Wyandot Tribe Establishes Townsite
Kansa Native Americans were the first inhabitants to occupy land near both banks of the Kansas (Kaw) River at its confluence with the Missouri River, the site of Kansas City. The explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark camped on Kaw Point, the land between the two rivers and now part of Kansas City, in 1804 during their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. The land became part of the Delaware Indian reservation in 1829, and the Delaware sold the land in 1843 to the Wyandot.
The Wyandot, an integrated tribe of Native Americans and whites from western Lake Erie and the last of the migrating tribes, founded a town called Wyandott in the eastern part of the Wyandott Purchase. An educated and cultured agrarian society, they built the first free school in Kansas and reestablished their Ohio church; they also opened a community-owned store. The Wyandot, knowing their land would be highly prized by white settlers, decided to approach Congress on the issue of establishing a Territory, and elected Abelard Guthrie, a white member of the tribe by marriage, as a delegate to the Thirty-Second Congress. Guthrie was not admitted but Wyandot leaders decided to organize Kansas-Nebraska into a provisional territory on July 26, 1853, thus focusing national attention on their community.
Slavery Issue Dominates Territory
The next year Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which inflamed sectional sentiments on the issue of slavery in the territories and helped to contribute to the outbreak of the Civil War. The Wyandot petitioned for and received the rights of citizenship, which enabled them to divide their land among the individual members of the tribe and open the reserve to settlement. The Wyandott City Town Company was formed in 1856 to plan and develop the town, which was incorporated as a town in 1858 and as a city the next year. In July 1859 members of a convention at Wyandott wrote the constitution by which Kansas would enter the Union as a free state; however Senate politics delayed the signing of the bill until January 29, 1861. The state was known as Bleeding Kansas in the decade before the Civil War, as settlers on both sides of the slavery controversy populated the area. Wyandott citizens became active in antislavery efforts and African-Americans began moving to the region after the Civil War, their migration reaching a peak between 1878 and 1882.
Beginning in 1860, when James McGrew opened the first slaughter house, and continuing when eight years later Edward Patterson and J. W. Slavens started a packing house, the city was a meat processing center. This industry received its biggest boost when Charles Francis Adams, descendant of two former presidents, built the first stockyards in the city and convinced Plankington and Armour to relocate their meat packing business from Missouri in 1871.
Stockyards, Consolidation Contribute to Growth
Small towns around Wyandotte such as old Kansas City, Armstrong, and Armourdale sprouted up near the rail lines and packing houses. Through consolidation and legislative annexation, the city of Kansas City was created in 1886 when these towns combined with the larger Wyandotte, which vied for the naming of the new city after itself. The name Kansas City was picked, however, because it would be a more attractive inducement for the selling of municipal bonds. Argentine became part of Kansas City via petition in 1909, and Rosedale followed suit by legislative enactment in 1922. Quindaro Township, once a town named after Guthrie's Wyandot wife, was absorbed through expansion. Turner was added in 1966, thus continuing the expansion of Kansas City's borders. In 1992, the city annexed part of Wyandotte County.
Kansas City was one of the nation's first cities to locate a model industrial park away from residential areas, the Fairfax Industrial District. The city completed a two-decade urban renewal project in 1980. Still, like many other aging, working-class cities, Kansas City was plagued by a loss of population to the suburbs. Seeking to reverse that trend, a group called the Citizens for Consolidation, backed in part by Kansas City, Missouri, businesses, spearheaded a movement to consolidate city and county governments. In 1997 Kansas City voters overwhelmingly approved the consolidation into a system called the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas. Former school-teacher Carol Marinovich was elected the first mayor/CEO of the new government. By 2000, the consolidation had resulted in a considerable increase in government efficiency. With city and county officials on the same team, the city was able to lure the $283 million Kansas International Speedway to Kansas City; the project was completed in 2001.
Today, the Kansas City area is recognized as one of the fastest-growing labor markets in the country. Entrepreneur magazine ranks it among top U.S. cities for small business and Expansion Management magazine identifies it as one of the best places in the U.S. to locate a company. Kansas City's cultural and recreational attractions also make it a popular Midwest tourist destination.
Historical Information: Wyandotte County Historical Society and Museum, 631 N. 126th St., Bonner Springs, KS 66012; telephone (913)721-1078. Kansas City Kansas Public Library Kansas Collection, 625 Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, KS 66101; telephone (913)551-3280; fax (913)279-2032
