Westport, Kansas City

Westport is a historic neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Originally  its own town, it was annexed by Kansas City in 1897. Today, it is one of Kansas  City's main entertainment districts. Westport was first settled by Reverend Isaac McCoy and his family in 1831. It was located approximately 3 miles due south of the present day location of downtown, Kansas City, Missouri. It was platted three years later, and formally incorporated in February 1857. Isaac's son John Calvin McCoy is generally considered the "father of Kansas City" after he formally founded the town and then got his supplies from a rocky point on the Missouri River between Grand and Main Street that became known as "Westport's Landing." When the landing became popular young McCoy and other residents banded together to form the "Town of Kansas" company to buy the land. Westport's Indian trade extended to the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. By 1850 Westport, together with Kansas City, displaced Independence, Missouri as an outfitting and starting point for traders, trappers, and emigrants heading west on the Santa Fe Trail and Oregon Trail. The town's greatest prosperity came 1854 to 1860. During the Civil War, there were many skirmishes between pro- and anti-slavery groups in the area, and the Civil War's Battle of Westport was fought there in October 1864. Trade fell off sharply during the Civil War and never recovered. Fast-growing Kansas City had the railroads, and annexed Westport in 1899. An area within Westport, east of Broadway Street, is known as Nutterville. The historic Nutterville area was developed by James B. Nutter Sr. Nutter saw to it that the old homes in the area to were repurposed to be used by businesses as offices in order to restore them. The houses are colorfully painted and enhanced with thousands of flowers and manicured lawns and shrubs.

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