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History of Parkville, Missouri

Both Parkville and Park University bear the name of Colonel George S. Park, veteran of the Texas War of Independence, land speculator, entrepreneur. Col. Park purchased the site of Parkville and a riverboat landing from the English brothers in 1838, filed the first plat of the town in 1844, and by 1850 had built warehouses and a large stone hotel. In 1853 he established one of Platte County's earliest newspapers, The Industrial Luminary.

Originally a thriving river port for hemp and other products, Parkville grew faster than Kansas City, ten miles southeast. The Missouri River was much closer to town in those days, not far from the present railroad tracks. Indians, trappers, traders and farmers flocked to Parkville and filled its streets with the bustle of healthy commerce.

The boom ended and Parkville suffered near economic collapse when the bitterness between pro-slavery forces and free soil advocates in both Missouri and the Kansas Territory escalated into warfare. Violence was common, and Col. Park's newspaper gained national attention when, in 1855, a pro-slavery mob reacted to his abolitionist editorials by throwing his printing press into the river. The end of the Civil War had little effect on the political bitterness which enveloped the town, and significant commerce ceased.