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Kansas
City played a major role in American history as a gateway for
pioneers heading West along the Oregon, California and Santa Fe Trails.
For many generations, the land around Kansas City was shared by several
Indian tribes, including the Osage, Kansa and Wyandotte. In the late
1700s/early 1800s, trappers and traders began developing the Town of
Kansas (later known as Kansas City) on the southern bank of the Missouri
River, a short distance from where it joins with the Kansas River. (Click
here to view a map from the 1800's)
A few years later, thousands of pioneers would
disembark from riverboats at this point to begin their overland journey,
making the public square a busy place! Early settlers gathered in the
River Market area to sell or trade their produce, furs and other
commodities. The first market house was erected in 1858, still the site
of the current City
Market. Farmers and vendors still offer homegrown, as well as
exotic, produce, herbs and flowers in
Missouri's largest open-air farmers market.
Unique gift and antique shops, popular restaurants,
art galleries and the Arabia Steamboat Museum are also housed in this
area.
The area offers some of the oldest
architecture in Kansas City. Click
here to see photographs of some of the buildings that were built in
the River Market area.
Click here to learn more
about
Kansas City's River Market history.
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