The city of Lee’s Summit is located in both Cass and Jackson Counties, approximately 26 miles southeast of Kansas City and 246 miles west of St. Louis. With a history that dates back to 1865, Lee’s Summit was founded by settler William B. Howard, who originally named the 11 blocks that now encompass the downtown business district as the “Town of Strother.” Three years later, when the town was incorporated, the name was changed to Lee’s Summit, possibly in honor of either Civil War General Robert E. Lee, or of Dr. Pleasant Lea, a prominent citizen of the town. Early on, Lee’s Summit residents surpassed a great tragedy; in 1885, a fire engulfed much of the town’s downtown district, destroying 25 buildings at a total cost of $87,000. Despite the costly devastation, the community banded together to rebuild the town. In the early 20th century, Lee’s Summit gained national, and even international, notoriety as the home of the Longview Farm, a rare showplace farm built by prominent Kansas City lumberman R.A. Long. The self-sufficient farm, located at the western edge of Lee’s Summit, consisted of five barns, 42 buildings, a mansion and a church on 1,700 acres of land. Currently, the church and mansion are being preserved on the National Register of Historic Places, and other parts of the farm are being used as Longview Farm Elementary, Longview Community College, Longview Lake, and a residential development called New Longview.

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