Westport is a historic

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, USA. Originally an independent town, it was

annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

by Kansas City in 1897. It is one of Kansas City's main entertainment districts. Westport has a lending library, a branch of the

Kansas City Public Library The Kansas City Public Library is a public system headquartered in the Central Library in Kansas City, Missouri. The system operates its Central Library and neighborhood branches located in Kansas City, Independence, and Sugar Creek. Foun ...

History

Westport was first settled by Reverend Isaac McCoy and his family in 1831.Crutchfield, Moulton, and Del Bene (2015), p. 499. It was located approximately three miles due south of the present day location of downtown

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...

. It was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bea ...

ted three years later, and formally incorporated in February 1857. McCoy's son

John Calvin McCoy John Calvin McCoy (September 28, 1811September 2, 1889) is considered the "father of Kansas City". Early life McCoy was born in Vincennes, Indiana. He studied as a land surveyor at Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky, during 1826-1827. ...

is generally considered the "father of Kansas City" after he formally founded the town. He had supplies landed at a rocky point on the Missouri River between Grand and Main streets, which became known as "Westport's Landing."Little & Olinskey (2013), p. 18. When the landing became popular, young McCoy and other residents banded together to form the "Town of Kansas" company to buy the land. Westport's Indian trade extended to the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. By 1850, Westport and Kansas City displaced

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

as an outfitting and starting point for traders, trappers, and emigrants heading west on the Santa Fe and

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

trails. The town's greatest prosperity came between 1854 and 1860. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, there were many skirmishes between pro- and anti-slavery groups in the area, and the Civil War's

Battle of Westport The Battle of Westport, sometimes referred to as the "Gettysburg of the West", was fought on October 23, 1864, in modern Kansas City, Missouri, during the American Civil War. Union forces under Major General Samuel R. Curtis decisively defeat ...

was fought there in October 1864.Kirkman (2011). Unfortunately, after the war, trade fell off sharply and never recovered, and by 1899, Kansas City annexed Westport. The historic Nutterville area, east of Broadway Street, was developed by

James B. Nutter Sr. James B. Nutter, Sr. (January 23, 1928 – July 7, 2017) was the founder and chairman of James B. Nutter & Company, a privately owned mortgage banking firm headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. It is one of the oldest and largest family-ow ...

who ensured that its old homes were adapted as business offices in order to restore them. The houses are colorfully painted and landscaped.

References

Bibliography

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External links

*
Westport Historical SocietyNotebooks of James Gillespie Hamilton
(a Westport merchant), from the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

website {{Kansas City, Missouri Populated places established in 1831 Kansas City metropolitan area Oregon Trail Neighborhoods in Kansas City, Missouri History of Kansas City, Missouri Tourist attractions in Jackson County, Missouri Tourist attractions in Kansas City, Missouri Former municipalities in Missouri

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links