To look at the history of Gunn City leading up to the famous massacre, you must look at the history ofCassCounty. The original Native American inhabitants of this region mainly consisted of the Osage, Kansa, Ponca, Quapaw, and Omaha tribes, all of which formed the Dhegila subgroup. This tribal subgroup is part of the famous Sioux people. There was another Native American population in the region that belonged to the Algonquain linguistic group. Belonging to this group were Shawnee and Delaware tribes.
White settlers began to spread westward and lived relatively peacefully among the Native Americans. There is no recorded history of any conflicts between the white settlers and the tribal inhabitants. In fact, it is reported that around 500 Native Americans would attend camp meetings that were held southwest of Harrisonville. These Native Americans were also said to have enjoyed social interactions with the white settlers to include attending their church services.
In 1818, a land grant was in the southern region of Missouri was made to the Delaware tribe only to be receded in 1825 as many Native Americans had moved to reservations in Kansas and Texas. The Native Americans that finally remained were closely related to the Kickapoo, Sauk, and Fox tribes.
The town of Harrisonville was established in 1837. It gets its name from a Missouri U.S. Representative named Albert G. Harrison. Harrisonville, like other towns, was served by and grew as a result of the railroads. However, a series of stock swindling moves were perpetrated by county officials and when some discovered this, they sought to stop the levies on these fraudulent bonds. On April 24, 1872, the three perpetrators were shot while on board a train in the area of what is today Gunn City. This attack would later be known as the Gunn City Massacre.