German immigrants seeking economic improvement began settling here in 1838. Their post office was Cook's Store, a coach stop on the Sedalia-Lexington Road, 2 1/2 miles west of here. Opposed to slavery, they were loyal to the Union in the Civil War. On August 22, 1861, State Guard troops under Col. Edwin W. Price plundered this community, taking household goods, farm animals, and merchandise from Brockhoff's Store. On Sunday, Oct. 5, 1862, sixty drunken bushwhackers captured eleven men, and at this spot they murdered Henry Brockhoff, Henry Hartmann, and Christian Oetting and wounded four others. On July 13, 1863, near here thirty-five renegades murdered Conrad Bruns, Louis Fiene, Dietrich Karsten, and William Scharnhorst. Four miles east of here on October 10, 1864, local militia lost twenty-six men fighting guerrillas led by Dave Poole of Quantrill's Band. On May 17, 1865, the Lutheran pastor, Franz Julius Biltz (1825-1908), became postmaster and named this town Concordia because the war had ended and there was now hope for concord between North and South. The Rev. Biltz served the community for forty-one years as a faithful pastor, courageous leader, and founder of Saint Paul's College (1883).