trolleys used in the United States were used here in 1885. The first permanent settlement within the present limits of Kansas City, which took its name from Kansas river,[1] was established by French fur traders about 1821. Westport, a little inland town--platted 1833, a city 1857, merged in Kansas City in 1899--now a fashionable residence district of Kansas City--was a rival of Independence in the Santa Fe trade which she gained almost _in toto_ in 1844 when the great Missouri flood (the greatest the river has known) destroyed the river landing utilized by Independence. Meanwhile, what is now Kansas City, and was then Westport Landing, being on the river where a swift current wore a rocky shore, steadily increased in importance and overshadowed Westport. But in 1838 lots were surveyed and the name changed to the Town of Kansas. It was officially organized in part in 1847, formally incorporated as a town in 1850, chartered under its present name in 1853, re-chartered in 1875, in 1889 and in 1908. Before 1850 it was practically the exclusive eastern terminus on the river for the Santa Fe trade,[2] and a great outfitting point for Californian emigrants. The history of this border trade is full of picturesque colour. During the Civil War both Independence and Westport were the scene of battles; Kansas City escaped, but her trade went to Leavenworth, where it had the protection of an army post and a quiet frontier. After the war the railways came, taking away the traffic to Santa Fe, and other cities farther up the Missouri river took over the trade to its upper valley. In 1866 Kansas City was entered by the first railway from St Louis; 1867 saw the beginning of the packing industry; in 1869 a railway bridge across the Missouri assured it predominance over Leavenworth and St Joseph; and since that time--save for a depression shortly after 1890, following a real-estate boom--the material progress of the city has been remarkable; the population increased from 4418 in 1860 to 32,260 in 1870, 55,785 in 1880, and 132,716 in 1890. See T. S. Case (ed.), _History of Kansas City, Missouri_ (Syracuse, 1888); William Griffith, _History of Kansas City_ (Kansas City, 1900); for industrial history, the _Greater Kansas City Yearbook_ (1907 seq.); for all features of municipal interest, the _Kansas City Annual_ (Kansas City, 1907 seq.), prepared for the Business Men's League. FOOTNOTES: [1] "Kansas"--in archaic variants of spelling and pronunciation, "Kansaw," and still called, locally and colloquially, the "Kaw."