Harrisonville, Missouri

Harrisonville, Missouri is the county seat of Cass County and a city of 10,121 people (2020 census) on the southern edge of the Kansas City metropolitan area.¹ Founded in 1837 on land Congress granted for county purposes and named for Congressman Albert G. Harrison, it was one of the few places exempted from Union General Order No. 11 during the Civil War depopulation of western Missouri counties.¹

Overview

County	Cass County, Missouri (county seat)
Population (2020)	10,1211
Founded	18371
Namesake	Congressman Albert G. Harrison (land-grant sponsor)1
Civil War	Exempted from Order No. 11 depopulation (1863) while surrounding counties were cleared1
NRHP	Robert A. Brown House; Courthouse Square Historic District; St. Peter’s Episcopal Church1

History

Founding and Civil War exemption

Harrisonville was founded in 1837 on land donated by Congress for county purposes and named for Albert G. Harrison, the congressman who helped obtain the grant.¹ The surrounding area suffered heavily in the Civil War, but Harrisonville was among the few places exempted from General Order No. 11 (1863), which ordered the depopulation of three western Missouri counties and part of a fourth.¹

Later landmarks and civic record

Three properties are listed on the National Register: the Robert A. Brown House, the Harrisonville Courthouse Square Historic District, and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church.¹

In 1972, a shooting on the town square by Charlie “Ootney” Simpson killed two police officers (Donald Marler, Francis Wirt) and a bystander (Orville Allen) before Simpson died by suicide; a memorial park on the square commemorates the three victims.¹ Secondary sources describe the motive as personal (a collapsed farm purchase and bail money for friends), not political.¹

A May 2017 Missouri State Auditor report rated the city “poor,” citing overlapping tax districts, bidding practices, and use of restricted funds.¹

Sources

See also

• order-no-11
• belton-mo
• raymore-mo
• pleasant-hill-mo
• Wiki

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — “Harrisonville, Missouri.” — asserts: Cass County seat; 2020 pop. 10,121; founded 1837; named for Albert G. Harrison; Order No. 11 exemption; NRHP properties; 1972 square shooting (Simpson / Marler / Wirt / Allen) and memorial park; 2017 auditor “poor” rating; coordinates ~38.65306°N 94.34667°W. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³