We the People: The Old Stagecoach Stop in Waynesville, Mo.

Waynesville, Mo. (KY3) - Over the next year KY3 is highlighting the people and places which make our country great leading up to America’s 250th birthday.

In our series ‘We the People’ we will spotlight the people, places and events which come together to make the rich background of the United States. America’s 250 birthday is approaching on July 4, 2026.

A couple in Waynesville, Missouri, is helping to keep Pulaski County’s history alive.

Cars now line the sidewalk along Lynn Street on the Waynesville Square where a stagecoach used to make stops along the Wire Road.

While many things have changed in nearly two centuries since part of this building was first constructed, the history inside the Old Stagecoach Stop is living and breathing thanks to volunteers like Terry and Jan Primas.

“The whole ten-room building started with this one-room log cabin,” said Terry Primas.

Volunteers, like Terry and Jan Primas, host tours on Saturdays. They share what different eras of this building were like for those who lived, worked and visited there.

It’s believed the Old Stagecoach Stop is the oldest structure still standing in Pulaski County.

Volunteers dress in period clothing and share what daily life was like for families. You may be familiar with the saying “sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite”. They demonstrate for people visiting how this saying came from the tightening of ropes on the bed. Jan and Terry Primas have also helped to expose thousands of students over the years to Pulaski County’s past.

They brought their students in L.E.A.P. to the Old Stagecoach Stop every week for archaeology and historical assignments. L.E.A.P. stands for the Learning Enrichment and Acceleration Program in the Waynesville R-VI School District.

L.E.A.P. students uncovered history and then gave tours to other 4th grade students on field trips about what they learned.

“It was the perfect project. It was everything: writing, for the scripts, the performing. We watched you guys just grow into it,” said Jan. The personas which were portrayed were based off the real people who lived and worked there. In fact, one of the most popular parts of the tours was for the students to learn about how to play games like marbles or jacks.

“J.L. Johnson, one of the owners of the building, was a marble champion. And after we started the research, we found so many marbles,” shared Jan.

Many of those facts were unearthed by L.E.A.P. students with their archaeology work starting in 1989. “As we did the archeology we got interested in the people who must have lived here,” recalled Terry.

KY3 even visited in September of 1990. ‘KY3 for Kids’ followed the students crawling under the building and carefully doing archaeology work, sifting through dirt and waiting to see what they discovered. Now decades later those discoveries including: marbles, a civil war-era button and even bones are on display in the museum.

The Primas’ have taught many about the people behind the Old Stagecoach Stop and they encourage you to start your own search in your community.

“Start with, ‘why it was it founded? Why are people there?” said Terry. “Then, see where you came from and go from there,” added Jan. They encourage you to look through old probate records, civil war records and look up the genealogy of your own family and see where the research takes you.

The Old Stagecoach Stop has now been an official museum for 30 years as of 2025.

Before that, the building was slated for demolition, but it was saved by the founding members of the Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation.

You can visit the Old Stagecoach Stop every Saturday from April through October, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

You can learn more and take a virtual tour of the building on their website, by clicking here.

Tune in every week to watch our half hour ‘We the People’ streaming special. You can join Emily every Tuesday morning at 10:30 on KY3.com and on Roku, Fire and Apple TV.

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