Why is Kansas City in Missouri? This is such an interesting question. So why is that?
Kansas City in the state of Missouri gets its name from the location of the city in respect to the Kansas River. The city of Kansas City has been incorporated three different times under three different names throughout its history. It began as Westport Landing after John McCoy created a landing two miles north of his West Port settlement, and the purpose of this landing was to make trade more accessible for the town of West Port. Then a group of investors named Kansas Town Company began to settle this area and are responsible for the naming of the city to come. In 1850 this area became incorporated as the Town of Kansas; in 1853 as the City of Kansas; and then in 1889 as Kansas City. The city founders decided on this name because of the town’s association with a nearby geographical site. The Kansas River joins the Missouri River near the location of the original town, and the Kansas River is named after the Kansa Indian tribe that is located in this area as well.
There is actually a Kansas City in both Missouri and Kansas, but this wasn’t the original city name for either. The Kansas City in the state of Kansas is adjacent to the one in Missouri geographically, but it also gets its name for similar reasons because it is a part of the larger general territory that was associated with Westport Landing.