time William B. Strang Jr. platted out a residential
development in this area in 1905. To promote his real
estate plans and bring people out from Kansas City,
he developed a trolley car railroad, the Missouri and
Kansas Interurban Railway, which followed near the
route of the Santa Fe, Oregon, and California trails
from Westport to here until 1940.
Strang was not only a real estate developer and
railway entrepreneur, he was also an aviation
pioneer. He developed Aviation Park a couple of
miles east of here. The park gained national attention
during the early years of aviation with its biplane
barnstorming exhibitions. Those aerial acrobatics
took place right over the old trail routes.
