Multiple views of the Charles Hadsall house after renovation. This house is located on the Marais des Cygnes Massacre State Historic Site. On May 19, 1858, Missouri border ruffian Charles Hamelton and some 30 other men rode through the village of Trading Post, Kansas, and captured 11 free-state men, and marched them into a ravine where they opened fire upon them. Five of the men were killed, five were seriously injured, and one escaped unharmed.
In 1941 the Kansas legislature authorized acceptance of the massacre site, including Hadsall's house, as a gift to the state from the Pleasanton Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars. In 1961 it provided funds for the restoration of the building, and in 1963 the entire property was turned over to the Kansas Historical Society for administration. A museum was established in the upper floor of the building in 1964.
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