07/10/2026
Jacks-White Historic Slave Quarters, aka Imeson Park House, owned by the City of Platte Woods, 7305 N.W. Prairie View Road, Platte Woods, Platte County, Missouri, by Gary Fuenfhausen
Northwest of downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and northeast of historic Parkville, is the small planned residential subdivision with a 100-year history, known as the City of Platte Woods, Platte County, Missouri. The story of this desirable residential site began a little earlier with the construction of the Armour-Swift-Burlington (ASB) Bridge, which crossed the Missouri River between Kansas City, Missouri, and North Kansas City, Missouri. It began in 1890 with the construction of its piers and ended in 1911, when the Armor, Swift, and Burlington meatpacking and railroad companies completed it. The Bridge’s unique double-deck vertical-lift system, with a lower deck to carry railroad traffic for the Burlington Northern and the upper deck that carried automobiles, pedestrians, horse-drawn wagons, and streetcars, along with the Platte Wood’s land owner, Phillip Klamm, who in 1927 contracted with Kansas City Power & Light to run electric lines toward Platte City through the area, Platte Woods came into existence.
In 1930, the estate of Phillip Klamm sold 250 acres to developer Ernie Thompson, who laid out and named the community's distinctive roads, such as Red Haw, Tomahawk Lane, Arbor Creek, and Crystal Pool. The Platte Woods Improvement Association (PWIA) was chartered in 1938 to manage and govern the community, and the area was incorporated into a Village in 1946. In 1954, the community upgraded its status to a Fourth Class City under State statutes, electing Herrick Hall as its first Mayor.
In 1934, Frank L. Young purchased 10 acres in Platte Woods, including the historic stone cabin known as the Jack’s slave house. A few years earlier, Ernest “Ernie” C. Thompson had purchased the former plantation site and built his new “English Cottage” house using the old stone and barn timbers from the former Jacks family Greek Revival big house and timbered barn, which included the surviving Jacks slave house. Mr. Young, a former builder and contractor from Cleveland, announced his plans to incorporate the historic Jacks stone pioneer and slave house into his new home, which he built on his new Platte Woods acreage. In 1946, Mr. and Mrs. Young sold the property to George Douglas, a land speculator, farmer, and owner of George F. Douglas & Co., which built ponds and levees and removed brush. The land was also known as the Southwest of Barry Junction Tract. In 1947, Douglas and his wife sold the land, also known as the Southwest of Barry Junction Tract, to Joseph H. Imeson and Beryl, his wife.
Joseph and Beryl Imeson, who bought the Jacks slave cabin in 1947, spent 20 years converting it into their own home, adding modern updates to the structure. Mr. Imeson, who was born in Canada, was a pilot for TWA, which at the time operated the downtown Kansas City airport’s hangers, the airline's 1931 Headquarters, and an eventual overhaul base built following the 1951 floods in Platte County, south of Platte City. It was this base that became the catalyst for building the Kansas City International Airport and MCI north of Platte Woods.
The Imerson estate, with its house, which was partly the former Jack's slave house, was donated by Beryl to the City of Platte Woods in 2015 and named Imeson Park. It is now located in Platte Woods, on the east side of Prairie View Road, across from Platte Woods United Methodist Church. It features a large 6-acre green space, a 1/4-mile gravel walking trail, and the Imeson house and its original slave quarter section, which is available to rent for parties, meetings, and events. The park's outdoor spaces are open from dusk to dawn.
The story of the Platte Woods slave cabin actually begins over 100 years earlier, with the Jacks family of Howard, Clay, and Platte Counties, Missouri, who were among the first frontier settlers to arrive in the Boonslick region, serving as pioneers who paved the way for later settlement in western Missouri. Migrating from Madison County, Kentucky, in 1817, Richard and Sophia Barnes Jacks came with their family by covered wagon, crossing the Mississippi River just above St. Charles, which they noted was predominantly French. They headed west to the most settled town, Franklin, in the heart of the Boonslick Country, across the Missouri River from present-day Boonville. The Jacks family consisted of Richard and Sophia, and children Thomas Marion, Elias B., Richard M., Sophia, Rebecca, Senie, Elizabeth, Katie, Pollie, Fannie, Nancy, and John.
Their son, Thomas Marion Jacks, was born on December 08, 1797, in Madison County, Kentucky, and died on December 05, 1888, in Platte County, Missouri. He married Cynthia Martin, daughter of Isaac Martin, in November of 1821. Isaac was the brother of Zadoc Martin, the first known white settler in Platte County, who arrived in 1828. Cynthia was born March 12, 1800, and died in 1878 in Platte County. Like his father, Thomas also had a large family with his wife: Melissa (1822), Sidney Clay (1826), Perry M. (1827), America (1828), Thomas Marion (1832), John McKinley (1833), Richard Martin (1835), Benjamin Franklin “Ben” (1837), Mary Ann Elizabeth (1840), Nancy (1841), Congreve Jackson (1842), and James Henry (1846).
While living in Franklin, Thomas M. Jacks worked as a carpenter. He witnessed the first steamboat arrival on the Missouri River. In May of 1819, the “Independence” docked at Franklin with large fanfare and celebration for several days. Some 400 locals were said to have had a barbecue, and among those celebrating the historic occasion was the legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone, who lived downriver near St. Charles, 84 at the time, and was given the seat of honor at the head of the welcome table. The second steamboat to arrive that same year at Franklin was the “Western Engineer,” also known as "Long's Dragon," as part of Major Stephen Long’s “Yellowstone Expedition.” The boat reached Franklin in June of 1819. It was purposely designed to frighten the native populations along the River. It had a stern paddlewheel and an upturned serpent-headed bow. By means of a flue, steam could be directed to come out the hinged jaws. Later, a barge filled with corn made its way up the River, eventually followed by 9 keelboats filled with soldiers, all passing Franklin.
Thomas Jacks’s father, Richard Jacks, purchased a quarter section from the Government at $2 per acre, near what is now Fayette, north of Franklin. He lived there until 1839. Thomas continued to move west, reaching Clay County in 1820. It was in Clay County that he worked for the legendary Colonel John Thornton, owner of Western Farm plantation, Taltron Turner, and Colonel John Bartleson, clearing land for $15 a month. He also claimed to have helped cultivate the first corn crop in Clay County and to have participated in the first election in August of 1822. Eventually, after his marriage to Miss Martin, he moved to Ray County, where her family was living. They eventually moved to Howard County, where they received land grants for 160 acres near present-day Armstrong in 1824 and 1826. They would eventually move back to Clay County.
In 1835, Sarshel Brown and Thomas Johnson of Clay County trespassed onto the Indian lands that would eventually become Platte County and raised the first corn crop outside Zadoc Martin’s farm near present-day Platte City. The corn was sold at Fort Leavenworth. At that time, some 300 inhabitants had illegally crossed into the Indian Territory, but were dispatched out by troops from Fort Leavenworth. In 1836, Thomas M. Jacks purchased the farm that raised the corn from Mr. Brown and Johnson. The Jacks family did not move to the farm until 1837, after the United States Senate approved the treaty with the Native American tribes in February of that year. On March 28, 1837, President Martin Van Buren issued a proclamation supporting the annexation. By October 1837, the Missouri General Assembly accepted the land and initially placed it in the newly created Platte County.
The acquisition of native lands of Missouri’s Platte Purchase began as early as 1830 with the “Indian Removal Act.” The first tribe to cede land was the Potawatomi, who agreed to do so in the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, but the treaty wasn't finalized until 1835. The Potawatomi moved north to a reservation in what became Pottawattamie County, Iowa, but were eventually forced to relocate to Kansas during the Potawatomi Trail of Death. A bill introduced by Missouri senator Thomas Hart Benton to acquire the native lands was approved with little opposition in June 1836, and an agreement was reached in September with the chiefs Mahaska and No Heart of the Ioway tribe and leaders of the combined Sauk and Meskwaki in a ceremony at Fort Leavenworth (Kansas). William Clark, former Missouri Territorial Governor and now the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, oversaw the ceremony, and another gifted and noted diplomat, Jeffrey Deroine, a formerly enslaved man, served as an interpreter for this treaty. Born into slavery in St. Louis in 1806, Deroine knew English, French, and a dozen Native American languages. After purchasing his freedom for $600 in 1832, he became an official translator for the U.S. government and the Ioway nation.
From 1839 to 1840, Lisbon Applegate was commissioned to survey and sectionalize Platte County. Thomas Jack’s farm appears in the 1840 finished copy of the survey and is labeled “Thos Jacks Farm.” The farm is shown as located on the Leavenworth Road in Section 18, Township 51, Range 33, in Platte County, Missouri. The 1840 Federal Census also confirms the presence of Thomas Jacks and his family in what would become Platte Woods and Imeson Park. In that year, he is shown as 1 free white male aged 40 to 49, 2 at age 10 to 14, 3 at age 5 to 9, and 1 male under 5 years of age. The free white females are shown as 1 at ages 40 to 49, 1 at ages 15 to 19, and 1 at ages 10 to 14. Three persons were said to be engaged in Agriculture. In all, the family consisted of 10 free white people and no enslaved. It has also been recorded in Platte County’s history that Thomas and Cynthia’s son Benjamin Franklin “Ben,” who was born in 1837, was the first white child born in the County. Thomas Jacks’ parents, Richard and Sophia, are also listed in the 1840 Federal Census as living in Platte County. They are recorded as being between the ages of 60 and 69, and living with them is a free white female age 15 to 19. No enslaved people are recorded as living with them.
In March of 1846, both Thomas and his father Richard received land grants in Platte County. Recorded at the Land Office in Plattsburg, Missouri, Thomas obtained 160 acres in the Southwest section of 18, Township 51, Range 33, and, in a separate document, 80 acres of the same section. His father is also recorded as receiving 160 acres in a nearby section 25, Township 51, Range 34. These documents confirm the family history that “the United States deeded 160 acres to Thomas Jacks, with the deed signed by President James K. Polk.” However, it does not validate the claim that he was entitled to an additional 160 acres due to his marriage, or that they owned 320 acres in total from these grants. Documents confirm that Thomas Jacks received 240 acres in land grants.
Family history also relates that before 1842, the Jacks built a two-room stone building with enslaved labor that, to this day, remains the oldest in the area that would become Platte Woods and nearby areas. The history continues to include that in 1842, Thomas Jacks had his “historic manor house” built adjacent to the stone cabin. The history goes on to say that the 1842 construction used enslaved labor to build the two-story manor house, with a two-room stone cabin nearby to house enslaved workers. Here is where the story needs further verification, since no enslaved people were recorded as living with Thomas or Richard Jacks in 1840 or before.
After extensive digging through various period sources, this author (Gary Fuenfhausen) has confirmed that, yes, the Jacks family were enslavers before the Civil War. Why the enslaved were never recorded in the 1840 or earlier Federal Census is unknown. Documents do confirm that as early as September 1831, Thomas Jacks received a deed to three enlsaved people. Dated on the 27th, he purchased a young woman named “Lindy” and two children, a boy and a girl. The deed remained in the Jacks family and states that Thomas Jacks was living in Clay County at the time. Another record from 1841 shows that, in his will, Richard Jacks deeded his wife a “negro boy” named George. The will does not mention any other enslaved men, women, or children. In 1848, Simeon (Wilhoit) Willhite purchased a sixteen-year-old slave girl named Sally from Thomas Jacks. This bill of sale was handed down through his family. The same “Sally” stayed with the Willhite family after freedom and remained close to them until she died. The formerly enslaved person Sally married Perry, and they had two children, and Mrs. Willhite (Nancy) officiated the wedding. It is suggested that they were at the Willhite home; they “jumped the broomstick” in what was said to be the usual ceremony and lived in cabins south of what was known as the Buster Dannare house (1956, Worth County, Missouri).
In 1850, Thomas and other members of Jack's family are recorded as enslaving people in Platte County. In the 1850 Federal Slave Census, Sydney Jacks, son of Thomas and Cynthia, owned a 12-year-old enslaved girl. Thomas and Cynthia owned a 26-year-old male. The value of their real estate was $11,000. Living with Cynthia and Thomas were Thomas M. (18), Perry M. (23), John M. (16), Richard M. (14), Beng. F. (13), Mary (9), Congreve (7), and James H. (5). The Jacks' 1850 Federal Agricultural Census, Platte County, Missouri, states they owned 1000 acres valued at $8000. It included 400 acres improved and 600 acres unimproved. They also owned $275 in Farm Implements and Machinery. Their livestock included 4 Horses, 6 Milch Cows, 8 Working Oxen, 15 Other Cattle, 70 Sheep, 60 Swine. They grew 350 Wheat Bushels, 4,250 Bushels of Indian Corn, 200 Oat Bushels, 40 Bushels of Irish Potatoes, 20 Bushels of Sweet Potatoes, and had $50 in Orchard Products and 210 Pounds of Wool. They also had 1,092 Pounds of Butter and 1 ton of hay. The family and their enslaved man, or possibly enslaved people, grew an impressive 4 Tons of dew-rotted h**p as a cash crop. They owned $200 in Homemade Manufacturers and $165 in Animals Slaughtered.
In 1859, Jacks sold their property, including the manor house, stone slave cabin, and barn, to Green K. and Elizabeth White, and moved to Gentry County, Missouri (see history below). The Whites purchased 320 acres of land for $12,800, which, 70 years later, would include parts of Platte Woods and, at its heart, the City’s Imeson Park.
Green Kearly (Kerley) White was born February 27, 1811, and died on April 6, 1881, at the historic Jacks-White homestead in Platte Woods, Platte County, Missouri. He was born in Estill County, Kentucky, and married in Madison County, Kentucky, in 1834 to Mary Ann Campbell, born in 1813. In the year of their marriage, they came to Clay with the Campbell family, where they lived until 1843, when they crossed the line into Platte County. They were living in Pettis Township, Platte County, during the 1850 Federal Census, with his wife Mary, sons William and James, and daughter Elizabeth. The total value of his real estate and personal property was $10,400, which included his seven enslaved people. Today, the value of his and his wife’s estate would be $446,640. The White’s enslaved people were two men at ages 32 and 17, a 17-year-old female and a 14-year-old female, and 11- and 5-year-old boys, and a 9-year-old female. All of the enslaved were black, excluding the 14-year-old female, who was registered as “Mulatto.”
Mrs. White died on December 6, 1856, and on March 4, 1858, Mr. White married his second wife, Elizabeth Campbell, his first wife's sister, who was living in Clay County (the Campbells eventually moving to Clay County). She died at the Jacks-White farm in 1878. The White’s children were William Campbell WHITE (1835–1921), James W. WHITE (1836–1911), and Elizabeth WHITE (1842–?). By his second wife, they had a daughter, Mary Ann WHITE (1858–1950).
The Campbells’ father, William, Mr. White’s father-in-law, died in 1859, owning a substantial estate in nearby Clay County, Missouri. Just before his death in 1850, William Campbell, with his son Samuel, owned 20 enslaved people, which together placed them in the category of a planter (William 18 and Samuel 2). Son William remained at home, and Samuel on the adjoining property, as had Elizabeth, until her marriage to Green K. White. William, in partnership with his father, operated their estate. The original Campbell settlement was near present-day downtown Kansas City, Missouri, across the Missouri River just above Harlem, Clay County. Together, they owned 440 acres, with Samuel's adjoining 120 acres. The farming estate’s enslaved people primarily raised livestock and diversified crops such as corn, oats, rye, and wheat, as well as Irish and sweet potatoes, orchard products, hay, flax, and some homemade goods. Much of the plantation’s production would have been for self-subsistence, feeding the Campbell family and their 20 enslaved men, women, and children. The rest of the livestock was most likely an income source, with their lucrative position directly on the Missouri River at the riverboat port of Harlem and across the river from the growing towns of Kansas City and Westport (317 animals in total, predominantly horses, asses and mules, and sheep and swine).
In his 1859 will, William states that he had already given some of his inheritance to his children over the years. The remainder of his property was his land, homestead with burial ground, household furnishing, and barn and outbuilding, farming equipment, livestock, and 8 enslaved men, women, and children. Because William remained, he inherited the old homestead and acreage. His daughter Elizabeth, wife of Green K. White, was given one negro girl named Malinda, age about 12, and one negro girl named Ming about 10 years of age, and also a negro boy named John, and 80 acres. The three sons, William, Samuel, and John, were to be given three negro men named Lewis, Thornton, and Dudley, and they divided them equally among themselves to make the shares as equal as possible. Two older negro women, Suckey and Daphney, who were family servants, were to be allowed to choose which of the children they wanted to live with and not sold, but if they did not want to live with any of them, then they would be sold and the proceeds divided among the children. All remaining property not mentioned was to be sold and divided up among the grandchildren and children, with specific amounts to the children of the deceased Mary, Green K. White’s first wife.
By 1860, the White’s new farming estate was quite extensive, and their investments in real estate and personal wealth, and their enslaved people, had grown. Their combined “Value of Real Estate” was $24,400, as was their “Value of Personal Estate” ($24,400). In today’s dollars (2026), their combined $48,800 would be estimated at $1,969,521. Their enslaved population was 15, and they were living in 3 “Slave houses,” one of which is the Jack’s slave quarters at Platte Woods. The Whites include Green and Elizabeth and their children John W., Lucy, and Mary. The enslaved population included one 65-year-old mullatto female, one 35-year-old black male, one 23-year-old black male, one 22-year-old black male, one 18-year-old mullatto female, two 15-year-old black males, one 13-year-old black female, one 12-year-old mullatto female, one 8-year-old mullatto male, one 1-year-old mullatto male, one 1-year-old mullatto male, one 25-year-old black female, one 4-year-old black female, and one 2-year-old black female. Their agricultural Federal Census reveals that the White farming estate was diversified in livestock and crops, with no cash crops. They owned 430 Improved Land and 130 Unimproved, with a $24,400 Cash Value of Farm. They owned $500 in Value of Farm Implements and Machinery. Their livestock included 8 Horses, 5 Asses and Mules, 8 Milch (milk) Cows, 2 Working Oxen, 40 “Other” Cattle, 80 Swine, and their value was $2000. The enslaved population grew 75 Wheat Bushels, 50 Rye Bushels, 4000 Bushels of Indian Corn, 300 Oat Bushels, 20 Bushels of Peas and Beans, 80 Bushels of Irish Potatoes, and the value of Orchard Products was $100. In addition to the other crops and livestock, they had 500 Pounds of Butter, 50 Pounds of Cheese, and the enslaved people also grew 30 Tons of Hay. The farm also produced 20 pounds of honey, and the value of Animals Slaughtered was $ 1,265.
As for the Jacks who had moved to Gentry County in 1859, by 1860, their new farming estate was also quite extensive, and their investments in real estate and personal wealth, which was their enslaved people, had grown. In 1860, the Thomas Jacks reported owning 6 enslaved people: one 40-year-old black female, one 29-year-old black female, one 8-year-old black female, two 6-year-old black males, and one 1-year-old black male. Thomas and Cynthia Jacks were recorded as being in their early 60s and living with their children: 28-year-old Marion (Thomas), 18-year-old Susan, 26-year-old John, 24-year-old Richard, 22-year-old Benjamin (Ben), 19-year-old Mary Ann and her 3-year-old daughter, 17-year-old Congreve, and 14-year-old James. The Jacks' combined real estate and personal property was valued at $25,060, which today would be an estimated $ 1,011,397 (2026). Thomas and Cynthia owned 585 improved acres and 815 unimproved acres, with a cash value of $14,000. They also owned $300 in value of Farm Implements and Machinery. Their livestock included 10 Horses, 7 Asses and Mules, 9 Milch Cows, 60 Working Oxen, 40 Other Cattle, 18 Sheep, 25 swine, all of which were valued at $2170. The family and enslaved people grew 1,500 bushels of Indian Corn, 150 bushels of oats, and their sheep produced 40 Pounds of Wool. The farm estate also grew 15 bushels of peas and Beans, 365 Pounds of Butter, 35 Tons of Hay, 10 bushels of grass seed, with a $300 Value of Animals Slaughtered.
Significant to this is that the 1860 Federal Slave Census again confirms that the Jacks were enslavers, including Thomas Jacks' brother Elias B., who was living in Pettis Township, near the former Jacks farm now owned by the White family. Elias, recorded as E. B. Jacks, had 8 enslaved people in Platte County.
During the Civil War, Thomas and Cynthia 'Jacks' son, Congreve Jackson Jacks, served in the Union’s 5th Regiment, Missouri State Militia Cavalry, organized at St. Joseph, Missouri, with service from 1862 to 1863. Other family members who may have served are not known at this time, and no record exists documenting their service. It is most likely they remained neutral and were never required to serve. In 1864, Green K. White was ordered to appear before Union General Fisk for reasons of disloyalty. A letter of support for Mr. White was written by George S. Park, founder of Parkville and donor of land to establish Park College, and L. Hinkle, Union Provost Marshal in Platte County, Missouri, and presented to the General. No record of escaped enslaved men who may have joined the Union ranks from the Jacks or the White families has been found as of this date, but it is possible, given Platte and Gentry Counties' location along the free, Union-supporting Kansas border. Numerous enslaved men left their enslavers in Platte County and joined the Union’s ranks in Kansas from 1861 to 1865. Escaped slaves also crossed the Missouri River, particularly during the winter when it was frozen.
After the Civil War, the Jacks returned to Pettis Township, near the Whites who were still living at the old Jacks homestead. In 1870, the Jacks were in their early 70s, and several of their children and grandchildren were living with them. Included in their household were the formerly enslaved 45- and 8-year-old Frank and William H. Jacks, who were working as farm hands. Their value of real estate and personal property had dwindled considerably to $9,400, which is estimated today at $240,367 (2026). In 1880, he was listed as a “Widower” and living with his son James H. Jacks and family in May Township, Platte County, Missouri. Green and Elizabeth White had Mary Ann and Katie living at the farm, and their total estate weathered the turbulent Civil War years better than the Jacks, with a total valuation of $31,000, which is $792,701 (2026). Living in close proximity to the Whites were Thomas and Cythia Jacks' son, Richard Martin Jacks, and his family on their farm. In 1880, Thomas White was still living at the Jacks' former farming estate, which was later named May Township. Included within the household were his son William and his wife and their 3 boys, his sister Mary Ann, and a 9-year-old Hispanic girl named Emerine Valentine, who is listed as a servant.
After the death of Green K. White, the Jacks-White farm, with the original mansion house, barn, and stone-and-brick slave house, was sold in January 1882, along with 250 acres, to Phillip Klamm for $ 8,000. While the Klamm family owned the farm, the old “Manor House” burned in 1928.
Preserving slave dwellings such as the Jacks-White Historic Slave Quarters offers tangible proof of the presence and the lives of Missouri’s enslaved African Americans. These types of structures counter myths about the past by providing authentic material evidence of slavery, rather than idealized or romanticized accounts or misleading facts, and are a powerful testament to the strength, family ties, and perseverance of enslaved individuals. Moreover, these extant dwellings can serve as invaluable educational tools, helping future generations, researchers, and museum visitors understand the spatial, economic, and social realities of both farm/plantation and urban-enslaving households. By acknowledging the spaces, we acknowledge enslaved people’s existence and their contribution to Missouri’s history and settlement. (GGF1062026)
