Frontier Railroads in Kansas City

Frontier Railroads in Kansas City. . In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the United States with the purchase of 530 million acres of land from the French government. The Louisiana Purchase captured the imagination of our nation with promises of adventure and fortune. By 1840, nearly 40% of Americans lived east of the Appalachians. Horses, ox-drawn wagons, and steamboats could not keep up with the demands of this unbridled westward expansion. American needed a fast and reliable transportation system to link remote regions to one another and to the Eastern markets. A railroad was the ready and obvious answer., Kansas City's rail construction began here in the West Bottoms during the height of the Civil War in 1863. In less than a year, Union Pacific's Eastern Division began service between Kansas City and Lawrence., In 1866, Kansas City secured the right from Congress to build the first bridge over the Missouri River, the Hannibal Bridge. Designed by famed engineer, Octave Chanute, the bridge helped launch much of Kansas City's future progress. Less than five years after its opening, seven railroads located to Kansas City. By the turn of the century, nearly 40 different lines including the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, Missouri Pacific, St. Louis-San Francisco, and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy ran through the area. Factors such as established trade routes, surrounding rivers, and the Texas cattle drives determined the location of many of these early rails., By using trains to move cattle from rural Kansas to Chicago, Kansas City soon grew into more than just a way station for livestock. With over 100,000 head of cattle traded annually, meat packing plants such as Armour and Swift soon appeared in the West Bottoms and significant advances were made in refrigeration and packing. By reducing the distance of laborious cattle drives, the railroad also helped solve serious farming issues caused by heavily grazing Longhorns and the diseases carried by these herds. , The railroad spurred other businesses, such as Arthur Stillwell's Kansas City Southern Railroad, which shipped grain to the Gulf of Mexico, and local automotive manufactures GM, Fisher and Ford., Kansas City became a major terminus for passenger trains starting with the Union Depot (1878-1915), sited near the stockyards, and later the impressive Beaux Arts style Union Station (c. 1914). Still gracing Pershing Road, Union Station played an important role in the movement of troops during both World Wars. , Railroads allowed Kansas City to enter the 20th century as one of the nation's most important transportation hubs. By connecting north and south, east and west, the rails transformed America into one nation while establishing Kansas City as a thriving center of business and culture.