John Calvin McCoy was a "founder." First, of Westport, Missouri where he settled in 1830, and again eight years later, of the original Town Company of Kansas, Missouri, which became Kansas City Missouri. Born in Indiana, he was schooled in Kentucky as a surveyor. Nineteen-year-old John Calvin McCoy came west in 1830 with his father. There McCoy was town father, surveyor, tradesman, real estate investor and subdivider. In February 1835 he patented a tract of government land, surveyed it and filed a plat for his new town of Westport. When the town company of Kansas was organized in 1838, John McCoy was one of the 14 original investors. He died in his home at 711 Olive Street, Kansas City Missouri.
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John's dad, Isaac, ran a ferry and a local historian states John also had a license for a ferry across the Missouri River.
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John Calvin McCoyIn 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. To reach Westport from the east, traders traveled by river to a natural rock landing near the junction of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers and then trekked four miles south to Westport. The river landing was a promising location for a town of its own, which prompted 14 investors to form the Town of Kansas Company and purchase the land from the Gabriel Prudhomme estate for $4,220 on November 14, 1838. Prudhomme had been a fur trader associated with the French Chouteau family, who were some of the earliest settlers in the area.John Calvin McCoy, son of Baptist missionary Isaac McCoy, was the primary organizer of the group of 14. When the McCoy family first moved to the area in 1830, Isaac focused on his ministry to the Shawnee Indians who had been forced into the area after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Meanwhile, John, a trained surveyor, opened a general store, marked roadways nearby, and cleared a trail to the river landing. The subsequent growth of trade, businesses, and settlers in what he called “West Port” spurred the incorporation of Westport in 1833.Already the recognized founder of Westport, McCoy seized the opportunity to found another town at the riverfront in 1838 and encouraged the other 13 investors. They chose the name “Kansas” because of the nearby Kansa Indians and Kansas River. Today, Kansas City’s location in Missouri causes confusion, but in 1838 it was not a foreseeable problem because the land that would become the territory and then the state of Kansas was then simply known as “Indian Territory.”With land and a name in place, the town still needed businesses, roads, and a population. For two decades, visitors frequently derided the slowly-developing Town of Kansas as “Westport’s Landing,” but its geographic advantages as a trading port and eventual railroad and cattle trade hub allowed it to outstrip Westport in size and significance. Renamed the “City of Kansas” in 1853 and “Kansas City” in 1889, the city annexed Westport itself in 1899. John McCoy, the heralded “father” of the Town of Kansas, died in 1889 in the bona fide city.Read full biographical sketches of some early founders of Kansas City, prepared by the Missouri Valley Special Collections, The Kansas City Public Library:Biography of John Calvin McCoy (1811-1889), city founder, by Susan Jezak Ford.
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John's dad, Isaac, ran a ferry and a local historian states John also had a license for a ferry across the Missouri River.
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John Calvin McCoyIn 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. To reach Westport from the east, traders traveled by river to a natural rock landing near the junction of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers and then trekked four miles south to Westport. The river landing was a promising location for a town of its own, which prompted 14 investors to form the Town of Kansas Company and purchase the land from the Gabriel Prudhomme estate for $4,220 on November 14, 1838. Prudhomme had been a fur trader associated with the French Chouteau family, who were some of the earliest settlers in the area.John Calvin McCoy, son of Baptist missionary Isaac McCoy, was the primary organizer of the group of 14. When the McCoy family first moved to the area in 1830, Isaac focused on his ministry to the Shawnee Indians who had been forced into the area after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Meanwhile, John, a trained surveyor, opened a general store, marked roadways nearby, and cleared a trail to the river landing. The subsequent growth of trade, businesses, and settlers in what he called “West Port” spurred the incorporation of Westport in 1833.Already the recognized founder of Westport, McCoy seized the opportunity to found another town at the riverfront in 1838 and encouraged the other 13 investors. They chose the name “Kansas” because of the nearby Kansa Indians and Kansas River. Today, Kansas City’s location in Missouri causes confusion, but in 1838 it was not a foreseeable problem because the land that would become the territory and then the state of Kansas was then simply known as “Indian Territory.”With land and a name in place, the town still needed businesses, roads, and a population. For two decades, visitors frequently derided the slowly-developing Town of Kansas as “Westport’s Landing,” but its geographic advantages as a trading port and eventual railroad and cattle trade hub allowed it to outstrip Westport in size and significance. Renamed the “City of Kansas” in 1853 and “Kansas City” in 1889, the city annexed Westport itself in 1899. John McCoy, the heralded “father” of the Town of Kansas, died in 1889 in the bona fide city.Read full biographical sketches of some early founders of Kansas City, prepared by the Missouri Valley Special Collections, The Kansas City Public Library:Biography of John Calvin McCoy (1811-1889), city founder, by Susan Jezak Ford.
John Calvin McCoy was a "founder." First, of Westport, Missouri where he settled in 1830, and again eight years later, of the original Town Company of Kansas, Missouri, which became Kansas City Missouri. Born in Indiana, he was schooled in Kentucky as a surveyor. Nineteen-year-old John Calvin McCoy came west in 1830 with his father. There McCoy was town father, surveyor, tradesman, real estate investor and subdivider. In February 1835 he patented a tract of government land, surveyed it and filed a plat for his new town of Westport. When the town company of Kansas was organized in 1838, John McCoy was one of the 14 original investors. He died in his home at 711 Olive Street, Kansas City Missouri.
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John's dad, Isaac, ran a ferry and a local historian states John also had a license for a ferry across the Missouri River.
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John Calvin McCoyIn 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. To reach Westport from the east, traders traveled by river to a natural rock landing near the junction of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers and then trekked four miles south to Westport. The river landing was a promising location for a town of its own, which prompted 14 investors to form the Town of Kansas Company and purchase the land from the Gabriel Prudhomme estate for $4,220 on November 14, 1838. Prudhomme had been a fur trader associated with the French Chouteau family, who were some of the earliest settlers in the area.John Calvin McCoy, son of Baptist missionary Isaac McCoy, was the primary organizer of the group of 14. When the McCoy family first moved to the area in 1830, Isaac focused on his ministry to the Shawnee Indians who had been forced into the area after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Meanwhile, John, a trained surveyor, opened a general store, marked roadways nearby, and cleared a trail to the river landing. The subsequent growth of trade, businesses, and settlers in what he called “West Port” spurred the incorporation of Westport in 1833.Already the recognized founder of Westport, McCoy seized the opportunity to found another town at the riverfront in 1838 and encouraged the other 13 investors. They chose the name “Kansas” because of the nearby Kansa Indians and Kansas River. Today, Kansas City’s location in Missouri causes confusion, but in 1838 it was not a foreseeable problem because the land that would become the territory and then the state of Kansas was then simply known as “Indian Territory.”With land and a name in place, the town still needed businesses, roads, and a population. For two decades, visitors frequently derided the slowly-developing Town of Kansas as “Westport’s Landing,” but its geographic advantages as a trading port and eventual railroad and cattle trade hub allowed it to outstrip Westport in size and significance. Renamed the “City of Kansas” in 1853 and “Kansas City” in 1889, the city annexed Westport itself in 1899. John McCoy, the heralded “father” of the Town of Kansas, died in 1889 in the bona fide city.Read full biographical sketches of some early founders of Kansas City, prepared by the Missouri Valley Special Collections, The Kansas City Public Library:Biography of John Calvin McCoy (1811-1889), city founder, by Susan Jezak Ford.
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John's dad, Isaac, ran a ferry and a local historian states John also had a license for a ferry across the Missouri River.
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John Calvin McCoyIn 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. To reach Westport from the east, traders traveled by river to a natural rock landing near the junction of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers and then trekked four miles south to Westport. The river landing was a promising location for a town of its own, which prompted 14 investors to form the Town of Kansas Company and purchase the land from the Gabriel Prudhomme estate for $4,220 on November 14, 1838. Prudhomme had been a fur trader associated with the French Chouteau family, who were some of the earliest settlers in the area.John Calvin McCoy, son of Baptist missionary Isaac McCoy, was the primary organizer of the group of 14. When the McCoy family first moved to the area in 1830, Isaac focused on his ministry to the Shawnee Indians who had been forced into the area after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Meanwhile, John, a trained surveyor, opened a general store, marked roadways nearby, and cleared a trail to the river landing. The subsequent growth of trade, businesses, and settlers in what he called “West Port” spurred the incorporation of Westport in 1833.Already the recognized founder of Westport, McCoy seized the opportunity to found another town at the riverfront in 1838 and encouraged the other 13 investors. They chose the name “Kansas” because of the nearby Kansa Indians and Kansas River. Today, Kansas City’s location in Missouri causes confusion, but in 1838 it was not a foreseeable problem because the land that would become the territory and then the state of Kansas was then simply known as “Indian Territory.”With land and a name in place, the town still needed businesses, roads, and a population. For two decades, visitors frequently derided the slowly-developing Town of Kansas as “Westport’s Landing,” but its geographic advantages as a trading port and eventual railroad and cattle trade hub allowed it to outstrip Westport in size and significance. Renamed the “City of Kansas” in 1853 and “Kansas City” in 1889, the city annexed Westport itself in 1899. John McCoy, the heralded “father” of the Town of Kansas, died in 1889 in the bona fide city.Read full biographical sketches of some early founders of Kansas City, prepared by the Missouri Valley Special Collections, The Kansas City Public Library:Biography of John Calvin McCoy (1811-1889), city founder, by Susan Jezak Ford.
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