1821 François Chouteau and several other employees of the American Fur Company established a trading post about three miles below the great bend in the Missouri River, now the Northeast Industrial District.
1826 Chouteau's trading post was flooded out. He rebuilt on higher ground at the foot of what is now Troost Avenue. The settlement that grew up around the post became known as Chouteau's Landing.

François Chouteau

1833 John Calvin McCoy opened a trading post on the Santa Fe Trail, about four miles south of Chouteau's Landing. Because he considered it a portal to the West, he named it Westport. By 1845, Westport had replaced Independence as a source of supplies and point of departure for wagons headed west.
1838 McCoy and 13 other men formed a Town Company and bought the 271-acre farm of Gabriel Prudhomme for $4,220. They name their settlement the Town of Kansas, after the Kansa Indians who inhabited the area.

John Calvin McCoy

June 1, 1850 The Town of Kansas was incorporated and granted a charter by Jackson County.
February 22, 1853 The Town of Kansas was incorporated by the state as the City of Kansas.
1853 William S. Gregory was elected as the first Mayor of the City of Kansas.
April 25, 1853 The first city council meeting was held in a building on the river between Walnut and Main streets.

August 14, 1863 A building at 14th and Grand being used by the Union army as a temporary jail collapsed, killing some women who were related to William Quantrill's pro-slavery raiders.
October 21-23, 1864 The Battle of Westport, the largest and most decisive Union-Confederate clash in Missouri, was fought.

July 3, 1869 The Hannibal Bridge, the first bridge across the Missouri River, opened.

1870 The Kansas City Stockyard was founded.

1880 William Rockhill Nelson bought the Kansas City Star.
1887 James Pendergast won election to the City Council.
1889 The City of Kansas officially changed its name to Kansas City.

June 25, 1896 Swope Park was dedicated.
1897 Westport was annexed into Kansas City.
February 1899 The city's first convention hall opened at 12th and Wyandotte streets.

1900 Kansas City hosted the national Democratic Party convention.

1912 Tom Pendergast took over as head of the "Pendergast Political Machine."

December 11, 1933 The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art opened.
1935 Municipal Auditorium was completed.

1974 Kemper Arena was completed.
1974 H. Roe Bartle Exposition Hall was completed.

SEE ALSO
William Quantrill

Questions or comments about this page?

This page was last updated on May 19, 2017.