Located a few blocks off the Santa Fe Trail in Independence and within two miles of the Harry S. Truman historical district, the Trails West Branch is a friendly neighborhood library serving the West Independence, Three Trails, and Englewood neighborhoods. Formerly housed in Van Horn High School, then on a temporary site on U.S. 24 in the Fairmount neighborhood, it opened in January 1989 as the West Independence Branch – the fourth new full-service branch opened by the Library in a little more than six months (with the L.H. Bluford, Waldo, and North-East locations). Weekly storytimes and monthly family programs are popular here, and teens are drawn to book clubs and tabletop gaming.

The Trails West name is derived from the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon trails, which passed through Independence in the 1800s. Shortly after the location opened, the Library conducted a public naming contest that drew more than 400 entries. Five suggested Trails West, a Library-appointed committee recommended it, and the board of trustees made it official in February 1989.