History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
The history of the Kansas City metropolitan area started in the 19th century as Frenchmen from St. Louis, Missouri moved up the Missouri River to trap for furs and trade with the Native Americans. The Kansas City metropolitan area, straddling the border between Missouri and Kansas at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, was a strategic point for commerce and security. Kansas City, Missouri was founded in 1838 and defeated its rival Westport to become the predominant city west of St. Louis. The area played a major role in the westward expansion of the United States. The Santa Fe, and Oregon trails ran through the area. In 1854, when Kansas was opened to Euro-American settlement, the Missouri-Kansas border became the first battlefield in the conflict in the American Civil War.
Octagon City
Octagon City is a ghost town in Allen County, Kansas, United States. It was a failed intentional community that was founded in 1856 about six miles (10 km) south of Humboldt, Kansas near the Neosho River. It was created by the Vegetarian Kansas Emigration Company, headed by prominent vegetarian Henry Clubb and entrepreneurs Charles DeWolfe and John McLaurin. The original intent was to build a vegetarian commune on the south side of the Neosho River for vegetarians only, but investor interest in a non-vegetarian moral community was much higher and so the decision was made to build Octagon City on the north side of the Neosho River to make the entire project sustainable. Members of Octagon City were under oath to educate their children and uphold a moral lifestyle.