1.  The Missouri River has a bend in it here. In the early days, the travelers would come up the river as far as they could in boats, and then they had to “jump off” the river and travel over land. The bend in the river was a logical jumping-off place.

​

2.  The western border of Missouri was an early western limit to the United States (it became a state in 1821), and it stayed that way for over 30 years. The Missouri border was the “limits of civilization.” The reason it stayed that way for so long is because of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 (which designated the lands west of the Missouri River as Indian territory) established the law that no towns or supply points could be located within that area, and white people could not live west of that border. This changed in 1854 with the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

This bit of legislation is probably the major reason for the Kansas City area being a “jumping-off” point than the bend in the river. It wasn’t so much a matter of geography as it was politics. Independence was the first viable jumping-off point for the Overland Trails. But it wasn’t ideal. By the 1840s, the Westport Landing had emerged as the leading jumping-off point simply because it was easier. The landings in Independence were not terribly convenient. The Westport Landing, however, had a nice rock landing right at the river’s edge, which is now at the foot of Grand Avenue in Kansas City.

​

3. In addition, Westport was simply farther west than Independence. And every mile counted in a wagon train … they went as far west as they could. In addition, no one had to cross the Blue River if they were outfitted in Westport and took off from there. The Blue River was a severe river crossing.

​

4. Westport became a resource for wagon trains. Outfitting the wagon trains was a big business: That’s why Westport became such a prosperous town and what drew people to the area, which eventually became so large that Westport and the Town of Kansas eventually evolved into Kansas City. The overland outfitting trade fulfilled all of the traveler’s needs, supplying everything: foodstuffs, wagons, animals and other provisions. Most people took only the most essential needs from their homes back East, and then getting everything else they needed in Missouri.

​

​5. The other reason (and perhaps the primary reason) for the prosperity of Westport was the Indian trade. The Indians who were removed in the 1830s from the eastern United States and moved to the west were given money in their treaty. That money was spent in white towns and forts.