Editing Blue Springs, Missouri (section)

==History==
As early as 1825, a spring of water flowing from the side of a hill and falling into a tributary of Little Blue River was used by campers, traders, and many wagons starting on the Santa Fe expeditions.  They met here before crossing the plains. The spring was named Blue Springs by freighters freighting provisions to the Harmony Mission, on the Marias de Cygnes River in Bates County Missouri, from Lexington, Missouri in Lafayette County.<ref>{{cite book | title=The History of Jackson County Missouri | author=Union Historical Company Birdsall, Williams, and Company | publisher=Ramsey, Millet, and Hudson, Printers, Binders, etc. | date=1881 | pages=318}}</ref>

The presence of water and a need for supplies led to the construction of a grist mill and a permanent settlement of Blue Springs near the spring. The original town site of Blue Springs and the spring for which Blue Springs was named was located near what became Burrus Old Mill Park.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

An early settler, Franklin Smith, arrived in Blue Springs from Virginia in 1838, and became a leading figure in the community's development. He established the first post office in 1845,<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RfAuAAAAYAAJ | title=How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named | publisher=The State Historical Society of Missouri | last=Eaton | first=David Wolfe | year=1916 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RfAuAAAAYAAJ/page/n74 177]}}</ref> naming it after the well-known springs.

The settlement continued to grow near the springs until March 1878, when the [[Alton Railroad|Chicago and Alton Railroad]] announced plans to build a station about one mile east of the original settlement. To take advantage of the commerce the railroad would bring, the town moved its center to the site of the new station and continued its development as a rural trading center.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xcxWsmxRzVEC&pg=PA18 | title=Missouri Roadsides: The Traveler's Companion | publisher=University of Missouri Press | author=Earngey, Bill | year=1995 | pages=18| isbn=9780826210210 }}</ref> The Chicago & Alton Hotel built in 1878 is the oldest business in the city.

The Jackson County Court granted the incorporation of Blue Springs as a town on September 7, 1880, making it the fourth settlement in the county to be incorporated. On January 12, 1904, Blue Springs was incorporated as a 4th class city.<ref>{{cite book | title=Blue Springs Centennial Review | publisher= KC Publications | year=1980 | pages=8–9}}</ref> Blue Springs adopted a Constitutional Charter and became Home Rule Charter City in April 1994.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bluespringsgov.com/1751/City-Charter|title=City Charter| publisher=City of Blue Springs}}</ref>

The former Bank of Blue Springs was established in 1883. It had a capital surplus of $50,000 in 1926.<ref>{{cite book | title=Jackson County Missouri, It's Opportunities and Resources | publisher= Rulal Jackson County Chamber of Commerce | year=1926 | page=240}}</ref>