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    Independence
    Independence
    Independence
    Ebook179 pages39 minutes

    Independence

    By Richard Piland and Marietta Boenker

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    About this ebook

    Founded in 1827 as the county seat of Jackson County, Independence, “Queen City of the Trails,” prospered through outfitting pioneers as they began the journey west on the Santa Fe, Oregon, and California Trails. The city persisted through various travails: a bloody war over slavery, fought between the Kansas Jayhawkers and the Missouri Bushwhackers; the rise of William Quantrill; the enforcement of the infamous Order No. 11; and Civil War action on the town square. By 1900, Independence was a prosperous community, the location of the headquarters of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (renamed the Community of Christ), and the hometown of a young man who became the 33rd president of the United States—Harry S. Truman. This book illustrates the history of Independence in more than 200 vintage images, detailing the people, businesses, churches, schools, organizations, and events that played important roles in the city’s past.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateOct 6, 2008
    ISBN9781439619230
    Independence
    Author

    Richard Piland

    A former college teacher, Richard N. Piland owns the community survey research firm he started in 1983. Piland is an amateur historian and an avid model railroad enthusiast. He grew up in Independence and now resides in Fairfield, Ohio, with his wife, novelist Kathryn R. Blake. Marietta Wilson Boenker is a lifelong resident of the Independence area. An avid genealogist, she lives in Lee’s Summit with her husband, Kurt, and is writing the history of the Wilson family of Independence.

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      Book preview

      Independence - Richard Piland

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      INTRODUCTION

      Since its founding in 1827, Independence has been an important center of activity, and the city’s past reveals a great contribution to the development of the nation. The city has evolved from being the last stop on the western edge of civilization to an agricultural center and seat of justice for Jackson County to the internationally known hometown of Pres. Harry S. Truman and the world headquarters of the Community of Christ church.

      The Missouri General Assembly created Jackson County in 1826, five years after Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slave-holding state. The county was named after Andrew Jackson three years before he was elected president. Independence was designated the Jackson County seat in 1827, a distinction it still holds. The town was said to have been named after Jackson’s chief quality, his independence of character.

      By March 1827, David Ward, Julius Emmons, and John Bartleson had laid out the town; George W. Rhodes platted the new community. During July 1827, the 143 original lots were offered at auction by the county court. Only 73 lots were sold, with prices ranging from $6.64 to $49.72. A total of $1,124.39 was paid. Several buyers purchased two or more lots.

      Most of the earliest residents of Independence immigrated from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. A log courthouse and jail were among the first structures. Soon log houses, stores, blacksmith shops, saloons, and hotels clustered among the trees and small clearings around the courthouse. Much of the land outside town was given over to farms, pastures, and orchards. In a short time, the town became the market, post office, and trading post for area farmers.

      In 1830, members of the Church of Christ arrived from Ohio to begin work to convert Native Americans to their faith. Joseph Smith, the leader of the church, arrived in 1831 and declared the town to be the site of Zion, God’s city on earth and the New Jerusalem. On August 3, 1831, Smith dedicated the temple lot where the members were to build a great church. In less than three years, almost 2,000 church members immigrated to Independence from New York and Ohio. They established an industrious colony with a newspaper, schools, shops, and homes.

      Local residents did not accept the church members or their anti-slavery views. Agitated citizens drove the Mormons out of the county in 1833. After the church was expelled from Missouri, Smith was killed by a mob in Illinois in 1844 and the Church of Christ split into several denominations. In 1873, the group headed by Joseph Smith III returned to Independence as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) and established their world headquarters near the original Temple Lot.

      Between the 1830s and 1850s, more than a quarter million people headed west over the Santa Fe, Oregon, and California Trails; for many, Independence was the starting point. Before 1821, trade with Santa Fe, Mexico, was illegal. After Mexico won its independence from Spain, the United States government encouraged merchants to enter the markets in the southwest. In 1831, most of the caravans headed toward Santa Fe were outfitted in Independence. During the 1840s, travelers began outfitting their wagons for trips to Oregon and the California gold fields.

      Interests in Independence controlled the first regular federal mail delivery contracts to the west. David Waldo, Jacob Hale, and William McCoy had the first contract to carry mail to Santa Fe, and James Brown and Samuel H. Woodson were contracted to deliver mail to Salt Lake City. The first mail bound for the west left Independence in 1850.

      Independence enjoyed great prosperity during the three trails decades. Much of the commercial activity in Independence supported the pioneers and immigrants as they outfitted themselves for their journey west. There were wagonmakers, blacksmith shops, gunsmiths, wheelwrights, saloons, livery stables, carpenters, grocers, tinsmiths, harness makers, mule and oxen sellers, dry goods merchants, flour mills, woolen mills, and hotels. Fur traders, trappers, Native Americans, Mexicans, and local farmers walked the streets. Independence was crowded, loud, and full of people fighting and drinking at all hours of the day and night.

      The growth in Independence was such that the Missouri General Assembly granted a home rule charter in 1849, replacing the county court and trustee government. The city was defined as one mile square with the county courthouse in the center, increasing the area within the city limits from 240 to 640 acres.

      Independence lost its monopoly on wagon-trail commerce to nearby Westport, and the town was no longer the last stop on the western frontier. The slavery feud and border war that began in 1854 and lasted past the end of the Civil War also impacted the city’s fortunes. The bushwhackers, Missourians who favored slavery, waged a battle against the antislavery Kansas jayhawkers all along the western boundary of Jackson County. The most famous raiders were John Brown from Kansas and William Quantrill from Missouri.

      The border war was a prelude to the horrors of the Civil War battles fought in Jackson County. Independence was a hotbed of secessionist sentiment when the city was made a federal post in 1862, the year of the first battle of Independence, won by Confederate soldiers in August. In 1863, several Jackson County women were crushed to death when the jail in which they were held collapsed in Kansas City. In retaliation, Quantrill and his band of raiders burned hundreds of homes and killed more than 180 men and boys in a vicious raid on Lawrence, Kansas. Four days after Quantrill’s raid, Brig. Gen. Thomas Ewing issued Order No. 11, requiring all residents to leave their homes and property. Union soldiers won the second battle of Independence in October 1864.

      After the Civil War, Independence residents began to rebuild their lives and economic security. During the 1880s and 1890s, many refined homes were built, schools were opened, and businesses grew. A boulevard connecting Independence with Kansas City encouraged population growth in the Englewood, Maywood, Fairmount, and Mount Washington areas. By 1900, Independence was again prosperous and offered a wonderful small-town life.

      For the next several decades, as the nation went, so did Independence. Young men marched off to World War I, and returning veterans took significant leadership roles in the city and county. Harry S. Truman was elected judge of the county court, then United States senator, vice president, and president. Roger Sermon became mayor and served 26 years. New businesses and manufacturing companies were started and grew substantially, until the Great Depression. In 1926, the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial

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