The French at Westport Landing
N 39° 06.805 W 094° 34.998
15S E 363114 N 4330556
The eastern of two adjacent National Park Service interpretive signs along the Riverfront Historic Trail in downtown Kansas City MO.
Waymark Code: WMGPJT
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 03/28/2013
Views: 3
One of a series of National Park Service interpretive signs along the Riverfront Heritage Trail along the Missouri River in downtown Kansas City MO.
The sign reads as follows:
[Oregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail, and California Trail symbols]
Chez la Canzes
The French at Westport Landing
[inset, right]
A FRENCH FAMILY IN KANSAS CITY
The Chouteau family was the pre-eminent founding French family of the Kansas City area. In 1790 Auguste Chouteau was given trade rights with the Kansa Indians. By 1818 his sons had a successful fur trading post known as "Four Houses" on the Kansas River.
Successfully settled into the area, they expanded with a second post a few miles east of here. After a flood in 1826, Francois rebuilt on higher ground only one mile east of here. He managed Chouteau's Landing until his death in 1838.
Another flood wiped out this post in 1844. His wife Berenice moved up onto the bluffs of Kansas City. Feted as the Grande Dame of Kansas City, she lived out her life there until 1888.
[drawing of the post, and this text, inset]
This French church sat on the bluff and was sketched by Nicholas Point when he traveled through here in the early 19th century. Notable individuals who had also passed through Chouteau's Landing include John Fremont, Kit Carson, and John James Audubon.
[hand-drawn planning map of Westport, inset in center]
Plan of Westport Landing, 1840, by Nicholas Point. This survey of the area labels the properties held by 26 French Catholic families.
{right side of sign]
French fur trappers and explorers were the first Europeans to arrive at the junction of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers.
French military officer Etienne Veniard led an early expedition up the Missouri River. Though he wasn't the first Frenchman here, his journal entry dated July 11, 1713 provides the earliest written description of the area.
". . . on the west side, a range of hills - towards the west north-west . . . one finds the River of the Canzes, which mouth comes from the south . . . "
Westport founder John McCoy remarked that French Trader Francois Chouteau's land was ". . . one of the largest and best farms in the county, with a steamboat landing, warehouses, and costly dwellings, and out-houses . . . " Chouteau's family and friends were instrumental in the growth of Westport Landing into Kansas City Missouri.
Group that erected the marker: National Park Service
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
Riverfront Heritage Trail
2nd and Main St
Kansas City, MO
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