-day College Avenue and East Gay Street and unofficially named it "Warren's Corner," which eventually came to be known as Warrensburg. …
Jones Brothers Mule Barn
In 1912 Walter and Perry Jones paid $26,000 to build what came to be known as the Jones Brothers Mule Barn. The barn played an important role in a thriving mule business that had developed in Johnson County and Warrensburg around the turn of the…
Old Drum Statue
On October 28, 1869, Charles Burden found his favorite dog, Old Drum, shot dead. Burden learned that his neighbor and brother-in-law, Leonidas Hornsby, had killed Drum because he had been harassing his livestock. Burden, with the help of lawyer…
Johnson County Courthouse on Holden Street
Johnson County Missouri was named after Kentucky U.S. Senator Richard Johnson, who later served as Vice President of the United States under President Martin van Buren. The Johnson County Court moved the location of the courthouse from Old Town…