USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > Kansas City, Missouri : its history and its people 1808-1908 > Part 9
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The first party of anti-slave immigrants arrived in Kansas City July 27, 1854, from Boston, Massachusetts, under the leadership of Charles II. Brams- comb. Charles Robinson and S. C. Pomeroy, afterwards governor of Kansas, and later United States senator from Kansas, were among the immigrants. The party, with the exception of Mr. Pomeroy and several others, proceeded into Kansas, arriving at Wakarusa August 1, 1854, and founding near there, October 6, of the same year, a town which was called Lawrence, in honor of Amos J. Lawrence, of Boston, Massachusetts, one of the benefactors of the emigrant societies. Mr. Pomeroy remained in Kansas City and pur- chased the Union hotel, afterwards the American hotel and later the Gillis house, on the levee, to be used as headquarters for the anti-slave immigrants.
One of the active free-state men was Kersey Coates, who came to Kansas City in the fall of 1854 to make investments for a company of Philadelphia capitalists. He had visited Leavenworth and Lawrence before he decided to live in Kansas City. Mr. Coates made extensive investments in real estate in the spring of 1855. Many of the residents of Kansas City did not agree with Mr. Coates' political views, but they regarded him as arbiter between them and people of Kansas and depended upon him to help retain the trade of the new territory. Mr. Coates had many bitter enemies among the pro- slavery party, and in the fall of 1856 when he went to Washington to inter- cede for free-state prisoners confined in Lecompton, Kansas, he was warned not to return to Kansas City. He spent the winter in Wisconsin, continuing his efforts to strengthen the anti-slavery movement in Kansas.
Kansas City, being the place of debarkation for both the pro-slavery and the anti-slavery parties, was greatly disturbed by the disorder and busi- ness conditions were depressed. Murders, routs and battles were frequent on the border. The commerce with Santa Fe was reduced and local trade
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was seriously affected. Teamsters found it unsafe to haul merchandise aeross the plains because of the roving bands who had political pretexts, but in reality were banditti. It was necessary for the agents who distributed an- nuity money to the Indians to be strongly guarded against robbers when they visited the agencies.
The new towns of Leavenworth, Lawrence and Atchison developed rapidly and soon were the rivals of Kansas City. Leavenworth, especially, was a strong competitor. The government strengthened Leavenworth's posi- tion by building roads to the town and making it the distributing point for freight. But in spite of these odds, Kansas City was able to maintain its bus- iness supremacy ; it was not possible for Leavenworth to divert the bulk of the trade
Notwithstanding the turbulence that prevailed in the summer and fall of 1856, consequent to the slavery excitement in Kansas, thousands of persons came to Kansas City and hotels and boarding houses were crowded with trav- elers who came to visit the new West in search of homes on the prairies of Kansas or other points where they could engage in business. The fame of the new city which so suddenly had sprung up to battle for the commercial supremacy of the Mississippi valley was spreading through the East. The large freighting firms of Russell, Majors and Waddell. Irwin Jackson and Co., Parker and Co .. Brunswick and Co., Irvin Smith, G.B. Thomas and others of leser importance were prospering and the daily increasing trade from Kan- sas began to attract the attention of investors from the East. In the fall of 1856 a number of eastern capitalists came to Kansas City and made invest- ments in blocks of real estate and established several large mercantile houses. At this time not a street had been opened and all south of the levee still re- mained in its primitive condition.
Business traffic was still confined to the river front. It was evident that the city must begin the work of expanding to the south. The levee was be- coming crowded, and the cost of erecting buildings was very great because of the narrow space between the river front and the bluffs.
The city made a loan of $10,000 for local improvements in 1855, in the administration of M. J. Payne, mayor. The edge of the bluff near the river was graded down, and the levee widened and paved for the distance of one quarter of a mile. Within the next three years, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth streets were improved; Broadway and Wyandotte, Delaware, Main and Market (Grand Avenue) streets were graded from the river south to Fifth street. A city loan of $100.000 for street improvements was authorized in 1858, but there was some difficulty in obtaining the money and the fund was not available until 1859.
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At the beginning of the year 1857 the slavery question in Kansas was virtually settled. The crowds from the Southern States that came to make Kansas a slave state, and who made Kansas City the base of operations, had disappeared. Mayor Payne renewed his agitation for opening streets and other public improvements and finally was successful in having the council pass a resolution directing the city engineer to furnish estimates of the cost of grad- ing Main and Wyandotte streets from the levee to the junction of Delaware and Main streets, and Broadway to Fifth street. The council also included in this resolution an estimate of the cost of a building for the use of the city officials and a court room for the accommodation of the Kansas City court of common pleas. Soon after the estimates were furnished ordinances were passed to open the streets named and provision was made for building the city hall. The work, however, did not begin until after the re-election of Mayor Payne in April, 1857.
A new council was elected in full sympathy with the Mayor and by De- cember of 1857 Main street was opened; work on the city hall concluded; Third street opened from Grand avenue to Main street, and other public im- provements completed. This was the beginning of a system of improvements that was necessary to keep pace with the demands of commerce and the increas- ing population The city had grown in four years from the 300 first enumer- ated on the townsite to almost 3,000. It was the result of the incessant agi- tation of Mayor Payne and his supporters.
An ordinance was passed in the fall of 1859 for macadamizing Main street. A total of 28,100 dollars was expended for street improvements in 1859 as follows: Delaware, $14,000; Walnut, $3,600; Sixth, $1,000; Fourth, $1,000; Bellvue, $900; Broadway, $600; Third, $400; Main, $300.
The development of Kansas City had its beginning in these wise meas- ures planned by Mayor M. J. Payne and others who worked with unselfish hands to make Kansas City great. It was the commencement that had no ending-it was a pace set and still in evidence in the rapid strides the city is making toward fulfilling the destiny that the prophets and seers of 1857 had proclaimed.
At the close of the Kansas troubles in 1857, after the anti-slavery element had gained the ascendency, Kansas City began an era of remarkable develop- ment. The commerce of the plains resumed its former proportions and was increased. Practically all of the trade developed by the settlement of Southern Kansas came to Kansas City, and the outfitting business resumed its impor- tance. The number of steamboats on the Missouri river had increased; a great quantity of freight was unloaded at the Kansas City levee. It was estimated by river men that more freight was received in Kansas City than at any other five towns on the Missouri river. A correspondent for a
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St. Louis newspaper who visited Kansas City in 1857 reported "that the busi- ness of Kansas City is now more extensive than the business of any other place in the world, in proportion to population."
The decade between 1850 and 1860 was the "Golden Era" of the steam- boat on the Missouri river. About sixty regular boats plied between Kansas City and St Louis in 1857, and thirty to forty transient boats known as "tramps," made one or two trips a season. A daily packet left the terminus of the Missouri Pacific railroad at Jefferson City, Mo. The steamboats began carrying the United States mail in May, 1857. and continued until the busi- ness was transferred to the railroads. A packet company made Kansas City its terminal point in August, 1857, and all freight for ports higher up the Missouri river was transferred to other boat lines here. After the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad was completed to St. Joseph, Mo., March 1, 1859, a line of steamboats was placed in operation between Kansas City and that town. It was not unusual at this period to see five or six large steamboats at the Kansas City levee at the same time. In the season of 1857, seven hun- dred and twenty-nine steamboats arrived at Kansas City. So great was the volume of business in the '50s that the steamboats ran day and night. A speed of ten miles an hour up stream was not unusual, and a distance of one hundred and fifty miles was made down stream in a day. The "James H. Lucas," one of the fastest boats on the river, made the trip to St. Joseph from St. Louis, a distance of six hundred miles in sixty hours in July, 1856. The "Polar Star." another remarkably fast boat, had made the same trip in 1853 in sixty-eight hours. The boating season was from March to November of each year.
The center of attraction in Kansas City from 1850 to 1860 was the levee. where steamboats constantly were arriving and departing. The whistle of a steamer as it aproached the levee-and almost every boat was known by its whistle-was sufficient to draw a crowd to the wharf. Steamboat officers were very courteous and hospitable. The captains and clerks were personally acquainted with many of the business men in the towns along the river, and both as a matter of policy and from inborn hospitality, they made them wel- come on the boats whether for a short or a long journey, and it was rare that they were requested to pay fare. Passengers were made to "feel at home" on the boats and were at liberty to make themselves comfortable. Many of the steamboats had an orchestra, composed of the negro waiters, barbers and deck hands, and a dance was almost a nightly occurrence.
Often when the steamers were detained at the levee over night, the captains would pass the word around to the young men of the town that the boat was at their service for a dance, and such opportunities were generally improved. Sometimes the captain's hospitality did not cease with his fur-
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MAIN STREET, NORTH FROM MISSOURI AVENUE. 1867.
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nishing the boat and music, but he also would serve supper to a large company of guests. In recalling some of his early experiences in Kansas City as a telegraph operator, James Kennedy spoke of the Kansas City levee :
"All of the business of Kansas City in 1855 was done on the levee. The town had a good retail trade and the Indian and Mexican trade was especially important. The warehouses were filled with freight brought up the Missouri river by steamboats in the spring. From the levee one could see the Mexicans loading wagons with freight for New Mexico. They used the old style schooner- shaped wagon, drawn by twelve spans of mules. Each wagon was loaded with freight weighing from 6,000 to 8,000 pounds. The merchandise con- sisted of sugar, flour, coffee and other commodities that could be placed in sacks. When the wagons were loaded the mules were driven by Mexicans carrying long black snake whips. A team of twenty-four mules would have four to six Mexican drivers. They would start down the levee and around up Grand avenue. Every driver prided himself on the loudness with which he could crack his whip, and in a train of ten or twelve wagons the whip cracking would sound like the firing of muskets, only louder."
The wharf-master was one of the most important of the city officials in the days when steamboating was at its height. He was master of the levee, and he bore great responsibility. The duties of the wharf-master were defined as follows by an early city ordinance:
"To direct the landing and stationing of all water craft arriving or lying at any point on the river bank within the City, and the discharge and re- moval, and lading of their cargo, so as to prevent interference between differ- ent vessels and their cargoes; to superintend the arrangement of merchandise and materials for repairs on the river bank, so that they shall occupy as little space and cause as little inconvenience as possible; to see that all com- bustible materials on the river bank are sufficiently protected from fire; to keep the wharf and river along the shore free from all improper obstructions; to keep in repair the ring bolts and posts provided for fastening boats and vessels; to regulate and control, by proper rules to be established and pub- lished, all vehicles traversing the wharf; and to remove thence such as unnec- essarily obstruct free passage upon the wharf or street; and generally to exercise complete supervision and control over the wharf, river bank, landing and Front street.
"To register, in a suitable book, the date of the arrival and departure of every water craft, except wood and coal boats, with its name, the name of its master, and the place whence it came; and to make a report with the wharfage collected from each, to the City Register on the last Saturday of each month, and to report to the City Council, on the first day of each stated
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session, the whole number of arrivals during the preceding three months, the description of the boats and vessels, and the amount of wharfage collected.
"The Wharfmaster shall, at all times, and forthwith cause to be removed all obstructions which may be found at any landing set apart at the Wharf for Ferry Boats, Packet boats or Scavenger boats, and whenever any such obstructions shall be found to exist, the Wharfmaster shall at once notify the persons having charge or control of such obstructions to remove them forth- with.
"The Wharfmaster shall require any boat which is leaking so as to be in danger of sinking in the harbor, to be removed without delay, and if the person in charge of such boat fail to remove it, the Wharfmaster shall take possession at once and remove the boat.
"Whenever any boat shall sink in the harbor of Kansas City, the Wharf- master shall require the same to be removed within such time and in such manner as he may prescribe, and shall require the persons having charge of, or any interest in any such vote, to give bond, with good security, so to re- move the obstruction and in case of a failure to give such bond, the Wharf- master shall proceed to remove the boat and sell such property as he may save from the wreck at public auction, and after deducting from the proceeds of such sale reasonable salvage for merchandise the cost of such removal and sale and a commission of 10 per cent on the amount of his disbursements as afore- said to himself, shall pay over a residue of such proceeds to the parties entitled to receive the same: and in case such proceeds shall be insufficient to defray the expenses, the deficit shall be paid out of the City treasury.
"All steamboats ascending the Missouri river, or plying between this point and points above, except Ferry Boats, Flat Boats, Keel Boats, Wood and Canal Boats, shall pay, as wharfage, the sum of $5.00 for every landing made within the City, provided that boats running from this point up the Kaw and Platte rivers shall not be charged more than ten dollars for all landings made in the course of such navigation in any one month, and that boats running from this point to St. Joseph or Atchison in connection with the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, shall not be charged more than twenty dollars for all landings made in any one month in the due course of any such navigation.
"The Wharfmaster shall have all the power of the City Marshal to make arrests for any breach of the ordinances of the city committed upon the wharf, and for all breaches of this ordinance, and for that purpose, may summon to his aid, any and all persons, and for such arrests and complaints, shall receive the same fee as the City Marshal."
The county roads radiating from Kansas City were improved, also. A company was organized in July, 1857, to macadamize the road between Kan-
KANSAS CITY
TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP OF KANSAS CITY, 1869.
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sas City and Westport, used by the immigrants and the freighters. The work of improving the road was begun in September, 1857, but was delayed and not completed until after the Civil War. The Shawnee road and a bridge across Turkey creek were opened for travel in 1858.
Gold was discovered in Colorado in 1858, and the emigration that imme- diately followed made new business for Kansas City. Leavenworth, Atchison, St. Joseph, Nebraska City and Omaha competed with Kansas City for the trade of the caravans. Each of the cities opened a new route across the plains and exploited its advantages. The rivalry was keen for a time, but Kansas City's superior boat landing and the advantages of its route across the plains enabled the city to retain the larger part of the trade.
Kansas City's first banking establishment was organized in 1856 by the firm of Coates & Hood and operated in connection with its real estate business. Northrup & Co., afterwards Northrup and Chick, established a banking con- cern in 1857 which continued in business until 1864, when it was transferred to J. Q. Watkins & Co. A branch of the Mechanics' bank of St. Louis was organized, May 1, 1859. Dr. Johnston Lykins was president; E. C. McCarty, cashier; and Lewis Ramage, attorney. These were the directors: J. P. Wheeler, Kersey Coates, Dr. Johnston Lykins, Joseph C. Ransom, F. Conant, William Gillis, John C. McCoy, J. Riddlesberger and W. J. Jarboe. A bank was organized in July, 1859, of which Hiram M. Northrup was the president and John S. Harris, the cashier. The directors were: Hiram M. Northrup, C. E. Karney, Thomas A. Smart, William H. Chick, Thomas Johnson, N. T. Wheatley, Joab Bernard, Alexander Street and Edward T. Perry.
Early in 1858 Kansas City received a proposition from Charles C. Steb- bins, president of the Missouri River Telegraph Company, to extend the Company's line to Kansas City for $2,500. The Missouri River Telegraph · Company's lines were, at that time, in operation as far west as Booneville. The $2,500 was to be paid in telegraph service. The offer was accepted promptly and the line was built west reaching Kansas City in December 20, 1858.
The Journal Metropolitan newspaper was established in June, 1858, by Bates and Gilson. The Missouri Post, the first German newspaper in Kansas City, appeared in January, 1859. August Wuertz was the owner. The Daily Inquirer was established in 1860.
The Board of Trade, a voluntary association, was organized by the mer- chants of Kansas City in 1856. It did not meet the needs of the commercial interests and the Chamber of Commerce was established, and a charter was obtained from the Missouri legislature, November 9, 1857. These were the incorporators: Dr. Johnston Lykins, W. A. Hopkins, John Johnson, M. J. Payne, Thomas H. Swope, S. W. Bouton, Kersey Coates, Joseph C. Ransom,
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E. C. McCarty, Hiram M. Northrup. H. H. King. J. M. Ashburn, William Gillis. Dr. Benoist Troost. John Campbell and R. G. Stephens. Afterwards R. T. Van Ilorn. T. S. Case. Dr. D. Y. Chalfant, Ermine Case and several others became interested in the association. The Chamber of Commerce occu- pied an important part in the commercial development of Kansas City previous to the Civil war. The association was disorganized by the war.
The city charter was amended January 29, 1857, to extend the city limits to the west state line, south to Twelfth street and east to the half section line in the alley between McGee and Oak streets. The growth of the city within the next year made another amendment to the charter necessary. The legis- lature again enlarged the corporate limits in 1859. extending the boundary south to Twentieth street and east along that street to Troost avenne; thence north to Twelfth street and then east to Lydia avenue, north to Independence avenue: thence west to the quarter section line just west of Lydia avenue, and then north to the Missouri river. In the same act the city council was divided into two branches, but the division was repealed the following De- cember. The city council was directed to divide the city into three wards. An ordinance was passed. March 5. 1858. making all of the city east of Grand avenue the First ward : the district between Grand avenue and Delaware street, and Main street south of the Junction. the Second ward; all of the territory west of Delaware street and Main street, south of the Junction, the Third ward.
The population of Kansas City in 1855 was 478: in 1857, 3,224; in 1859, 7.180. The assessed valuation of taxable property was $54,000 in 1855; $1.200.000 in 1857, and $3.311.730 in 1859.
The more important additions to Kansas City previous to the Civil war were: McGee addition, one hundred and sixty acres lying south of Twelfth street. between Main street and Holmes street, platted in the summer of 1855; Swope's addition joined McGee's addition on the north. Ross and Scarritt's addition of forty acres: north of Ross and Scarritt's addition, Peery place : McGee & Holmes' addition, King's addition, Bellyne place, Lykin's addition, Coates' addition. Bouton's addition. Ransom's addition, Lawrence's addition, Guinotte's addition and McDaniel's addition.
A correspondent for the New York Herald came to Kansas City in 1860 and made the following report of the city's commerce with the great plains for the year in comparison with that of rival towns: Kansas City, 7,084 men and 3.033 wagons: Leavenworth. 1,216 men and 1,003 wagons: Atchison, , 1,591 men and 1,280 wagons; St. Joseph, 490 men and 418 wagons. Quantity of freight in pounds: Kansas City. 16.439.134; Leavenworth, 5,656,082; Atchison. 6.097,943: St. Joseph, 1,672,000.
The Western Journal of Commerce estimated in November, 1857, that $5,100,000 was in circulation on the Missouri border, divided as follows:
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United States army expenditures, $2,000,000; amount derived from the trade with New Mexico, $1,500,000; Indian annuity money, $1,100,000; cash spent by immigrants $300,000; paid for delivering the United States mail, $200,000.
At the close of the year 1860 Kansas City had three Masonic lodges, two Odd Fellows lodges, one Good Templars lodge, a Turnverein, a Shamrock society, the Orpheus singing society, a chess club and a Bible society. Suth- erland's directory of Kansas City for 1860-61 gives these newspapers and periodicals :
The Western Journal of Commerce, daily, tri-weekly and weekly, D K. Abeel, proprietor, corner of Main and Commercial streets; Enquirer, weekly, Hodgson & McMurry, owners, Main street, between Second and Third streets; Missouri Post, German, weekly, August Wuerz, editor and owner, Main street, between Second and Third streets; Free State Republican, N. T. Doane, editor, Main street, between Second and Third streets; Kansas City Medical and Surgical Review, edited and published by Dr. G. M. B. Maughs and Dr. The- odore S. Case.
The following churches were given in the directory: Methodist church, South, Fifth street, between Delaware and Wyandotte streets, the Rev. W. M. Leftwich, pastor; Methodist church, North, in Concert Hall; Episcopal church, at Concert Hall, the Rev. J. I. Corbyn, pastor; Reformed church, Main and Ottawa streets, the Rev. John O'Kane, pastor; Catholic church, corner Broad- way and Chouteau avenue (now Eleventh street), the Rev. Father Bernard Donnelly, priest; Presbyterian church, Third and Main streets; Cumberland Presbyterian church, no regular house of worship; Baptist church, on May street.
CHAPTER VII.
ON THE ROAD TO SANTA FE.
Santa Fe is a name steeped in romance. Its historic setting has made the town the Mecca for the antiquarian. Santa Fe rests in the shadowy mys- tery and ancient glory of the pre-historic Aztecs, the people of tradition and myths, discovered by the wandering Spanish explorers. To these adventurers and their followers "New Mexico was the Egypt of America and Santa Fe its Thebes." Few pages of history are so full of dramatic incident and weighty consequence as those pages that tell of the discovery and conquest of the Az- tecs by the Castilians. The Spanish explorers were followed by the mission-
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