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Article: Kansas City
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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KANSAS CITY
KANSAS CITY.
Located in northwest Missouri at the junction of the Kansas (or Kaw) and Missouri Rivers, Kansas City sits very close to the geographic center of the United States. From its beginning the area has served as a transportation hub, first for the Kansa (or Kansas) tribe of Native Americans and later for European and American traders and settlers who established permanent settlements. French trader Fran
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ois Chouteau established a trading post along the river near the present downtown in 1821, while American John C. McCoy built Westport to service the Santa Fe Trail a short distance away in 1835. The river settlement was platted and renamed the City of Kansas in ...