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In the beginning, the land at the bend of two rivers, the Missouri and the Kansas, was magnificent: rocky bluffs crowned with forests of hickory, oak and walnut lifted above a green river plain with upland meadows beyond, rolling away to a broad horizon. Nomadic peoples wandered through the area trapping and fishing. Until Europeans began to settle the wilderness in the early nineteenth century, the region had no known permanent settlements except for a few small villages of mound-dwelling Indians hundreds of years before. Fur traders discovered that the confluence of the two rivers made a fine base of operations. In 1804 the Lewis and Clark expedition passed through the area via the Missouri River on their westward journey, and passed through again in 1805 on their return.
In 1821, sons of powerful merchants, the Chouteau family came up river from St. Louis to establish a small settlement. Other settlers began to come by river and by wagon for land, drawn by fine forests and tillable soil. Independence, Missouri was platted in 1827 and soon became a center for trade and outfitting expeditions bound for Santa Fe and other points west. In 1834, John McCoy filed a plat for a town he called West Port. In 1838, McCoy and fellow businessmen platted the Town of Kansas. From this riverbank landing, the City of Kansas, or Kansas City , owes its beginnings. For many years, the town's reputation was as rugged as its appearance. Saloons and hostelries served a largely transient population in a town so lawless that even outlaws were shocked. But settlers came in droves, brought by promises of gold and silver rushes, or wide-open land to farm. Many saw the opportunity near the City of Kansas and stayed.
In 1854, as the fledging city was beginning to prosper, the Kansas Territory was opened for settlement and the " free state " or "slave state" conflict began in earnest. Because both Southerners and New Englanders had settled the region in considerable numbers, a basic philosophical division was part of the community, and in the eleven years that followed, it tore the region apart. The Civil War began early, and finished late along the border of Kansas and Missouri.
When the war was officially over, the area faced the arduous task of rebuilding business people agreed only one thing could save Kansas City: railroads.
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