Who Was The 'Mother Of Kansas City' According To Historians?!?

I had just assumed it former Mayor Kay Barnes . . . If only because her career stint as former sex therapist gives us hope that she could still help this town "work out" its longstanding issues.

Here's a quote from a better story by our 2nd favorite community newspaper . . .

John Calvin McCoy (1811-1889), founder of Westport and Kansas City, is coined the “Father of Kansas City.” When he arrived in the area in 1830, there was already an established small community of French-speaking Catholics sprinkled near the riverfront. He watched as the area grew from a few dozen families to a city of over 130,000 people.

  One day while riding on a cable car, McCoy saw a familiar face standing at 8th and Cherry. A smile crossed his aging face. “I at once recognized her as one of my oldest and most valued friends,” McCoy later wrote. “Ah, there stands at least one relic and landmark of the olden time that is left to us, worthy of all honor and our warmest love; not only that, but one above all others that merits the distinctive honorary title of ‘Mother of Kansas City.’”

The tall, straight, gray-eyed woman, heavier in appearance than in her younger years, was none other than Berenice Chouteau, and her life was one that warrants the title as our city’s beloved mother.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

The Mother of Kansas City, Berenice Menard Chouteau

Her legacy is important, as she came to the wilderness and opened pathways through the dense forest where houses and businesses now stand.