Weston’s history began in 1837 with Joseph Moore’s land claim and first cabin at the present intersection of Market and Main, and over the following decades the town grew through churches, a post office, cemetery, city platting, early steamboat traffic on the upper Missouri, tobacco and hemp production, brewing, hotels, newspapers, schools, banking, and transportation links. By 1849 it had become the steamboat headquarters of the West, and by 1855 its population reached five thousand, making it second only to St. Louis among riverport towns, even as fire destroyed much of its downtown business district that same year. Ben Holladay figured prominently in the town’s early development through the post office, stage lines, hotel building, distilling, and other enterprises. Weston’s economy later centered heavily on hemp and tobacco, with hemp peaking in 1860, slavery’s end during the Civil War dooming that industry, the last hemp crop shipping in 1885, and tobacco warehousing, markets, auctions, and large-scale farming continuing well into the twentieth century before the last tobacco auction was held in 2004. The town also endured repeated fires, major floods, and the 1881 shift of the Missouri River channel one mile west to the Kansas side, while continuing to develop public schools, utilities, telephone and electric service, a library, volunteer fire protection, museums, festivals, theaters, wineries, a ski area, and historic preservation efforts, culminating in its 2012 celebration of 175 years.