Harrisonville, Missouri, United States

🇺🇸 Harrisonville is a city in Cass County, Missouri, United States. It is the county seat of Cass County. It is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

History Harrisonville was founded in 1837 upon land donated to Cass County by Congress for county purposes, and was named for Congressman Albert G. Harrison, who was instrumental in obtaining the land grant. The area suffered greatly during the American Civil War, though Harrisonville was one of the few places exempted in Union General Thomas Ewing's General Order No. 11 (1863), which ordered the depopulation of three entire Missouri counties and part of a fourth.

In 1972, Harrisonville was the site of escalating tensions between a handful of mostly Vietnam veterans and town elders, which culminated in a brief rampage by 25-year-old Charlie "Ootney" Simpson. In the town square, in plain view of onlookers, he killed two police officers and a bystander before shooting himself. The victims were officers Donald Marler and Francis Wirt and local businessman Orville Allen. His motivation turned out to be personal, not political; he had saved money to buy a farm, but the seller had recently backed out of the deal, and Simpson had used the money to bail his friends out of jail.

The Robert A. Brown House, Harrisonville Courthouse Square Historic District, and St. Peter's Episcopal Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A May 2017 report from Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway gave the city the lowest possible rating of "poor", citing complex, often overlapping tax districts, contracts awarded without appropriate bidding processes and overuse of money pulled from restricted funds.

Geography Harrisonville is located in central Cass County at the intersection of U.S. 71, Missouri Route 2 and Missouri Route 7.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.01 square miles (25.93 km²), of which 9.88 square miles (25.59 km²) is land and 0.13 square miles (0.34 km²) is water.

Demographics The population density was 1,014.1 inhabitants per square mile (391.5/km²). There were 4,144 housing units at an average density of 419.4 per square mile (161.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.0% White, 1.1% African American, 0.7% Native American, 0.6% Asian, 0.8% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.6% of the population.

There were 3,854 households, of which 36.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.7% were married couples living together, 15.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 34.7% were non-families. 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.07.

The median age in the city was 35.5 years. 27.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26.6% were from 25 to 44; 22.4% were from 45 to 64; and 15.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.2% male and 52.8% female.

Education Harrisonville R-IX School District is the local school district. It operates an Early Childhood Center, two elementary schools, one middle school, Harrisonville High School, and Cass Career Center.

Harrisonville has a public library, a branch of the Cass County Public Library.

Transport Intercity bus service to the city is provided by Jefferson Lines.