This Week in KC History
Wilkins Rising
August 30, 1901: Roy O. Wilkins was born in St. Louis, Missouri. From a modest background, Wilkins would go on to graduate from the University of Minnesota, become the editor of the Kansas City Call newspaper, and lead…
Strangers in a Strange Land
June 26, 1804: The Corps of Discovery, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, arrived in the area that would later become Kansas City. The party was commissioned by the United States government to explore lands in and west of…
Majors' Efforts
October 4, 1814: Alexander Majors was born to a farming family near the town of Franklin, Kentucky. He eventually became one of the most important freight-haulers on the Santa Fe Trail, bringing him considerable fame and fortune…
The Way to Santa Fe
August 10, 1825: The U.S. government acquired a right-of-way for the Santa Fe Trail from representatives of the Great and Little Osage Nations. The treaty, and others like it, greatly reduced tensions between Native Americans and…
A Beer Baron Is Born
April 24, 1833: George Muehlebach was born into a farming family in Argau, Switzerland. He went on to operate the Muehlebach Brewing Company; one of the most successful businesses in Kansas City by the early 20th century. Even…
Death Takes a Holiday (Maybe)
March 27, 1836: George Shepherd Park narrowly escaped death at the hands of a Mexican firing squad in a mass-execution that later became known as the Goliad Massacre. A few months earlier, Park had joined the Texan (then known as…
In For the Landing
November 14, 1838: In 1838, the town of Westport stood near the western edge of the American frontier and served as a disembarking point for traders following the Santa Fe Trail to present-day New Mexico, then a part of Mexico.…
A Man of Many Parts
March 15, 1858: Lafayette Alonzo Tillman, born on March 15, 1858, in Evansville, Indiana, would go on to become one of the exceptional black leaders in Kansas City by the turn of the twentieth century. Little is known about…
Shades of Gray
April 30, 1861: The Confederate attack on Fort Sumter marked the beginning of the Civil War and left the populations of border states such as Missouri pondering where their loyalties lay. In the months immediately prior to the…
Evacuation Day
August 25, 1863: Union General Thomas E. Ewing issued Order No. 11 to forcibly remove all residents of Jackson, Bates, and Cass counties, except for those who lived within a mile of Kansas City, Westport, Independence, or one of…