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2024-2025 Board Members

  • President: Elyssa Ford

  • Vice President: Carolyn Fisher

  • Secretary: Catherine Gast

  • Treasurer: Carole Couts

  • At Large: Margaret Kelley, Gordon Hill, Donna Buffa, Ed Wohlford, Jessica Vest, Jennifer Partridge, JoAnn Outs, Billie Mackey, Mat Beu, Janice Brandon-Falcone

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Advisory Board​

  • Alice Hersh

Our History

The Nodaway County Historical Society is an active organization dedicated to the study, collection, and preservation of historically significant data and material that reflects the story of Nodaway County and its residents through the years.


The Society was founded in 1944 and reactivated in 1964, and some of its proudest accomplishments over the years include:

  • Acquisition and historic maintenance of the Caleb Burns house, built in 1849, making it one of the oldest homes in the Platte Purchase region of Missouri

  • Relocation and preservation of the 1883 Hickory Grove one-room schoolhouse to the museum site

  • Completion of a three-story museum in the 1990s to display artifacts and house historical material for the Nodaway County Heritage Collection, the Nodaway County Genealogy Society, and the Nodaway County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution

Caleb Burns House

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Caleb Burns was born in Clay County, Missouri in 1821 and came to this area just before it was really open for settlement, when it was still the Platte Purchase and Indian Territory. He built a log cabin at what now is the corner of Second and Buchanan Streets. He was a squatter at the time as he had no legal rights to the land. In 1845 Nodaway County was carved out of the Platte Purchase, and Burns worked in the first county court to help organize the area. In the early 20th century, bedrooms on the second floor of this house were rented out to female students at the 5th District Normal School, what today is Northwest Missouri State University. The Caleb Burns House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places through the National Park Service and is one of the oldest still-standing homes in the Platte Purchase area. The NCHS owns and maintains the Caleb Burns House, and it is open for public viewing during the museum's regular hours.

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The Hickory Grove School was built in the spring of 1883. A contract was awarded to William Allen to build the school for $70. It was located about sixteen miles north of Maryville near Clearmont. Mr. and Mrs. Milbank donated the school to the Nodaway County Historical Society in 1970. At the time, the Society decided to restore and preserve the structure on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University with the goal of keeping the one-room school as a monument to the history of all the rural schools in the area. Then in 1996 the Historical Society relocated the schoolhouse to the museum site where it is open to the public for free tours.

Hickory Grove Schoolhouse

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