Stories tagged "Missouri": 54
Stories
Missouri State Veterans Cemetery – Springfield
Standing alongside the nearby Springfield National Cemetery, the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Springfield offers a resting place for veterans of the modern era. The first cemetery built under the Missouri Veterans Commission program, the…
Missouri State Veterans Cemetery – Fort Leonard Wood
As decades pass and time marches on, the need for newer cemeteries to honor veterans has grown. For the Missouri Veterans Commission, that need came to a head in 1996, when, after persistent lobbying, the State Veterans Cemetery Program was signed…
Bolivar, Missouri Dunnegan Memorial Park
Your final stop on this tour of beautiful and historic Bolivar is none other than our biggest and oldest park: Dunnegan Memorial Park. You are visiting at a special time – this year, 2023, marks the 100th anniversary of the park. The city is…
Bolivar Missouri Statue of Simon Bolivar
The City of Bolivar is a storied town with a rich history. Some of this history hails from the namesake of the town, Simon Bolivar. Bolivar was also recognized as the village name due to the heroics of General Simon Bolivar in South America. The…
Bolivar Missouri Depot
Railroads were the bloodline of commerce and industry in both cities and towns in the 1800s and 1900s. They were a fast and effective way to haul people, goods, and information from one side of the nation to the other. Depots and stations were…
Bolivar Missouri Public Library
The name Andrew Carnegie likely rings a few bells for the average and expert tourist or historian. In 1889, Carnegie wrote an article in which he stated that “in bestowing charity, the main consideration should be to help those who help themselves.”…
Bolivar Missouri Polk County Courthouse
Just three blocks from the North Ward School sits the center of Bolivar as well as the business of Polk County: The Polk County Courthouse. Today, the building serves as the focal point for the city of Bolivar and holds the county courtroom, county…
Pleasant Hill Missouri Historical Society Museum
Towns like Pleasant Hill must work diligently to look after their history, and the Pleasant Hill Historical Society Museum is the heart of such operations. Nestled right in the heart of the Historic District, the construction of the building has an…
Pleasant Hill Missouri Booth Public Library
Situated just across the street from the Pleasant Hill Post Office, the Booth Public Library is another building that conveys the speed at which Pleasant Hill was developing in the mid-20th century. Constructed in the same rush of development that…
Pleasant Hill Missouri Post Office
Like the Municipal Power Plant, the Pleasant Hill Post Office on what is now Veterans Parkway is an artifact of the struggle to rebuild Pleasant Hill in the midst of the Great Depression. Alongside the Public Works Administration, which helped fund…
Pleasant Hill Municipal Power Plant
The downturn of the Great Depression was incredibly widespread, and its economic climate inevitably affected Pleasant Hill during the 1930’s. The Public Works Administration, one of the numerous New Deal programs designed to revitalize the economy…
Pleasant Hill Peoples Theater
Just as Knorpp’s Opera House was built to entertain the people of Pleasant Hill during the waning years of the 19th century with theater, a defining art form of the era, the Peoples Theater was built to entertain in the early 20th century with that…
Pleasant Hill Missouri Knorpp's Opera House
Standing tall on the corner of First and Commercial lies an unassuming cream colored building with a connection to opera. Knorpp's Opera House was initially constructed in the 1880s as Pleasant Hill experienced an economic boom as a railroad…
Pleasant Hill Missouri Train Station
The railroad was the lifeblood of Pleasant Hill for the vast majority of its history, and this railroad station was at the center of it for nearly a century. The town’s original train station was constructed in 1866, as Pleasant Hill was coming out…
Lexington Missouri Waddell House
Located in the old residential neighborhood of Lexington, the Waddell House is uniquely different from the previous Greek Revival I-Houses of the tour. Originally constructed in the 1840s as the pastoral home for the First Baptist Church (the oldest…
Prairie State Park, Missouri
Just about 18 miles west of Lamar is a conservation area devoted to maintaining what little remains of Missouri prairies. Known as Prairie State Park, this spot is dedicated to preserving the state’s original landscape while also educating the…
Lamar Missouri Tour
The Civil War in Missouri was full of chaos and disorder, especially around the counties bordering Kansas. As Barton County fits this description, it was not immune to skirmishes and many of its men taking up arms. Missouri did not secede from the…
Sweet Springs Missouri The Market
Small communities require commitment from their residents to continue to economically prosper. Sweet Springs is no different and has, at times, thrived and grown due to unique interests such as the healing mineral Health Springs Resort that operated…
Sweet Springs Missouri Marmaduke Military Academy
One of Missouri's more well-known families, the Marmadukes, made contributions to the military training and political history of the state of Missouri. The Marmadukes produced two governors of Missouri, father Meredith M. Marmaduke who was…
Sweet Springs Missouri Sweet Springs Herald
Information is vitally important to social engagement and a feeling of belonging in a community. Community newspapers have served an important role in communicating town activities, publishing legal information and records, and providing…
Sweet Springs Missouri Smith Stores Company
Oftentimes in a small town, it takes one passionate individual to make a difference in the growth and prosperity of the area. One of the very early residents of Sweet Springs was Charles K. Smith. He and his family had commercial ties to the town in…
Sweet Springs Missouri Health Resort
Of the history of Sweet Springs, the main defining element of its past is the wonderful natural mineral springs that permeate the area. In fact, it is such an important part of the identity of this town, that it was renamed Sweet Springs in 1887…
Sweet Springs Missouri Historic District
One of the most attractive and historically preserved locations in Sweet Springs is the downtown Historic District. This downtown district was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 and is a beautiful example of the architecture…
Sweet Springs Missouri Manufacturing
Every town needs solid employment opportunities to sustain its population and Sweet Springs was no different. During the early part of the 20th Century, the town saw a slight reduction in population. The population in 1800 was listed at 1,182…
Sweet Springs Missouri First Christian Church
At 400 Bridge Street, in the town now known as Sweet Springs, Missouri, you will find the First Christian Church; a historic church that has served the local community for about 180 years. There are a couple of things that are not as they once were.…
Lamar Missouri Historical Tour
In the southwest corner of Missouri, bordering Kansas, lies Barton County. The county was created out of land from Jasper County in December 1855. Its namesake is for David Barton, who had served as presiding president of the Missouri Constitutional…
Chillicothe Missouri Grand River Historical Society
The State legislature awarded $6,000 to the State Historical Society in Columbia in 1915 to collect the history of the 114 counties in Missouri for the State Centennial anniversary. In June 1916, the Chillicothe Chamber of Commerce elected five…
Marble Hill: Marble Hill Cemetery
There is another interesting cemetery to be noted in this tour, but this one has a more pleasant history than the last. The Marble Hill Cemetery is the town’s first official public cemetery, and it is additionally one of the first public…
Marble Hill: Will Mayfield College
The Will Mayfield College was the center for education in Marble Hill from 1880 to 1934. The co-educational school's enrollment peaked in the 1920s when it had over 200 enrolled students.
William Mayfield, a local doctor, and H. J. Smith,…
Marble Hill: Burfordville Covered Bridge
Just 15 minutes outside of downtown Marble Hill and on the grounds of Bollinger Mill lies the Burfordville Covered Bridge. This landmark is Missouri’s oldest still-standing covered bridge, looming over the Whitewater River. Construction first…