Many residents of the village of Westport, established in 1831, came here from the southern United States. They often brought their slaves with them. Although many residents fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, Westport had an unusual relationship to slavery. John McCoy, a founder of and trade store and Westport Landing, established a way for slaves in the area to buy their freedom. Slaves could earn $3.00 per week to work off repaying the price their masters had paid for them. In addition, the town set aside land where those former slaves could live. This area, centered around 43rd Street west of Pennsylvania, became known as Steptoe.
Henry Clay Pate (1832-1864) was born in Bedford County, Va. and led a group of Virginians to Westport in 1855 with the intent “of swelling the emigration from the South and making Kansas a slave state.” He was appointed Justice of the Peace shortly after his arrival and started his own pro-slavery newspaper in Westport called The Border Star.
In 1856, he led a group of men into Kansas to track down the notorious abolitionist John Brown. At the Battle of Blackjack, Pate and his pro-slavery men from Westport captured two of John Brown’s sons only to be attacked and captured by John Brown. A few days later, Pate was released and went back to Westport.
In August 1857, Pate turned his sights toward real estate. He took a small piece of land bought months earlier and platted out “Pate’s First Addition.” East-west streets were named Pate (43rd Street), Steptoe (43rd Terrace) and Clay (44th Street). Within a few short months, lots were sold to white settlers (The Steptoes) in the Westport area.
Pate left Westport at the outbreak of the Civil War and went back to Virginia where he enlisted in the Confederate Army. He rose to Lieutenant Colonel but was shot in the head at the Battle of Yellow Tavern in 1864.
Education was paramount to the African Americans who settled in Westport and later in the Steptoe neighborhood. While most parents couldn’t read or write, their younger children were taught these essential skills.
In order to understand how much of a draw a Black school had in a community, one has to understand that even in 1900, the Black population was evenly distributed throughout Jackson, Cass and Platte Counties. But if you wanted to have access to education, you had to travel to Kansas City- and Westport had one of the few Black Schools. This created pressure for parents to either move to the area or make their children travel long distances to school. Penn School likely instigated a large population boom of Black families to Westport.
Penn School at 4237 Pennsylvania was the first ever school west of the Mississippi created to solely educate Black children. The goal of Penn School, which operated out of a two-room brick building, was to extend education to freed slaves. The school educated students from first to seventh grade, and students could then continue their education at Lincoln, Central or Manual High Schools.
In addition to a school for Black children, two Black churches also anchored the Steptoe neighborhood. Saint Luke’s African American Methodist Episcopal (AME) church was organized in 1879 and St. James Baptist Church was organized in 1883.
Segregation in Kansas City was certainly a strong movement that shifted most of the African American population of Kansas City to the east side, and Steptoe wasn’t exempt from this attempt to segregate the whole city.
In 1921, a group of Westport property owners proposed to the Park Board that “the city condemn the property fronting on Steptoe Street, between Washington Street and Broadway, for a public playground.” This was the heart of Steptoe’s Black neighborhood. Residents weren’t about to go down without a fight. Residents insisted that “the sole purpose of the movement was to drive the negroes from the district.” Even some white neighbors were opposed to the project. The project died and the neighborhood continued to thrive.
In 1933, the name of Steptoe St. was integrated into the grid system of Kansas City and its name was changed to 43rd Terrace. But, long-time residents continued to refer to it as “Steptoe.” A reminder of this history was set in blue and white ceramic tiles in the sidewalk at each corner spelling out “Steptoe.”
By the 1930s, Steptoe’s Black community expanded onto Broadway, Pennsylvania, Washington, and 43rd Street in addition to 43rd Terrace (Steptoe Street). Even though racism thrived in Kansas City at the time, the little neighborhood of Steptoe continued to stand strong in the shadows of Westport and the Country Club Plaza.
Neat little houses, all well-manicured and taken care of, once were a part of the Steptoe neighborhood and led to permanent residents. In its time, Steptoe in Westport was "a little island," surrounded by white neighborhoods. Longtime residents talk about having white, Jewish, German, Italian, Hispanic, and Swedish people for neighbors. Though there were segregationist attitudes, there was little racial tension.
Ironically, what drew the population to Westport likely sealed the demise of the Steptoe neighborhood. Penn School was closed in 1955 as the school district moved toward desegregation. Efforts to save the historic building were launched by Westport Historical Society so they could open it as a historical and liberal arts center. The school building was destroyed by fire in 1967.
By the 1980s, most of the neighborhood had been engulfed by the expansion of St. Luke’s Hospital. The Steptoe neighborhood was diminished to about two dozen homes. There was movement to designate the area as a historic district but plans waned. The little island of Steptoe didn’t survive.
Saint Luke’s AME church was demolished in 2003 when the congregation only had 26 members left. Slowly but surely, St. Luke’s Hospital has replaced the neighborhood that once was.
St. James Baptist Church is the only institution remaining in the Steptoe area and stands out next to paved parking lots and new building structures for the hospital.
What once began as a subdivision platted by a pro-slavery man turned into the heart of a thriving African American community.
Times certainly do change, but progress is often given as an excuse to destroy our history. In midst of the Westport neighborhood, this area was united by race, religion and education that flourished even past the boundaries of racial segregation. Steptoe is a community that should be memorialized due to its unique spot in our city’s ever-evolving narrative.
Efforts to preserve the area are effectively futile today, but the role that Steptoe played in the advancement of African Americans in Kansas City remains. The city did rename 43rd Terrace back to the original name of Steptoe St.
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