Hunter’s Block, Westport, Missouri
HUNTER'S BLOCK, as it is known,
at 1501 Westport Road, ran south to the alley on Pennsylvania. James
Madison Hunter came to Westport in the early 1830s. John C. McCoy's town
wasn't attracting as many people as he thought it should, so in return for a
promise to settle in Westport and start a business, McCoy gave him "the
half block between Mill and Pennsylvania, plus two acres of land
adjoining."
Hunter started a saddle and harness
shop on the northeast corner of Lot 15, now the southwest corner of Westport
Road and Pennsylvania. He traded with the Indians in partnership with
James Simpson and also his brother, Duke Simpson.
In 1846, McCoy gave Hunter a deed for
all the property he had previously given him for a consideration of $20.
What is now Linwood Boulevard in Kansas
City was once named Hunter Street in his honor.
