Martin City, Kansas City

Martin City is a census-designated place, in Jackson County, Missouri along the Missouri and Kansas border. A small portion dips down into neighboring Cass County. It was annexed by the City of Kansas City, Missouri in 1963, but was listed separately in the 2010 Census. Martin City is still very much its own community, retaining its own zip code, post office, school district, and city services. The Martin City neighborhood is generally defined as being east of the Kansas state line, south of Blue Ridge Boulevard in areas west and north of the Blue River. In 2010, the population was 686.HistoryMartin City was originally platted as Tilden in 1887 by E.L. Martin and John H. Lipscomb. It was named for Samuel Jones Tilden, a presidential candidate who was defeated by Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876. The name was changed in 1895, because there was another town of Tilden in Dallas County. The name "Martin City" came from Edward Lowe Martin who came to Missouri in 1868 at the age of 26. Martin was famous for organizing the Kansas City Distilling Company, and E. L. Martin & Co. wholesale liquor, as well as serving as the mayor of Kansas City in 1873. During Prohibition, there was drugstore in Martin City where customers could purchase moonshine through a window in the back of the store. The dry goods store had a dance hall upstairs where children and adults could roller-skate. This was the only building of its kind for over 100 miles between Kansas City and Little Rock, Arkansas. This drew travelers from all over Missouri, resulting in a boom in the town's infrastructure. Although business slowed down after prohibition, a prominent stop on the Kansas City Southern Railroad near a local sawmill kept the economy running.