In 1869, J. Milton Turner, a Black resident of Boonville, Missouri, was tasked by the Western Sanitary Commission and the American Missionary Association with funding from the Freedmen's Bureau to begin efforts to educate Black children in Missouri.…

Pennytown was established as an autonomous township and historic Black hamlet located southeast of Marshall, Missouri in Saline County. This hamlet was extremely unique for the time period. Most of its residents were previously enslaved, and its…

The Sappington African American Cemetery is located on Route AA, southwest of the town of Arrow Rock in Saline County, Missouri. In 1856, Dr. John B. Sappington of Arrow Rock provided this small lot to bury enslaved people who had died. As was…

Brown's Chapel Free Will Baptist Church was constructed around 1869 in the north part of town by the Black members of Arrow Rock. The first minister was John Brown, for whom the chapel was named along with the fraternal lodge down the road. In…

Brown's Lodge #22 of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons was one of four lodge halls that were built by the African American community in Arrow Rock around 1887. The lodge was named for the first minister to lead the African American Baptists…

Oak Grove, also known as the George A. Murrell House, is located in Saline County, Missouri, just outside the city of Napton. It is a traditional home in the Greek Revival style, constructed in 1854. The outbuildings that once surrounded the house,…

Prairie Park, also known as the William B. Sappington Plantation, is located off Route TT southwest of Arrow Rock, Missouri. The main house is a Greek Revival style mansion including a roof observation deck often utilized by white overseers to watch…

As William Clark put it back in 1804, the location where Arrow Rock would eventually be founded would be a "handsome spot for a town." In 1829, sitting on the bluff of the Missouri River, the town of Arrow Rock was born. Migration to the…

Each of the places along this historic tour takes one through the important locations of African American history as this group progressed from enslaved people into 'freedom' in Saline County, Missouri. As you will see, when slavery…