| Santa Fe Trail Site
|
Description
|
| Big Blue River Crossing
|
Traders who went from Independence to Westport to
outfit used this less popular crossing of the Big Blue River. The ruts going
northwest up the steep hill west of the river are sill visible at 27th and
Topping Avenue.
|
| Archibald Rice Farmhouse
|
At 8801 E. 66th Street in Raytown, Missouri, the Archibald Rice Farmhouse
was reportedly built in the 1830s. The Santa Fe Trail passed northeast
of the house, and travelers wrote about stopping for produce.
|
| Red Bridge Crossing
|
The Red Bridge crossing in Kansas City, Missouri was
initially a ford, one of many difficult river crossings on the way to Santa
Fe. The Red Bridge was constructed at this site in 1859. This important
river crossing is about 300 yards north of the present Red Bridge.
|
Minor Park Ruts
20K
 |
An excellent set of ruts crosses Minor Park, which is administered
by the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department. Easily reached by auto off
of paved roads, these ruts are among the best on the entire Trail.
|
Harris House
21K
 |
Santa Fe trader John Harris built the Harris House in 1855 at the
corner of Westport Road and Main Street. It was moved to its present location at
4000 Baltimore in 1922. Located within the Historic Old Westport District, the
home now serves as a museum and headquarters for the Westport Historical
Society.
|
Ewing-Boone Store
26K
 |
The Ewing-Boone Store is located at the corner
of Westport Road and Pennsylvania. It was constructed between 1850 and 1851 by William
and George Ewing, licensed traders with the Shawnee Indians across the border in
Kansas. The store was sold to Albert Gallatin Boone in 1854.
It was drastically remodeled in the 1890s.
|
Jim Bridger's Store
25K
 |
This building is just west of the Ewing-Boone Store on Westport
Road. It was built in 1850 by Cyprien Chouteau, who sold it to Jim Bridger in
1866. Bridger's son-in-law, Albert Wachsmann, also operated a store in the
building. The building has been altered considerably.
|
William Bent House
18K
 |
The William Bent House is located at 1032 West 55th Street in
Kansas City, Missouri. William Bent, who built Bent's Fort in Colorado in
partnership with his brother Charles and Ceran St. Verain, stayed here on
occasion. Bent bought the land in 1858 but the small house was already standing,
having been built and occupied for 18 years by the Matney family.
|
| Westport Landing
|
The Westport Landing is where Grand Avenue meets the
southern bank of the Missouri River, just below the mouth of the Kansas River.
The historic landing itself has been obliterated by modern developments,
but its overall use remains that of a river port.
|
New Santa Fe
30K
 |
New Santa Fe is now at the southern edge of Kansas City, west of
the intersection of Holmes and Santa Fe Trail Street. Trading stores were
established here, especially to sell liquor. There was also a Santa Fe Trail
stage station at this site in the 1850s. A cemetery and a historical marker
(located behind the Santa Fe Bible Church) are all that remain of the site
today.
|
Alexander Major's House (NRHP)
59K
58K
|
The Alexander Majors House was built in l855, on the east side of
State Line Road near 85th Street in Kansas City, Missouri. Majors was the
leading freighter on the Santa Fe Trail from 1848 to the Civil War, being the
primary contractor for military freight on the route. In partnership with
William Russell and William Waddell, Majors sent thousands of wagons over the
trail.
|
Schumacher Park
27K
|
The Schumacher Park is located at 6601 E. 93rd St, east of I-435
and Bannister Mall; 1/2 mile east of Hillcrest, just west of the Kansas City
Southern Railroad Bridge in Kansas City, Missouri. A short segment of the Trail route is marked and
contains a sheltered picnic area with wayside exhibits. Another brief section of
trail is located east of the park on private land to which access is
restricted.
|
Harmon Park Ruts
35K
 |
These ruts are located at 7727 Delmar, Prairie Village, Kansas. A
segment of the Santa Fe Trail to/from Westport crosses a four acre city park. An
exhibit interprets visible Trail ruts.
|
| Shawnee Methodist Mission (NRHP)
|
The Shawnee Methodist Mission is on Mission Road and 53rd Street in Fairway, Kansas, just
a few blocks west of State Line Road. It was relocated from Wyandotte County
in 1839 to its present site. The remains of three original brick mission
buildings are now owned by the State of Kansas and open as a museum. Trail
ruts are still visible to the north of these buildings. The blacksmith shop
of the mission was reportedly used by Trail travelers, many of whom mention
the mission and the Shawnee Indians.
|
| Grinter House and Ferry
|
This site is east of the city of Bonner Springs on Kansas Highway
32. The first ferry across the Kansas River was started in this vicinity
in 1830 or 1831, and was used by Fort Leavenworth troops to reach the Santa
Fe Trail. This was a major branch of the Santa Fe Trail until the Mexican
War. The two-story brick house was built by Moses Grinter on the northern
bluff above the river in the late 1850s. Today the house is fully restored.
|
