USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > Kansas City, Missouri : its history and its people 1808-1908 > Part 53
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of a kind to be pleasant and profitable to me, if not beneficial to a future generation-which I think it may be. I propose to abridge the debates of Congress from 1789 to 1850-also to continne my history from 1850 to the day of my death. This is work enough for me, and of more dignity (to say nothing of anything else) than acting a part in a slavery agitation which is now the work of both parties, and which in my opinion is to end disastrously for the Union let which side will prevail. A new man uncon- nected with the agitation is what the country wants."
At a meeting of the council of the town of Kansas, May 4, 1854, a committee composed of Dr. Johnston Lykins, Milton J. Payne and William G. Barclay, was appointed to receive and entertain Senator Thomas H. Benton. He came and his speech was a prophecy concerning the greatness of a city at the Kaw's mouth. Senator Benton's prophecy is interesting be- cause it has been fulfilled.
"There, gentlemen, where the rocky bluff meets and turns aside the sweeping current of this mighty river; here where the Missouri, after running its southward course for nearly 2,000 miles, turns eastward to the Mississippi, a large commercial and manufacturing community will congregate, and less than a generation will see a great city on these hills." Thus spoke a great prophet.
Again he tells us in his writings that over 20 years ago he stood upon a projecting rock where the town of Randolph is now built, and pointing to this place, remarked, "There is the point that is destined to become the largest city west of St. Louis." Senator Benton was fully imbned with the masterful, overpowering spirit of the West. He was foremost of all other great statesmen in hastening the development of the region west of the Mis- sissippi river; during the entire thirty years of his public career, he was regarded as pre-eminently the representative of the pioneer interests of the West. He was the first to demand pre-emptive right to actual settlers and the giving of homesteads to impoverished but industrions people. He was far in advance of the government in recognizing its obligations to the people, who have more than fulfilled the Senator's grandest dreams of advancement by forming a galaxy of states in the territory that he took under his especial protection when he first became a national law-maker. When he proposed postal routes by which to reach the far western possessions, he was ridiculed by the conservative statesmen of the East, but when he had suffered defeat after defeat he finally won. He first proposed the Pacific railway as a na- tional necessity. Ile then was advanced in years, and it was not uncommon to hear intelligent senators and representatives of the East refer to the Pacific
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railroad dream of Senator Benton as the project of "the old man gone in his head."
Senator Benton not only advocated a trans-continental railway and in- sisted that its construction was an inevitable and imperative duty sooner or later, but he recognized the best route for the Pacific railway. In one of his many speeches on the subject he declared that he had no faith in the views of the engineers who had been sent across the mountains at the dif- ferent points to report upon the possibility of constructing highways. He said that the only engineer who did not lie was the buffalo, and the buffalo proved that the better climate was northward by coming south to graze in the summer and returning northward to winter.
In this Senator Benton was clearly right, although his visions were gen- erally rejected at that time, and when finally a Pacific railroad was forced upon the government in the Civil war to prevent an independent empire from being established on the Pacific coast, the least desirable of the three routes was accepted-by Bridger pass to the Salt lake, and thence westward across the Sierra Nevada mountains, making the great line traverse a thou- sand miles on which there has never been a green field, and where the snows of the Sierras make railroading possible in winter only by scores of miles of snow sheds, while the Northern Pacific line is possible winter and sum- mer, and is hundreds of miles nearer to the commerce of the East. Many have performed individual feats of heroism in aiding in the upbuilding of the unbroken line of commonwealths that now spans the continent from the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean, but no one man has accomplished a tithe of the great achievements of Thomas Hart Benton in educating the government to appreciate its great western possessions and in forcing the early advancement that has made that whole region develop into fruitfulness and plenty. In Senator Benton's time the Rocky mountains were considered an insuperable barrier to intercourse between the Atlantic ocean and the Pacific ocean. He would have startled the country and the world sixty years ago when he declared that the way to India was not across the Atlantic ocean but across the Pacific, had his utterance not been regarded as that of a blind, unreasoning enthusiast. This was his declaration: "There is the East; and there is India." This sentence once jeered as the utterance of a dreamer is now the single inscription on the beautiful bronze statue of Thomas H. Benton in Lafayette Park, St. Louis, Missouri.
William Gilpin, like Senator Benton, was a man of the West. Both with tongue and pen he foretold its destinies. Closely identified with John C. Fremont, Senator Benton, Lewis L. Linn and other men of note in the forming of Mississippi history, William Gilpin was among the foremost in his varied achievements during his long period of public service. Born of
INS
CENTROPOLIS
INDEPENDENDE
the combined Clien of
Independence, Hansas & Westport
AVKNOX COUNTY. MINKAYRI.
WILLIAM GILPIN'S PROPHETIC MAP. 1859.
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HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY
descendants of a noble family of England, in 1812, on the historic site of Brandywine, Gilpin was reared in refinement, among people of prominence and educated in England and in the university of Pennsylvania. Favored by President Jackson's influence, he entered West Point and was graduated in June, 1836. Immediately thereafter Gilpin was commissioned second lieutenant in the Second Dragoons, U. S. A. He begged for active service, and in 1838 was promoted to first lieutenant and sent to quell the Florida war. Resigning his commission at the close of the war, he went to St. Louis and became editor of the "Missouri Argus," but left there in 1840 on account of a personal article written by him, for which the owner of the Argus was killed. The project of constructing the Pacific railway received Gilpin's hearty support although it was regarded as a delusive undertaking. Gilpin was able to foresee the future development of the West. More than twenty states and territories have been formed in the West since Gilpin participated in the events which influenced the forming of the Rocky mountain states and territories. The commercial centers gradually are developing where Gilpin located them in his forecast of the western cities.
"The West will rule the American continent," said William Gilpin in 1892. In these words Gilpin reiterated his prophecy of earlier years. As far back as 1859, William Gilpin made a map, lithographed in St. Louis, showing Kansas City, or "Centropolis" as he named it because it was so near the geographical center of the United States, to be a great center of com- merce, and prophesied for it a glorious future. "Centropolis" included Inde- pendence, Westport and Kansas City. Gilpin's map was drawn in 1859 when Kansas City was a little river town, but what a surprisingly good prophet he was! He lived to partially appreciate the realization of his pre- diction. at least so far as Kansas City's greatness was foretold. His death occurred in 1894.
A few paragraphs from William Gilpin's graphic pen will further em- phasize his prophecy relative to the site of Kansas City:
"There is a radical misapprehension in the popular mind as to the true character of the Great Plains of America,' as complete as that which per- vaded Europe respecting the Atlantic ocean during the whole historic period prior to Columbus. These plains are not deserts, but the opposite, and are the cardinal basis of the future empire of commerce and industry now erect- ing itself upon the North American continent. They are calcareous, and form the pastoral garden of the world. Their position and area may be easily understood. The meridian line which terminates the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Iowa on the west, forms their eastern limit, and the Rocky mountain erest their western limit. Between these limits they occupy
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a longitudinal parallelogram of less than a thousand miles in width, extend- ing from the Texan to the Arctic coast.
"There is no timber upon them, and single trees are searce. They have a gentle slope from the west to the east, and abound in rivers. They are clad thick with nutritious grasses, and swarm with animal life. The soil is not silicious or sandy, but is a fine calcareous mold. They run smoothly out to the navigable rivers, the Missouri, Mississippi, and St. Lawrence, and to the Texan coast. The mountain masses towards the Pacific form no serious barrier between them and that ocean. No portion of their whole sweep of surface is more than a thousand miles from the best navigation.
The climate is comparatively rainless; the rivers serve, like the Nile, to irrigate rather than to drain the neighboring surface and have few affluents. They all run from west to east, having beds shallow and broad and the basins through which they flow are flat, long and narrow. The area of the 'Great Plains' is equivalent to the surface of the twenty-four states between the Mississippi and the Atlantic sea, but they are one homogeneous formation, smooth, uniform, and continuous, without a single abrupt moun- tain, timbered space, desert or lake. From their ample dimensions and posi- tion they define themselves to be the pasture fields of the world. Upon them pastoral agriculture will become a separate grand department of national industry.
"The 'Great Plains' embrace a very ample proportion of arable soil for farms. The 'bottoms' of the rivers are very broad and level, having only a few inches of elevation above the waters, which descend by a rapid and even current. They may be easily and cheaply saturated by all the various systems of artificial irrigation, azequieas, artesian wells, or flooding by machin- ery. Under this treatment the soils, being alluvial and calcareous, both from the sulphate and carbonate formations, return a prodigious yield, and are independent of the seasons.
"The 'Great Plains' abound in fuel, and the materials for dwellings and fencing. Bituminous coal is everywhere interstratified with the calcareous and sandstone formation; it is also abundant in the flanks of the mountains, and is everywhere conveniently accessible. The atmosphere of the 'Great Plains' is perpetually brilliant with sunshine, tonic, healthy and in- spiring to the temper.
"As a site for the great central city of the 'Basin of the Mississippi' to arise prospectively upon the developments now maturing, this city (Kansas City) has the start, the geographical position, and the existing elements with which any rival will contend in vain. It is the focal point where three developments, now near ripeness, will find their river port. 1. The pastoral development. 2. The gold, silver and salt production of the Sierra
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HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY
San Juan. 3. The continental railroad from the Pacific. These great fields of enterprise will all be recognized and understood by the popular mind within the coming years. . . There must be a great eity here, such as antiquity built at the head of the Mediterranean and named Jerusalem, Tyre, Alexandria and Constantinople; such as our own people name New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, St. Louis."
Speaking of the "Town of Kansas," John C. Fremont, the celebrated American explorer, said in 1842: "This is the key to the immense terri- tory west of us."
Dr. Josiah Gregg, an early explorer and author, recognized the impor- tanee of Kansas City's location. He tells us in his "Commere of the Prairies" of the great and commanding advantages that this location pos- sesses for eventually becoming the great depot of this prairie country. He also wrote: "On the 11th of May, 1838, we arrived at Independence, after a propitious journey of only thirty-eight days. We found the town in a thriving condition, although it had been laid waste a few years before by the Mormons, who had originally selected this section of the country for the site of their New Jerusalem. In this they certainly displayed good sense; for the rich and beautiful uplands in the vicinity of Independence might well be denominated the 'garden spot of the Far West.'"
The sun of Kansas City's prosperity is just on the horizon; we have scareely seen the first rays of its full splendor. It is simply the logic of destiny that Kansas City is to be the greatest metropolis on the American continent. By virtue of her geographie position she must hold, commer- cially, the balance of power between the East and the West. Kansas City is growing at a tremendous pace and as it has grown in the past fifty years it gives promise to continue at quadruple rate. Thomas H. Benton, Dr. Josiah Gregg and William Gilpin raised the veil and in the dense wilderness saw what was to be the destiny of Kansas City, and we can now readily realize that what has been done, ean, and will be done in the coming years for Kan- sas City. The activity and alertness of its people is recognized east and west, north and south, from ocean to ocean; its commercial importance is ae- knowledged the world over, and Kansas City's greatness is assured. The words of the prophets of fifty years ago have come true, and the prophecies made today shall be fulfilled.
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APPENDIX.
The first plat of the "Town of Kansas" was filed in 1839, and embraced the land from the river or Water street south to Second and from Elm (now Delaware), on the west to Vine (now Grand avenue) on the east. The second plat was filed in 1846 and ran from the river back to what is now Independ- ence avenue and from what is now Central street on the west, to what is now Oak street on the east, and the third plat filed Jnne 7, 1849, embraces the territory from the river back to Independence avenue and from what is now Central street on the west to Cherry street on the east. The record of the first and third plats (the originals not being found) do not show by whom either was filed; but the second plat, filed in 1846, shows the filing and ac- knowledgment by William Gillis, Fry P. McGee, John C. McCoy, Jacob Regan, Henry Jobe and William B. Evans and was acknowledged April 1, 1846, before Walter Bales, justice of the peace.
The few merchants and traders who did business on the site platted as the "Town of Kansas," but locally called "Westport Landing," were with- out the benefit of municipal government until the 4th day of February, 1850, when the territory embraced within the plats filed as above mentioned, was incorporated by the County Court at Independence under the name and style of "The Town of Kansas." (County Court Record, S, page 101.) The first trustees appointed by the County Court in that order of incorporation were Madison Walrond, John C. McCoy, Robert Kirkham, Pierre M. Chon- tean and Hiram M. Northrup. They failed to qualify and by another order. entered by the County Court at Independence on the 3rd day of June, 1850 (County Court Record, S, page 257), "The Town of Kansas" was again given the right to local self-government with William Gillis, Madison Wal- rond, Lewis Ford, Benoist Troost and Henry H. Brice as trustees. The original petitions upon which these orders were predicated cannot be found.
The town continued to flourish under the name of "The Town of Kan- sas" until incorporated by a special Act of the Legislature under the name and title of the "City of Kansas" on the 22nd day of February, 1853. The charter of 1853 was amended at various times until the adoption of the pres- ent freeholders' charter in 1889, which changed the name to "Kansas City."
Two strips of land were added to the City of Kansas when the charter was obtained in 1853: a strip one-fourth mile wide west of Broadway, lying between the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river and Ninth street; and another strip lying between Independence avenue and Fifth street on the north, the alley east of Holmes street-east of the New Andi- torium-on the east, Ninth street on the south and Broadway on the west. The additions consisted largely of bluffs and ravines, and were not platted for some years.
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The city limits were extended in 1857 to include a strip extending from the river to Twelfth street, and from Summit street to the state line; and a strip lying between Ninth and Twelfth streets and extending from Summit street east to the alley east of McGee street. Additions were made on the south and on the east two years later. The territory lying between Twelfth and Twentieth streets, the state line and Troost avenue, was added on the south, and an irregular strip lying west of Lydia avenue, between Twelfth street and the river, and having for its western boundary Troost avenue to Independence avenue, the alley east of Holmes street to Ninth street, and the alley east of McGee street from Ninth street to Twelfth street. Two more additions were placed within the city's limits by an act of the Legisla- ture in 1875. They included a district on the south, lying between Twen- tieth and Twenty-third streets, the State line and Woodland avenue; and another on the east between the Missouri river and Twentieth street and Lydia avenue to Twelfth street and Troost avenue to Twentieth street.
The city limits were extended again in 1885 by the freeholders, adding the territory north of Thirty-first street and west of Cleveland avenue. Two large districts were added to the city in 1897, one on the south and the other on the east. The southern section includes Westport and lies between Thirty- first and Forty-ninth streets.
The present (1908) boundary leaves the state line 180 feet south of Forty-third street and runs east as far as Mercier street, thence south to Forty-seventh street, thence east to Broadway, thence south to Forty-ninth street, east to Prospect. north to Thirty-fifth street, east to Indiana avenue, and thence north to Thirty-first street, 180 feet beyond the southern limits of 1885, the limits extending generally 180 feet south or east of the streets named. The eastern section lies east of Cleveland avenue, beginning at Twenty-seventh street, and continuing east to Hardesty street, thence north to Eighteenth street. and then east beyond the Big Blue river into Range 32, to a line drawn north and south from the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river below the mouth of the Big Blue river. The northern boundary of this new section is a line drawn due west from the last men- tioned point to Cleveland avenue. From Cleveland avenue to the state line, the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river, is the north boundary of the city.
THE CITY OFFICIALS-1853-1908.
1853 Mayor, W. S. Gregory*, Johnston Lykins; Treasurer, P. M. Chou- teau ; Assessor, G. W. Wolf; Register. S. W. Bouton; Marshal, N. B. Hedges : Attorney, Judge Nelson ; Councilmen: William G. Barclay, Thompson Me- Daniel, M. J. Payne, Wm. J. Jarboe. T. H. West, Johnston Lykins. T. S. Wright.
*For one month.
Lived outside of city limits.
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HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY
1854 Mayor, Johnston Lykins; Treasurer, H. M. Northrup; Assessor, Halom Rice; Registers, John Curtis, William G. Barclay; Marshal, J. P. Howe; City Attorneys, John Curtis, Asa Bartlett; Councilmen: Benoist Troost, J. C. McNees, Daniel Edgerton, Caleb Keer, M. J. Payne, Tilman H. West.
1855 Mayor, John Johnson, M. J. Payne; Treasurer, E. R. Threlkeld; Assessor, J. W. Summers; Registers, M. J. Payne, W. S. Bouton ; City Engi- neer, Fred Breckenridge, C. C. Spaulding; Marshal, J. P. Howe; City Attor- ney, Asa Bartlett ; Councilmen : Caleb Keer, A. T. Gilham, John W. Ammons, John S. Campbell, T. J. Wilson, John C. McNecs.
1856 Mayor, M. J. Payne; Treasurer, E. R. Threlkeld; Assessor, J. P. Howe; Register, S. W. Bouton ; City Engineer, Robert J. Lawrence; Marshal, J. P. Howe; City Attorney, S. W. Bouton; Councilmen: John Johnson, T. J. Wilson, Caleb Kneer, John S. Campbell, A. T. Gilham, William J. Jarboe, N. B. Hedges.
1857 Mayor, M. J. Payne; Treasurer, E. R. Threlkeld; Collector, F. M. Barnes; Assessor, S. W. Bouton ; Registers, John S. Hough, S. W. Bouton ; City Engineers, C. P. Wiggins and E. O'Flaherty ; Marshal, J. P. Howe; City Attorney, William A. Strong; Councilmen: R. J. Lawrence, William J. Jarboe, R. T. Van Horn, A. T. Gilham, Michael Smith, I. M. Ridge, D. J. Williams. On the 17th of August this council resigned and the following were elected: William J. Jarboe, John Johnson, James Frame, T. B. Lester, I. M. Ridge, John A. Boarman.
1858 Mayor, M. J. Payne; Treasurer, E. P. Threlkeld; Collector, D. L. Shouse; Assessors, Lott Coffman, James A. Gregory; Registers, J. W. Robin- ยท son, L. B. Scott; Engineer, J. Q. Anderson; Wharf-Master, S. M. Gilham; Marshal, F. M. Barnes; City Attorney, J. W. Robinson ; Councilmen: T. B. Lester, John W. Ammons, John S. Hough, Michael Smith, Charles Long, George W. See.
1859 Mayor, M. J. Payne; Treasurer, John A. Boarman ; Collector, D. L. Shouse; Assessor, S. W. Bouton; Register, Daniel Geary; City Engineer, J. Q. Anderson; Wharf Master, S. M. Gilham; Wharf Register, W. A. Pol- lard; Marshal, Jonathan Richardson; City Attorney, John W. Robinson; Recorder, John W. Summers; Councilmen: J. B. Higgins, E. M. McGee, L. A. Schoen, E. B. Cravens, Theodore S. Case, N. C. Clairborne.
1860 Mayor, G. M. B. Maughs ; Treasurer, John A. Boarman ; Collector, S. D. Vaughan; Assessor, J. K. Starr; Register, Daniel Geary; City Engineer, C. L. De Ham; Wharf Masters: J. E. Jewell, W. V. Pulliam; Wharf Regis- ter, Thomas Oliver; City Attorney, John De W. Robinson; Recorder, John W. Summers; Marshal, Jonathan Richardson; Councilmen : Lott Coffman,
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W. V. Pulliam, W. W. Ford, A. L. Harris, John Campbell, D. A. N. Grover, W. J. Jarboe, D. M. Jarboe.
1861 Mayor, R. T. Van Horn; Treasurer, John A. Boarman ; Collector, S. D. Vaughan ; Assessor, E. O'Flaherty; Register, Michael Smith; City En- gineer, E. O'Flaherty; Wharf Register, Thomas Oliver; Marshals: George F. Irwin, William Holmes; City Attorney, J. S. Boreman; Recorder, George W. Taylor; Councilmen : D. A. N. Grover, A. L. Harris, Patrick Shannon, Charles Long, J. E. Snyder, M. J. Payne, B. M. Jewett, N. Vincent, Johnston Lykins.
1862 Mayor, M. J. Payne; Treasurer, J. A. Bechman ; Collector, S. D. Vaughan; Assessor, E. O'Flaherty; Register, M. Smith; Register, Bernard Donnelly; Engineer, E. O'Flaherty; Wharf Master, F. R. Lord, D. M. Jar- boe; Marshal, William Holden; City Attorney, William Quarles; Recorder, George W. Toler; Councilmen: Joshua Thorn, M. Diveley, E. M. Sloan, J. R. Ham, John Kaney, Lewis Deardorf, Thomas Burke, P. Switzgable.
1863 Mayor, William Bonnefield; Treasurer, A. B. Cross; Collector, C. F. Smith; Assessor, D. M. Jarboe; Register, B. Donnelly; Engineer, R. B. Whitney; Wharf Masters, Fred Von Longinan, F. McMillan; Wharf Regis- ters, W. B. Hoagland, Alphonso Hughes; Marshal, Dennis O'Brien; City At- torney, William Quarles; Recorder, A. Ellenberger; Councilmen: C. W. Fairman, P. Switzgable, W. C. Holmes, F. Timmerman, F. P. Flagler, Lewis Deardorf, Thomas Burke, Charles Dwyer.
1864 Mayor, R. T. Van Horn, P. Shannon; Treasurer, S. D. Vaughan ; Collectors, R. Salisbury, E. B. Cravens; Assessor, E. O'Flaherty ; Register, B. Donnelly; Engineer, William Miller; Wharf Master, T. R. Lord; Wharf Reg- ister, John Joyce; Marshal, Dennis O'Brien; Attorney. Charles Carpenter; Recorder, A. Ellenberger; Councilmen: C. A. Carpenter, James Mansfield, Charles Dwyer, T. S. Case, Thomas Burke, B. L. Riggins, Aaron Ranb, P. C. Causey, P. Shannon, P. S. Brown.
1865 Mayor, P. Shannon ; Treasurer, S. D. Vaughan; Collector, E. B. Cravens; Assessor, E. O'Flaherty; Register, Bernard Donnelly; Engineers, William Miller, E. O'Flaherty; Market Master, Michael Renehan; Wharf Master, Thomas Fox; Wharf Register, Samuel Quest; Marshal, Jeremiah Dowd; Attorney, T. B. Rummel; Recorder, C. A. Carpenter; Councilmen: P. S. Brown, J. Q. Watkins, H. L. Huhn, E. F. Rogers, John Taylor, Ger- hard Zucker, Thomas Burke, William Kolbe, James Mansfield.
1866 Mayor, A. L. Harris; Treasurer, S. D. Vaughan : Collector. Charles Long; Assessor, B. Donnelly; Register, D. O'Brien; Engineer. Edmond O'Flaherty ; Wharf Master, H. G. Toler; Wharf Register, Phillip Ott: Mar- shal, Jeremiah Dowd; Attorney, Charles Carpenter; Recorder, C. A. Carpen- ten; Councilmen : Charles Dwyer. John Bauerlein, Robert Salisbury, F. A.
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