Some of the Founders of Santa Fe Hills
Nathan Bone
American Pioneer
"Nathan Boone Portrait" by Louis Houck is licensed under public domain.
Emory J. Sweeney
Real Estate Developer
"Portrait of Emory J. Sweeney" (Unknown) is licensed under public domain.
William Rockhill Nelson
Newspaper Publisher
"Portrait of William Rockhill Nelson" (Unknown) is licensed under public domain.An interesting neighborhood exists in South Kansas City, MO that most people have probably never heard about: Santa Fe Hills. I knew that it also went by the name of Indian Village, and what its boundaries are. I knew that this was not a typical neighborhood, as every single house has a different style, unlike other areas where I have lived. I also knew that there is a house on the land that was built by the Daniel Boone family.
I recalled that this neighborhood does not have any sidewalks, so when my parents took my brother, sister and I for a walk, we were always looking over our shoulder to make sure we did not get run over by a car. When Independence Day came, the neighborhood had a parade, and my parents would wake us up and tell us to get our bicycles. Then we would go along with the neighbors for the parade.
Years later I asked my dad why we never used the one-car garage that was in the back of the house. My dad told me because the house was built in the late 1930s, and the only type of car that would fit would be a narrow car from that era. I remember taking a right from the main road onto Sweeney Boulevard to get to our house, but I had no idea whom that street was named for.
Unfortunately, that is where my knowledge ended, until I read a wonderful blog post from Diane Euston a few years ago on this subject. She is obviously another sentimental person who has a lot of good childhood memories. The amount of effort and detail that she put into this story really shows. There is so much information and so many pictures, that I hope you will be interested in reading her entire post here: Santa Fe Hills
Daniel Boone's son, Nathan Boone, came to Jackson County, MO and built a house at 26 W. Porte Cimi Pas, around 1840 (KCPL, 2024). The house was later owned by William Rockhill Nelson, founder of the Kansas City Star and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, who made additions to the home (Euston, 2020). This house still stands to this day.
In 1919, Emory J. Sweeney purchased the land, which included the Boone-Nelson home, and the land bordered 85th and 89th Streets (north to south) and Wornall to Holmes Roads (west to east) (Euston, 2020). Sweeney had a few ideas about how to use this land, but eventually decided in 1923 to create a new subdivision named “Indian Village.” (Euston, 2020)
At the main entrance at 85th and Wornall, Sweeney built a large Dutch mill that housed the real estate office, and he even had totem poles created that were eighteen feet high (Euston, 2020)! In addition, at the entrance, a one-hundred foot “chime tower” was placed to sound every fifteen minutes (Euston, 2020)! I had never heard of any of this before I read this article, which I found incredibly interesting.
The Boone-Nelson home was to be the subdivision’s exclusive clubhouse, and the first house for sale was built across the street, at 8734 Virginia Lane, and the street was named after Sweeney's second wife (Euston, 2020). Lots only were sold by Sweeney to customers (Euston, 2020), which explains the reason for so many house styles in this neighborhood, as every house was built by different owners, at different times, who had different tastes.
By the end of the 1920s, the Depression came and things did not go well at this time for Sweeney, unfortunately, who was forced to sell Indian Village to an investor owned by William T. Kemper, Sr. (Euston, 2020). By 1938, the name of the neighborhood was renamed to “Santa Fe Hills”, the totem poles and windmill were removed, and the Boone-Nelson clubhouse was sold as a private family home (Euston, 2020).
The Santa Fe Hills Country Club on the east side of the subdivision was sold and the land was used to build apartments that stand today, and the pond that was part of the golf course is still there (Euston, 2020). I had always wondered why the apartment complex existed right next to the neighborhood, as it seemed out-of-place, but I now know the history of the area, which was more complex than I expected!
Credits
- Louis Houck. 1908. "Nathan Boone Portrait". Retrieved April 21, 2026 from Wikimedia Image
- Unknown. 1921. "Portrait of Emory J. Sweeney". Retrieved April 21, 2026 from Wikimedia Image
- Unkown. 1915. "Portrait of William Rockhill Nelson". Retrieved April 21, 2016 from Wikimedia Image
- Euston, Diane. "Waldo's Santa Fe Hills: An Exclusive Indian Village with Layers of History." 26 Aug. 2020, Santa Fe Hills
- Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library. "Kansas City 1940 Tax Assessment Photographs". 2024, Jackson County Missouri