Weston, Missouri

Weston is a small historic city in Platte County, Missouri, on a bluff above the Missouri River roughly 30 miles northwest of downtown Kansas City. Established in 1838, it is the oldest settlement in the Platte Purchase of 1836 and was once the second-largest port on the Missouri River — a status ended by an 1881 flood that shifted the river channel away from town. Its preserved 19th-century core is now a National Register historic district and a metro-area tourism destination.¹

Overview

County	Platte County, Missouri
Founded	1838 (oldest settlement in the 1836 Platte Purchase)1
Population (2020)	1,7561
Landmarks	McCormick Distillery (1856); Weston Brewing Company (1842); Weston Historic District (NRHP)1
Neighbors	Fort Leavenworth (across the river, Kansas)

History

Weston was established in 1838, two years after the Platte Purchase added the six northwestern counties to Missouri. Its name may derive from First Sergeant Tom Weston of Fort Leavenworth, or from the town’s early status as “the westernmost U.S. settlement” before Texas statehood in 1845.¹

River port and westward outfitting

By 1850, Weston was the second largest port on the Missouri River, with more than 265 steamboats a year docking at its levee. The town was also a major outfitting point for westward emigrant trails, drawing traffic from settlers, soldiers at Fort Leavenworth, and traders. A catastrophic flood in 1881 shifted the Missouri River channel away from the townsite, ending Weston’s era as a river port and freezing much of its 19th-century commercial architecture in place.¹

Preserved historic district

Multiple sites appear on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Weston Historic District. Two continuously operating businesses anchor the town’s historic identity:

• McCormick Distillery — founded 1856, “the oldest whiskey distillery west of the Mississippi River and the oldest continuously operated distillery in the United States.”¹
• Weston Brewing Company — founded 1842, a lager brewery with underground limestone cellars; reopened as an operating brewery in 2005.¹

Points of interest

• McCormick Distillery — Missouri’s oldest, and among the oldest distilleries in the U.S. (1856)¹
• Weston Brewing Company — lager brewery with 19th-century limestone cellars (1842, reopened 2005)¹
• Weston Historic District — NRHP-listed 19th-century commercial and residential core¹

Sources

See also

• platte-city-mo
• parkville
• missouri-river
• fort-leavenworth
• great-flood-1844
• Wiki

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — “Weston, Missouri.” — asserts: founding 1838 in Platte County; oldest settlement of the 1836 Platte Purchase; possible name origin from Sgt. Tom Weston of Fort Leavenworth or “westernmost U.S. settlement” before Texas 1845; 2020 census population 1,756; coordinates and 3.83 sq mi area; second-largest port on the Missouri River in 1850, with more than 265 steamboats per year; 1881 flood shifting the river channel; McCormick Distillery founded 1856; Weston Brewing Company founded 1842, reopened 2005; NRHP Weston Historic District. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹