By 1840, Independence was the staging area for the great western migrations on the Overland Trail - known today as the Oregon Trail.
In the 1840s and 1850s,
Independence, Missouri, became the principal staging area and
trailhead for the Oregon Trail. In its heyday, more than a
hundred thousand settlers would gather in its dusty streets, each
spring, and prepare for the overland journey to the Pacific Ocean.
The town's name could not have been more appropriate,
literally and symbolically, for the emmigrants who set off from
this place on the six month long trek to the Oregon Territory.