Liberty

The guerrillas the plaque names soon turned to banks, and Liberty was among the first. On February 13, 1866, armed men robbed the Clay County Savings Association, one of the earliest documented daylight bank robberies in the country, and took at least $60,000, much of it in government bonds. A bullet killed George Wymore, a nineteen-year-old William Jewell College student across the street. The robbers were believed to be former Confederate guerrillas, possibly led by Jesse James or Archie Clement, though local papers also blamed Kansas Redlegs. No one was caught and no money came back.

What the plaque says

Liberty Early border town, prominent trading and outfitting center, and one of the farthest northwest of U.S. towns to be founded on southern culture and economy. Settled about 1820, mainly by southern pioneers, the town became seat of justice for Clay County, 1822. Many settlers of northwest Missouri and the far West outfitted here, as did caravans during the '49 Gold Rush. Liberty Landing, 4 miles south, was an important Missouri River port. Nearby is Liberty Bridge. The Mexican War, 1846-1848, with promise of southwest territory and trade, was popular in Missouri and the State raised 1358 troops. Alexander W. Doniphan of Liberty led the First Regiment of Missouri Volunteers on a brilliant expedition covering 3,600 land and 2,000 water miles in 12 months, highlighted with victory at Battle of Sacramento, 1847. Doniphan's grave is in Fairview Cemetery. William Jewell College was chartered, 1849, under Baptist sponsorship. On the school's "Campus of Achievement" is Jewell Hall, a fine example of Classic Revival architecture. The College maintains a museum. (See other side) Liberty (Continued from other side) The site of the U.S. Arsenal at Liberty Landing, raided in 1855 by pro-slavery men, recalls the Kansas-Missouri border disputes over the extension of slavery. The arsenal was raided again, April 1861, constituting the first civilian Civil War hostility against the Federal government in the State. During and after the War, the area suffered greatly from guerrilla and outlaw depredations. Jesse James (1847-1882), America's most fabulous outlaw, was born near Kearney, 10 miles northeast. Jesse and his brother Frank were members of Quantrill's Confederate guerrilla band. Excelsior Springs, founded in 1880, famous spa of the Midwest, with its unusual Hall of Waters, is 15 miles northeast. North Kansas City, an industrial expansion, founded, 1912, by a development company, is 12 miles south- west. Near Excelsior Springs is the pre-Civil War Watkins Woolen Mill, and near Liberty is "Multnomah," home of Indian agent Major John Dougherty (1791-1860). In Liberty is the site of the jail where Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith was held, 1838.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Harry S Truman National Historic Site — 11 mi
  The Independence house Harry Truman lived in for half a century without owning it until 1953, kept as Bess Truman left it and seen only on small ranger tours.
• National Frontier Trails Museum — 11 mi
  The City of Independence museum of the Santa Fe, Oregon and California trails, told from travelers' journals, with a research library of more than 2,300 trail diaries, letters and recollections.
• Fort Osage National Historic Landmark — 13 mi
  A reconstructed 1808 fort and government trading house on a Missouri River bluff at Sibley, where Osage leaders signed the treaty that gave up most of present Missouri.
• Arabia Steamboat Museum — 13 mi
  The cargo of a sidewheeler that sank in 1856, dug out of a Kansas cornfield in 1988 and 1989 and shown in the River Market, from boots and buttons to jarred pickles.

More markers nearby

• Fort Osage — 14 mi
• Kansas City — 14 mi
• This Gateway to Kansas — 14 mi
• Delaware Crossing and the Grinter Ferry — 22 mi