Information about Kirksville, MO and the small, locally-owned businesses located there.

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A little about Kirksville

Kirksville, the county seat of Adair County, is located in the Chariton Valley Region of Northeast Missouri, approximately 168 miles northeast of Kansas City Missouri, 204 miles northwest of St. Louis, Missouri and 90 miles north of Columbia Missouri. The great outdoors surround Kirksville, including three large state conservation areas: Big Creek, Sugar Creek and Montgomery Woods, along with muskellunge fishing at Hazel Creek Lake and camping & water recreation at Thousand Hills State Park. Kirksville is home to Truman State University. Founded in 1867, Truman State has the distinction of being Missouri’s only highly selective statewide public liberal arts and sciences university.

The history of Kirksville

Adair County, organized in 1841, was named after John Adair, Governor of Kentucky, the state of origin for many of the settlers. The town of Kirksville was laid out in 1841 and became the county seat that same year. While the name Kirksville literally means ‘village of churches’, the city was named after one of its earliest settlers and tavern owner Jessie Kirk. Legend has it that the surveyors working in the area were invited to share Thanksgiving dinner and good whiskey with Kirk provided that they name the town after him. The deal was made, and the new town became Kirksville. Memorial Park commemorates the Battle of Kirksville, a Civil War action. On Aug. 6, 1862 1,250 Union troops arrived under the command of Col John McNeil to meet 2,000 Confederate soldiers led by Col. Joseph C. Porter. After a three hour battle around the Courthouse and the northwest part of town, the Confederates retreated. The County Historical Society has a cannon ball retrieved from the Court Hou

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