Keytesville, Missouri
Small Town.
Big History.
General Sterling Price Days is about more than a name on a calendar. It is about a community, the people who call it home, and the connections that bring neighbors together.
The heart of the celebration
A Hometown Is More Than a Place
In Keytesville, community means knowing your neighbors, looking after one another, and finding ways to help when someone needs a hand.
Ours is a farming community with deep roots, patriotic traditions, and a strong sense of family. Those connections are at the heart of General Sterling Price Days.
The celebration gives longtime residents, returning families, and first-time visitors a reason to gather, share stories, support local organizations, and enjoy time together.
Whether your family has been here for generations or this is your first visit, we want you to feel welcome.
What brings us together
Rooted in Community. Open to Everyone.
Our celebration looks to the past while making space for the people shaping our community today.
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
We value the everyday acts of kindness, volunteer work, and local support that keep a small community strong.
Agricultural Roots
We celebrate the farm families, hard work, and connection to the land that help shape our hometown identity.
Service & Responsibility
We appreciate military service, civic involvement, and the responsibility we share to care for our neighbors.
A Place to Belong
We want residents and visitors of every race and background to feel respected, included, and welcome.
Local connections, national history
A Small Community With a Far-Reaching Story
Keytesville has connections to two generals whose lives intersected with very different chapters of American history. Their stories deserve to be understood in their own contexts.
Missouri politics & the Civil War era
Sterling Price
Missouri’s 11th Governor
Born in Virginia, Sterling Price moved to Missouri and established a farm near Keytesville. His career included service in the Missouri legislature, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Mexican-American War.
Elected governor in 1852, he served from 1853 to 1857. Later known as “Old Pap,” Price commanded the Missouri State Guard and became a Confederate major general during the Civil War.
Price also enslaved people and supported slavery. Those facts are part of his history and should not be omitted or excused. Understanding his connection to this area requires acknowledging his full record.
United States military service
Maxwell Davenport Taylor
U.S. Army General & National Military Leader
Born in Keytesville on August 26, 1901, Maxwell Davenport Taylor rose to the rank of four-star general in the United States Army.
His career included command of the 101st Airborne Division during World War II and service as Army chief of staff.
From 1962 to 1964, he served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His life connects Keytesville to a different era of national military leadership and public service.
These are distinct historical careers—not equivalent causes or interchangeable legacies. Their local connections provide opportunities to learn about the complexity of American history.
Remembering honestly. Welcoming fully.
Community Pride and Honest History Belong Together
We recognize that a celebration bearing the name of a Confederate general can raise sincere questions. Those questions deserve a respectful answer.
General Sterling Price Days is a community gathering, not an endorsement of slavery, racism, or the Confederate cause. Our purpose is to bring people together, support our hometown, and create shared experiences across generations.
That purpose does not require overlooking the suffering of enslaved people or asking anyone to set aside their own family’s history. We can tell the truth about the past while treating one another with dignity today.
We can care deeply about our hometown, tell the truth about its history, and make room for everyone in its future.
The next chapter
A Celebration Made by Its People
The heart of the weekend is the people who make it possible: volunteers, families, local businesses, community organizations, and visitors.
As planning moves forward, our goal is to create opportunities to gather, reconnect, learn, and enjoy our hometown together.
Explore the planning calendar, ask how you can help, or share an idea with the committee.
General Sterling Price Days
There’s a Place for You Here.
Come with your family, bring a friend, and help us build a celebration that reflects the best of Keytesville.
Connect With the Committee