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

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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

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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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r its cur- on ivy. he fort is along the imb, one is at once that can .e ground l mounds nding on u wonder :H I f V . s 41 f i , Q' fl: ame time sen for a 9 are un- loden slab .me, birth iers have f boulders few have lme of the and old- THE VVESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. 23 There are a few who lie buried on this hill, that lived to the age of five score. Standing before such a grave, one bends his head in quiet veneration. Pausing before graves like these, one can in his imagination go back and experience, as it were, the life of some of these people. One can see them breaking New England home ties and coming west to help build a state and sustain a principle. lle can picture the toiling of the men as they built homes, and the helpful- ness of the women as they strived to furnish these homes with meagre comforts. Qne can picture a flourishing town in the early 60's sending all its able-bodied men to the front and then see a few, a very few, re- turning to find the place deserted. But the whistle of an approaching locomo- tive breaks in upon the scene, and we again see the ruins of the deserted town. Looking to the east we can see the hazy, smoky cloud that hangs over the city. To the north, faintly outlined against the hills, can be seen the buildings composing Park College. To the south, on a neighboring hill, is Quindaro College for negroes. Here within the range of our vision is a vast metropolis and schools for both races of people. Qne cannot help but think of the vast change that has come over the Ameri- can people during the last Hfty years. Then negro education was a thing un- dreamed of, now it is a reality. Then edu- cation in general was meagre, but now it is to be had on every hand. Then the great cities were few, and Kansas City had not, as yet, taken her place among the few. Quin- daro helped to blaze the way for much of future development. lt was the decline of Quindaro that helped along the growth of Kansas City. Now the history of Quindaro can be found only in musty volumes, and we have almost forgotten that it ever ex- isted. But let us remember tiat Quindaro played a significant part in the growth of the Southwest, and occupied a most vital position in the early history of Kansas City. . DQNALD E. BLACK, 'll. The Services of Samuel Adams in the War of the Revolution tThis essay won third prize in the Sons of the American Revolution Contest for 1911.1 X reading over the history of the struggle of the liiritish colonists in n America for the preservation of their civil rights, from the beginning of llritain's unfortunate oppressive policy to the declaring of independence by a Con- gress of Americans, we are struck with the repeated reappearance of Massachu- setts in struggles with the encroachments of llritish tyranny on civil rights. Espec- ially is this truc of the tense period between the close of the lfrench and lndian iXYar and the outbreak of the Revolution. Partly because of her wealth and commercial im- portance, partly because of her homogeniety of population, largely because of the stern Puritan blood in the veins of her inhab- itants, and above all because of her system of folk-motes, cycle upon cycle, and the active participation of her sons in the great- est and smallest affairs of government, did Massachusetts come to be the great and activelleader of the colonies in contests for home authority and in all civil crises. ln