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.

The Native Americans, French fur traders, and Lewis and Clark all recognized the importance of the Missouri River. Flatboats, keelboats and finally powerful steamboats opened the West to a flood of hopeful pioneers in search of land,
adventure or gold and silver. Steamboats first ventured onto the Missouri in 1819, and in time were carrying cargo and passengers all the way to Fort Benton, Montana, almost 3000 miles from St. Louis. To experience a piece of Parkville's history and relive an adventure from our past,
click on the steamboat picture or visit the steamboat Arabia at (www.1856.com)

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.