War and suffering began in Jackson and surrounding counties of Missouri in the early 1830's with the persecution and expulsion from the state of the Mormons. Then in the 1850's the Border War broke out with between the remaining inhabitants and those living in eastern Kansas. When the Border War came to a close the U.S. Civil War began. In 1865 when that war ended for the rest of the country, Jackson and surrounding counties continued to suffer from the "Bushwhackers" who terrified, pillaged, killed, and destroyed the people and the countryside until the 1880's. One writer wrote, "Nowhere during the Civil War did people suffer such terror and tribulation as those unfortunate enough to reside in the guerrilla-infested regions of Missouri." [Jackson and surrounding Counties] “Compared to what they experienced, the civilians who were in the path of Sherman's famed March to the Sea through Georgia got off lightly.”

The history of Jackson County brims with colorful characters and noteworthy episodes nearly lost to time. Jackson abolitionists used their barns, houses and hidden compartments to harbor freedom seekers traveling on the Underground Railroad. One even repelled an armed posse from Kentucky. A prominent druggist murdered his mother in 1889 and a jail guard in 1893. Evidence suggests he murdered his father too. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt traveled to Brown's Lake for relaxation in 1935, but a media mob had other plans. A popular Blackman Township roadhouse has a longstanding tradition of entertaining pioneers, stagecoach drivers and mobsters, but its secret guests are even stranger. Join local historian Linda Hass as she delves into these and other entertaining and often-overlooked stories.