The house where Jesse James was killed is in St. Joseph

St. Joseph is where Jesse James, the post-Civil War outlaw, was killed in 1882. He had been living in the city under an assumed name when he was shot by a member of his own gang. The house associated with his death has been preserved and operated as a museum, and St. Joseph treats it as part of the documented record, not as folklore to glamorize. For a new resident or visitor, this is one of the city’s best-known historical anchors, often paired with the Patee House Museum nearby. Treat the killing as history with real victims and a real record; the operating museums and the State Historical Society of Missouri are the reliable sources for dates and details rather than dramatized versions.