KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When all trails went through Independence, Missouri, in the mid-1800s, nearly all travelers went through Hiram Young’s wagon shop.
The businessman born a slave in Tennessee bought his wife’s freedom and then his own. By about 1850, he had set up shop in Independence building wagons and ox yokes for travelers on the California, Oregon and Santa Fe trails.
“He really put forth quality,” Travis Boley, association manager of the Oregon-California Trails Association based in Independence, said.
Young also hired slaves and indentured servants to work for him, allowing them to learn a trade and earn the money needed to buy their freedom as he did. Later, he invested his money into education.
The Young School built in the 1870s was named after him. In the 1930s it was rebuilt at 505 N Dodgion Street in Independence, where it served Black students prior to desegregation.
“Being an entrepreneur, being educated, being kind, being helpful, those I would say were the hallmarks of Hiram Young,” Boley said.
Those same hallmarks are guiding Truman Heritage Habitat for Humanity as it renovates the former Young School building - which had sat vacant for decades - into its new, permanent headquarters.
The nonprofit known for lifting families out of poverty through homeownership sees similarities in its mission and Young’s goal of lifting families to new heights through workforce development and education.
“The beauty of restoring an old school for your nonprofit organization’s mission center is that we are going to see this building re-purposed again for education of families,” Christina Leakey, Truman Heritage Habitat for Humanity’s president and CEO, explained.
Her organization serves eastern Jackson County. In recent years, it’s turned its focus from building homes to renovating existing homes, allowing people to continue living where they’re rooted. Most years, the agency restores between 50 and 75 homes, while it builds closer to five.
The new headquarters in the old Young School will give Habitat for Humanity space to collaborate with other community partners in order to offer a “one-stop-shop” of resources for families looking to build a home, buy a home, renovate a home and more.
“We feel Young School being returned to the community as an education center is so timely to what’s been going on across the county and just raising awareness to the opportunities to lift people up instead of tear them down,” Leakey said.
She hopes the organization can move into its new headquarters in April. Leakey and Boley plan to create a museum space to honor Young in one of the school’s old classrooms.
