Year End 2022 Message – Kyle Yarber
From Kyle Yarber, President of the Clay County Historical Society & Museum BOARD of TRUSTEES Editor’s Note: The aforementioned “HVAC System” is for Much More than mere Comfort. H=heating (no frozen pipes) V=ventilation (circulation) A=air C=conditioning – All aspects necessary to maintain the artifacts found in our Historical Museum’s Collections, and for the comfort of …
Grandmother, grandson find united cause at museum
LIBERTY — National and international magazines have extolled the virtues of grandparents and grandchildren volunteering together. In Forbes magazine, Jenny Friedman, executive director of the national nonprofit “Doing Good Together”, which promotes family volunteering and service, said, “Volunteering makes you healthier mentally and physically. It’s a way to pass on the values that matter to …
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Suffrage – the 19th Amendment
Ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. Decades of suffrage supporters did everything from marching and lecturing to protesting and illegal voting – civil disobedience that led to the right we take for granted. Prior to the amendment’s passage, 9 western states had such legislation by 1912. The …
Phoebe Ess – Before She Could Vote
Known as “The Dean of Missouri Club Women,” Phoebe Ess was an enthusiastic and energetic women’s advocate throughout her life. She lived in an era where women either worked low paying jobs or considered their families to be their job. Mrs. Ess managed to work tirelessly for various reforms while raising a family and creating …
The Withers Legacy
Clay County is blessed with an abundance of recorded history. Personal papers, books and newspapers help families today recreate how their ancestors lived in a very different time in history. Early settlers who followed the explorers, trappers and traders, literally built the county. While others continued the migration west, our pioneers settled and grew a …
Christmas Presents Under the Tree
It’s happening… the rush to Christmas is on! I cherish memories of my childhood as I struggle with the commercialization of most if not all of our current holidays. Traditions may have gone but those memories linger and dance like the long-ago sugar plums, in my head. As children, the excitement of Christmas pageants, Santa …
Just Fiddlin’ Around
One of the more interesting artifacts in the Museum is a 1936 violin, hand crafted from materials salvaged from the 1859 Clay County courthouse. This, the second courthouse in Clay County, was razed in 1934 to be replaced by a WPA project, with the county’s current edifice. Originally, court was conducted in the Owen’s Tavern, …
Clay County Courthouses In Flux
Tearing Down – Building Up! The 2nd Clay County Courthouse was razed in 1934 to make room for the new, and still standing, courthouse. What happens to the offices and officer holders when the county was in-between buildings? They scramble and find new quarters. In 1934 the “Old” Cockrell Building on Kansas Street at Prairie …