Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, St. Louis: factories, sale, 2015)

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Largest cities by population in Missouri in 1900


1 St. Louis: 575,238

2 Kansas City: 163,752

3 St. Joseph: 102,979

4 Joplin: 26,023

5 Springfield: 23,267

6 Sedalia: 15,231

7 Hannibal: 12,780

8 Jefferson City: 9,664

9 Carthage: 9,416

10 Webb City: 9,201

11 Moberly: 8,012

12 St. Charles: 7,982

13 Nevada: 7,461

14 Independence: 6,974


Raytown: Nonexistant

Blue Springs; 464

Lee's Summit: 1,453

Do you have the numbers pre-1900? It would be interesting to see when KC surpassed Independence.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Do you have the numbers pre-1900? It would be interesting to see when KC surpassed Independence.

I wish someone could help prove me wrong here,

But from my past experience in dealing with smaller town populations prior to 1900, there is apparently no federal census information available for these towns.

Local history writers will sometimes include pre-1900 population figures and I have often wondered what official source those figures came from.

Prior to 1900, the census takers and tabulators apparently concentrated on compiling population statistics by county and civil township populations rather than county and town populations.



Having said that, I did find this federal census information on a federal website that is a tabulation of racial demographic census data and generally went back to 1860:

1860
Independence
3,164 population of which 2,463 were white and 701 were black. Of the blacks, 23 were free and 701 were slaves. This would seem to be a lot of slaves within the original city limits back then. This data could be related to Blue Township.

Kansas City
4,418 population of which 4,228 were white and 190 were black. Of the blacks, 24 were free and 166 were slaves. This could be information for Kaw Township.

St Joseph population in 1860 was 8,932.
St Louis population in 1860 was 160,773 and in 1840 it was shown as 14,469 and in 1850, 77,860.
There was no information on Springfield for 1860 but in 1850 the population was shown as 415.

These were the only towns listed for the state of Missouri.

[WCHS'59]

Missouri’s largest cities in 1970

1 St. Louis: 622,236
2 Kansas City: 507,330
3 Springfield: 120,096
4 Independence: 111,630




Raytown 33,306
Blue Springs 3,779
Lee's Summit 16,230

[Pale Rider 92]

Boxes were burned because at that time that's how trash was disposed Of! I worked there! I saw Bens son Vict, selling Insurance on Main Street in 1970! Anyone know what happened to him!

[WCHS'59]

Missouri’s Largest cities in 1980

1 St. Louis: 452,801
2 Kansas City: 448,028
3 Springfield: 133,116
4 Independence: 111,797




Raytown 31,831
Blue Springs 25,936
Lee's Summit 28,741

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Pale Rider 92

Boxes were burned because at that time that's how trash was disposed Of! I worked there! I saw Bens son Vict, selling Insurance on Main Street in 1970! Anyone know what happened to him!

There is an obituary on the web for Marie Nigro Cascio, 96, of Leawood, Kansas, who passed away on October 13, 2015.

The obit mentions that she and her husband, Ben, started a grocery store in Kansas City, Kansas, and then in 1951 created Cascio’s Food Market, one of the largest stores in the state of Missouri. There is no mention of the Independence store but that location came long in 1962. I don’t have any information as to when it bowed out.

Victor is listed as her surviving son.

A web search seems to indicate he might be living on the Kansas side, also.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

I wish someone could help prove me wrong here,

But from my past experience in dealing with smaller town populations prior to 1900, there is apparently no federal census information available for these towns.

Local history writers will sometimes include pre-1900 population figures and I have often wondered what official source those figures came from.

Prior to 1900, the census takers and tabulators apparently concentrated on compiling population statistics by county and civil township populations rather than county and town populations.



Having said that, I did find this federal census information on a federal website that is a tabulation of racial demographic census data and generally went back to 1860:

1860
Independence
3,164 population of which 2,463 were white and 701 were black. Of the blacks, 23 were free and 701 were slaves. This would seem to be a lot of slaves within the original city limits back then. This data could be related to Blue Township.

Kansas City
4,418 population of which 4,228 were white and 190 were black. Of the blacks, 24 were free and 166 were slaves. This could be information for Kaw Township.

St Joseph population in 1860 was 8,932.
St Louis population in 1860 was 160,773 and in 1840 it was shown as 14,469 and in 1850, 77,860.
There was no information on Springfield for 1860 but in 1850 the population was shown as 415.

These were the only towns listed for the state of Missouri.

Looks like I proved myself wrong.

I found a population listing in the 1850 census. The list is shown as POPULATION OF SUCH CITIES, TOWNS, TOWNSHIPS, HUNDREDS, &c IN THE UNITED STATES AS HAVE BEEN ASCERTAINED IN THE CENSUS OFFICE. I have no idea what “hundreds” is.

It lists the population of all of these entities alphabetically regardless of state and regardless of county. Wonder what computer they used for that that?

At any rate, in 1850:

St. Louis: 77,880
St Joseph: 5,000
Jefferson City: 3,000
Kansas City: 2,529
Independence: 2,500
Hannibal: 2,030
Springfield, 415

Kansas City was incorporated as Kansas on June 1, 1850. The census shows a “Kan” in Jackson County as having 2,529 inhabitants. So, it appears that Kansas City was slightly bigger than Independence in 1850.

There is also an Independence in Dunklin County, Mo, way down in the lower boot heel shown as having 447 citizens. A check of that county shows there was never a town of Independence but there is a civil township in Dunklin County named Independence.

Thus far, I have not been able to find the same data listing for 1840 but neither KC nor Independence were incorporated in that year.

[WCHS'59]

From the Examiner of October 5, 1967.


The advertisement says that Cascio's is Missouri’s largest food store—two acres of shopping and six acres of parking.

There was a sit down snack bar, a bakery, and a pharmacy inside. The manager of the snack bar was named Pete and the pharmacy manager was Art. I don't recall their last names. The store had two front end managers one of whom was named Jay and the stock portion had a manager who I worked for. There was also a separate dairy and frozen food manager. In addition to the front end managers' office, there were offices in the back room in which at least three people worked including Bill Miller who was the Comptroller. Cascio had his office in there, also.

In one anniversary promotion that occurred in 1964, the store gave away four ponies, which were in their own corral in front of the store during the time of the month long promotion.

The location says Highway 40 and Crysler in Independence but the store was actually shy of Crysler by two-tenths of a mile to the east.

[WCHS'59]

Missouri’s Largest cities in 1990

1 St. Louis: 452,801
2 Kansas City: 435,146
3 Springfield: 140,494
4 Independence: 112,301




Raytown 30,601
Blue Springs 40,153
Lee's Summit 46,418

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Looks like I proved myself wrong.

I found a population listing in the 1850 census. The list is shown as POPULATION OF SUCH CITIES, TOWNS, TOWNSHIPS, HUNDREDS, &c IN THE UNITED STATES AS HAVE BEEN ASCERTAINED IN THE CENSUS OFFICE. I have no idea what “hundreds” is.

It lists the population of all of these entities alphabetically regardless of state and regardless of county. Wonder what computer they used for that that?

At any rate, in 1850:

St. Louis: 77,880
St Joseph: 5,000
Jefferson City: 3,000
Kansas City: 2,529
Independence: 2,500
Hannibal: 2,030
Springfield, 415

Kansas City was incorporated as Kansas on June 1, 1850. The census shows a “Kan” in Jackson County as having 2,529 inhabitants. So, it appears that Kansas City was slightly bigger than Independence in 1850.

There is also an Independence in Dunklin County, Mo, way down in the lower boot heel shown as having 447 citizens. A check of that county shows there was never a town of Independence but there is a civil township in Dunklin County named Independence.

Thus far, I have not been able to find the same data listing for 1840 but neither KC nor Independence were incorporated in that year.

Independence was larger than KC in the early years. Unfortunately it wasn't an officially incorporated town at the time. I guess they were too busy making a living to get around to such formalities.