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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 Southwest Baptist University
Bolivar has been home to a nationally renowned university for over 140 years. Southwest Baptist University (SBU) was founded in 1878 in Lebanon, Missouri, before being chartered the next year by the State of Missouri and moved to Bolivar. The early…
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 First National Bank
Your next stop on this tour of Bolivar is the First National Bank. Located near the County Courthouse at 103 East Broadway, the building was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 2013 because, per their application, the “property…
Featured Stories
Historic Pertle Springs 1932 to the Present
During the Great Depression some of the land that had been used for the resort became home to a Civilian Conservation Camp for Veterans. The CCC built additional structures on the Pertle Springs landscape and some of their remnants can still be seen…
Leavenworth National Cemetery
Not to be confused with the similarly named Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery nearby, the Leavenworth National Cemetery is also part of the larger Dwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center Historic District, and remains intricately linked with the…
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…
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Harry Truman Returns to Jackson County Missouri for the First Time as President June 1945
12 Locations ~ Curated by University of Central Missouri History Program Dr. Jon TaylorKnob Noster State Park History Camp Bobwhite and Camp Shawnee
11 Locations ~ Curated by Missouri State Parks and the History Program at the University of Central MissouriConcordia and Emma Missouri Historical Tour
8 Locations ~ Curated by University of Central Missouri Department of History, Researched and written by C. J. Gifford, MA in History student and uploaded to Historic Missouri by Glyne Gee, MA in History student. Funding support from the Missouri Humanities CouncilBolivar Missouri Historical Tour
9 Locations ~ Curated by University of Central Missouri Department of History, R. Tyler Habiger, MA in History programChillicothe Missouri Historical Highlights Tour
10 Locations ~ Curated by University of Central Missouri Department of History by MA in History student Glyne Gee with funding support from the Missouri Humanities CouncilHistoric Missouri
A project by University of Central Missouri History ProgramHistoric Missouri is a free mobile app that provides users easy access to information about the important places, people, and stories that are unique to Missouri. Developed by the faculty and students in the History Program at the University of Central Missouri, the mobile application provides interpretive and curated narrative tours about Missouri’s history. Each point on the map includes historical information about that site and features historic images from Missouri’s archival institutions like the State Historical Society of Missouri and the Missouri State Archives.
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