St Clair County, MO Historical Society

06/10/2026

05/28/2026

Local historian Rick Reed participated in a recent podcast video regarding the burning of Osceola. We are proud to share this video of the interview for the podcast The History of Murder. She had done a previous one on the Lawrence Kansas raid that you can also watch. Check it out!

In September of 1861, Osceola Missouri was burned to the ground, me...

05/20/2026

We will be open Memorial Day weekend 10-2. Come on by!

05/15/2026

Great Presentation last night!
Larry did an excellent job and had interesting stories to share about his finds. Thank you Larry Kottwitz

05/10/2026

This Thursday, 7 pm.
Great speaker and refreshments!

05/06/2026

Next Thursday, May 14th , 7 pm
We will have our first meeting of the season with a special speaker!
Local Larry Kottwitz will share his 25 year hobby of metal detecting and how he finds pieces of history and finds local historical sites.
Join us at the museum for this first meeting. Thanks to those that share this information on and off Facebook as we are working to build up our following.
As previously mentioned, we are now open for the season Saturdays 10-2 through October.

04/27/2026

Mark your calenders! This Saturday is the opening of the museum. May 2, 10-2 pm. We would love to see you. Wade Harris will be the docent this Saturday and he is a wealth of knowledge. Here is a small sneak peek of some our displays

02/03/2026

Strays post Civil War
When browsing the Osceola Herald Newspaper from the 1866-1869 I started to become aware of stray notices. As a consequence of war that devastated farms, leaving many people destitute or abandoning their animals. Alternatively, cattle or horses were seized by soldiers and abandoned or lost animals roamed. In 1865 stray laws were created on the process of taking up strays. Here are some copies of the notices posted in the newspaper as well as the legal documents of my Great Great Grandfather taking up strays. I hope you find these interesting.TD

01/19/2026

Historical sites in Missouri within an hour for your visiting pleasure:

Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site

Cox Harris Plantation Site

Nathan and Olive Boone Homestead State Historic Site: Below are a few pictures from this location.

12/06/2025

Books available for Christmas gifts. Previous Historical Society members put a LOT of work into creating these rare books. Contact me if you have questions about them or want to arrange purchase. price list posted.