Saturday, March 31, 1934

Went up to the Dime Store with Gweyn, Al and the kids. Alfreda set our hair. Ruth Ray came down in the p.m.

John Calvin McCoy (September 28, 1811 – September 2, 1889)

Considered the "father of Kansas City," Calvin was born in Vincennes, Indiana, and
accompanied his parents to Kansas City in 1830 to perform Baptist missionary work.

In 1833, John McCoy built a two-story cabin at what is today 444 Westport Road on the
northeast corner of Pennsylvania. McCoy opened a store for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail
and Oregon Trail. He named the area Westport because it was the last location before travelers
ventured into the Territory of Kansas.

McCoy's store was three miles from the Missouri River. He established a dock at a rocky point in
the  river between Main and Grand Street that came to be called Westport Landing. He followed
a trail that was to become Broadway to reach it. The dock proved to be quite popular but the land
surrounding it belonged to a farmer. In 1850 he and other residents banded together to buy the farm.
Their company was called the Town of Kansas because the port area was the last inhabitable area
 before the flood-prone confluence of the Kansas River and Missouri River.

A statue of McCoy stands today in Pioneer Park at Westport and Broadway. Also depicted in the
statue are Alexander Majors and Jim Bridger.

John Calvin McCoy is buried in Kansas City's Union Cemetery.