My Home Town
KANSAS CITY
and the Metropolitan Area
Population: City - 443,878 (1994) - Metro Area - 1,647,241 (1994)
Area: 316 square miles
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Actually, I was born in Fort Scott, Kansas but have lived in either Kansas City, Kansas or Kansas City, Missouri since I was one year-old.
The beginnings of Kansas City began in 1821 when French fur trapper, Francois Chouteau, founded a settlement near the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers. Some thirteen years later, in 1834, John Campbell bought land about four miles south of the Missouri river on the border of Missouri and the Kansas territory intending to turn it into a major supply stop for those traveling west. River commerce being a must for cheap supplies, he and his group built a dock on the river and cut a road straight from the dock to their community they were calling Westport. The dock became known as Westport Landing.
In 1838 the "Town Company" was formed and they purchased at auction 257 acres surrounding the dock of Westport Landing. Some of the names considered but rejected for the town included Possumtrot and Robbitville, but it was decided to name the town after the local Kanza Indians, and so it was named the Town of Kansas. The town was officially incorporated by Missouri as the City of Kansas on March 28, 1853 and it was renamed Kansas City in 1889.
Meanwhile, just across the border on the Kansas side, Wyandot Indians settled in what would become Kansas City, Kansas in 1843. The site was sold to the federal government in 1855 and after 1863 it was developed as a major cattle market and meat-packing center when Wyandotte became a station on the first transcontinental railroad. In 1866, the communities of Wyandotte, Armstrong, and Armourdale were amalgamated to form Kansas City, Kansas.
Being at the terminus of the Santa Fe and Oregon trails, Kansas City, Missouri prospered as an outfitting point for gold prospectors and homesteaders heading west. During the Civil War the Battle of Westport and other smaller engagements occurred in the area, and following the war both Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri became major cattle and meat-packing centers. In fact, Kansas City was second only to Chicago in this industry well into the second half of the twentieth century.
Being at the confluence of the Kansas (Kaw) and Missouri rivers, Kansas City has been subjugated to a number of floods, the most devastating being those of 1903, 1951 and 1993.
During the 20th century Kansas City developed a diversified economic structure and is today numbered among the top 25 metorpolitan areas of the United States.
