Jackson County Notables

Events, locations, and industries important
to Jackson County history.

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EARLY LAND GRANTS

Surnames in this land grant information: PRUDHOME, CHICK, STONE, TATE, SUBLETT, WILSON, MCCOY, RAGAN, CALDWELL, COLLINS, SMART, GILLIS, MCGEE, FONDA, OWENS, HICKS, CARTER, ELLIS, BOWERS, JOBE, MULKEY, FRY, PARKMAN, SHAW, SMITH, SWOPE

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When GABRIEL PRUDHOMME received his land grant on October 18, 1830, the land did not look very attractive. His estate extended from the Missouri River, across the hilly forest lands southward to the present Independence Avenue, east to Troost Avenue, and west to Broadway. He had already explored the riverfront in 1814-15 with the French trappers. Prudhomme knew he had acquired a good river frontage near a trail leading southward. But he did not live long enough to see the birth and infancy of a great city that was to rise on his land. He died in 1931. From the Prudhomme heirs, the first townsite of 256 acres was purchased, on credit for $4,200. This land had been purchased by Prudhomme for $340 from the goverment.

On November 14, 1838, 20-30 men assembled near the river at the foot of what later became known as Grand Avenue. In a small cattle lot which had been fenced off by rails, a few planks were placed across the corner of the pen. SQUIRE GEORGE TATE mounted the perch and "carefully adjusting his spectacles and taking a few chew of tobacco, proceeded to announce the sale belonging to the estate of Gabriel Prudhomme."

There were a few outside bidders, and the townsite was purchased by the bid of W. L. SUBLETT, for which 14 men gave their notes. They were W. L. Sublett, MOSES G. WILSON, JOHN C. MCCOY, GEORGE TATE, JACOB RAGAN, WILLIAM M. CHICK, OLIVER CALDWELL, WILLIAM COLLINS, JAMES SMART, WILLIAM GILLIS, FRY P. MCGEE, ABRAHAM FONDA, SAMUEL C. OWENS and RUSSELL HICKS.

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Jacob Ragan, one of the note signatories, came here in 1837 with his wife, ANNA (CARTER) and 6 children from Bath Co., KY. They settled on a farm considered to be some distance inland from the Missouri River. Their 120 acre tract covered the area now bounded by 31st and 37th streets, Oak and Holmes streets. They built a large, hospitable home that stood on the later site of the Trinity Methodist Church, Armour Boulevard and Kenwood Ave. (Both husband and wife are buried in the Union Cemetery).

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THOMAS SMART lived along the river bluff anad was only a spectator to the sale of ground. H. G. REES of Independence speaks of remaining overnight in 1839 with Mr. Smart. "We nailed blankets up inside the cabin to break the wind from those endeavoring to keep warm; the chinks between the logs had not been plastered with mud, making it difficult to keep warm." 

Smart's home was typical of those in the unsettled country where wild animals still roamed the hills.The 14 committee members retired to the log house on the riverbank at the foot of Main Street occupied by "ONE-EYED ELLIS" to select a name for the new town. No doubt there was much laughter as those roughly dressed men sat in front of the blazing fire and suggested one name after another. OLD SQUIRE BOWERS, a spectator who lived on the river, facetiously suggested "Rabbitville or Possumtrot" but was treated with silent contempt. Another suggested, "Kawsmouth" and "Port Fonda" in honor of ABRAHAM FONDA, then a prominent member of the committee. Unfortunatley Fonda became involved in a quarrel with another part-owner, HENRY JOBE, who threatened all sorts of legal, fistic, and even shotgun remedies, and the results were that "Port Fonda" was not accepted. Finally "Kansas" was agreed upon, and was the name under which the new townsite was surveyed and by which it was called until 1853. At that time it became known as the "City of Kansas" and in 1880, as "Kansas City."

It is hard to say how serious a view some of the men in the Ellis cabin may have taken of the new town's chances, but JOHN MCCOY went to work in earnest and surveyed the first townsite in 1839. It was bounded by Delaware, Grand and 2nd Streets, and the Missouri River. McCoy related, "There wee a few old girdled dead trees standing in a field, surrounded by dilapidated rail fence, and all around on all sides, a dense forest, the ground covered with impenetrable underbrush and deep, impassable gorges."

There was a cloud on the title which was not cleared until 1846. A second plat was then filed, taking in an additional section between Independence Avenue, Central Street, Oak Street and the river. A third plat was filed in 1849, extending the area to Cherry Street on the East.

When the "City of Kansas" came into legal existence March 28, 1853, as a municipality, 30 of the residents went to the polls and voted to accept the charter of incorporation. This privilege had been granted Feb. 22, 1853, on Washington's birthday. 

There seems to have been little objection since so few voted. Obviously, too, elections were not what they had been earlier, when the community voted the first tiem at the presidential election of 1832. WILLIAM MULKEY, an old-time pioneer who came to the frontier with his mother and grandfather in 1828, remembered that first election. "That first was memorable, the year Andrew Jackson was re-elected President", he related. "The men voted under the limbs of a great elm tree on the Westport Road. There were just 33 of them. Every voter drank from an immense jug of whiskey as he deposited his ballot, and cider and ginger cakes also were served, and everybody here was for Jackson."

Those few persons buying lots in 1839 along the levee worked out a meager living for the next ten years, and the insignificant steamboat landing struggled for existence. As late as 1846 there was no place from the valley of O.K. Creek to what became Grand Avenue where a person on horseback could go up or down the precipitous bluffs.

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JAMES H. & ELEANOR (FRY) MCGEE, who crossed the river from Clay county in 1828, were among the earliest white settlers. They acquired a squatter's claim and built a log house high on the branch of Turkey and O.K. Creek. Later this creek ws diverted into the city sewer. This log cabin was later replaced, using slave labor, by the first brick house to be built in the future Kansas City, at what became 19th and Baltimore. On O.K. Creek, McGee operated a small gristmill and distillery, from which he dispensed food and drink to Indians and surrounding settlers. When he died in 1838 he had acquired nearly all the land between the town of Kansas and Westport, and his name, in connection with that of his sons, has been continuously identified with the growth of the city. FRANCIS PARKMAN and his relative, QUINCY SHAW, arrived at the levee in 1846 on the steamboat "Radnor". He stated: "Here we landed, and leaving our equipment in the charge of COLONEL CHICK whose log house was the substitute for a tavern, we set out for Westport."

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WILLIAM MILES CHICK built a 2-story log, weatherboarded mansion known as the "White House", which could be spotted by riverboat captains a long distance up the river. Here, Chick became the first postmaster and host to distinguised guests such as Parkman, Shaw, Thomas H. Benton, John C. Fremont, and many others. Chick also operated a warehouse and store in connection with his hotel.

The Chick family left Alexandria, Virginia, in 1822, with their slaves and all their household goods, in four horse-drawn wagons. They first settled in Glasgow, Missouri, where they farmed until the flood of 1826 washed their crops away.

In the meantime, Mr. Chick heard of the village of Westport. they came here in 1836 and bought a little store from JOHN C. MCCOY (old site of Harris House). The Chicks and their family of nine children lived above the store. In 1843 Chick bought a farm in the west bottoms (present central industrial district). In the winter Chick built a log business house at the foot of Main Street on the levee and a dwelling house on the top of the bluff of what became the first elite residential area of Kansas City and MRS. ANN ELIZABETH (SMITH) CHICK reigned as the first lady of Pearl Street.

Their son, WASHINGTON HENRY CHICK, as a boy, roamed the hills when the land was a jungle. He saw the city take root from nothing when he worked in his father's store. In later years he talked of the McGees on O.K. Creek and TOM SMART who lived on the corner of what became 11th and Main Streets. The Smart land was covered with a jungle of trees and brush, but Mr. Smart hired a man to clear it at $2.00 a day. Tom Smart told Chick "he did not know where he was going to get the money, but afterwards he took a jug of whiskey to the levee and sold it to the Indians and made enough to pay the man." This farm, for which Smart paid $5.00 an acre, laid the foundation of two large fortunes, the Smart and SWOPE fortunes.

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This page was last updated August 2, 2006.