The Westport Historical Society invites you to take a self-guided walking tour of Historic Old Westport. Click here to view a street map of Kansas City and the location of Westport!

The numbers correspond to the map below (click on the map for a larger version of each quadrant). Copies of the map can be found at the Harris-Kearney house, offices of the Westport Historical Society, at 4000 Baltimore. The Harris-Kearney House is also the first stop on the tour. Feel free to print out the map and contents and enjoy your self-guided tour of Westport.

1. HARRIS-KEARNEY HOUSE, 4000 Baltimore. Start your tour here ... park and come inside (Museum hours are 10:30-3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday) to speak with one of our informed and interesting hosts. The Westport Historical Society has many informative materials that will make your tour more enjoyable and educational!

   The Harris-Kearney House was built in 1855, before the Civil War by John Harris, proprietor of the Harris House Hotel. The hotel was located on the northeast corner of Westport Road and Pennsylvania Avenue. When John Harris died in 1873, his son-in-law, Charles Esmonde Kearney, moved into the house so his wife, Josephine (Harris) Kearney, could care for her mother, Henrietta. The Kearneys built the back wing of the house probably in 1870, and Mrs. Harris lived in the upstairs quarters until her death in 1881. The Kearneys lived here for 28 years. Kearney, a Mexican War veteran, later made his fortune in the Santa Fe trade. He was also active in bringing the railroads to Kansas City making it the major city it has since become.

   

   The home was standing on 5 acres of the land on the southwest quadrant at the intersection of present day Westport Road and Main Street. It was moved to its present location in two sections in 1922. The Westport Historical Society acquired the home in 1976 and has restored the 1855 original part as a house museum. The rear portion of the house is the office and board room of the Society. The ground on which the home stands was once part of Gottfried Hornung's vineyard. It extended from Main to Central on the South side of Westport Road.

   Read more about the Harris-Kearney house by clicking here!

   
   

2. Site of the FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF WESTPORT, 109 Westport Road (where Pryde's Old Westport now stands). It was built 1860-61 on land donated by John Harris. Later it was used as a mission for the GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH and, subsequently sold to the ST. PAUL EPISCOPAL CHURCH congregation. The structure was razed in 1917.

   2a. Continue north to 3921 Baltimore, the CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH. The land for this church was donated by John Bristow Wornall. The church was built in 1890. It originated from the FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF KANSAS CITY and indirectly THE OLD BAPTIST CHURCH OF BIG BLUE (UNION CHURCH).

   
   

3. ALLEN LIBRARY, 118 Westport Road. By 1870, traffic between Kansas City and Westport had become so heavy, a horsecar rail line was put into operation. This small conveyance was pulled by either horses or mules. To build the line, a tax was levied on the people of Westport. The Allen Library was built with money left over from this tax. The library was opened in 1898, and after annexation of Westport by Kansas City, this became the first branch library of the Kansas City Public Library system. It was so named because Judge Arthur M. Allen was instrumental in having the horsecar line built.

   
   

4. UNION CHURCH SITE, 210 Westport Road, northeast corner of Westport and Central. First church in Westport. Built of brick on land donated in 1846 by the Rev. Learner Blackman Stateler, a Methodist missionary. The Methodists invited the Presbyterians, the Christians (Reformers) and the Baptists to meet here until they could find suitable locations for their own houses of worship.

   4a. Across the street, to the south, at 211 Westport Road once stood the home of H. CLAY PATE, early (1858) Westport attorney at law.

   4b. On the southwest corner of this intersection, Central and Westport Road, at 301 Westport was located the home and office of DR. JOEL T. MORRIS, early Westport physician. Later the Westport Bank was located here.

   4c. Crossing back over Westport Road to the north, 300 Westport Road, and just west of the building is a parking lot. This was the site of COLONEL JAMES ROUT'S LIVERY STABLE where Westport residents went in the 1890's to rent surreys, hacks, gigs and buggies.

   4d. Immediately west of ROUT'S LIVERY STABLE, at 312 Westport Road, once stood a magnificent two story home. It was of logs, later weatherboarded. In this home William Rodney Bernard married Susan Harris and Charles Esmonde Kearney married Josephine Harris, daughters of John and Henrietta Harris. The home was demolished in 1898 to make room for JOHN BEEDY'S COAL YARD.

   In 1857, opposite the Westport Bank, 331 Westport Road (now the site of the PIONEER PARK) stood a two story house of weatherboarded logs. After Westport was incorporated, the building was used as an office by the town clerk, Charles C. Spalding. On a wall in the building hung a map of Westport drafted by Spalding in 1855. The map, restored in 1989 by the Daughters of Old Westport, now is on display in an area of the Missouri Valley Special Collections on the 3rd floor of the Kansas City Public Library. The map is on loan by the Daughters, an organization which was founded in 1912 and is still active.

   On the map is found the "logo" of Westport. It was used by early Westport merchants and today it is also the logo of the Westport Historical Society.

   
   

5. PIONEER PARK, the newest historical site in Westport, is on the traffic island at the intersection of Westport Road and Broadway and the previous location of the town clerk's office and residence. The development of the site was a joint project of the Westport Historical Society and the Native Sons of Kansas City. Over $150,000 was raised to fund the composite 9 foot heroic statuary of Alexander Majors, John Calvin McCoy and Jim Bridger, as well as the narrative markers, and the 12' by 18' terrazzo map of the western trails. Tom Beard, noted local sculptor and artist, was commissioned to create this outstanding sculpture. The park was dedicated October 10, 1987. It is suggested you read the historical narratives and study the map on your own.
   
   Alexander Majors, John C. McCoy and James Bridger

   
   

6. PIONEER MOTHER AND THE SANTA FE, OREGON & CALIFORNIA TRAIL MARKERS, 40th and Broadway. The former was placed on the site by the Daughters of Old Westport in 1920, and it was the "first marker" to be placed in the Westport area. The latter, on the Amoco Oil Company property at 4004 Broadway was presented to the Westport Historical Society in May 1960, in commemoration of the trails that passed through Westport in the last century. Westport was the last eastern portal of the western trails and remained so longer than any of its predecessors including Independence.
   
   Oregon, California and Santa Fe Trails Marker

   
   

7. WESTPORT METHODIST CHURCH, 500 West 40th Street. Methodism was started in Westport by the Rev. James Porter at the home of William Miles Chick in 1836. On Christmas Day, 1853, the Westport Methodist congregation moved from the Union Church to their new two story structure. This building was also the birthplace of the Allen School and the Westport High School. The center part of the building is original. The Rev. Nathan Scarritt served as pastor of the church and teacher at the school. Note the bell in the tower. It was in the original church. There is a historic plaque on the southeast corner of the building.

   
   

8. Site of WILLIAM RODNEY BERNARD HOME, 3928 Pennsylvania - west side of the street. Bernard once was a mayor of Westport. He came to the community in 1847 and was engaged in the Santa Fe trade for a number of years. The home was razed in 1928. He married Susan Harris, daughter of John and Henrietta Harris.

9. Site of ALBERT GALLATIN BOONE HOME, 3932 Pennsylvania. For five years Boone owned the Ewing-Boone building now Kelly's Westport Inn on the northwest corner of Westport Road and Pennsylvania. A grandson of the explorer Daniel Boone, he was a trapper turned trader. He was also active in politics and real estate. Before moving to Colorado in 1860, Boone sold his home to Jim Bridger the famous "mountain man." Bridger, having retired to Westport, dismantled the two story frame residence and re-assembled it near 103rd and State Line. It was then the village of Dallas, where he lived with his daughter, Virginia, until his death in 1881.

   
   

10. South of 40th Street on Pennsylvania stood the home of THOMAS GOFORTH and VOGEL'S SALOON. Thomas Goforth was the first Mayor of Westport and was re-elected a number of times and was also a Justice of the Peace. Francis Parkman (author of the Oregon Trail published in 1849), spent much of his time at Vogel's Saloon while he was waiting for a wagon train heading west in 1846.

    At 4010 and 4012 Pennsylvania to the north of Vogel's Saloon, stood HENRY SAGER'S FURNITURE SHOP. It was built in 1840 as a two story log building and was demolished in 1922. Henry was a master cabinet maker and also made caskets for the Westport citizens.

    
    

11. CITY HALL MARKER, southeast corner of 40th Terrace and Pennsylvania. It was on this site that both of Westport's City Halls once stood. The first was a wooden frame building that stood here in 1860.
    
    City Hall Marker

    All official business in the building was conducted on the second floor. A jail was located in the back of the building. The first floor of the building was used as a "market house." This building was later torn down. In 1897 a two story stone "castle-like" building was erected on the site and it also housed the fire station and police department. The building was razed in 1955. Through the efforts of Lucile Bettis, a past president of the Westport Historical Society, the lintel was preserved and the site was dedicated in 1959. The town officials at that time are listed on the lintel.

    Tom Morrison served as the last town marshal in Westport. Today his last living child, Margaret Graff, is a member of the Society.

    
    City Hall 1897-1950's
12. JOHN CALVIN MCCOY'S STORE SITE, 444 Westport Road, northeast corner of Westport Road and Pennsylvania. This is where Westport and Kansas City, Missouri began.

    This is Block 1, Lot No. 1 in the Town of Westport which was laid out in 1834 by McCoy and duly recorded at the Jackson County Courthouse in Independence on February 13, 1835. McCoy was Westport's town founder. He was also one of the 14 "co-founders" of the Town of Kansas (now Kansas City, Missouri).

    It was on McCoy's lot that the first commercial building in Westport was erected. McCoy's two story log structure was a general store which he operated in partnership with J. P. Hickman and J. H. Flourney. Trade with the Indians and outfitting the emigrants' wagon trains were all handled here. In the spring of 1834, McCoy persuaded the captain of the river steamer, probably John Hancock, to dock at a natural rock levee on the Missouri River near the foot of present day Main Street to deliver his trade goods. Previously, McCoy's wagons had to go to the Wayne City Landing near Independence. This was a round trip of three days. The new landing shortened the trip to one day. This new docking point became the City of Kansas City, Missouri we know today.

    In 1836 McCoy and his partners sold their business to William Miles Chick, McCoy's future father-in-law. McCoy married his daughter, Virginia Chick, on January 23, 1838 in what was to be the first recorded marriage in Westport.

    A. B. H. McGee, whose family had come to Westport in 1828, was the next owner in 1846, and after enlarging the building, he ran it as a tavern. It was known as the "Catfish House" because the chief specialty was catfish caught fresh from the Kaw River.

    McGee sold the property to John Harris. It was Harris who built the famous HARRIS HOUSE HOTEL which stood here. In 1852 the log structure was replaced by a three story brick building. It was famous for its hospitality and cuisine. The hotel was demolished in 1922 and the bricks in the front sidewalk of the Harris-Kearney House are from the oldest hotel.

    A "Mini-park" was dedicated here on land donated by Dr. and Mrs. Stanley Goldman in May 1974. The plaque on the rose colored granite marker was donated by the Elizabeth Benton Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. The stone came from the old Jackson County Courthouse and was placed on the site by the Westport Historical Society. The Battle of Westport historical marker is also located here. During the Battle of Westport on the morning of October 23, 1864, Union Major General Samuel Ryan Curtis had his field command post at the Harris House Hotel. He viewed the fighting south in the Brush Creek area with his field glasses from the roof of the hotel.

    
    

13. EWING-BOONE BUILDING, 500 Westport Road. It is the most well-known of all Westport's buildings. Called "Kelly's Westport Inn" it stands on the east half of Lot 9 in McCoy's original plat of Westport.
    
    Ewing-Boone Building

    Construction on the building commenced in 1850 and was completed in 1851. It was sold to Albert Gallatin Boone, grandson of Daniel Boone in January 1854, by its builders, George W. and William G. Ewing, who were Indian traders. Boone sold the store in 1860 and moved to Denver. In 1904 the building was bought by the Wiedenmann family. The Wiedenmann family operated a grocery store here for many years. Since then it has been sold to Kelly's. The building is one of two in Westport on the National Register of Historical Places, the other being the Harris-Kearney House at 4000 Baltimore.

14. CHOUTEAU-BRIDGER BUILDING, 504 Westport Road, was also built in 1850-51. After hiding for half a century under a pressed-brick front, the old building was rediscovered when renovation was started by Stanford & Sons. It stands on the west half of a 74-foot lot with the Ewing-Boone Building. Cyprien Chouteau owned the property from 1850-1866 when he sold it to Jim Bridger.

    During the 1850's the building was occupied by Westport's only newspaper, the Border Star. The newspaper was a radical pro-southern publication and was shut down by Union troops in 1861. Jim Bridger purchased the store in 1866 and his son-in-law, Albert Wachsmann, former Union army captain, operated it as an outfitting store for wagon trains. A dance hall occupied the second floor.

    
    

15. On the northeast corner of Mill Street and Westport Road, at 510 Westport Road, stood ANDREW EISELE'S BAKERY AND ICE CREAM PARLOUR, the first in Westport. The bakery building stood on the site until 1970 at which time it was demolished. Manor Square covers the ground it stood on. The ovens of the bakery were hewn into a stone ledge upon which the building rested and are likely still there.

    Just west of Eisele's bakery site, you can still see the sunken swale running north and south that was Spring Branch Creek. A number of grist mills were in operation along this creek in early Westport. The creek is now part of the city sewer system.

    
    

16. YOACHAM'S TAVERN, operated by another early Westporter, Daniel Yoacham, as was the custom, took in travelers who were passing along the trails. As traffic grew, he built a second story and went into the hotel business in earnest. Archibald Street is named for his son, who as a young man was killed in the Battle of Wilson's Creek near Springfield, Missouri in August 1862. It is the only street in Westport retaining its original name.

    
    

17. Site of two ALLEN SCHOOLS at 706 42nd Street. The early school was built 1867-68 and both schools were named for Judge A. M. Allen, an early prominent lawyer and educator who came to Westport from Virginia. It is now the Westport Allen Center and used as a local community center.

    
    

18. Site of the DUMMY LINE STATION, 525 Westport Road, southwest corner of Mill Street and Westport Road.

    The original rails can be seen that were here in the early 1900s when the dummy line was running from this terminal to Dodson, Missouri (85th and Prospect) by way of Waldo (75th and Wornall). The train consisted of a small steam locomotive and one coach.

    
    

19. East on Westport Road is the site of SAMUEL C. ROBY'S INDIAN STORE. It was red brick, two stories high and stood on the southeast corner of Mill and Westport Road until after 1890.

    PHIL BECKER, shoemaker, who arrived in Westport in the early 1850s, had a shop next to Roby's. After the great fire which destroyed the block on December 25, 1859, he moved to another location.

    DR. JOSEPH O. BOGGS PIONEER DRUG STORE was located in the middle of the block. All of these sites are now a parking lot.

20. HUNTER'S BLOCK, as it is known, at 1501 Westport Road, ran south to the alley on Pennsylvania. James Madison Hunter came to Westport in the early 1830s. John C. McCoy's town wasn't attracting as many people as he thought it should, so in return for a promise to settle in Westport and start a business, McCoy gave him "the half block between Mill and Pennsylvania, plus two acres of land adjoining."

    Hunter started a saddle and harness shop on the northeast corner of Lot 15, now the southwest corner of Westport Road and Pennsylvania. He traded with the Indians in partnership with James Simpson and also his brother, Duke Simpson.

    In 1846, McCoy gave Hunter a deed for all the property he had previously given him for a consideration of $20.

    What is now Linwood Boulevard in Kansas City was once named Hunter Street in his honor.

    
    

21. MABRY HALL, 4112-4114 Pennsylvania. The date of construction of this building is 1857, probably in October of the year. It was originally named Hebron Hall. On August 14, 1850 Simon Sager, from Benton County, Arkansas bought Lots 19 and 20 at a cost of $96 on which Mabry Hall now stands. On August 26, 1850 he sold the two lots to James Hunter for $130.

    Dr. William E. Mabry came to Westport in 1879 and was for a period of time the town physician. He lived nearby on Archibald Street. He bought the building in 1903 and placed his own name on it.

    23a. The Virginia House or VIRGINIA HOTEL stood on the east side of Pennsylvania approximately midway between Archibald and Westport Road.

22. At 4144 Pennsylvania stood the building housing the hide store of MOSES WOLF. It stood until 1938. In 1911 Mrs. Wolf, by then a widow, was still living there.

    
    

23. Beyond the site of Moses Wolf's store (and across the street south) The PENN SCHOOL stood for over 100 years. The brick 3 room building was built for the Negro children whose families had settled in a small area of Westport after the Civil War. It was destroyed by fire in 1967. The site of the school is now a parking lot. In 1992 a memorial plaque to the school was placed on a stone wall on the west side of Broadway across the street from the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. This was a project of the school alumni.

24. Proceed north to Archibald where the HOME OF JOHN CALVIN MCCOY stood at 4125 Pennsylvania. This was on the northeast corner of the intersection of Archibald Street. The home was built in 1838 and it was here "the first white girl was born in Westport," Eleanor M. McCoy, sometimes called "Nellie" McCoy. Her birth occurred on July 2, 1840.
    
25. THE NATHAN SCARRITT HOME, 4038 Central, was built by Dr. J. O. Boggs probably in 1852. It is the oldest frame house standing in Westport. Rev. Nathan Scarritt, who served the early Westport Methodist Church, lived here in the 1850s. Later the family of Dr. and Mrs. John Parker - both father and son were prominent physicians - lived here. Byers 3 Interiors now occupies the building and inside one can see part of the original structure.