WILLIAM JEWELL COLLEGE | MORMON HISTORY | LIBERTY LANDING
CIVIL WAR | AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY | CORBIN THEATER

Liberty Landing

The Missouri river was the best way to travel when the west was opening up to explorers, fur-traders and settlers. Much of the country was so heavily forested it was almost impossible to travel with vehicles. In 1820, Shubael Allen built a landing for boats to put in for outfitting passengers traveling into the west. There were warehouses to store goods as well as furs, tobacco, hemp and other products to be sent to St. Louis and New Orleans. Allen's landing was washed away by the flood of 1844.

Liberty Landing, later called Baxter's Landing, was started in about 1829 and was located about three and one half miles south of Liberty. It was at the base of the bluffs about 1/2 mile west of the Liberty-Independence bridge. At that time, there was the ox-bow bend in the Missouri river. The river bend disappeared when Army engineers straightened the river bed to control flooding of farmland.

Liberty landing was an important port for merchandise for Liberty and other interior towns. Boats were moored by rings attached to a huge rock. There was a large hemp and rope factory. There was also a tobacco warehouse, several other warehouses and a stable that provided horses and wagons to take steamboat passengers into Liberty. Lawrence Zerker had a vineyard at Liberty Landing. There were several streets of houses. Today, roses and iris can be seen around the foundation stones of early settler homes. A foundation with steps leading into a cellar remains.