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Harrisonville was slow to recover from the war. Municipal rule was not completely reestablished until 1867 when elections were finally called. While we were struggling, our neighbors in Pleasant Hill were experiencing a boom with the arrival of the Pacific Railroad. The rivalry between our towns became intense. Pleasant Hill residents tried to usurp our role as the county seat by lobbying the Missouri House to create a new county. We lobbied back just as hard, and persuaded the state Senate to reject the proposal. Finally, by 1870s, the railroads arrived in Harrisonville and we were growing again. Five churches and close to 20 businesses were erected by the mid 1870s when our population surpassed 1,000. The Cass County Democrat-Missourian, still our hometown newspaper, was started in 1881. The Kansas City & Southern Route arrived in 1885. That same year, a vein of brick clay was discovered, which led to a brick and tile factory. Quickly, a good deal of the wooden business buildings were replaced by the more prestigious brick structures, many of which are still standing. The three-story yellow brick Cass County Courthouse was designed by the prominent architect W.C. Root, erected in 1897, and proudly stands in the center of town. | |||||||||||||||||
Following the Civil War, an African-American community developed inHarrisonville. Working mainly as laborers, by the 1880s these residents had established a two-room school on Elm Street. When this school burned, classes were held in a private residence until a new brick building, Prince Whipple School, was constructed at the corner of Elm Street and King Avenue. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public schools. In the face of massive resistance, most communities, including those in Kansas City, did not integrate schools until the late ‘50s and ‘60s. An exception was the Harrisonville School District. On July 26, 1954, our school board voted unanimously to comply with the law of the land. For more information, visit the Cass County Historical Society website.
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This marked the end of Prince Whipple School, which was named for the black man at the front of the boat in the famous picture of George Washington crossing the Delaware. Today the red brick building still exists, with a historic marker at the property. | |||||||||||||||||
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