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Lake Contrary
Joseph Robidoux
Previous Mayors
Twin Spires
Jesse James
Jesse James Home
Pony Express
Patee House
Medical Rates in 1845
Mayor's Annual Message in 1897
The Earthquake of 1867
1872 Building List
Architect Angelo Powell
Brief City History
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| James home at its original
site in 1882 at 1318 Lafayette Street. |
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James home
today, next to Patee Museum. |
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Notorious outlaw Jesse
James was shot and killed in this house on April 3, 1882. He was killed
by Bob ford, a member of the James gang, to collect a $10,000 reward offered
by Governor Tom Crittenden.
Jesse died at the age of 34 after living a lawless career for 16 years. He
was living with his wife and two children under the assumed name of Tom
Howard at the time of his death.
Jesse was shot from behind while he stood on a chair to straighten a picture
in his own home. After the shooting, Jesse's wife and two children and his
mother, Mrs. Zerelda Samuel, spent the next two nights at Patee House, which
was then called the World's Hotel.
Today the James Home is a museum dealing with
the life and death of Jesse James. In 1995 forensic scientist James Starrs
exhumed the outlaw's body at Kearney, MO, for DNA tests. The results showed
a 99.7% certainty that it was Jesse James who was killed here in 1882.
Artifacts from the grave are now on display including the coffin handles, a
small tie pin Jesse James was wearing the day he was killed; a bullet
removed from his right lung area; and a casting of his skull, showing the
bullet hole behind his right ear.
The Jesse James Museum is operated by the Pony Express Historical
Association with all proceeds from admission charges going to help maintain
both the James Home and Patee House Museum.
The James Home was originally located about two blocks north of its present
location, at 1318 Lafayette Street, on a high hill overlooking Patee House.
In 1939 it was moved to the Belt Highway in St. Joseph as a tourist
attraction.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Keatley purchased the James Home in 1977 and donated it
to the Pony Express Historical Association. The house was moved back to its
original neighborhood and today it is located on the grounds of Patee House
Museum.
The Jesse James Home is owned and operated by
the not-for-profit
Pony Express Historical Association
Box 1022, St. Joseph, MO
(816) 232-8206 |
