Kansas City History

Kansas City is the largest city in Missouri, with nearly half a million people spread over four counties. This sophisticated city boasts more boulevards than Paris and more fountains than any other city in the word apart from Rome, earning it the nickname "City of Fountains." The Kansas and Missouri Rivers meet here, dividing Kansas from Missouri and separating the city from its namesake in Kansas. (Kansas City, Kansas was actually founded about 15 years after Kansas City, Missouri, and adopted the name of its neighbor in an effort to attract bankers and bond speculators.) Although the two cities are distinct political entities, together they comprise the Kansas City Metropolitan Area.

In 1833, John Calvin McCoy built his trading post in the hills near the Missouri River, hoping to capitalize on the travelers headed west into the Kansas Territory along the Santa Fe Trail. He named his post Westport, to advertise its status as the gateway to the West. To compete with the town of Independence, already established as a supply stop for westward travelers, he built Westport Landing, a river boat port on the south shore of the Missouri River. In 1838, McCoy and 13 other investors purchased the land surrounding Westport Landing with the intention of forming a town. They considered several new names for Westport Landing, including Rabbitville and Possum Trot. However, they finally settled on the Town of Kansas, named for the Kansa natives in the area. The town, incorporated in 1850, became the City of Kansas in 1853.

With its location on the Missouri-Kansas border, Kansas City was at the forefront of the Bleeding Kansas border wars fought in the late 1850s. As the Kansas Territory debated whether or not to enter the union as a free state or a slave state, pro-slavery "border ruffians" flocked into Kansas to try and sway the decision in their favor. The confrontations with abolitionists in Kansas erupted into violence, with the border ruffians setting the Kansas capital of Lawrence ablaze. In response, the abolitionist John Brown rode through the City of Kansas, freeing slaves and setting fire to nearby plantations. This violence spilled over into the Civil War, with Union troops driving the Confederates from the city in the Battle of Westport (known as the "Gettysburg of Missouri").

In the 1930s, City Boss Tom Pendergast was at the height of his power in Kansas City, giving rise to yet another violent chapter in the city's history. Gangland violence was rampant and liquor laws were practically nonexistent, making Kansas City the "most wide open town" in the U.S. The year 1933 saw both the Kansas City Massacre and a shootout between the police and Bonnie and Clyde within the city limits. It was in the midst of this violence and lawlessness that Kansas City Jazz was born, as musicians from Count Basie to Charlie Parker thrived in the bustling nightclub scene. While organized crime and jazz have both made an occasional comeback in the city, the heyday for both ended in 1939, when Pendergast was imprisoned for tax evasion.

A thriving agricultural and industrial center, Kansas City is well known for its steak and its barbecue. Every year, the American Royal hosts the largest barbecue contest in the world, as well as a livestock show and rodeo. Kansas City is home to a number of great restaurants, but the barbecue sandwiches at Arthur Bryant's are legendary, and the walls are covered with pictures of presidents and other famous customers. The jazz scene has given way to alternative and hip-hop for the most part, but the American Jazz Museum keeps the tradition alive with The Blue Room, a jazz club that books national and international entertainers.