Osceola

History

Located on the Osage River, the land that became the town of Osceola was inhabited by the tribe of Osage Native Americans, also known as NiuKonska, Native Americans who gave the river its name. NiuKonska means "Little Ones of the Middle Waters". Two treaties, in 1808 and 1825, signed by the Osage and the U.S. government gave up all the tribe's land in Missouri. With the way cleared for non-native settlers, more people began to arrive in the St. Clair County area in the mid-1830s. The town is named after the famous Seminole Chief Osceola. The name was first used at a Town Board meeting on March 30, 1859. The town was the site of the September 1861 Sacking of Osceola by Jayhawkers (anti-slavery patrols) in which the town was burned and its courthouse looted. The town of 2,077 people was plundered and burned to the ground, 200 slaves were freed and nine local citizens were court-martialed and executed. The event inspired the 1976 Clint Eastwood film The Outlaw Josey Wales. In September 2011, on the 150th anniversary of the Sacking of Osceola, the Osceola Board of Aldermen passed a resolution asking the University of Kansas to no longer to use "Jayhawk" as its mascot and nickname. Further, the resolution asks Missouri residents to stop spelling Kansas or "KU" with a capital letter because "neither is a proper name or a proper place". The Osceola Public School Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• OSCEOLA ELEM.
  Elementary · OSCEOLA · 304 students · 14.5:1 ratio
• OSCEOLA JR.-SR. HIGH
  High · OSCEOLA · 249 students · 11.9:1 ratio
• Roscoe Elementary
  Elementary · Osceola · 52 students · 7.4:1 ratio