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Independence, Missouri, lies on
the south bank of the Missouri River, near the western edge of
the state and a few miles east of Kansas City. Few towns its
size can claim such a rich history: the Missouri and Osage
Indians originally claimed the area, followed by the Spanish and
a brief French tenure. It became American territory with the
Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Lewis and Clark recorded in their
journals that they stopped in 1804 to pick plums, raspberries,
and wild apples at a site later identified as the location of
Independence. William Clark returned to the area late in 1808
and established Fort Osage. George Sibley became Indian agent
for the Osage Indian tribe and the first factor of the tribal
fur trading post. The story is told that Indians would gather
outside his window to hear his 15 year old bride play the piano.
The Sibleys also entertained such notable visitors as John James
Audubon, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, Daniel Boone,
Sacajawea, the Choteau brothers, and in 1819 the first steamboat
to ply the Missouri, the Western Engineer. As the population
grew, Missouri became a separate Territory in 1812. By 1820,
there were enough settlers to warrant statehood, but because of
Missouri's stance in favor of slavery it took the Missouri
Compromise of 1821 to attain it. The growing communities in the
west were grouped together into Jackson County, named in honor
of Andrew Jackson, the hero of the War of 1812 and future
president. The community of Independence was named county seat
over neighboring Westport and Kansas City. Independence grew up
around the building used for court sessions. In 1827, the town
was platted and a log courthouse was constructed by slaves. The
courthouse was used as a pig pen in the evenings and became
thoroughly infested with fleas. The judge was forced to resort
to bringing sheep into the courtroom before a session to clear
out the fleas. A permanent solution to the flea problem came in
1829 with the construction of a brick courthouse in the town
square. The City of Independence was incorporated in 1849, four
years after Oregon City's incorporation under the Provisional
Government. Growth in western Missouri increased rapidly because
of trade with Santa Fe. Before 1821, trade with the Mexican
outpost was illegal. After Mexico won its independence from
Spain in 1821, trade became legal and was actively encouraged by
the authorities. William Becknell led the first legal trading
expedition and thus won a place in history as the "Father of the
Santa Fe Trail." Originally, cloth and tools were obtained in
St. Louis to trade in Santa Fe for furs, salt, and silver and
hauled overland in Conestoga wagons. Within a few years, traders
were paying to transport their wares to Independence by
steamboat, where they were loaded onto wagons for the journey
over the Santa Fe Trail. Like the emigrants of later years, the
traders recognized that the riverboats could shave several days
off their journey by allowing them to jump off farther west. A
brief but significant chapter in the history of Independence
began in 1831 when Joseph Smith moved his Latter Day Saints to
the city. They prospered on their large farms, started the first
local newspaper, and opened their own schools. |
