Sedalia, "Queen City of the Prairies"

“That ain't any other town, that's Sedalia.” – Rowdy Yates in Rawhide

                  Long before Rowdy Yates and the other cowhands in Rawhide declared its uniqueness Sedalia’s history was firmly entrenched in western lore. Native Americans lived there for thousands of years and French explorers documented the Missouri Tribe, people of the dugout canoes, in 1673. French missionaries followed the explorers but failed to establish permanent settlements in the region. In the 1800s many other tribes crossed the state on forced marches to Indian Territory. www.visitsedaliamo.com

                  General George Smith and his father-in-law migrated from Kentucky, bringing along their families and 60 slaves in the 1830s. Ultimately Smith purchased acres of land adjacent to what he believed would become a railroad line. He recorded his deed in 1857 and called the settlement Sedville after his daughter Sarah’s nickname. The next year he began selling lots for a town that did not exist physically. Smith built a sawmill to make building easier and in October 1860 he and a partner purchased more land and changed the town’s name to Sedalia. The Missouri Pacific Railroad reached Sedalia and the town’s fortune was solidified. 

                  We do not know why it is known as the Shawnee Trail, it was possibly named after the Native American tribe that lived along its route in Texas, but we do know that it predates the presence of Europeans. It had been used as a hunting and trading path. When Europeans began to follow it they called it variously, The Texas Road, The Cattle Trail and The Sedalia Trail. It was the first and easternmost trail used to herd cattle to Midwest hubs for shipment to eastern slaughterhouses. Sedalia, because it was the railroad terminus, became a cattle town complete with stockyards and allied businesses. In 1866 alone more than 250,000 cattle passed through the stockyards in Sedalia.

                  The Romanesque Revival Katy Railroad Depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. It was constructed as a 2-story, limestone, station in 1896 for $35,000. The current renovated structure houses a railroad museum, Convention and Visitors Center and Depot Store. Additional galleries present all aspects of Sedalia’s history from its founding onward. The Railroad Museum features memorabilia and a waiting room with authentic furniture and flooring. The Depot Store carries a complete range of souvenirs, handicrafts, railroad objects and bike trail paraphernalia. Guided tours are offered if prearranged.

Katy Trail State Park, a 225-mile route has two trailheads in Sedalia and passes through the state. It affords a great opportunity for outdoor experiences for hikers, bikers, trail riders and lovers of history. The Missouri State Fairgrounds, a National Historic District, is located on the trail at Mile Marker 229. The Missouri State Fairgrounds Historic District is a 400-acre area that has hosted the 3^rd largest US fairgrounds since 1899. www.bikekatytrail.com

Showcasing Sedalia’s place as a site on the prairie that was the terminus for Texas cattle drives and the railroad is the Trail’s End Monument at the entrance to the fairgrounds. The sculptural diorama consists of full-sized replicas of a water tower, windmill, five longhorn cows, 1860s locomotive and a mounted cowboy. At the site there is interpretive information.

On the heritage tour architectural routes through the city feature extraordinary examples of Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, Craftsman, Classical Revival, Italianate and Prairie-Style structures. The 1895 Harris House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The 3-story mansion features a two-story tower and porte-cochère. 

 Bothwell Lodge State Historic Site is situated atop two natural caves. The 31-room lodge was built for John Bothwell, a lawyer. Throughout the 12,000-square-foot lodge visitors can view the furnishings, the majority of which are original to the lodge. On the exterior there is an accessible 3-mile hiking and biking trail. The lodge is 6-miles north of Sedalia. 

                  Scott Joplin was born in 1868 in Linden, Texas to formerly enslaved parents. Both of his parents were musical, his father played the violin and his mother the banjo, and at an early age he played both. Around the age of seven he began to play the piano at the home of his mother’s employer. Four years later a German-born music teacher, Julius Weiss, took him on as a free student. Weiss is credited with instilling in him a love and appreciation for classical music and opera.

                  At the age of 19 Joplin left Texas to become an itinerant musician and spent much of his time playing in brothels and bars because the larger culture was not very receptive to his forms of music. He settled in Sedalia in 1894, earned income as a piano teacher and attended the George R. Smith College, established by the Freedman’s Bureau. There he was trained in music theory and notation.

                  In Sedalia he played at the Maple Leaf Club and it is there he had printed on his business cards “The Entertainer,” a name by which he became known. His popularity grew there and in 1899 a local music publisher published Maple Leaf Rag leading to national fame and the selling of more than a million copies. Following the death of his second wife he left Sedalia, never to return. At the age of 40 he died on April 1, 1917 in Manhattan Psychiatric Center in New York.

                  Joplin’s influence on music cannot be overstated. He wrote in many genres of music, concertos, symphonies, operas, marches, waltzes and ragtime, and often defied the color line. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame 1970 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1976. The Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival is held each June.

                  Sedalia’s Scott Joplin Tour has 24 locations including Maple Leaf Park. The park is situated on the site of the original Maple Leaf Club. A focal point of the tour is a large mural of Joplin playing the piano.

                  Jefferson City is 60-miles from Sedalia but it is well worth the detour to visit one of the most haunted places in the country. Jefferson Penitentiary, the oldest penitentiary west of the Mississippi River sits on 47-acres. It was built in 1836 with enclosing limestone walls and 15 towers. General tours include several cellblocks, solitary and the execution area. Hall A, the oldest section, is considered especially haunted. Ghost tours are as long as five hours and have been featured on national television. Reservations are strongly recommended.

                  Infamous inmates include Pretty Boy Floyd, Blanche Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde renown and Charles “Sonny” Liston who learned to box there. James Earl Ray was incarcerated in the penitentiary until his escape in 1967. While an escapee he assassinated M. L. King, Jr. in Memphis. 

                  Should you escape from the pen hurry around the corner to Prison Brews Restaurant and continue the experience. The décor is prison-chic and the menu is filled with a wide-variety of delicious pub foods. The building dates from 1895 and was transformed into Prison Brews in 2008. 

 

Road Reads:

Rawhide was based on George C. Duffield’s diary detailing the trials and tribulations of his 1866 cattle drive to Sedalia. Duffield was the sole trail rider to write a diary and as a distinctive document it was published in 1924.