07/15/2026
COVERING PLATTE COUNTY: The Platte County Commission approved a rezoning request on Monday, pushing forward plans for a nonprofit to preserve the historic Halfway House cellar.
Five acres surrounding the cellar will be rezoned from agricultural to rural estates. The rezoning allows a five-acre tract to be split from a larger 53-acre parcel owned by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 101. The remaining 48 acres will stay zoned as agricultural.
The union plans to transfer the five acres to Halfway House Cellar Preservation, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Black Ancestors Awareness Campaign.
Angela Hagenbach, president of Halfway House Cellar Preservation and founder of BAAC, said the group's goal is to preserve the cellar and its history.
"This site has historical significance, not just with slavery, but also with the Border War," Hagenbach told the commission. "There's so much history that we want to learn, discover, and excavate."
The cellar is the only visible remnant of the Halfway House, an inn and tavern that once stood roughly halfway between Platte City and Weston. The site is located off Missouri Route 273.
According to a historical marker at the site, the ceiling once had rings used to chain enslaved people.
The Halfway House sat along a toll road, which connected Platte City and Weston. The toll road later became present-day Route 273 and Route JJ. Route 273 was later realigned south of the site during construction of a bridge over Bee Creek.
Last month, students from local colleges and universities spent three weeks conducting an archaeological dig on the property, Hagenbach said. Items recovered from the site are being analyzed in a lab, according to Hagenbach.
The dry-stack limestone cellar was built without mortar between the stones. Hagenbach said tree roots have begun growing into it. The nonprofit is working to get a dry-stack mason to complete repairs.
The Halfway House Cellar Preservation plans to preserve the cellar and document the stories connected to the property. The organizations are also working to have the site listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to BAAC’s website.
