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From humble beginnings as a trading post in 1821, Kansas City has become the largest city in a metropolitan area of 1.6 million people. Kansas City is the nation's 25th largest city in population (443,400) and the eighth largest in land area (317 square miles).

The metro area straddles the Missouri-Kansas state line and includes more than 136 cities and 11 counties. Kansas City, Mo., itself takes in parts of four counties -- Jackson, Platte, Clay and Cass -- not to mention all or part of 13 school districts.

Kansas City is the hometown headquarters of Hallmark Cards, U.S. Sprint, Farmland Industries, Hoechst Marion Roussel Pharmaceuticals, Russell Stover Candies, Yellow Freight, H&R Block, the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints, the Nazarene Church, Unity School of Christianity, Payless Cashways, Interstate Bakeries, AMC Theaters, American Century and numerous other businesses.

It ranks first in inland foreign trade zone space, underground storage space, greeting card publishing, frozen food storage and distribution, and hard winter wheat marketing. It ranks second in wheat flour production and the size of its rail center. Both General Motors and Ford have major plants here, ranking Kansas City eighth in the nation in auto assembly.

For sports fans, Kansas City, Mo., has seven professional sports teams: the Kansas City Chiefs (football), Kansas City Royals (baseball), the Kansas City Blades (ice hockey), the Kansas City Wiz (outdoor soccer), Kansas City Attack (indoor soccer), the Kansas City Mustangs (women's basketball) and the Kansas City Explorers (tennis).

McCoy played another role in Kansas City history. His landing was on the Gabriel Prudhomme farm, which was put up for sale in 1838. McCoy and 13 other men formed the Town Company and bought the 271-acre tract for $4,220. The tract included property which later became Kansas City's first downtown district.

In 1853, with an area of nearly a square mile and a population of 2,500 persons, the City of Kansas elected its first mayor, William S. Gregory. The first city council meeting was held April 25, 1853, in a building on the river between Walnut and Main streets. Council members received $2 for each meeting they attended.

The Civil War

Events in the City of Kansas area climaxed Aug. 14, 1863, when 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. Quantrill retaliated seven days later with his infamous attack on Lawrence, Kan., in which 150 persons were killed and Lawrence was virtually destroyed.

The City of Kansas area got a strong taste of the Civil War during the Battle of Westport Oct. 21-23, 1864, said to be the largest and most decisive Union-Confederate clash in Missouri. It was at Westport that the Union army routed the Confederates and broke their power as an army in this area.

The Influence of Railroads

After the war, Leavenworth, Kan., the City of Kansas and St. Joseph, Mo., were competitors for trade dominance in the area. The City of Kansas won the competition, thanks to passage of a bill in Congress providing for construction of the Hannibal Bridge across the Missouri River at Broadway Avenue.

Hannibal Bridge, July 3, 1869Until the 1,371-foot span opened July 3, 1869, there were no bridges across the river for its entire length. The railroads ended at the unincorporated town of Harlem on the river's north bank.

In 1917 the bridge was replaced by a new one a few feet west that had a double deck -- one for trains and the other for motor vehicles.

The 1880s

The 1880s brought other milestones. The city had grown to 60,000 residents. It had adopted a new city charter in 1889 establishing a city council of 14 at-large aldermen in an "upper house," serving four-year terms, and 14 ward aldermen in a "lower house," serving two-year terms.

And 1880 marked the arrival in Kansas City of William Rockhill Nelson, who bought the Kansas City Star newspaper and who later persuaded residents to build the city's first convention hall at 12th and Wyandotte streets, opened to the public in February of 1899.

Unfortunately, the building stood only about a year. In the early morning of April 4, 1900, with a Democratic national convention slated to take place in it exactly three months later, the building was destroyed by fire. But even as the blaze crackled, people circulated through the crowd of bystanders soliciting donations for its reconstruction. A frenzied 90 days later, the round-the-clock construction task was done, and the convention nominated William Jennings Bryan in a gleaming new hall. It served unt il it was razed in 1937, two years after the present Municipal Auditorium was completed.

The Pendergast Era

Kansas City by the beginning of World War I had grown to 248,000 persons, no small part of which was due to an annexation approved by voters April 6, 1909, that more than doubled the size of the city -- from 25.4 square miles to 59.7 square miles. By then, the city was well under the influence of a widely known family: the Pendergasts.

For the next 27 years, until he was indicted by a federal grand jury for income tax evasion and imprisoned, Boss Tom virtually ruled the city. Crime and vice of every sort became rampant. It was not until 1940, when L.P. Cookingham was hired by reform forces here and became the dean of the nation's city managers, that a city charter approved by voters in 1925 accomplished its goal of a professionally run city government.

Out of the Pendergast era did come some good. Construction during the period included a new 29-story City Hall, the Jackson County Courthouse, Municipal Auditorium, the 700-acre Municipal Airport and hundreds of miles of paved streets.

Annexation and Other Growth

Since World War II, Kansas City has grown and prospered in innumerable ways.

Annexations, mainly in the late 1950s and early 1960s, increased its area to more than 316 square miles, and its population has grown to 435,000.

Kansas City also is known for its foreign trade zone, its underground storage industry and its automobile assembly plants. It is said to have more fountains than any city except Rome, and more boulevards than any city except Paris.

One foreign dignitary who visited Kansas City summed up the feeling of many: "It is a city in the right place at the right time."

In 1821, when Missouri was admitted into the Union, Kansas City was born. A city rich in history, Kansas City traces its beginnings with the establishment of a trading post in what is now Kansas City’s Industrial District by a Frenchman named Francois Chouteau who hailed from St. Louis. In 1826, Chouteau rebuilt in higher ground because he was flooded out and together with other French families established the first non-Indian settlement in Kansas City.

Before being named Kansas, after the Kansa Indians who lived in the area, the owners of the land considered naming the town Port Fonda, Rabbitville and Possum Trot. The town of Kansas held onto its name on June 1, 1850 when it was incorporated by Jackson County. In 1889, the city of Kansas was officially known as Kansas City. Kansas had a population of just 500 in 1840, but swelled to 2,500 people by 1853. It was in this time that the people elected their first mayor in William S. Gregory. One of the most important facets of Kansas City’s history was in Oct. 21-23, 1864 during the Battle of Westport. It was in this battle that the Union army defeated the Confederates and relinquished their power hold over the area.

Railroads in Kansas also hold some significance with its history. For it is because of these railroads that made possible Kansas City’s booming early industry in cattle. Just after the Civil War, Kansas City was one of the world’s top cattle markets. In 1870 the Kansas City stockyard was founded and Kansas City Livestock Exchange was the largest building in the world where its sole purpose was in livestock.

The growth of Kansas was furthered in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s when annexations were made and the city added to its total area more than 316 square miles. The city’s population grew to 435,000 and Kansas had four counties, Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass. The prosperity of Kansas City was further reflected in its building of the 4,700-acre Kansas City International Airport and the only matched set football and baseball stadiums in the world. Kemper Arena built in 1974 and the H. Roe Bartle exposition Hall in 1976. Also known for its foreign trade zone, Kansas City has an underground storage industry as well as automobile assembly plants.

The city is also full of beautiful sights to see, another indication of its prospering status. The city boasts of being the second city next to Rome to have the most fountains, and the second city next to Paris to have the most boulevards.