Westport High School - Herald Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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v w..., Q1 PM :WA .J . flwgfzf' X 1 even of tses were :oming a ewspaper hindowan ier. The the right raper was rcles. 'It 1 eastern ce Greely the great arehouses 'oods the :leed they s between fund was ut of this een Park- t was set :l through THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. ZI Civic spirit ran high. The town was growing by rapid strides. State conven- tions and denominational assemblies met there. More families flocked in. It looked as if the founders' hopes were to be realized. The town government was of the pure, clean, democratic New England type. Churches were built and a public school established. lt was a temperance town from the first, and lots were sold with a clause in the deeds that would keep it so. Quindaro started off with a boom, but his- tory has shown us that the indications were false. At the very time when the growth of the town demanded its men, the Civil Wlar came, and the men being true followers of Lincoln, left for the front. When the sur- vivors returned, the town had ceased to be. The railroad had left her, and men's inter- ests had turned in another direction, for Kansas City was fast becoming a business center. Quindaro was forgotten, became a part of the past. The ruins of this old town are just outside of Kansas City, Kansas. It is but an hour's walk up the river, and it would pay anyone to take the trip. Out there one forgets the city and its busy life. One can see the same hills and the same streams that greeted the first pioneer of Quindaro. VValking along the foot of those bluffs, fol- iage-covered as they are, one is not surprised that men were attracted to the spot. Below one lies the Missouri, running slugglishly along. You become engrossed in the scen- ery and reach Quindaro before you realize it. VVhat is left of the old town sets back in a ravine some few rods from the river, there being only three or four old ruins left. Al- most hidden beneath a mass of creeping, thick-leaved vines, inhabited by owls and bats, infested with snakes and insects, the gray walls are slowly crumbling-down' from age and decay. The most prominent ruin is that of the THE OLD FORT

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20 Tl-IE wEsTPoRT H1oH SCHOOL HERALD- ! W ,Z A ft I .,f,.-f...,,....,,,.,.f 1. . if 'T 'A' ' ' ' 1 . -.' .. -vw ,li f . M..- l 1,4-N A, W' Q 43 ,f W .. .Z ,- I fi ,V J? V' tn, 'X W. wa... 7. M M . va , Q wi-W fr 'Mk5,.x.,7,a..-aww-3 ' .. .. . v ,,,W,,,,.V..,x sm. if '44 3 4 A ua... 'fi Xl , f,jQ 4 714- A THE PORT and is very deep, forming an excellent port. The town was started off with a boom. Men with their families poured in. Many thought it would become the great commercial cen- ter of the West. The town was platted out into 5,355 lots and the construction of a levee commenced. A landing-place about a quarter of a mile long and from one hundred and sixty to two hundred and forty feet wide was built along the water front. At either end of this, reser- vations were made for mills, factories and even railroad shops, so great were the ex- pectations of the founders. Quindaro was to be the county seat, and perhaps the capi- tal of the state. A large public square was reserved so there would be a suitable place for municipal, county and state buildings. Extremely wide avenues were laid out and these were all lettered and numbered. A few rods from the river a stone hotel with forty guest rooms was built. It was one of the prides of the town and even of the state. Many substantial houses were going up and Quindaro was becoming a Queen City of the VVest.f' A newspaper was started. It was called the Chindowan after on Indian name meaning leader. The editor was an energetic man, just the right kind to boost a new town. This paper was distributed throughout eastern circles. 'It created interest and brought in eastern money and inliuence. Even Horace Greely declared that Quindaro would be the great metropolis of the middle West. VVarehouses were built for the storage of goods the steamboats would bring in, and indeed they soon began to make bi-weekly trips between this town and St. Louis. A public fund was raised to encourage industries, Out of this fund a ferry was established between Park- ville and Quindaro. Another part was set aside to encourage railroads to build through the town. Civic growing tions an there. 3 as if the The tow democra were bu lt was a lots wel that wo' Quint tory has false. if the tow came, a Lincoln vivors 1 The rai ests he Kansas centerQ Quin

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22 THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. old fort. One wall, perhaps sixty feet high, remains standing, although a little warped with age. The other wall has crumbled somewhat. High up on these can be seen the portholes, whose purpose became one of ornament rather than use. At the south- western extremity of the building Cjust vis- ible in the pictureg there is a cave-like open- ing, the entrance to a tunnel. This used to lead to the river, a few rods away, providing a secret means of exit for those in the fort. wall remains, barely visible under its cur- tain of wild grape vines and poison ivy. A little distance to the WGSY Of the fort is a huge bluff, such as is common along the Missouri. After a strenuous climb, one gains the summit of this hill and is at once impressed with the distant view that can be had. On close examination the ground is found to be covered with small mounds and you realize that you are standing on the graves of early settlers. You wonder l i e 2 Roms OF AN OLD DWELLING But time has wrought great changes upon this as well as upon the rest. The opening upon the side of the river has become filled with driftwood and lost to sight. Xhfhen the railroad company built its road through the town, a portion of the tunnel caved in. It has now become so clogged that one C311 only proceed a few feet into its interior. Near its entrance runs a small stream and back of this is another ruin, all that 15 left of what was once a double house. Une long why such a sightly and at the same time such an unhandy place was chosen for a cemetery, Some of the mounds are un- marked. Qthers have a simple wooden slab at the head inscribed with the name, birth and death of the deceased. Others have memorials chipped on the surface of boulders found along the water's edge. A few have Q Plain granite or marble slab. Some of the inscriptions are very quaint and old- fashioned. Tliere hill, that Standing head in graves lil go bacli in soniei breaking xvest tr: principle men as ness of t these hc can pict offs sen front ai' turning But tl tive bre see the to the cloud 1 north, l be see their llritai the d gress the 1 setts of Ri ially the Q