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Old McKendree Property First On Local Historic Register In Jackson

Lindsey Grojean/KRCU

The property containing Old McKendree Chapel and Cemetery has been established as Jackson's first local historic landmark.

Approved by the city’s board of aldermen on Monday, the site resides as the first and only listing under their Historic Preservation Ordinance.

Janet Sanders is the city’s staff liaison for the historic preservation commission, a citizen board created just last year. She says the McKendree Chapel Memorial Association was striving to be the first on the list, and that it is one of the most historic properties within city limits.

“They understand preservation; they have been preserving that site since 1933,” says Sanders. “They are really into historic preservation, and that is their whole purpose as an organization.”

The one-room chapel on the property was built in 1819, but the grounds were used as a place of worship since 1806. The chapel still boasts the structure’s original hand-hewn poplar logs, and sits across from the cemetery on Old Orchard Road in Jackson. The McKendree Chapel Memorial Association applied the site for the national register of historic places in 1984. They’re celebrating their 200-year anniversary as an establishment.

Sanders says many criteria are considered in the application process, including having some significance as far as architecture and who the property was associated with. Still, she knows of many places within town that could qualify, and hope home and land owners get involved with the commission.

“People who own historic properties typically know the significance of that property, and are proud of that,” says Sanders.

Sanders says the commission is now working on establishing a local historic district in uptown Jackson.

To get more information on the register, contact Janet Sanders at:

City of Jackson

101 Court Street

Jackson, MO 63755

jsanders@jacksonmo.org