John Brown Museum State Historic Site

The John Brown Museum State Historic Site encompasses the area known for the Battle of Osawatomie. John Brown and 30 Free State guerillas defended the town against an attack by John Reid and 250 proslavery militiamen in the largest battle during the Bleeding Kansas era. The 23-acre park features the John Brown Museum State Historic Site, where a stone pergola encases the Adair Cabin, the home of Reverend Samuel Adair and his wife, Florella, the half sister of John Brown. The cabin was built in 1854 and was John Brown's informal headquarters during his war against slavery in Kansas Territory. The cabin and other exhibits offer a trip into the violent struggle over slavery that made Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri the "Cradle of the Civil War." The park was dedicated in 1910 by former President Theodore Roosevelt who arrived on a Missouri Pacific train and gave his famous New Nationalism speech. The John Brown Museum State Historic Site is on the National Register of Historic Places.