Editing Sedalia, Missouri (section)

===20th and 21st centuries===
While the city attracted many commercial travelers and railroad workers, its population of married couples and families also grew. By 1900 its population of more than 15,000 made it the sixth-largest city in the state. The [[entrepreneur]]ial [[middle class]] created more formal separations between its residential areas and those of [[working class]] whites and [[African Americans]].<ref name="sed" />

During [[World War II]], the military built Sedalia Glider Base in [[Johnson County, Missouri|Johnson County]] to the west. After the war, this facility was transferred to the [[Strategic Air Command]]. It was converted to a bomber base, the [[Whiteman Air Force Base]], named after 2nd Lt. George A. Whiteman, an Army Air Corps pilot who was killed during the 1941 [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]]. After a massive construction program, the base became the center of 150 [[ICBM]] silos and administrative offices. These were decommissioned in the 1990s.

Sedalia is home to the nation's first [[sheltered workshop]], which opened in 1965.

The expansion of the railroad and cattle drives in the late 19th century brought many male laborers to the rough town on the frontier. It sparked the related rise of a notorious "[[red light district]]", with numerous [[prostitute]]s who did business with the men in saloons and brothels, which also featured musical entertainments.

As more families settled in the area, they made the culture more stable, creating institutions such as schools and churches. In the late 20th century, structural changes in the railroads meant the loss of many industrial jobs, but the city has held on to a population close to its 1960 peak while developing new bases for the economy. The city is informally known as the "Trailer Capital of the Midwest", due to the high number of trailer manufacturers and dealers in the area.

Residents have emphasized the colorful history of the town for heritage tourism, and identified many significant historic structures for state and national recognition.

According to ''The History of the Boy Scouts of America'' (William D. Murray, 1937), the first Boy Scout Troop in Missouri (and one of the first in the nation) was formed in Sedalia in 1909, a year before the national organization was officially chartered on February 8, 1910.