John William Boone was born on May 17, 1864, to Rachel Boone in Miami, Missouri, in a Union army camp occupied by the Seventh Militia, Company I. Rachel Boone had been enslaved at birth in 1843 in Kentucky. It is unclear just exactly who enslaved…

When Willie was eight, Rachel Boone married Harrison Hendricks and moved into his home, which sat "just back of the old Land Fike's Mill [Eureka Mills] on Mill Street." Melissa Fuell Cuther noted: "The house was a one-room log…

Melissa Fuell was born in Warrensburg, Missouri, on May 15, 1886, and attended and graduated from the Howard School and was active in music. She went on to study at the Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, where she trained to be a…

The Magnolia Opera house, an 800 seat theater, was located at 145 West Pine at the corner of Washington and West Pine. Construction started on the theater in 1889, but the first performances did not occur until 1890. The Magnolia Opera house was…

Blind Boone passed away in Warrensburg, Missouri, on October 4, 1927, while visting his step brother at 408 W. Market Street. (The actual home is no longer extant.) African American men and women from Warrensburg attended Blind Boone's…

Blind Boone gave several concerts at the Christian Church in Warrensburg and, according to his biographer, Mellissa Fuell, he considered himself a member of the denomination. On December 19th and 20th, 1890, Blind Boone gave two concerts at the…

In 1880 John Lange entered into a written contract with Rachel Hendrix that he would pay her $10 a month for young Willie's musical talent until he was 21. His first concert was in Columbia and it grossed only $7. At that time the company…