,
John Calvin McCoy, and
Jim Bridger. located approximately three miles due south of what became downtown
Kansas City, Missouri (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 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, bought the Ewings' store to provision the booming 1850s
westward expansion trails into
Kansas Territory, and as an organizing place for Boone's pro-slavery forces. John McCoy was a degreed surveyor by trade, and
platted 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. When the landing became popular enough to attract business from the next landing at
Independence, 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 and
Rocky Mountains. 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 trails. West Port's greatest prosperity came between 1854 and 1860. The
Civil War brought many skirmishes between pro- and anti-slavery groups in the area, and the
Battle of Westport was in October 1864. After the war, trade fell off sharply and never recovered, and by 1899, Kansas City annexed Westport. The
cholera pandemic of 1849 had killed half of the populations of each of the two area
boomtowns 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. ==See also==