SEDALIA, MISSOURI

KATY DEPORT, SEDALIA MO

Indigenous people lived along the Missouri River and its tributaries for thousands of years before Europeans came. The Osage occupied the area prior to European-American settlements.  The Shawnee, who had migrated from east of the Mississippi River, also lived here.

Founded by General George Rappeen Smith, who also founded nearby Smithton, MO, when he purchased 503 acres of land and recorded the first plat of the new town he named Sedville in Nov 30,1857. It was named after his daughter Sarah, known as "Sed". He began selling parcels in 1858 for $75 per lot.  Until October 16, 1860, it was re-platted as “Sedalia”, the town existed only on paper.   Through Smith’s efforts, in 1861, Sedalia became the terminus of the Pacific Railroad.

The town council changed the name from Sedville to Sedalia because "towns that end in -ville don't amount to anything."~~ Historian, Lawrence Ditton Sr.  Josiah Dent, of St. Louis, suggested the change "for the sake of euphony."

During the Civil War, due to the rail road, it became a strategic location and a federal military post.  Following close behind the military, were the businesses, merchants and traders attracted by the military. 

Though it escaped most Civil War battles, Confederate troops shelled the town October 15, 1864.  Despite the presence of Union soldiers, the town was taken over by Confederate forces made up of about 1,500 of Gen J O Shelby's Iron Brigade cavalry associated with  Gen Sterlilng Price's Missosui Expedition. They surrounded the town, overpowered the Union militia under command of Col John Crawford and Lt Col John Parker, and began to loot and sack the town. Once Confederate Gen M. Jeff Thompson arrived, he ordered the men to stop the destruction and moved them on, leaving Sedalia in Union hands.

In the post-Civil War period, many of the Union soldiers who had been assigned to Sedalia recognized its potential and chose stay. The population grew and soon 2 new railroads were constructed connecting to new locations. From 1866–1874, it was a railhead for cattle drives; the stockyards occupied a large area. At the same time, the town established schools, churches, and other civic amenities.

The summer of 1865 marked the beginning of a great building boom in Sedalia. The town’s first flour mill started and by 1868, and by 1868 gas works were providing lighting.

As starting point for many trade routes to Texas and American Indian Territory, it remained an active center of trade even after wagons were replaced by trains.   

In 1866, 260,000 head of cattle left Texas in the first cattle drive from Texas.   Between confrontations with American Indians, the rugged Ozarks woodlands, angry farmers fearful of diseased cattle, and outlaws, the challenges of the Sedalia Trail kept all but a few steers from reaching town. Soon, the Chisholm Trail to Abilene, Kansas was the route of choice, however, Sedalia  maintained stockyards to receive cattle from drives and shipping through much of the 19th century. Chicago slaughterhouses were willing to pay almost any price for beef.  Longhorns worth $3 or $4 each in Texas would bring 10 times that amount in Chicago and it only cost about $1 per head to drive a herd north.

In the 1870’s, the Missouri Pacific Railroad established, not only a depot, but a shop for car repair and a roundhouse for engine storage and repair.  In addition to its depot, a roundhouse for the MKT Railroad was also built. The milling industry grew and foundries were built for the production of building materials.  

Several events hindered the town’s prosperity during the 1870s: a financial crisis, the Panic of 1873; a smallpox epidemic in 1873; an arson fire of the Court House; entire city blocks were burned due to wood construction; and in 1875, a plague of grasshoppers destroyed crops.

And, the bane of all frontier and railroad towns, prostitution, came to Sedalia, following the large transient population of railroad workers, commercial travelers and salesmen, and cowboys! In 1877 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called Sedalia the “Sodom and Gomorrah of the nineteenth century.” Money from the fines charged prostitues filled the city coffers so tax increases on the general public weren't needed. Well-known ragtime composeer and pianist, Scott Joplin got his start in Sedalia's brothels.

Along with playing piano at the Maple Leaf Club, a gentleman's club and bar, he played cornet in the Queen City Concert Band in 1894 and studied music theory at George R. Smith College. Joplin’s popular “Maple Leaf Rag” was published in Sedalia in 1899, becoming the first piece of U.S. sheet music to sell more than 1 million copies.

The Salvation Army opened its doors in Sedalia, MO in 1886. William Booth, a British Methodist preacher who founded The Salvation Army, traveled from England to attend the event. When Captain George Parks was asked by The Sedalia Democrat why Booth chose Sedalia, Parks responded, "Because Sedalia is a desperately wicked city and if souls can be won to Christ in Sedalia, they can be won to Christ anywhere." Later Parks was severely beaten in downtown Sedalia and died from his wounds at his home in Chicago, making him the first martyr for The Salvation Army in the United States.

Bottling works, both soda and beer, were opened in Sedalia in the 1880s.   Two new brickyards supplied Sedalia by the 1880s.  The first telephone was installed in August, 1880 and by 1881,over 200 telephones were in use.

Prohibition in 1919 affected a number of businesses. The Moerschel Brewery closed, as did many of the town’s saloons.  A railroad strike in 1922 shut down the shops in Sedalia and idled 2,500 workers.  The stock market crash of October 1929 and the Great Depression hit Sedalia hard; Life Magazine declared Sedalia the city second hardest hit in the entire U.S.  In 1932, 3 banks had closed and 2 others were limiting withdrawals.

Things started looking up when, in 1932, a route through Sedalia was chosen to become part of the north-south route, U.S. Highway 65, while an east-west route through town was also chosen to become part of U.S. 50. Sedalia would be at the junction of these 2 new highways. 

2LT GEORGE WHITMAN

During World War II, the military built Sedalia Glider Base to the west of the city. After the war, this facility was transferred to the Strategic Air Command and converted to a bomber base, the Whiteman Air Force Base.  The facility was named after 2nd LT George Allison Whitman, born in Sedalia, Oct. 12, 1919, and Killied In Action during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec 7, 1941, age 22.  

Sedalia found itself in a down-turn, economically, as the railroads declined.  In the 1960s, modern manufacturing companies started building facilities away from the center of town. And, by the 1990s, employers, such as Levi Strauss, moved jobs to other countries.  Again the city was in decline.

Although many buildings were lost due to neglect, lack of use, and fires, in 1993, the Sedalia Commercial Historic District was entered into the National Register of Historic Places.   Sixty eight building were sited in the initial request; 46 more buildings were added to the Register in 2009.