It’s probably no secret to some history lovers that Jackson County, Mo. became the chosen “retirement” place for many well-known mountain men and trappers. Jim Bridger (1804-1881) chose to move to Westport and later to a farm just north of 103rd Street near the state line where, although blind and “too old to work,” he retold stories of the wilderness to the children of the neighborhood.
Louis Vasquez (1798-1868), a well-known mountain man and trader, owned a fort with Bridger and later chose current-day south Kansas City as his retirement home where he lived between present day Wornall and Holmes just north of Bannister Road.
Since this area’s early history involves Indian Removal and French-speaking traders following their source of income out west as the borders of the United States moved, it’s truly no surprise that these mountain men chose to settle down in their older age here…