Here’s a list of 15 Grand Army of the Republic posts in Nodaway County. The GAR was a veterans organization of Union soldiers and sailors in the Civil War. This list is compiled by the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War. Names of the posts could be anybody in the Civil War and didn’t have to be local oriented (unlike the current chapters American Legion and VFW which are named for local residents who were the first to fall in World War I). Maryville’s Sedgwick Post is named for Gen. John Sedgwick from Connecticut, who died in 1864 in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.
The Posts were social functions and included reunions both locally and nationally. . GAR was active in the 1917 dinner on the Nodaway County Courthouse lawn, in which 8,000 meals were served when Nodaway County boys left for World War I.
The GAR actively looked after graves and erected numerous GAR markers at cemeteries, which were still visible everywhere into the 1960s. Unfortunately, the markers became collector items and were almost all stolen (as happened with our family markers)
The most prominent GAR figure in Maryville was Nathaniel Sisson, who stayed very active until passing in 1932 (and is buried in Miriam Cemetery). He is also depicted in a painting on the Freedom Rock in Franklin Park. Above is an image AI colorized/enhanced image of him in GAR gear. Below is an AI-enhanced view of his Civil War photo.
The original 200-acre college farm (on the northwest side of the campus, mostly south of the Wabash tracks in the high-rise dormitory area). This farm was part of the original massive Faustiana Farm, which stretched around the college on the west and north, as opposed to the later, much smaller Townsend Faustiana, which was mostly south of the highway. It was a working farm providing milk and chickens for the college. Among the livestock were Daisy and Queen, mules used to dig the foundation for Martindale Gymnasium, which opened in 1926. For the record, Northwest adopted the Bearcat mascot in 1916, and Central Missouri adopted the Mule as mascot in 1922. The image is AI colorized/enhanced source image is below. 
In 1942-43, Washington High School students painted a mural on the lower level that depicted the school’s history. When the school was torn down in 1999, the mural, as well as plaster pseudo-classical Greek sculptures that adorned the school auditorium, were moved to the Nodaway County Historical Society Museum. Pictured in the photo above, which was AI colorized/enhanced, is longtime Maryville educator Laura B. Hawkins showing the painting to new students in 1951. Below is the story.
