Liberty is old and new, historic and progressive. Using this page, as a tour guide, take a walking tour and see structures of architectural and historic interest. It is approximately 1-˝ miles. There is free parking in the lot east of City Hall.
1. Across from the parking lot at 9 South Leonard, stands a small stucco building, which housed the first Methodist Church in the area. The building was constructed in 1842 of bricks shipped from Philadelphia. It also was part of the Clay Seminary in the mid-1800s. Most recently, it houses the Liberty Area Chamber of Commerce.
2.
Walk east on Kansas Street. On the north side of the street, note a series
of neat cottage-style homes from the turn of the century era. Then, on the
south side, see the Christian Church, noted for its stained-glass
windows. The side doors of the church are open daily, go inside to the
sanctuary for the full effect of the stained glass designs and colors.
3.
Next-door is the former Lambda Chi fraternity house, now a private
home. Circa 1900, the house was completely rebuilt after a fire several
years ago destroyed it.
4. At 455 East Kansas stands Hester House, a college men's honor
house named for Dr. H.I. Hester, a distinguished professor and
administrator at William Jewell College.
5. Note the Victorian architecture of the Geilker house at 471 East
Kansas. Completed in 1890 in was the home of Dr. E.F. Miller, for whom
the Liberty Junior High School building was named. With magnificent
woodwork and Italian tile fireplaces, the house stood on a full quarter of
a block with a stable in the rear for the doctor's horse and buggy. Owned
by the Miller family until 1945, it was then purchased by the Wyatt Aull's.
The Geilkers are only the third owners.
6.
Turn north (left) onto Jewell Street and climb the steps at the center of
the block for a visit to the William Jewell College campus and Jewell
Hall, the building of neo-classical architecture crowning the hill.
Completed in 1858, it is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. The stone steps from the home of the first benefactor of the
college, Dr. William Jewell, have been set into the front steps of the
classroom building.
7. Behind Jewell Hall is a circular tower, which supplied water to
the college science laboratory and dormitory in the 1800's before the City
of Liberty had developed a municipal water plant.
8. Cross the walk and visit Curry Library. See the valuable 'Glass
Galaxy' a collection of antique glassware given by the late college
trustee, William F. Yates. Ask to see the reproduction of the Library of
the Rev. Charles Hadden Spurgeon, famous English Baptist preacher.
9. Step into Gano Hall, the college chapel. It was named for the
chaplain of George Washington's army.
10. Look across the drive toward the north, at the old Liberty cemetery,
dating to the 1820s.
11. Next to it, on the west, is the home of the college president
(circa 1904).
12. Tired? Slip into Yates College Union and have a snack in the
Cardinal Cage downstairs.
13. Retrace your steps, going down the main steps to Franklin Street. Note
on the southwest corner a gray Queen Ann style house at 459 East Franklin.
It was built in the 1880s by Dr. John H. Rothwell, a physician and William
Jewell Alumnus, on land given him by his father, professor of religion at
the college from 1872 to 1898 and chief administrator from 1873 to 1883.
14. Now you are walking west. On the north side (right) of the street, at #450
East Franklin, stands the Routt-Plumb house. It was built in the 1860s
by Colonel Henry Routt, who led a Confederate raid on Liberty Landing in
1861.
15. Opposite, #449 is the Judge Sandusky house. Judge Sandusky was
a prominent banker, lawyer, and jurist. Constructed about 1885, it
features graceful turned spindles as part of the archway woodwork. It has
been carefully restored.
16.
The Liberty Female College, #438 was built in 1855 and was later a
boarding house for college men. The three story brick under stucco
building is now awaiting rehab as three condos.
17. The house next door at #430 is a registered Clay County
historic landmark built in 1853 and featuring a circular staircase. It
served for a time as the dining hall and dormitory for the Female College
next door. It is now a private home. It was restored by Lucille Davis, for
many years a leading Liberty businessperson.
18. "The Mansion" as it was called by one of its owners, is a
red brick house at 316 East Franklin. Built in 1859 by Marion
Estes, it was purchased the next year by Michael Arthur, a financier and
slave-dealer. It is said to have had an upstairs slave room reached only
by an outside staircase, and the house may have served as a hospital and
officer's quarters during the Civil War. It is now an apartment building.
19.
Occupying the block across the street is the Second Baptist Church,
dedicated in 1925, after fire destroyed the previous building on
that site.
20. Again on the north side of Franklin Street at #210, is the
Frank Hughes Memorial Library, which currently houses the Clay County
Archives Museum and Library.
21. The Colonial Hotel at the corner of Franklin and Missouri
Streets is now largely residential, but at one time, it housed many
important Liberty visitors and gala social events.
22.
Don't miss the Jesse James Bank Museum at the northeast corner of
the Square (there is a small admission charge.) It is the restored site of
the world's first daylight bank robbery allegedly by the James-Younger
Gang, February 13, 1877. The building was constructed in 1858.
23. Turning north (right) on Water Street, pass by the shops, many of
which are located in turn-of the-century residences.
24. The residence at 133 North Water was formerly the residence of
the Conway Family who operated on of the best grocery stores in Liberty
around 1900. Notice the fine stone foundation, one of the oldest in town.
25. Across the street on the northeast corner stands a recently renovated
house, known as the Gill place, worth looking at for its remarkable
combination of architectural features.
26. In the 200 block, many early civic
structures once stood. #210 North Water was the site of the first
school house in Liberty, a log cabin built in the 1820s and destroyed by a
cyclone in the 1880s
27. #319 is known as the Matthews house. A substantial brick
structure of simple style, it was the longtime home of Dr. Francis
Matthews, a prominent Liberty physician and the owner of Liberty's first
telephone company.
28. The 1898 Simmons house at #325 was built by Dr. Joe Simmons,
who operated the drugstore on the west side of the Square, now housing the
Clay County Museum. The Simmons family lived in the house for 47 years.
29. To the north at 333 is an interesting Victorian shingle-style
cottage in turn-of-the-century style.
30. The former Catholic Church on the west side of the street dates
to 1913, and prior to that was the location of a Catholic convent academy.
It currently houses the James Inn.
31. Proceeding back down the west side of North Water Street, one sees at #316
a sprawling structure, the Church Apartments. The building provided an
early and novel form of cooling, a refrigeration system in the basement
that pumped cool water through the copper pipes to the several apartments.
32. The next three house exhibit architecture typical of the early 1900s. #302
was the Dougherty-Alexander House;
33. #210 was the home of Judge Hughes; and
34. #202 the home of William Chrisman.
35. Now turn west (right onto Mississippi Street) and visit the Mormon
Shrine at the corner of Mississippi and Main Streets. It contains a
reconstruction of the Liberty Jail in which Joseph Smith, the
Mormon leader, was imprisoned during the winter of 1838-39.
36. Turn south on Main Street past the gracious First Presbyterian
Church. The sanctuary, design by Willis Polk (a direct descendent of
President James Polk) was constructed in 1889 and is of Romanesque
architecture. The original pews of cherry wood remain.
37. If you are ready for another rest; stop to enjoy the mini-park across
the street. It is owned and maintained by the Presbyterian Church, but
designed for public use.
38. At 104 North Main is the home of the Liberty Tribune. The paper
has been located at sites on all four sides of the Square since its
founding in 1846.
39. Stand at the northeast entrance to the Square and look at the facades
showing a fascinating variety of periods and styles. The Art Deco county
courthouse occupies the center of the Square, with its main entrance on
the south side.
40. All of the buildings on the west side (Main Street) date to the late
1880s. Near the center is the Clay County Museum, built in 1877.
The buildings formerly housed Simmons' Drug Store, and on the second floor
the offices of long-time Liberty physician Dr. William Goodson. This area
has been restored as the office looked when Dr. Goodson practiced there.
41. At 12 North Main is the former
Liberty Shopper News building, nineteenth-century building. It now houses
an interiors store.
42. Across the north side of the Square, one finds a newer building, the Masonic
Temple at 10 East Franklin. It was built in 1956 after fire destroyed
the previous hall there.
43. At the northeast corner is the lodge hall of the Odd Fellows and
Rebekahs, with an entrance on Water Street.
44. One of the most effectively renovated store buildings in the historic
downtown is Bedinger's Liberty House furniture at the corner of Kansas and
Water Streets. The J.S. Conway Grocery was once located in the building.
45. At the corner of Kansas and Main on the south side, is the former
National Bank Building, now the law offices of Withers, Brant, Igoe
& Mullennix, constructed in 1923. On the opposite corner at Kansas and
Water, is the Coming Home, built in 1867. Look at the Water Street
side and compare the building's original architecture to the 1915
"modernized" storefront.
46. Hardware Café on Kansas Street, which dates to the 1870s, is
the former Boggess Hardware Store. The Boggess Hardware Store was run by
three different generations of the same family. Original fixtures and tin
ceilings are still in the building.
47. As you return to your car, be sure to stop in at the Liberty City
Hall, a modern spacious office compound that blends congenially with
the older styles of historic Liberty and contains a mural depicting the
city's history in the Council Chambers.
We are glad you took the time to see something of old Liberty. Please come
again soon!
Historic Liberty
210 North Water Street . Liberty, Missouri 64068
info@HistoricLIberty.org