Originally used as an outfitting store for wagon trains, this building was completed in 1850 by Indian traders George and William Ewing and was sold in 1854 to Albert Gallatin Boone for $7,000. Boone operated the store from 1854 to 1859.
Born in Kentucky in 1806, Boone was a mountain man, trader and grandson of the famous Daniel Boone. In 1838 he received a license to trade with the Delaware, Kansa, Shawnee and Kickapoo tribes. His ability to speak fluent French, Spanish and all the major Indian languages led later to his serving as Indian agent and as commissioner to negotiate with the Sioux after the defeat of Lt. Col. George A. Custer at Little Big Horn.
In 1904 the Wiedenmann family bought the building and opened a grocery store. In 1947 Randal Kelly, an immigrant from Ireland, leased the building to open Kelly's Westport Inn. In 1995 the Kelly family purchased the building.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Albert G. Boone Store is one of the oldest commercial brick buildings in Kansas City and played an important role in the Western trade and migration on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails on which Westport was strategically located.
Boone's Store
