Editing Westwood, Kansas (section)

==History==
The land where Westwood is located was originally occupied by the Kansa and [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]] Indians.  However, beginning in the 1830s, Captain Joseph Parks, then Head Chief of the [[Shawnee]], worked with the U.S. Government to remove the Shawnee tribes from [[Ohio]] to the newly opened reservations in northeastern Kansas. In exchange for his services, the government awarded Parks 1,290 acres of land straddling what is now Johnson and Wyandotte counties as part of an 1854 treaty with the Shawnee. In 1859, Parks died without leaving a will stating what should happen to the land. His heirs spent the next 60 years disputing how the land should be divided. The land that would eventually become Westwood was ultimately awarded to Parks' granddaughter and her husband, Catherine and John Swatzell.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sandy |first=Wilda |title=Westwood Hills, Kansas: The Biography of a Neighborhood |publisher=City of Westwood Hills, Kansas |year=1995}}</ref> In 1898, the Swatzells built a stone home. That home is still located at 4958 Rainbow and is considered the beginnings of the community that would eventually become Westwood.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Culbertson |first=Gene |title=The City of Westwood, Kansas: 50 Years of Progress |publisher=City of Westwood, Kansas |year=1999}}</ref> 

Following [[World War II]], the land around the Swatzells' residence began to be seriously developed as a suburb of Kansas City. Residents originally formed the Hudson Mission Homes Association as a loose group who worked to bring streets and utilities to the area.<ref name=":0" /> Westwood was formally incorporated as a city in 1949.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.westwoodks.org/index.asp?SEC=ED0B22B6-6E76-4D56-9151-3D1E20C3B492&Type=B_BASIC | title=About the City of Westwood | publisher=City of Westwood, Kansas | accessdate=12 June 2014}}</ref>  The name "Westwood" was chosen for the city because immediately to the East of Westwood there was Westwood, Missouri, which was already a thriving neighborhood.  The name Westwood, moreover, already appeared in several area subdivisions and the elementary school which was already in existence was called Westwood View.

The Westwood Neighborhood Association was formed in 1987 for the purpose of hosting community events.  Its first president was Tom Shanks, a sixteen-year-old resident. The association's first event was Oktoberfest, held in the park located at 50th and Rainbow.  It is an event that still takes place in the community annually.<ref name=":0" />

Westwood maintains its own police department, which serves the public.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.westwoodks.org/police | title=Police &#124; Westwood KS }}</ref>