It is often said that John Calvin McCoy is the “father of Kansas City.” McCoy, who was born in Indiana in 1811, moved to the area with his Baptist missionary parents. As a young man, he built a two-story cabin in the area that served as a store and his home. He eventually christened it Westport because it was the last place travelers could get supplies before heading into the Territory of Kansas on the California, Santa Fe and Oregon trails.
McCoy built his store in the hills, four miles from the Missouri River and away from the floodplain. He established a dock at a rocky point that he called Westport Landing between Main and Grand streets. To get to the landing from his cabin, McCoy followed an established trail, which would eventually become Broadway.
In 1838, McCoy and several others pooled their resources and bought a large farm that surrounded most of the area, including the landing, so they could expand their fledgling community. They called it Kansas.
Check out Kansas City magazine’s digital issue, covering “The 40 Moments That Shaped Kansas City”:
