Patee House Museum
Photo image of the Patee House Museum.
2. Patee House (Eastern Terminus) - St. Joseph, Missouri
The 140-room Patee House, built by John Patee in 1858, was recognized at that time as the most luxurious hotel west of the Mississippi River. In 1860, Russell, Majors, & Waddell established the St. Joseph offices of the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company on the first floor of the hotel.
Here, on April 3, 1860, Mayor M. Jeff Thompson gave a rousing address to the excited crowd before the first pony-rider headed west: "This is a great day in the history of St. Joseph. For more than a decade she has been the portal through which passed the wagon trains for the great west. . . .Now she is to become the connecting link between the extremes of the continents. For the first time in the history of America, mail will go by an overland route from east to west. . . . Citizens of St. Joseph, I bid you three cheers for the Pony Express!"
The original four-story brick structure, now 140 years old, still stands at the corner of 12th and Penn Streets and houses a museum of communications and transportation, which includes the restored Pony Express office.
Patee House Museum
12th & Penn Box 1022
St. Joseph, MO 64502
Tel: (816) 232-8206
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