Initial settlement was concentrated in the Town of Barry in south Platte County. Almost overnight, Platte County became the second largest county in the state and Weston, Missouri ("West Town") was second only to St. Louis, Missouri in the state. St. Joseph would subsequently become the second largest city in the state in the early settlement days. Since the purchase opened up a new slave area, the area was heavily settled by slaveholders from Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. Southern crops that were slave intensive such as hemp and tobacco were grown in the southern portion. The settlement of the northern portion had fewer Southern settlers and slaves.