The Pulaski County Historical Society and Museum was organized March 27, 1969. The chairman for this meeting was Mabel Mottaz. She was elected the first President of the Society at the April 1969 meeting. Others elected were, George Lane, Waynesville, 1st Vice-President, Barney Brown, Richland, 2nd Vice-President, Nellie Wills, Crocker, 3rd Vice-President, Warren Pritchett, Buckhorn, 4th Vice-President, Clara Ichord, Waynesville, Secretary, and Sue Hansen, Waynesville, Treasurer.  In 1970, a Historical Marker was erected by the Society at the Old Stagecoach Stop and Hotel on the square in Waynesville. Another marker was placed at the site of the Old Fort on Fort Street in Waynesville. In 1982 the first volume of “History Pulaski County Missouri” was published. Volume II followed in 1987 and a third volume was published in 2005. These books, and other resource books about Pulaski County, Missouri, are available for purchase at the museum and online atwww.visitpulaskicounty.org The society operates a museum located in the 1903 Pulaski County Courthouse, which is one of three courthouses located on Historic Route 66 in Missouri. The courthouse museum opens for the season on the first Saturday in April and runs through the last Saturday in September and is open weekly, on Saturday’s from 10:00 a.m. until 4 p.m. Group tours are available year round, by appointment. Contact Museum Curator Denise Seevers by phone (573-855-3644) or email (pulaskicomo@hotmail.com) to arrange a tour for your group or organization. The Pulaski County Historical Society and Museum meets the first Thursday of each month at 12 noon in the Historical Society building located at 415 Historic Route 66 West in Waynesville, Missouri. 

The Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation was formed to preserve, restore, protect and maintain the historic structure in Waynesville, Missouri, known as the "Old Stagecoach Stop" in order to permit its educational value to be appreciated by future generations. The Old Stagecoach Stop is the oldest building in Pulaski County. It was built by W.W. McDonald in the mid-1850s. His hotel, originally a double pen log building, was a stop on the St. Louis to Springfield stage route. A "lean-to" on the back of the building and a second story were added, probably in the 1880s. Each of the 10 rooms has been restored to a different significant period in building's past, from its beginnings as a residence and tavern on the Western frontier of the 1850s through its final chapter as a boarding house for soldiers and their wives in the early 1960s. The changes in the building's ownership and uses reflect the history of our local community, including the impacts of the Civil War, the completion of the railroad through Pulaski County, and the construction of Ft Leonard Wood. We invite you to visit us for a guided tour, or to simply take a step back in time as you walk through the rooms and view the period furnishings.