Independence was settled on land that was purchased from the Osage Indians in September 1869 by George A.

The Osage were forced to move to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) to make way for white settlement.

[7] On August 21, 1869 a group of Oswego, Kansas men led by R. W. Wright settled there with the intent to make Independence the county seat.

[10] On April 17, 1930 the city was the first to use a permanent lighting system for an exhibition baseball game: it was held between the Independence Producers and House of David semi-professional baseball team of Benton Harbor, Michigan.

[11] Miss Able, a rhesus monkey, was born at Ralph Mitchell Zoo.

Miss Able along with Miss Baker, a squirrel monkey, became the first monkeys that the United States used in its space program to fly in space; they returned alive on May 28, 1959.

[13] Independence has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by hot, humid and unpleasant summers, and chilly though extremely variable winters.

Precipitation is heavy in summer due to frequent incursions of very moist air from the Gulf of Mexico: as much as 7.69 inches (195.3 mm) fell on May 27, 1984 and a maximum daily fall of 3.49 inches or 88.6 millimetres can be expected in an average calendar year.

Winters are much drier than the summer, with November 1986 and October 1952 seeing not even a trace of precipitation.

The 2020 United States census counted 8,548 people, 3,627 households, and 2,088 families in Independence.

36.0% of households consisted of individuals and 16.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

33.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

32.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

The Independence Community College main campus is located two miles south of the city.

[33] The community is served by Independence USD 446 public school district.