Editing Lee's Summit, Missouri (section)

==History==
===Early history===
{{See also|History of Missouri}}Humans have occupied the region which includes present-day Lee's Summit for at least 10,000 years.<ref>Schwenk, p. 2</ref> [[Archeological]] evidence indicates that humans have occupied settlements within the present-day boundaries of Lee's Summit during all periods as far back as roughly 9,000 years ago. For example, [[archaeologists]] have discovered stone [[Arrowhead|arrowheads]] characteristic of the [[Dalton tradition]] in Lee's Summit, indicating that humans occupied the area at least 9,000 years ago.<ref>Schmits et al., p. 225</ref>{{Efn|Schmits et al. says of site 23JA160, "early occupations are indicated by the recovery of Dalton points". Schmits et al., p. 10, figure 3. shows that site 23JA160 is located in Lee's Summit, near the intersection of U.S. Route 40 and S Powell Avenue.}} At another site in the city, [[Arrowhead|arrowheads]] and ceramics characteristic of the Kansas City [[Hopewell culture]] were discovered, indicating that humans had temporary campsites in the area roughly 2,000 years ago.<ref>Schmits et al., p. 14</ref>{{Efn|Schmits et al. says of site 23JA115, "Projectile point styles from these sites are predominantly expanding-stemmed forms characteristic of the middle Kansas City Hopewell period. Ceramics are plain-surfaced and more typical of late Kansas City Hopewell ceramics." Schmits et al., p. 10, figure 3. shows that site 23JA115 is located in Lee's Summit, near the intersection of Lee's Summit Road and NW Anderson Drive.}} Stone tools and organic remains suggest that temporary campsites in what is now Lee's Summit were used to hunt for deer, bison, and other small mammals, roughly 700 years ago.<ref>Schmits et al., p. 244</ref>{{Efn|Schmits et al. says of site 23JA43, "The lithic assemblage indicates that the site represents a residential extractive camp focused on the manufacture and use of chipped stone tools for hunting, butchering and hide preparation. Faunal remains indicate that subsistence was based on white-tailed deer. Bison and a number of small mammals such as raccoon, woodchuck and cottontail were of lesser importance." Schmits et al., p. 10, figure 3. shows that site 23JA43 is located in Lee's Summit, near Lee's Summit Road and NW Anderson Drive.}}

At the time of first contact between indigenous Missourians and Europeans, in the 1670s, present-day Lee's Summit represented part of the northwestern border of the territory occupied by the [[Osage people|Little Osage people]]. Other nearby groups included the [[Missouria|Missourias]] to the north and the [[Kansa people|Kanzas]] to the west.<ref>Olson, pp. 86-87</ref><ref>Schmits et al., p. 16</ref> The area was likely used as hunting grounds by [[Osage Nation|the Osage]].<ref>Schwenk, pp. 2-3</ref><ref>Wood, p. 17</ref>

In 1682, [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]] claimed for France the [[Mississippi River]] basin as the territory of Louisiana, which included present-day Lee's Summit.<ref>Olson, pp. 89-90</ref><ref>Wood, p. 8</ref> In 1762, France secretly ceded the territory to Spain by the [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)|Treaty of Fontainebleau]].

===19th century===
When commissioners were deciding on where to establish the [[county seat]], they described southern Jackson County as "useless" prairie.<ref>Shortridge, p. 11</ref> At that time in 1827, southern Jackson County, including the area of present-day Lee's Summit, was the rural counterpart to the urbanizing north county. Beginning in the 1830s, Americans from eastern [[Slave states and free states|slave states]] came to settle what is now Lee's Summit, attracted by "its rolling prairie, fertile soil, numerous streams, and stands of timber".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |first= |title=Lee's Summit, Missouri Past and Present |url=https://www.flipbookpdf.net/web/site/2de9e82a8671e46263348dbdbad2bd6b197a3bad202005.pdf.html#page/1 |access-date=April 15, 2025 |website=Flipbook |publisher=Lee’s Summit Historical Society}}</ref><ref>Schwenk, p. 8</ref> In 1844, [[William Bullitt Howard|William Bulitt Howard]], the eventual founder of Lee's Summit, arrived from Kentucky with his family and slaves.<ref name=":1" /> Dr. Pleasant John Graves Lea, the eventual namesake of the city, was a resident of the area according to the [[1850 United States census|1850 census]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Horner |first=John Arthur |date=November 8, 2013 |title=Here a Lea, There a Lea - Everywhere a Lea, a Lea! Part 1 |url=https://kchistory.org/blog/here-lea-there-lea-everywhere-lea-lea-part-1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250118123658/https://kchistory.org/blog/here-lea-there-lea-everywhere-lea-lea-part-1 |archive-date=January 18, 2025 |access-date=May 7, 2025 |website=[[Kansas City Public Library]]}}</ref> By 1853, settlers had purchased from the federal government all of the land which now constitutes Lee's Summit. In 1860, [[Prairie Township, Jackson County, Missouri|Prairie Township]] was incorporated in Jackson County, and the community which would later become Lee's Summit was the largest in the new township.<ref>''The History of Jackson County'', pp. 130, 342</ref>

Congress passed the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act|Kansas-Nebraska Act]] in 1854, thereby starting the [[Missouri-Kansas Border War]]. Many of the residents of [[Prairie Township, Jackson County, Missouri|Prairie Township]] held pro-slavery attitudes, and some even fought in [[Bushwhacker|pro-slavery bands of guerrillas]].<ref name=":1" /> The [[Little Blue River (Missouri)|Little Blue River]] valley was an important place of refuge for these [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla forces]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schwenk |first=Sarah F. |last2=Parisi |first2=John M. |last3=Weston |first3=Donald E. |date=August 1986 |title=The Cultural Resources of Blue Springs, Missouri |url=https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Blue%20Springs%201986%20Report.pdf |access-date=May 7, 2025 |publisher=Archaeological Associates |page=77 |type=Submitted to the [[Blue Springs, Missouri | City of Blue Springs]], funded by [[National Park Service]] Grant No. 29-85-93l0-020-B of the [[U.S. Department of the Interior]], and administered by the Office of Historic Preservation of the [[Missouri Department of Natural Resources]] |publication-place=Grandview, Missouri}}</ref>{{Efn|Significant portions of Lee's Summit and the Little Blue River valley overlap. See, Shortridge, p. 3, Map 1.}} [[William Bullitt Howard|Howard]], the eventual founder of Lee's Summit, was arrested by a [[Union army|Union]] officer and then spent one month in jail in 1859.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Faces of the Jail |url=https://www.jchs.org/faces-of-the-jail |access-date=April 15, 2025 |website=Jackson County Historical Society}}</ref> In July of 1862, Irvin Walley, a captain in the [[Union army]], shot and killed Henry Washington Younger, an early settler of Lee's Summit.<ref name=":2">''The History of Jackson County'', p. 342</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Croy |first=Homer |url=https://archive.org/details/coleyoungerlasto00home |title=Last of the Great Outlaws |publisher=[[Duell, Sloan and Pearce]] |year=1956 |location=New York |pages=16-17 |access-date=April 16, 2025}}</ref> Less than two months later, [[Jayhawker|anti-slavery guerrillas from Kansas]] killed Dr. Lea in his home. After these men's deaths, their sons joined up with [[William Quantrill|William Quantrill's]] pro-Confederate gang and participated in the [[Lawrence Massacre]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Horner |first=John Arthur |date=November 15, 2013 |title=Here a Lea, There a Lea - Everywhere a Lea, a Lea! Part 2 |url=https://kchistory.org/blog/here-lea-there-lea-everywhere-lea-lea-part-2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241215135344/https://kchistory.org/blog/here-lea-there-lea-everywhere-lea-lea-part-2 |archive-date=December 15, 2024 |access-date=May 7, 2025 |website=[[Kansas City Public Library]]}}</ref> Most notable among them was [[Cole Younger]], a life-long resident of Lee's Summit and outlaw who would become "Jesse James's right hand".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Croy |first=Homer |url=https://archive.org/details/coleyoungerlasto00home |title=Last of the Great Outlaws |publisher=[[Duell, Sloan and Pearce]] |year=1956 |location=New York |pages=ix, 32-37 |access-date=April 16, 2025}}</ref><ref>McCullough, p. 24</ref> In response to the [[Lawrence Massacre]], Union General [[Thomas Ewing Jr.|Thomas Ewing, Jr.]], in 1863, issued [[General Order No. 11 (1863)|General Order No. 11]] which forced all residents living outside of Union-occupied towns in Jackson County to prove allegiance to [[Union (American Civil War)|the Union]] within fifteen days or else evacuate. This resulted in the desertion of the area of present-day Lee's Summit, with many residents fleeing back to their homes in the east. [[Union army|Union troops]] then burned and razed many of the abandoned farms.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Schwenk, p. 10</ref>

=== Incorporation ===

Upon the end of the [[American Civil War]] in 1865, [[William Bullitt Howard]] returned to his home in Jackson County. He reached a deal with the [[Missouri Pacific Railroad Company]] to plat a town of {{convert|70|acre|km2}} along the path of the tracks south of Kansas City and on the way to [[St. Louis]]. Lots in the center of the town would be reserved for a [[train depot]]. The town was founded as "Strother", named after Howard's wife's family name, in October 1865.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Schwenk, p. 11</ref><ref>''The History of Jackson County'', p. 952</ref>[[Image:LS Platt 1877.JPG|thumb|right|250px|A map plat of Lee's Summit c. 1877, showing the [[Missouri Pacific Railroad]] depot and William Bullitt Howard's land]]
In 1868, the town was officially renamed "Lee's Summit". A flier from 1865 refers to the town as "Strother, formerly known as Lee's Summit", indicating that the town was colloquially known as Lee's Summit prior to its founding by [[William Bullitt Howard|Howard]].{{Efn|1=Also see a petition from the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company filed in St. Louis County and published in the [https://shsmo.newspapers.com/image/571042004/?match=1&terms=%22Lee%27s%20Summit%22 December 24, 1864 edition] of ''The Daily Missouri Democrat'' which refers to "Lee's Summit".}} It is very likely that Lee's Summit was named in honor of Dr. Pleasant John Graves Lea, who was killed nearby in 1862. Workers for the [[Missouri Pacific Railroad]] may have painted "Lees Summit" on the side of a boxcar to serve as a temporary [[Train depot|depot]] in the city.<ref name=":3">Schwenk, pp. 11-12</ref> That they wrote "Lee" instead of "Lea" is assumed to be a spelling error, while "Summit" comes from the fact that the city contains the highest point along the railroad between Kansas City and [[St. Louis]].<ref name = "hist1"/><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> Contrary to this account, in 1969 Howard's grandson claimed that the town was named in honor of [[Confederate General]] [[Robert E. Lee]] and that [[William Bullitt Howard|Howard]] used the story about Dr. Lea as a cover. Local historians, however, have dismissed this claim.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Winkler |first=Elijah |date=June 3, 2023 |title=Where did the city of Lee's Summit get its name? The history and legacy is complicated |url=https://www.kansascity.com/news/your-kcq/article276058136.html |access-date=May 7, 2025 |work=[[The Kansas City Star]]}}</ref>

In 1877, Lee's Summit was incorporated as a fourth-class city, and by then it was the "commercial center for the surrounding agricultural community".<ref>Schwenk, pp. 14-15</ref> The primary occupation in Lee's Summit was farming—in particular, raising hogs, growing corn, and fruit orchards.<ref>Schwenk, pp. 19, 22</ref> In 1885, a fire destroyed much of downtown Lee's Summit.<ref name="hist1" /><ref name=":1" />

===20th century===
In the early 20th century, Lee's Summit persisted as a small and rural agricultural community. The city's population growth was stunted by its proximity to Kansas City and Independence. Still, the city boundaries were expanded in 1905, and some residential development occurred in the 1900s and 1910s. Property development slowed and then ceased in Lee's Summit during the 1920s and through the [[Great Depression]] and [[World War II]].<ref>Schwenk, pp. 16-17, 31-32</ref>

In 1912, lumber baron and Kansas City civic leader [[Robert A. Long]] began building his estate, [[Longview Farm]], on {{convert|1780|acre|km2}}, much of which was in southwestern Lee's Summit. It took eighteen months to complete with the work of over two thousand laborers. At the time of building, it was considered the largest construction project in the country. At the time of completion, the farm employed over two hundred people who lived on the property. Long's daughter, Loula Long Combs, made a lifelong career of raising champion [[Show horse|show horses]] on the farm.<ref name="hist1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Marsh |first=Joanna |date=January 14, 2021 |title=KCQ: The History of Longview Farm |url=https://kclibrary.org/news/2021-01/kcq-history-longview-farm |access-date=May 5, 2025 |website=[[Kansas City Public Library]]}}</ref> In 2004, part of the farm was developed into the New Longview neighborhood.<ref name=":4">Shortridge, p. 196</ref>

In March 1922, at the Veterans Memorial Hall in downtown Lee's Summit (now the Third Street Social restaurant), [[Harry S. Truman]] announced he was running for election as County Court judge of the eastern district of Jackson County—the first political candidacy of his career.{{Efn|According to McCullough, the County Court judge was not a judicial position, but an administrative one involving county government spending and contracting. The eastern district included towns such as Independence, Grandview, and Lee's Summit. Mike Pendergast, brother of Kansas City political boss [[Tom Pendergast]], had "responsibility for" this position.}} Years later, in 1956, [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] said of his first political speech that it "was a flop for me". "I was more scared then than I was at any time later, even when I was on the front in the first world war in France.”<ref>{{Cite web |last=Burnes |first=Brian |date=November 7, 2022 |title=Truman’s First Campaign |url=https://www.jchs.org/jchs-e-journal/2022/11/7/trumans-first-campaign |access-date=May 5, 2025 |website=Jackson County Historical Society}}</ref><ref>McCullough, pp. 153-154</ref> During the [[Primary election|primary]] campaign, [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] briefly pursued [[Ku Klux Klan]] membership thinking it would help him secure more votes, in part because of prominent [[Cross burning|cross burnings]] in Lee's Summit.<ref>McCullough, pp. 156-157</ref> Two years later, during his reelection campaign, he faced public opposition from Jackson County [[treasurer]] and Lee's Summit mayor, Todd George, who may have been affiliated with the [[Ku Klux Klan|Klan]].{{Efn|McCullough refers to George as "the local head Klansman". George's family disputes this characterization, saying that they "had independent research conducted, and it found there is no evidence of any such affiliation" and that "in a 1959 memoir, George stated he wanted nothing to do with the KKK". The editorial board of The Kansas City Star points out, however, that "While reports that George was a local leader of the Ku Klux Klan were a matter of some debate, his belief in a racist ideology was indisputable." See Dicus, Todd C. (July 17, 2020). [https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article244272432.html "Discussion about Todd George's name on Lee's Summit roads requires context"]. ''[[Kansas City Star]]''. Retrieved May 5, 2025. See also, [https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article244264797.html "'A memorial to hatred': Lee's Summit should rename streets honoring racist former mayor"]. ''[[Kansas City Star]]''. July 16, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2025.}} [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] claimed that the [[Ku Klux Klan|Klan]] threatened to kill him, and in response he disrupted a [[Ku Klux Klan|Klan]] rally in Lee's Summit, shaming the roughly one thousand attendees for their [[Anti-Catholicism|anti-Catholic]] and [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] views.<ref>McCullough, p. 162</ref> In 1928, [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] as the presiding judge of the County Court undertook the construction of many roads, connecting Lee's Summit to the rest of the [[Kansas City metropolitan area|metro area]], and of a hospital just outside Lee's Summit (later named Truman Medical Center-East, now [[University Health Lakewood Medical Center]]).<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jackson |first=David W. |date=Spring 2004 |title=Jackson County's Poor Farm Transformed into a Rich Healthcare Center |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51181e81e4b04512ec820440/t/5150f49ee4b00303002f5b18/1364259998819/Vol45-1.pdf |journal=Jackson County Historical Society Journal |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=9-10}}</ref><ref>McCullough, pp. 167-168</ref>

Upon the conclusion of [[World War II]] in 1945, there was enormous demand for [[single-family housing]] across the United States. This demand, combined with the recently built roads, [[Federal Housing Administration]] policy, and the [[G.I. Bill]] initiated the rapid [[suburbanization]] of Lee's Summit. Developers began building entire neighborhoods in the city, but were interrupted from 1950 to 1953 because of the [[Korean War]]. After the war, however, the number of people living in and around Lee's Summit grew significantly. According to the [[1950 United States census|1950 census]], about 2,500 people lived in Lee's Summit, but by 1960 over 8,000 people did. This population growth was a consequence of white Kansas City residents relocating to the suburbs as well as large [[Annexation|annexations]] by the city. By the late 1950s, Lee's Summit was no longer an agricultural community, but instead a [[commuter suburb]]—nearly sixty percent of residents worked outside the city, and almost no farming took place.<ref>Schwenk, pp. 140-146</ref>

In 1961, [[Western Electric]] opened a factory in Lee's Summit and within a year employed about three thousand people. The [[Western Electric]] plant, which was in operation until 2002, encouraged the further growth of the city by providing a tax base for additional [[Annexation|annexations]] and a well-funded [[public school district]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.westernelectric.com:80/history.html#expand |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819100135/http://www.westernelectric.com:80/history.html#expand |archive-date=August 19, 2016 |access-date=May 7, 2025 |website=[[Western Electric]]}}</ref><ref>Schwenk, pp. 46-48</ref><ref name=":5">Shortridge, p. 154</ref> The city's rapid growth continued through the 1970s and 1980s, reaching over 46,000 residents by 1990. John Knox Village, a long-term care facility, was completed in 1970 and has remained a top employer for the city since. In 1985, the [[Little Blue River (Missouri)|Little Blue River]] was dammed, creating [[Longview Lake]], the site of other amenities such as the Fred Arbanas Golf Course and the [[Longview Community College|MCC-Longview]] community college.<ref name=":5" /> In 2001, the [[Summit Woods Crossing]] retail center was developed in Lee's Summit, and in 2007 the [[Summit Fair]] retail center was built nearby.<ref name=":4" /> Construction of the Downtown Market Plaza, which will include a farmer's market and event space, began in 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2023 Annual Report |url=https://cityofls.net/annual-reports/2023-annual-report |access-date=May 8, 2025 |website=City of Lee's Summit}}</ref>

According to criteria set forth by [[Sociology|sociologists]] [[Douglas Massey]] and [[Nancy Denton]], the Kansas City metro area was "hypersegregated" between white and Black residents as recently as the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Massey |first=Douglas S. |title=[[American Apartheid]] |last2=Denton |first2=Nancy A. |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=1993 |isbn=9780674018211 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=75-77}}</ref> Lee's Summit, as a [[Inner suburb|second-ring]] [[white flight]] suburb,<ref name=":4" /> contributed to a dynamic of [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]] between Kansas City and its outlying region. The government policies which helped [[Suburbanization|suburbanize]] the city in the [[Post WWII|post-war period]] excluded Black people from participating in them, effectively making Lee's Summit available exclusively to white people. The [[Federal Housing Administration]] even encouraged suburban developers to include legally unenforceable [[Shelley v. Kraemer|racially restrictive deed covenants]] with the sale of their homes.<ref>Schwenk, p. 41</ref> According to [[sociologist]] Kevin Fox Gotham, residents of Lee's Summit successfully resisted efforts to locate federally [[Subsidized housing in the United States|subsidized housing]] in the suburb, meant to integrate the metro area, in the 1970s and up through the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gotham |first=Kevin Fox |date=October 1998 |title=Suburbia Under Siege: Low-Income Housing and Racial Conflict in Metropolitan Kansas City, 1970-1990 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02732173.1998.9982207 |journal=[[Sociological Spectrum]] |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=459 |via=Taylor & Francis}}</ref> In 1988, 134 Black students in the [[Kansas City Public Schools|Kansas City public school district]] sued the Lee's Summit school district for racial discrimination. In 1990 this case was made part of [[Missouri v. Jenkins|''Missouri v. Jenkins'']], which resulted in the creation of the Kansas City [[magnet school]] system and an unprecedented court order doubling the local tax rate, only to be overturned by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] in 1995.<ref>{{Cite court|litigants=Lee's Summit Reorganized School District v. Naylor|opinion=89-1957|court=8th Cir.|date=May 23, 1990|url=https://archive.org/details/micro_IA40385020_2763/micro_IA40385020_2763%201.%20Petition%20for%20Writ%20of%20Certiorari/page/n40/mode/1up}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Connor |first=Tim |date=October 30, 1990 |title=Court opens way for blacks |url=https://kansascity.newspapers.com/image/681517838/ |access-date=May 7, 2025 |work=[[The Kansas City Star]] |pages=1, 7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=August 8, 2016 |title=Kansas City's Magnet Schools Were A Dream Realized, Then Gone In A Generation |url=https://www.kcur.org/community/2016-08-08/kansas-citys-magnet-schools-were-a-dream-realized-then-gone-in-a-generation |access-date=May 7, 2025 |work=[[KCUR-FM | Kansas City Public Radio]]}}</ref>