Armourdale community

Community

The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

 is a district in the lower part of the Kansas River

Kansas River

The Kansas River is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwestern-most part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwestern-most portion of the extensive Mississippi River drainage. Its name come from the Kanza people who once inhabited the area...

 valley in Kansas City, Kansas

Kansas City, Kansas

Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...

. It is a main district between the West Bottoms

West Bottoms

The West Bottoms is an industrial area immediately to the west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri at the confluence of the Missouri River and the Kansas River. The area is one of the oldest areas of the city....

 and the Rosedale, Kansas

Rosedale, Kansas

Rosedale, Kansas is a community of Kansas City, Kansas located in the southeast corner of Wyandotte County, Kansas. It is bordered on the north by the Kansas River and the Armourdale neighborhood, on the south by Johnson County, on the west by the Argentine neighborhood, and on the east by the...

 area.
It is home mainly to Mexican American

Mexican American

Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...

s, and many small and large companies in its east side.
The Kansas River makes an oxbow curve

Meander

A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...

 around the entire district, which is home to Shawnee Park.

History

The Armourdale district was founded in 1881 as Armourdale, Kansas the name coming from the Armour

Armour and Company

Armour & Company was an American slaughterhouse and meatpacking company founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1867 by the Armour brothers, led by Philip Danforth Armour. By 1880, the company was Chicago's most important business and helped make the city and its Union Stock Yards the center of the...

 meatpacking plant in the area.

In 1886, it merged with the Kansas cities and settlements of Wyandot, Kansas City, Armstrong, and Riverview in 1886 to become the Armourdale district of the modern city of Kansas City, Kansas.

The district was devastated by the 1903 Kansas City flood, and again in the flood of 1951, with damage adding up to about 50 million dollars that year.
The 1993 flood, however, did no damage as the new floodwalls held up, and protected Armourdale from waters.

Bridges

• 23rd Street viaduct turns into Kansas Avenue right after the viaduct at the east end of the district.
• 7th Street Trafficway Bridge
  7th Street Trafficway Bridge
  The 7th Street Trafficway Bridge is a one level deck truss bridge over the Kansas River and BNSF Railway tracks on 7th Street.It was built in 1932, It connects the Armourdale district of Kansas City, Kansas, to the east end of the Argentine district of Kansas City, Kansas.In 1970, the bridge was...
  
   runs 7th Street straight through the district over the Kansas River.
• 12th Street Bridge
  12th Street Bridge
  The 12th Street Bridge is an automobile crossing of the Kansas River in Kansas City, Kansas.The first bridge was built in 1909, as a one lane deck truss bridge, in 1921, the bridge was damaged in a fire, and replaced in 1930, as a two lane thru-truss....
  
   runs from the south side of the district, to the Argentine district over the Kansas River.
• 18th Street Expressway Bridge
  18th Street Expressway Bridge
  The 18th Street Expressway Bridge is a one level deck truss, four lane crossing of the Kansas River in Kansas City, Kansas.It was built in 1959, to replace the Argentine Bridge to the west.It also rises above the BNSF railroad tracks....
  
   this bridge however, never goes through Armourdale, but goes over the top of it, Kansas Avenue exit is the only exit into the district from the 18th Street Expressway
  18th Street Expressway
  The 18th Street Expressway is a freeway in Kansas City, Kansas that runs from Interstate 35 north to Interstate 70/U.S. Route 40. It carries the U.S...
  
  .
• Kansas Avenue Bridge (West)
  Kansas Avenue Bridge (West)
  The Kansas Avenue Bridge is a four lane, multi-beam girder bridge crossing the Kansas River, and a small company on the east side.It was first built in 1916 as a 9 span thru-truss, but later in 1988 destroyed, and replaced with the current multi-beam girder bridge.It is just west of the 18th...
  
  this bridge is at the very west end of the district, and carries Kansas Avenue straight through.