Westport: A look to the roots of Kansas City

Pioneer Park. A bronze statuary of Alexander Majors, John Calvin McCoy, and Jim Bridger.

Built on October 10, 1987, on the corner of Westport Road and Broadway, Pioneer Park is a monument to Kansas’s history. It represents real historical symbolism of the early west at the exact spot where it happened. In the 1850's Westport was the outfitting point for wagon trains going west. In 1850 Westport Landing was named the Town of Kansas and later annexed Westport in 1897.

Pioneer Park is full of history of Westport and the west. There is a bronze statuary of Alexander Majors (1814-1900), John Calvin McCoy (1811-1888) and Jim Bridger (1804-1881) and a map on the cement. This map shows the 3 trails during the opening of the west from 1845 to 1860.

The oldest standing house in Kansas City.

On Westport and Pennsylvania is the oldest in Kansas City building, built in 1837, Kelly's Westport Inn, owned by Randal Kelly. In the basement of this building slaves hid on their trip on the Underground Railroad. Mayor Berkley of Kansas City declared March 16, 1984, "Randal Kelly Day" because of the love and respect Randal Kelly earned from Westport's residents.

Across the street from Kelly's there is a courtyard. To the north is McCoy's Restaurant. One block east of Broadway at 4038 Central is the oldest standing house in Kansas City. Built in 1847 by Joseph O. Boggs, it was then sold to Nathan Scarrett in the 1850's. Now it houses a small computer business owned by two people.

Westport is reach with history and tradition. Many buildings date back past the turn-of-the-century to the times then Cowboys walked the streets, and the West was wild.