Friends of Keytesville, Inc.

The Friends of Keytesville, Inc. was organized in 1964 with the goal of preserving Keytesville’s history. Currently the Friends of Keytesville, Inc. maintains two properties: the Sterling Price Museum located at 412 Bridge Street, Keytesville, MO, and the 1853 Presbyterian Church, 110 Hill Street, Keytesville, MO.

The Price Museum is open from May 15th through October 15th, Monday through Friday, 2:00pm ’til 5:00pm. It houses artifacts from the life of Sterling Price, an early settler from Virginia who settled in Chariton County shortly after Missouri became a state, and who besides being a prosperous farmer, served in the US Army in the Mexican War in 1848, then was Governor of Missouri from 1852-1856.

Besides Price artifacts from his time in Chariton County, the museum houses an extensive Native American arrowhead collection, numerous fossils and geological specimens, antique household goods and furnishings, and vintage farm equipment, as well as WWI and WWII memorabilia.

General Maxwell Taylor, a native of Keytesville and Commander of the 101st Airborne Division in WWII and later Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President John F. Kennedy also has a prominent exhibit within the museum.

Sports legend, Cal Hubbard, a member of both the Football Hall of Fame and the Baseball Hall of fame was also a native of Keytesville and the museum houses some of his artifacts as well.

Several photographs of Jane Rucker Barkley who was born in Keytesville and who later became the wife of US Vice President Alben Barkley when President Harry Truman was serving as President are available for viewing as well.

Guided tours are available during regular museum hours or by appointment when the museum is not officially open.

The 1853 Presbyterian Church located a few blocks away from the Price Museum has a self-guided tour that starts at a colorful rock garden. Within this garden are large boulders with impressive brass informational plaques that tell about the structures that can be viewed while visiting this area: the replica of a log cabin (something that early settlers to Keytesville might have lived in), the Keytesville calaboose (a one man jail for the drunk and disorderly), as well as the 1853 Presbyterian Church (one of the earliest churches built in Keytesville, now without an active congregation, and which appears much the same as it did in after its latest remodeling in 1906 over 100 years ago).

The Friends of Keytesville, Inc. has the following items for sale to help support both the Price Museum as well as the 1853 Presbyterian Church and Log Cabin complex:

Books:

• Keytesville-150 Years (published in 1983 which was the 150th anniversary of the town’s founding) – $27.50
• Keytesville Cookbook (published 1976) – $20 (over 1000 recipes)
• Keytesville Cookbook (published 1996) – $12.50 (over 1000 recipes-different from the 1976 cookbook)

Painted Pewter Miniatures:

• Sterling Price Miniatures – $25

Christmas Ornaments:

• 1853 Presbyterian Church ornaments – $6

Price Posters:

• Black/White lithograph reproductions – suitable for framing – $5

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