CHAPTER XXVI. THE MAKING OF A CITY. Westport Landing-Pioneer McCoy's Recollections—Kansas City Just Sixty Years AgoThe First Business Review-Wonderful Stride of a Four-Year-Old-As a Woman Saw the Bluffs-The Year of the Boom-Speculative Conditions Without Precedent— And Then the Days of Depression-After that Rational Philosophy-Two Pillars of Lasting Prosperity-Packing House and Park System-Amazing Sights in the Bottom -Fascinating Scenes on the Bluffs-A Reminiscence of "P. D."-Beginning of Boulevards-Topographical Eccentricities-"Little Hyde Park, a Primary Lesson"-Policy of Maximum Frontage-The Financial Plan-Years of Legislation and LitigationDefeat of the First Project-The Taxpayer Converted-Penn Valley and Roanoke Park-The Problem of Cliff Drive-Gilham Road and the Kessler Idea-Natural Grades Disturbed as Little as Possible-Effect on Population and Values-The Kansas City Principle of Assessments-Cost and Profit-Congestion Banished-Development of the Playgrounds—What Recreation Centers Have Done for Neighborhoods-Effect of the System on Expansion-A Gridiron of Boulevards-Kansas City by Night— Standard of Residential Architecture Raised-The Local Nomenclature-Ambassador Bryce on Swope Park-Thomas H. Benton's Prophecy. You have developed a site of natural charm into a beautiful city. If I conclude to write a book on American cities I will get my inspiration from this beautiful city of yours.-James Bryce, Ambassador to the United States from Great Britain. The first paper read before the Old Settlers Historical Society in 1871 was by John C. McCoy. It described the site and the beginning of Kansas City: "A clearing or old field of a few acres lying on the high ridge between Main and Wyandotte, and Second and Fifth streets, made and abandoned by a mountain trapper. A few old, girdled, dead trees standing in the field, surrounded by a dilapidated rail fence. Around on all sides a dense forest, the ground covered with impenetrable brush, vines, fallen timber and deep, impassable gorges. A narrow, crooked roadway winding from Twelfth and Walnut streets, along down on the west side of the deep ravine toward the river, across the public square to the river at the foot of Grand avenue. A narrow, difficult path, barely wide enough for a single horseman, running up and down the river under the bluff, winding its way around fallen timber and deep ravines. An old log house on the river bank at the foot of Main street, occupied by a lank, cadaverous, specimen of humanity, named Ellis, with one blind eye and the other on the lookout for stray horses, straggling Indians and squatters, with whom to swap a tincup of whisky for a coonskin. Another old, dilapidated log cabin below the Pacific depot. Two or three small clearings and cabins in the Kaw bottom, now called West Kansas City, which were houses of French mountain trappers. The rest of the surroundings was the still solitude of the native forest, unbroken only by the snort of the darting deer, the barking of the squirrel, the howl of the wolf, the settler's cow-bell and mayhap the distant baying of the hunter's dog, or the sharp report of his rifle.” "The treaties between the United States government and the Osage and Kansas Indians, ratified in 1825, extinguished the Indian title to all the country lying in Western Missouri, and what is now the State of Kansas, except the reservation for these two tribes situated in the latter state. These treaties opened the border counties lying in Missouri territory for the settlements of the whites, and the people were not slow to avail themselves of the privilege. Consequently in 1825 the first settlers entered this county. "Fort Osage (Sibley), situated on the river near the northeast corner of the county of Jackson, was established in 1803 by Meriwether Lewis, the first governor of Louisiana after its purchase, and continued as a military and trading post until the country was settled. Before 1825, Francis Chouteau, father of P. M., and brother of Cyprien Chouteau, both now of Kansas City, had a trading post on the south bank of the river about three miles below the city. In 1826 every vestige of his improvements was swept away by the great flood which occurred in the Missouri River that year. This flood made a clear sweep of all the improvements situated in the bottoms, but was no higher than that of 1844-and this reminds me that perhaps P. M. Chouteau, the present city collector, is the oldest resident, still living, in this county, although not an old man. The county seat was located, and the town of Independence begun in 1827. When I passed through the town four years afterward, the square was thickly studded with stumps of trees. Westport was laid off into lots in 1833, J. C. McCoy, proprietor. Westport Landing was situated about three miles north of the town, on the river, and has grown to be a place of considerable importance. A town was laid off there which was named Kansas City first in the year 1839, but the proprietors of the ground disagreed in some particulars and the town made but little progress until 1847, when it was laid out on a larger scale a second time (not with a grapevine), since which time it has been increasing with varying prospects." Kansas City, Just Sixty Years Ago. What Kansas City was in 1855 and how it had grown in four years, the Journal of Commerce told in May, 1859. The retrospect was presented with that spirited humor and community pride characteristic of Kansas City newspapers from the beginning: "In October, 1855, when we first took charge of this paper, there was a population of 478, all told, within the city. The levee consisted of a "chute" dug in the bank in front of the warehouses of W. H. Chick & Co. and McCarty & Buckley. The Eldridge House (now old Gillis House) ground entrance was in the present second story, and the only street in the 'city' was a common country road, which wound round the bluff into the ravine below Market street (Grand avenue), and followed the windings until it struck the divide south of McNees' mill. The principal products of the city were dog fennel and Jamestown weed. "The business consisted solely of the Santa Fe shipping trade and the like business for the annual trains of the mountain men and Indian traders. The |