Above: The Patee House Museum features a steam locomotive on display. Below: Each year, the National Pony Express Association sponsors a re-ride of the famed trail. St. Joseph Visitors Bureau photos

Patee House Museum

This town, once home to an outlaw, also was the home of “the most trusted man in America.” Yes, Walter Cronkite originated from St. Joseph, as did Cherry Mash candy, Aunt Jemima pancake mix and Big Chief writing tablets. These are just a few of the interesting tidbits one discovers during a visit to the eclectic Patee House Museum at 12th and Penn streets.

When it opened in 1858, the Patee House was billed as the most luxurious hotel west of the Mississippi River. From 1860–61, the first floor of the hotel housed the Pony Express headquarters. During the Civil War, the hotel was occupied by the Union Army. Over the years, the building was a hotel three times, a girls’ college twice, an epileptic sanitarium, and eventually a garment factory for 80 years.

Gary Chilcote, museum director, is a walking, talking history book about St. Joseph and its famous–and infamous–past. Plans for the museum began in 1963 and Chilcote has been involved ever since. Now a National Historic Landmark, the Patee House tells the story of the start of the Pony Express and the end of Jesse James, as well as tales about the railroad, the trails west, life on the frontier and much more.

Pony Express sesquicentennial

Although St. Joseph has many claims to historical fame, the one in the spotlight now is the Pony Express, which celebrates its sesquicentennial this year. Although the Pony Express was short-lived, its legend looms large in the national psyche.

The Pony Express filled a vital need for faster communication as the West opened up. Trains brought the mail to St. Joseph, which was the jumping off point for many of the trails west. From St. Joseph, the nation’s first transcontinental mail service began on April 3, 1860, when a lone rider left the stables on the first leg of the 1,966-mile trip to Sacramento, Calif. With the arrival of a new communication tool, the transcontinental telegraph line, the valiant experiment ended 18 months later on Oct. 26, 1861, but not before the Pony Express and its riders had captured the imagination of the nation and the world.

Prior to the Pony Express, mail from the East Coast to the West Coast had taken a month or more to travel by boat around the tip of South America. The Pony Express route typically took 10 days–the fastest mail had traveled anywhere in the world at that time.

While tracking the Pony Express in St. Joseph, be sure to visit the Pony Express National Museum, 914 Penn St., housing the original stables, and the Pony Express Monument, Ninth Street and Frederick Boulevard, a larger-than-life bronze statue of a Pony Express rider, in addition to the Patee House Museum.

Sesquicentennial events will be spaced throughout the year, with the main activities April 1–3. A gala dinner in the Patee House ballroom on April 1 kicks off the festivities. At the National Pony Express Museum, the stable doors will open and a re-enactor of the first westbound Pony Express rider, Johnny Fry, will set off on his route at 7:15 p.m. April 3, as did the original.

During the weekend there will be children’s activities, celebrity riders, a parade and more. At Mount Mora Cemetery, costumed characters will present “Voices from the Pony Express,” featuring the stories of riders buried there, on April 3. Similar events will be held Sept. 23, Oct. 28 and 29.

The annual Trails West festival Aug. 20–22 will have a Pony Express theme. The St. Joseph Museums Inc. will sponsor a Pony Express overnight trip, Riding the Trail, Sept. 29–30. For the latest information about sesquicentennial events, click on www.stjomo.com/ponyexpress150.aspx.

The National Pony Express Association (NPEA) sponsors an annual re-ride of the trail each year in June. The sesquicentennial Pony Express re-ride will arrive in St. Joseph on June 26, to be greeted by a celebration and parade. For details of the NPEA activities, visit www.xphomestation.com/150th-Anniversary.html.

The James Legacy

Although Jesse James only lived in St. Joseph for about a year, the notorious outlaw is one of its most famous residents.

“He was a cold-blooded killer and a bank robber–and we thank God for him every morning, because he’s our bread and butter,” Chilcote says with a grin.

James, under the assumed name of Tom Howard, and his wife and two children lived in a small frame house about two blocks from the Patee House. He was shot and killed in the living room of the house on April 3, 1882, by Bob Ford, a member of the James gang. The house was moved to the grounds of the Patee House Museum.

Other James-related sites include the Buchanan County Courthouse, 411 Jules St., where brothers Bob and Charlie Ford were tried for the murder, and the Missouri Valley Trust Building, Fourth and Felix streets, which James “cased” shortly before he was killed.

More to see and do

The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, 2818 Frederick Ave., has a stunning collection for a city of this–or any–size. The focus is American art, especially Midwest regional art, of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

At the St. Joseph Museum, 3406 Frederick Ave., you’ll find an extensive American Indian collection, plus the Glore Psychiatric Museum and the Black Archives Museum, all in the same building complex. The Glore exhibits show how mental illness has been treated throughout the centuries and also chronicles the 130-year history of what used to be the State Lunatic Asylum No. 2. It is a chilling and disturbing, yet fascinating, look at medical history.

The Wyeth-Tootle Mansion, an 1879 Gothic home at 1100 Charles St., houses a museum about 19th-century St. Joseph.

The Remington Nature Center, along the banks of the Missouri River at 1502 MacArthur Drive, features a life-size replica of a woolly mammoth; a 7,000-gallon aquarium; more than 1,200 local American Indian artifacts; cultural and historical exhibits; nature trails and more.

Dining and lodging

For a memorable meal and evening, have dinner at J.C. Wyatt House, 1309 Felix St. This stunningly restored 1891 Victorian home is open by reservation only. At the other extreme of the dining spectrum, try Big Daddy & Sons BBQ, in a trailer in a grassy lot at 18th and Messanie streets, for some of the best barbecue anywhere. Galvin’s Dinner House, 6802 S. 22nd St., features family-style dining and its famous fried chicken.

Lodging options include a dozen motels, two bed-and-breakfast inns and four campgrounds. A nice regional chain motel is the Stoney Creek Inn (AAA three Diamond), 1201 North Woodbine Road, with its Northwoods theme and discount for AAA members. Bed-and-breakfast choices are Whiskey Mansion B&B, 1723 Francis St., and Museum Hill B&B (AAA two Diamond), 1102 Felix St., which was once home to the Chase family of Cherry Mash fame. Both homes are open for tours.

See for yourself how well the past blends with the present in St. Joseph. You’ll be glad you rode into town.

Barbara Gibbs Ostmann is a contributor from Gerald, Mo.