 The Postmaster General at the time was Horatio King, (although the local history refers to Rufus King)

The town became a stop on the St. Joseph and Des Moines Railway in 1878.The railway eventually became part of the Burlington Northern network and is currently abandoned.In the first half of the 20th century, King City was the heart of a Kentucky bluegrass seed harvesting region stretching from Kearney, Missouri through King City to Maitland, Missouri, which claimed to harvest more bluegrass seeds than the entire state of Kentucky with King City resident John Weller claiming to be the "King of Blue Grass Raisers.