I don't know how many of us learned these things growing up in school, but  I know I heard tales from time to time about the origins of our town.  First of all, well, we weren't here first. Obviously the indigenous Native Americans were here in our area first. Students of history think the whole zone around Sedalia was for some time possessed by the Osage (among verifiable American Indian tribes). At the point when the area was initially settled by European Americans, groups of Shawnee, who had moved from east of the Mississippi River, lived in the region of Sedalia.

The land that turned into the Sedalia was established by General George Rappeen Smith, who additionally set up Smithton. He documented the official record on November 30, 1857, and gave the territory the name Sedville. The first plat incorporated the area from today's Missouri Pacific Railroad south to Third Street. What's more, it was recorded together by General Smith and David W. Bouldin on October 16, 1860, and showed the city stretching out from Clay Street toward the north and to Smith Street (today's Third Street) in the south, and from Missouri Street in the west to Washington Street in the east.

Until the city was actually official in 1860 as Sedalia, it had existed just "on paper" from November 30, 1857 to October 16, 1860. According neighborhood legend (aka I read it on the internet), the town changed the name from Sedville to Sedalia since "towns that end in - ville don't add up to anything." (A guy named Lawrence Ditton Sr apparently said that).

Other people say that in 1856 General Smith named it after his little girl Sarah, naturally known as "Sed". Smith  had already named a flatboat for her senior sister Martha ("What do you want, Martha?  Okay, so I didn't name a TOWN after you.  I named a boat after you!!"). He first picked the name Sedville yet changed it to Sedalia, taking after the proposal of a companion, Josiah Dent, of St. Louis.

In the Civil War, the U.S. Army had set up here, adding to its boomtown air of fast improvement as vendors and merchants pulled in to cash in on the military business. In the post-Civil War period, two railways were built associating it to different areas and Sedalia developed at a quick pace, with a harsh vitality of  explorers and cattle rustlers. From 1866–1874, it was a railhead end for cow drives, and stockyards were everywhere.

In the late nineteenth century, Sedalia was notable as a focal point of bad habits, particularly prostitution, which went with its extensive amount of railroad laborers and business voyagers. In 1877 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called Sedalia the "Sodom and Gomorrah of the nineteenth century." Middle-class business people profited off illicit prostitution as building proprietors and renters; others worked with individuals in the business, who saved money, utilized legal advisers, and so forth., around the local area.

In the 1870s massage parlors were appropriated all through the city, yet in the 1890s, they turned out to be more focused on West Main Street. These joints also had  performers, especially piano players, adding to a flourishing musical society. It cultivated the improvement of numerous craftsmen, including the famous jazz arranger Scott Joplin.

While the city pulled in numerous businesses and railroad laborers, its populace of wedded couples and families additionally developed. By 1900 its populace of more than 15,000 made it the fifth-biggest city in the state.

So there you have it. We started out small, got a little gross there in the 1800s, and came out awesome. I hope this didn't read too much like a school report. I got a little formal, there. It's just muscle memory from years of writing assignments for school, I guess!

Historically yours,
Behka

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