Westport is a historic

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

and a main

entertainment district An entertainment district is a type of arts district with a high concentration of movie theaters, theatres or other entertainment venues. Such areas may be officially designated by local governments with functional zoning regulations, as well as ...

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

. In the early 1800s, West Port was settled by a group led by

American pioneer American pioneers, also known as American settlers, were European American,Asian American, and African American settlers who migrated westward from the British Thirteen Colonies and later the United States of America to settle and develop areas ...

and tribal

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

Reverend Isaac McCoy, who brought his son John Calvin McCoy as

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

, and his son-in-law Reverend Johnston Lykins who bought the land. To compete with

Independence Independence is a condition of a 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 status of ...

to the east, and with veteran pioneering trader

François Chouteau François Gesseau Chouteau (February 7, 1797 – April 18, 1838) was a French-American pioneer fur trader and entrepreneur from the prominent Chouteau fur-trading family. He is widely regarded as the "Father of Kansas City". Chouteau was born i ...

to the north, John McCoy forged a road from West Port north to a

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

landing rock next to Chouteau's landing. McCoy's West Port Landing soon combined in the 1830s with Chouteau's Town atop the

levee A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural ...

bluff to form the settlement called

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. That was incorporated as the City of Kansas, which allied with the shared origin of West Port and boomed. West Port became a gateway to the westward expansion trails through

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

, and for border ruffians into

Bleeding Kansas Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War, was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the ...

. It suffered the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Battle of Westport The Battle of Westport, was fought on October 23, 1864, in modern Kansas City, Missouri, during the American Civil War. Union Army, Union forces under Major General (United States), Major General Samuel R. Curtis decisively defeated an outnumber ...

in October 1864, and wagon trails became obsolete to distant railroads, so West Port declined to rural town status. The City of Kansas became Kansas City in 1889, which

annexed Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held to ...

Westport in 1897. Historical sites include Kelly's Westport Inn, the oldest surviving building in Kansas City.

History

located approximately three miles due south of what became downtown

(KCMO), Westport was first settled by Tennessee native Daniel Yoacham and his family . He was followed by Isaac McCoy, who built a large log house on a hill at what became 43rd and Wornall. His son

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

built a two-story residence and trading post at what became the northeast corner of Westport Road and Pennsylvania Ave. In 1851, the Ewing Brothers built a store at what became the northwest corner, and which became Kelly's Westport Inn, which is the oldest surviving building in KCMO. Albert G. Boone, the grandson of American pioneer

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...

, bought the Ewings' store to provision the booming 1850s westward expansion trails into

, and as an organizing place for Boone's pro-slavery forces. John McCoy was a degreed surveyor by trade, and

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 Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted West Port, buying the parcel from his brother in law and fellow missionary Johnston Lykins, and then formally incorporated in February 1857. He is generally considered the "father of Kansas City". He ordered supplies to be 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 enough to attract business from the next landing at

, fourteen pioneering investors including John McCoy formed the Town of Kansas company to buy the land, including Westport's Landing, parcels from Johnston Lykins, and parcels from Gabriel Prud'homme. Westport's trade with native tribes extended to the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

and

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. By 1850, the combined settlements of West Port and Kansas surpassed Independence's role 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 United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

trails. West Port's greatest prosperity came between 1854 and 1860. The

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, 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 policies.J ...

brought many skirmishes between pro- and anti-slavery groups in the area, and the

was in October 1864.Kirkman (2011). After the war, trade fell off sharply and never recovered, and by 1899, Kansas City annexed Westport.Crutchfield, Moulton, and Del Bene (2015), p. 499. The cholera pandemic of 1849 had killed half of the populations of each of the two area

boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although t ...

s of West Port and Kansas, totaling thousands. This filled each of their sole cemeteries, prompting the search for one new cemetery site halfway between, to unify both communities for all time. On November 9, 1857, while the newly incorporated City of Kansas (renamed from the town of Kansas) had a population of about 4,000, Union Cemetery was opened. It is the oldest surviving cemetery in what became KCMO. The historic Nutterville area, east of Broadway Street, was developed by James B. Nutter Sr. who ensured that its old homes were restored by being adapted as business offices. The houses are colorfully painted and landscaped.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

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

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

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