They had passed by on the way west, on the north side of the big river. When they returned, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark camped on the high ground overlooking the junction of the Kaw and the Missouri Rivers. “A fine place for a fort,” they thought.
Sixty-some years later, there was a bridge and a railroad. Then came cowboys, cattle, Wild Bill Hickock.
Wealthy men built fine mansions on what had come to be known as Quality Hill, then moved south as the stench from the stockyards below began to overtake the view.
There was an airport; Charles Lindbergh landed there.
In 1948, seven men decided to create a club with a clubhouse overlooking the scene and its history. They called it The River Club. It was to be a place of fine dining and fine service—a place of refinement and companionship.
Assembling the land was not easy. By then the fine mansions of Quality Hill stood in varying stages of dereliction. Ownerships were fragmented. Still, the club opened in 1950.
In 1951, everything in view was flooded. In 1954, there was a fire. The club persevered, rebuilt, and prospered.
From those beginnings, The River Club stands today on Clark’s Point, ironically named not after the explorer who stood there but for a local politician undeserving of the honor.
The view, however, remains.
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