Grinter Place · KS.City

Grinter Place is an 1857 farmhouse and Kansas state historic site at 1420 S. 78th Street in Kansas City, Kansas, built by Moses R. Grinter — operator of the first ferry on the Kansas River — overlooking the Delaware Crossing of the river. It is the oldest house in Wyandotte County and is administered as a museum by the Kansas Historical Society.¹²

History

Moses R. Grinter came to the area in 1831, when he began operating the first ferry on the Kansas River at what became known as the Delaware Crossing.³² The crossing served the Fort Leavenworth–Fort Gibson military road, surveyed in 1837, and Grinter’s ferries carried soldiers, traders, and freight across the river, as well as emigrants bound for the Oregon and California trails.¹² Grinter is believed to have been the first permanent white settler in what became Wyandotte County, and among the earliest in all of Kansas.²

Around 1838 Grinter married Windagamen (“Annie”) Marshall, a Delaware (Lenape) woman born January 8, 1820 in Ohio, who had been forcibly relocated with her tribe — first to Missouri, then arriving in Kansas in 1831. The couple had ten children, five of whom reached adulthood.¹ In 1857, on land that was then part of the Delaware Indian Reserve, the Grinters built the two-story brick house that stands today.¹² Moses died in 1878; Annie — one of about 25 Delaware women who became U.S. citizens when Kansas became a state — lived until 1905.³

The property became a Kansas state historic site on October 12, 1970, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 25, 1971 (reference #71000338), with significance in military and transportation history for the period 1850–1874. The house is also recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey.¹³⁴²

Architecture + materials

The main structure is a two-story brick farmhouse in a vernacular Colonial style, reportedly modeled on a Kentucky house Moses Grinter had seen in his youth.¹³ It stands on a rise overlooking the Kansas River near the old ferry crossing.¹

Defining features + cultural identity

Grinter Place embodies the earliest permanent European-American settlement in the KCK area — and the entanglement of that settlement with the forced removal of the Delaware (Lenape) people, on whose reserve lands the ferry ran and the house was built.¹² Its National Register significance rests on military and transportation history: the Delaware Crossing was where the Fort Leavenworth–Fort Gibson military road met the Kansas River.⁴² The site underscores KCK’s distinct identity as part of the historic Kansas frontier, separate yet intertwined with KCMO development.

Sites of interest

The Grinter house and its museum exhibits, administered by the Kansas Historical Society.¹
The Delaware Crossing ferry site on the Kansas River below the house.²
The Grinter House historical marker, erected by the Native Sons of Kansas City.²

Cultural legacy

As the oldest house in Wyandotte County, Grinter Place preserves the pre-statehood and territorial-era history of the region.¹ It connects to the broader narratives of Delaware (Lenape) removal and citizenship, river commerce, and westward migration that shaped how the Kansas City metro formed — a story carried in the site’s own family: a Kentucky-born ferryman and a Delaware woman whose marriage spanned the frontier and statehood eras.¹³

Sources

Kansas Historical Society — “Grinter Place.” — asserts: Moses and Annie Grinter built the house in 1857, the oldest in Wyandotte County, overlooking the Kansas River; Colonial style, reportedly modeled on a Kentucky home Moses had seen; Moses operated a ferry business at the Delaware Crossing carrying people and goods across the Kansas River, serving military personnel and Oregon-California Trail travelers; Annie was Windagamen Marshall, a Delaware (Lenape) woman born January 8, 1820 in Ohio, forcibly relocated with her tribe from Ohio to Missouri and arriving in Kansas in 1831; she married Moses around 1838 and had ten children, five reaching adulthood; the property became a state historic site October 12, 1970 and was listed in the National Register January 25, 1971; address 1420 South 78th Street, Kansas City, Wyandotte County; maintained by the Kansas Historical Society. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹
Historical Marker Database — “Grinter House” marker, erected by the Native Sons of Kansas City — asserts: full marker text — built by Moses R. Grinter in 1857 on the then Delaware Indian Reserve, near the point where in 1831 he had begun operation of the first ferry on the Kansas River; for many years following its survey in 1837 the Fort Leavenworth–Fort Gibson Military Road crossed the river here; Grinter believed to have been the first permanent white settler in what became Wyandotte County and one of the earliest in all of Kansas; the house listed by the Historic American Buildings Survey and the National Register and administered as a museum by the Kansas State Historical Society. (hmdb.org returns HTTP 403 to plain automated fetches; full text read via Firecrawl 2026-08-05.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰
Wikipedia — “Grinter Place.” — asserts: NRHP listing January 25, 1971, reference #71000338; Colonial architectural style; built 1857; 1420 South 78th Street, Muncie (Kansas City, Kansas area); Moses Grinter one of the earliest permanent white settlers in the area, established the Grinter Ferry around 1831; his wife was half-Lenape (Delaware), Indian name “Windagamen” meaning “Sweetness”; Moses died 1878, Annie 1905; she was one of about 25 Delaware women who became U.S. citizens when the territory became a state; administered by the Kansas Historical Society as Grinter Place State Historic Site; coordinates 39.0756 N, 94.7599 W. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
National Park Service, NPGallery — National Register record, Grinter Place (NRIS #71000338) — asserts: Grinter Place, Muncie, Wyandotte County, Kansas; 1420 S. 78th St.; listed January 25, 1971; significant for military and transportation history, period 1850–1874, associated with Moses Grinter. ↩ ↩²