First mayor of Kansas City Missouri, defeated Dr. Benoist Troost. There were only 63 voters at the time. He helped write the city charter and signed Kansas City’s first laws. Left office after only 10 months, when it was discovered that he didn't live within the corporate limits of the city as required by the city charter. In 1849 cholera killed many people, including Gregory's first wife Elizabeth. Gregory then married her sister Mary. A southern sympathizer during the civil war, he moved to St. Louis, but returned after the war and operated a wholesale grocery business. Died after a long illness of kidney failure. In 1930 a resident of Kansas City Missouri called attention to the fact that no street had ever been named for Kansas City's first mayor, William Gregory. 71st Street was renamed in his honor to Gregory Boulevard. There are ten other Kansas City Missouri mayors buried in Elmwood Cemetery.