History of Kansas City - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The history of the Kansas City metropolitan area dates back to the 19th century. The Kansas City metropolitan area

Kansas City Metropolitan Area

The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...

, straddling the border between Missouri and Kansas at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, was a good place to build several settlements. When the area was opened to Euro-American settlement, the area became the first battlefield in the conflict in the American Civil War. Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

(KCMO), was incorporated in 1850 on the banks of the Missouri River

Missouri River

The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...

Bourgmont

The first documented French visitor to the Kansas City area was Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont

Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont

Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont was a French explorer who documented his travels on the Missouri and Platte rivers in North America and made the first European maps of these areas. He wrote two accounts of his travels, which included descriptions of the Native American tribes he encountered...

, who was also the first European to explore the lower Missouri River. He was on the lam

On the Lam

"On the Lam" is a song by Kele Okereke, lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the band Bloc Party, released as the third single from his debut solo album The Boxer. The music video was released on October 8, 2010, with the digital EP being released on October 25....

from French authorities after deserting his post as commander of Fort Detroit

Fort Detroit

Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Détroit was a fort established by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701. The location of the former fort is now in the city of Detroit in the U.S...

after being criticized for his handling of a Native American attack on the fort. Bourgmont lived with a Native American wife in the Missouri village about 90 miles (145 km) east near Brunswick, Missouri

Brunswick, Missouri

Brunswick is a rural city in Carroll County, Missouri, United States. The population was 925 at the 2000 census. The Missouri Farmers Association was founded here in 1914. Today the city is considered the Pecan Capital of Missouri...

, and illegally traded furs.

In order to clear his name, he wrote "Exact Description of Louisiana, of Its Harbors, Lands and Rivers, and Names of the Indian Tribes That Occupy It, and the Commerce and Advantages to Be Derived Therefrom for the Establishment of a Colony" in 1713 followed in 1714 by "The Route to Be Taken to Ascend the Missouri River." In these documents he described the junction of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, being the first to refer to them by those names. French cartographer Guillaume Delisle

Guillaume Delisle

Guillaume Delisle was a French cartographer who lived in Paris.His father, Claude Delisle studied law and then later settled in Paris as private teacher in geography and history, and afterwards filled the office of royal censor...

used the descriptions to make the first reasonably accurate map of the area.

The French rewarded him by giving him their highest honors and naming him commander of the Missouri. He built the first fort (and first extended settlement in Missouri) in 1723 at Fort Orleans

Fort Orleans

Fort Orleans was a French fort in colonial North America, the first fort built by any European forces on the Missouri River. It was built near the mouth of the Grand River near present-day Brunswick. Intended to be the linchpin in the vast New France empire stretching from Montreal to New Mexico,...

near his Brunswick home. In 1724 he led a group of Native Americans probably up the Kansas River en route to the southwest to set up an alliance with the Commanche to fight the Spanish, thereby creating a New France

New France

New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...

empire extending from Montreal through Kansas City to New Mexico. To celebrate the success of the venture, he took the Native American chiefs on a junket to Paris to hunt with Louis XV and see the glory of France at Versailles

Versailles

Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...

and Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the arrondissement of Fontainebleau...

.

Bourgmont got promoted to official noble status and stayed in Normandy, not accompanying the chiefs back to the New World. According to legend, the Native Americans then slaughtered everybody in the Fort Orleans garrison. The Spanish took over the region in the Treaty of Paris (1763)

Treaty of Paris (1763)

The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...

but were not to play a major role in the area other than taxing and licensing all traffic on the Missouri River. The French continued their fur trade on the river under Spanish license.

Lewis & Clark era

Following the Louisiana Purchase

Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...

of 1803 the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Lewis and Clark Expedition

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...

left St. Louis on a mission to reach the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

. In 1804, Lewis and Clark camped for three days at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers in Kansas City, Kansas (today recognized at the Kaw Point Riverfront Park

Kaw Point

Kaw Point is the name given to the point where the Kansas River terminates at the Missouri River in the West Bottoms area of Kansas City, Kansas. Kaw Point is also where the Missouri ceases its southerly course and turns to flow generally east through the State of Missouri to the Mississippi River...

. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&sll=39.120539,-94.611254&sspn=0.029566,0.060511&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=14&ll=39.117742,-94.608679&spn=0.029567,0.060511). During their stay at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas, they met French fur traders and mapped the area Quality Hill, calling it "a fine place for a fort."

Because of the burgeoning trade up the Missouri River from St. Louis, especially following Lewis and Clark's expedition, the United States Government sought to create government posts all throughout the area. In 1808, Fort Osage

Fort Osage

Fort Osage was part of the United States factory trading post system for the Osage Nation in the early 19th century near Sibley, Missouri....

was established twenty miles from the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers. In 1809, Louis Bertholet, the first white

White people

White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...

settler

Settler

A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...

of Kansas City, Kansas, built a cabin

Log cabin

A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...

three blocks south of Minnesota Avenue and Fifth Street.

Kaw's Mouth

In 1812, after Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

formally became a state, the remaining portions of the original Louisiana Territory north of Arkansas were renamed the Missouri Territory

Missouri Territory

The Territory of Missouri was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 4, 1812 until August 10, 1821, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Missouri.-History:...

. As plans were made to carve up the territory for the entry of Missouri into the union, it was determined that the line forming the western border of the new state, from Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

to Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, would be set by the confluence 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...

(Kaw) and the Missouri River

Missouri River

. As part of the Missouri Compromise

Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30'...

in 1821, Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

admitted Missouri to the union as the 24th state; it was admitted as a slave state

Slave state

In the United States of America prior to the American Civil War, a slave state was a U.S. state in which slavery was legal, whereas a free state was one in which slavery was either prohibited from its entry into the Union or eliminated over time...

. The area of the confluence of the two rivers in 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....

has been subject to floods and changes of course. Since the 1820s, the confluence has now moved about a quarter mile upstream.

Native Americans

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

joined the Union in 1821 and, after the Treaty of St. Louis

Treaty of St. Louis

The Treaty of St. Louis is one of many treaties signed between the United States and various Native American tribes.-1804 - Sauk and Fox :...

in 1825, the 1,400 Missouri Shawnee

Shawnee

The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...

s were forcibly relocated from Cape Girardeau to southeastern Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, close to the Neosho River

Neosho River

The Neosho River is a tributary of the Arkansas River in eastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma in the United States. Its tributaries also drain portions of Missouri and Arkansas. The river is about long. Via the Arkansas, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed.- Course :The Neosho's...

. In 1826, the Prophet Tenskwatawa established a village in Argentine, Kansas

Argentine, Kansas

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

. During 1833, only the Black Bob's band of Shawnee resisted the relocation efforts. They settled in northeastern Kansas near Olathe

Olathe, Kansas

Olathe is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. Located in northeastern Kansas, it is also the fifth most populous city in the state, with a population of 125,872 at the 2010 census. As a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, Olathe is the fourth-largest city in the...

and along the Kaw River

Kansas River

in Monticello

Monticello Township, Kansas

Monticello Township is a former township in northwest Johnson County, Kansas. It is now merged with Lenexa and Shawnee, Kansas.-History:Monticello Township was developed into a town on June-19th-1857. In 1858 Monticello elected 18 year old James Butler Hickok as town constable...

near Gum Springs

Shawnee, Kansas

Shawnee is a city located in northwest Johnson County, Kansas, United States and is a western suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 62,209. Shawnee's fur trading and pioneering heritage blends histories of these Kansas Territory townships: Monticello and...

. Tenskwatawa died in 1836 at his village in Kansas City, Kansas (ed., the White Feather Spring

White Feather Spring

The White feather Spring is in the Argentine section of Kansas City, Kansas. It is on private property. White Feather Spring gets its name from Susan White Feather, the first property owner after the Treaty of 1854 land parceling.-History:...

marker notes the location).

Early European settlers

The language of the first European settlement in Kansas City was French. In 1821, 24-year-old François Gesseau Chouteau

Francois Chouteau

François Gesseau Chouteau was an American pioneer fur trader, businessman and community leader known as the "Founder" or "Father" of Kansas City, Missouri....

, nephew of René Auguste Chouteau

René Auguste Chouteau

Rene Auguste Chouteau , also known as Auguste Chouteau, was founder of St. Louis, Missouri, a successful fur trader and a politician. He and his partner had a monopoly for many years of fur trade with the large Osage tribe on the Missouri River...

, set up a permanent trading post in the great bend in the Missouri River that makes up the Northeast Industrial District (crossed today by Chouteau Trafficway). He referred to the post as "the village of the Kansa." In 1825, after Indians agreed to leave the westernmost six miles of Missouri to the confluence of the Kansas, the area was referred to as "Chouteau's." In 1826, Chouteau moved his trading post to higher ground, Troost Avenue and the river, following a flood. He also financed the first Catholic church, which was built on Quality Hill

Quality Hill

Quality Hill is a historic neighborhood near downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, situated on a 200-foot-high bluff which overlooks the confluence of the Kansas River and Missouri River in the West Bottoms below....

.

The area was soon populated by trappers, scouts, traders, and farmers, leading to the incorporation of Jackson County, Missouri

Jackson County, Missouri

Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. With a population of 674,158 in the 2010 census, Jackson County is the second most populous of Missouri's counties, after St. Louis County. Kansas City, the state's most populous city and focus city of the Kansas City Metropolitan...

, in 1827 and the founding of Independence, Missouri

Independence, Missouri

Independence is the fourth largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri, and is contained within the counties of Jackson and Clay. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...

, located approximately 10 miles (16 km) from the river junction, as its county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

. As the number of farmers increased, the fur traders retreated northward. In 1831, Moses Grinter established a ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

on the Kansas River

Kansas River

on the old Indian trail by the Kaw's water. Grinter was one of the earliest permanent white settlers in the Kansas City, Kansas, area.

Latter Day Saints

Also in 1831, members of the Latter Day Saint religion (commonly called Mormon

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

s) coming from Kirtland, Ohio

Kirtland, Ohio

Kirtland is a city in Lake County, Ohio, USA. The population was 6,670 at the 2000 census. Kirtland is famous for being the early headquarters of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Origins of Kirtland:...

, and New York State

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

purchased about 2,000 acres (8 km²) of land in the Paseo and Troost Lake areas. Conflict between the Saints and other Missouri residents led to the expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County in 1833. Later, various groups of Latter-Day Saints returned to Jackson County, the first of whom were members of the diminutive Church of Christ (Temple Lot)

Church of Christ (Temple Lot)

The Church of Christ is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement headquartered in Independence, Missouri on what is known as the Temple Lot. Members of the church have been known colloquially as "Hedrickites", after Granville Hedrick, who was ordained as the church's first leader in July 1863...

, quickly followed by adherents to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Community of Christ

The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , is an American-based international Christian church established in April 1830 that claims as its mission "to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace"...

under the leadership of Joseph Smith III

Joseph Smith III

Joseph Smith III was the eldest surviving son of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and Emma Hale Smith...

and members of other factions, several of whom had established their headquarters in nearby Independence, Missouri

Independence, Missouri

Independence is the fourth largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri, and is contained within the counties of Jackson and Clay. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...

. Today, there are notable numbers of Latter-Day Saints in the Kansas City area, which was recently designated as the site of a new temple

Temple (LDS Church)

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord, and they are considered by Church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a short period of time...

for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...

), the largest Mormon faction.

Westport and Westport Landing

Over the next years the character of Kansas City was defined by those who wanted to live close to the river (who were referred to as "rabbits") and those who wanted to live in the hills (the "goats"). John Calvin McCoy

John Calvin McCoy

John Calvin McCoy is considered the "father of Kansas City."McCoy was born in Vincennes, Indiana. He studied at Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky, during 1826-1827...

, who is considered the "father of Kansas City", had a hand in establishing settlements in both locations. In 1833, he opened a trading post in the hills three miles south of the river. McCoy named it "West Port" because it was the last place to get supplies before travelers went into Kansas Territory

Kansas Territory

The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Kansas....

on the California Trail

California Trail

The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...

, Santa Fe Trail

Santa Fe Trail

The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1822 by William Becknell, it served as a vital commercial and military highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880...

, and Oregon Trail

Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...

. McCoy got supplies from boats that docked at a rocky outcropping on the river at what is Main Street and the river; the area was called "Westport Landing." McCoy's landing and Chouteau's trading post were to drive traffic to the last outpost before settlers traveled up the Kansas River or Missouri River. The road connecting Westport with the trading post and Westport Landing followed Broadway. In 1834, the steamboat John Hancock, which was laden with goods for McCoy, became the first steamboat to dock at the Westport Landing and opened up a new era of communication and transportation for the area.

Town of Kansas

Expansion around the landing was stifled because it was a farm mostly owned by Gabriel Prudhomme. In 1838, McCoy and Chouteau and other merchants formed the "Town of Kansas Company" and purchased Prudhomme's 271 acres (1.1 km²) farm for $4,220. The investors rejected other names for the new town including Port Fonda, Rabbitville and Possum Trot. The following year, in 1839, Chouteau died, and the area outside of Westport Landing was renamed the Town of Kansas

Throughout the 1840s, the population and importance of the Town of Kansas swelled as it and nearby Independence and Westport became starting points on the Oregon, Santa Fe, and California trails for settler

Settler

s heading west. Between St. Louis and California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, the Kansas/Missouri river junction was one of the few substantially populated areas. The first rail travel came to the Town of Kansas in 1847.

Jackson County

Jackson County, Kansas

Jackson County is a county located in Northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 13,462. Its county seat and most populous city is Holton...

finally formally incorporated the Town of Kansas on June 3, 1850 (traditionally viewed as the date of Kansas City's founding). Its population was approximately 1,500 people. The first newspaper (the now defunct Kansas City Ledger) and first telegraph service were established in the Town of Kansas in 1851.

City of Kansas

Missouri officially incorporated the city March 28, 1853; it changed the name to the City of Kansas. At the first municipal election in 1853 there were 67 voters from an estimated population of 2,500. The initial incorporated area was about 10 blocks west to east and five blocks north to south. It was bordered by Bluff Road (about I-35 today) on the west, Independence Avenue on the south and Holmes Street on the east and the Missouri River on the north. William S. Gregory

William S. Gregory

William S. Gregory was the first mayor of Kansas City, Missouri in 1853.When Kansas City was incorporated on March 18, 1853, it had an area and a population of 2,500. 63 votes were cast for mayor and Gregory defeated Dr...

became the first mayor but had to resign within 10 months when it was discovered that the mayor actually had to live in the city.

Border War

At the time of the City of Kansas's incorporation, Missouri was still a slave state. However, the population was deeply divided over the issue of slavery

History of slavery in the United States

Slavery in the United States was a form of slave labor which existed as a legal institution in North America for more than a century before the founding of the United States in 1776, and continued mostly in the South until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in...

. In 1854, the United States Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act

Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opening new lands for settlement, and had the effect of repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing settlers in those territories to determine through Popular Sovereignty if they would allow slavery within...

, which rejected the 1820 Missouri Compromise

Missouri Compromise

and allowed new territories to choose whether they wished to allow slavery, whereas the Missouri Compromise had prohibited slavery in any new states to be created north of latitude 36°30'. Thus, according to the Missouri Compromise, Kansas Territory

Kansas Territory

(located immediately to the west of the City of Kansas, Missouri) had been a free territory but now could choose to permit slavery.

As a result of the new potential for slavery in Kansas, pro-slavery activists infiltrated Kansas Territory from the neighboring slave state of Missouri. To abolitionists and other Free-Staters, who desired Kansas to be admitted to the Union as a free state, they were collectively known as Border Ruffian

Border Ruffian

In the decade leading up to the American Civil War, pro-slavery activists infiltrated Kansas Territory from the neighboring slave state of Missouri. To abolitionists and other Free-Staters, who desired Kansas to be admitted to the Union as a free state, they were collectively known as Border...

s. Pro-slavery Missourians flocked to Kansas in force, electing a pro-slavery Kansas Territorial Legislature. In response, abolitionists began arriving in the area, and in 1855 they declared the Kansas Territorial Legislature "bogus" and elected their own representatives to form a new territorial government in Lawrence, Kansas

Lawrence, Kansas

Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...

(approximately 35 miles (56 km) west of the City of Kansas). The newly established City of Kansas soon found itself in the middle of this divisive issue. When in 1856 a group of slavery advocates from Missouri sacked and burned Lawrence, abolitionist John Brown

John Brown (abolitionist)

John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...

rode through the City of Kansas freeing slaves and burning nearby plantations. He was later thought of a martyr after being caught and hung for treason. Thus began the border wars of Bleeding Kansas

Bleeding Kansas

Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas or the Border War, was a series of violent events, involving anti-slavery Free-Staters and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements, that took place in the Kansas Territory and the western frontier towns of the U.S. state of Missouri roughly between 1854 and 1858...

.

Despite the ongoing conflict, the City of Kansas continued to grow rapidly. It gained a courthouse, city market, and chamber of commerce in 1857. In 1858, however, the local violence had grown so fierce that the Kansas Territorial Governor and the State of Missouri both asked U.S. President James Buchanan

James Buchanan

James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....

to send in federal troops. The president agreed, and with the troops' presence the violence seemed quelled.

Civil War

Main articles: General Order No. 11, First Battle of Independence

First Battle of Independence

-External links:** *...

, Second Battle of Independence

Second Battle of Independence

The Second Battle of Independence was a minor engagement of the American Civil War October 21–22, 1864 centered in Independence, Missouri, with some of the fiercest fighting taking place at the present-day United Nations Peace Plaza; the "Harry Truman" Railroad Depot; George Caleb Bingham's...

, Battle of Westport

Battle of Westport

The Battle of Westport, sometimes referred to as the "Gettysburg of the West," was fought on October 23, 1864, in modern Kansas City, Missouri, during the American Civil War. Union forces under Major General Samuel R. Curtis decisively defeated an outnumbered Confederate force under Major General...

and John Newman Edwards

John Newman Edwards

Major John Newman Edwards, CSA, was famed General Joseph O. Shelby’s adjutant during the American Civil War, an author, a journalist and the founder of the Kansas City Times. He is perhaps best known for contributing to the folk hero status of outlaw Jesse James.-Early life:John N. Edwards was...

Missouri stayed in the Union during the Civil War. However, since the city's first settlers had arrived via the Missouri River from the South, considerable tension existed there between pro-Union and pro-Confederate sympathizers. Missourian Sterling Price

Sterling Price

Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...

was to fight battles in the area at the beginning and end of the war, hoping to incite residents to join the Southern cause. Thus, the City of Kansas and its immediate environs became the focus of intense military activity. The First Battle of Independence

First Battle of Independence

-External links:** *...

resulted in a Confederate victory, but the Southerners were not able to follow it up in any meaningful way, as the City of Kansas was occupied by Union troops and proved too heavily fortified for them to assault.

In 1863 William Quantrill

William Quantrill

William Clarke Quantrill was a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War. After leading a Confederate bushwhacker unit along the Missouri-Kansas border in the early 1860s, which included the infamous raid and sacking of Lawrence, Kansas in 1863, Quantrill eventually ended up in...

sacked and burned Lawrence, killing 168 people in what was called the Lawrence Massacre. Union General Thomas Ewing, Jr.

Thomas Ewing, Jr.

Thomas Ewing, Jr. was an attorney, the first chief justice of Kansas and leading free state advocate, Union Army general during the American Civil War, and two-term United States Congressman from Ohio, 1877-1881. He narrowly lost the 1880 campaign for Ohio Governor.-Early life and career:Ewing...

, believing that the raid was rooted in the four Missouri counties on the Kansas border south of the Missouri River, promulgated his General Order No. 11 which ordered the eviction of all those living in rural areas outside of designated urban areas, regardless of their loyalty. This order affected those living south of Brush Creek and east of the Blue River and proved a source of resentments that lingered long after the war. The city's first mayor was exiled to St. Louis.

In 1864 Price invaded Missouri in a last-gasp Confederate offensive called Price's Raid

Price's Raid

Price's Missouri Expedition, also known as Price's Raid, was an 1864 Confederate cavalry raid through the states of Missouri and Kansas during the American Civil War. While Confederate Major General Sterling Price enjoyed some successes during this campaign, he was decisively beaten at the Battle...

. He pushed Union troops out of Independence in the Second Battle of Independence

Second Battle of Independence

and into the City of Kansas, resulting in the pivotal Battle of Westport

Battle of Westport

in October of that year near Brush Creek. Price was decisively defeated and forced out of the state, ending all significant Confederate military operations in the area.

After the war, Kansas City remained a hotbed for former pro-Southerns. John Newman Edwards

John Newman Edwards

founded the Kansas City Times

Kansas City Times

The Kansas City Times was a morning newspaper in Kansas City, Missouri, that was published from 1867 to 1990.The morning Kansas City Times, under ownership of afternoon The Kansas City Star, won two Pulitzer Prizes and was actually bigger than its parent when its name was changed to the...

to stringently object to Republican rule. He also created the Jesse James

Jesse James

Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...

anti-hero myth, with James as a modern-day Robin Hood

Robin Hood

Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....

fighting an unjust Republican Reconstruction. Jesse James went on to rob the Kansas City fairgrounds at 12th Street and Campbell, all the while living at various places throughout the metropolitan area.

Crossroads of the Country

Main articles: Union Station (Kansas City, Missouri)

Union Station (Kansas City, Missouri)

Union Station Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri, is one of many union stations in the United States.-History:Around the turn of the 20th century, the Kansas City Terminal Railway, a company controlled by the *12 railroads serving Kansas City, decided that a new location was needed for the train...

and Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad

Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad

The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was the first railroad to cross Missouri starting in Hannibal in the northeast and going to St. Joseph, Missouri, in the northwest...

In 1865 the Missouri Pacific railroad reached Kansas City arriving of the Missouri. At the time Kansas City was similar in population to Independence and Leavenworth, Kansas

Leavenworth, Kansas

Leavenworth is the largest city and county seat of Leavenworth County, in the U.S. state of Kansas and within the Kansas City, Missouri Metropolitan Area. Located in the northeast portion of the state, it is on the west bank of the Missouri River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...

. That was to change in 1867 when Kansas City defeated Leavenworth (then over twice Kansas City's size) for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad bridge over the Missouri River. The Hannibal Bridge, designed by Octave Chanute

Octave Chanute

Octave Chanute was a French-born American railway engineer and aviation pioneer. He provided the Wright brothers with help and advice, and helped to publicize their flying experiments. At his death he was hailed as the father of aviation and the heavier-than-air flying machine...

, opened in 1869. With that, the city's population quadrupled in fifty years.

In 1889, with a population of around 130,000, the city adopted a new charter and changed its name to Kansas City. In 1897, Kansas City annexed Westport. The initial meeting of tracks occurred in the West Bottoms

West Bottoms

in area that had previously been used to outfit travellers on the Oregon and Santa Fe trails who had followed the Kansas River. The biggest outfitting facility was the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company

Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company

The Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company was the parent company of the Pony Express.It was formed by William Russell, Alexander Majors and William Waddell, as a freighting company supplying goods to the western United States...

. That company went out of business following the collapse of the Pony Express

Pony Express

The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861...

. Its facilities were to become the Kansas City Stockyards

Kansas City Stockyards

The Kansas City Stockyards in the West Bottoms west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri flourished from 1871 until closing in 1991.Jay B. Dillingham was the President of the stockyards from the 1948 to its closing in 1991.-History:...

. The city became the second (to Chicago) busiest train center in the country (and still is). In 1914, the city's Union Station in the West Bottoms became outdated and the new Union Station

Union Station (Kansas City, Missouri)

was built.

Cow Town

Main articles: Kansas City Stockyards

Kansas City Stockyards

and American Royal

American Royal

The American Royal in Kansas City, Missouri is a livestock show, horse show and rodeo held each year in October and November at Kemper Arena. The Future Farmers of America was founded during the Royal and Kansas City's professional baseball team the Kansas City Royals derive their name from the...

In 1871, the Kansas City Stockyards

Kansas City Stockyards

boomed in the West Bottoms

West Bottoms

because of their central location in the country and their proximity to trains. They became second only to Chicago's in size, and the city itself was identified with its famous Kansas City steak. In 1899 the American Hereford Association

American Hereford Association

The American Hereford Association is a trade organization that promotes Hereford cattle.It was founded in 1883 and operated out of the home of Charles Gudgel in Independence, Missouri....

hosted a cattle judging contest in a tent in the stockyards. That event soon became the annual American Royal

American Royal

two-month long livestock festival. The Kansas City stockyards were destroyed in the Great Flood of 1951

Great Flood of 1951

In mid-July 1951, heavy rains led to a great rise of water in the Kansas River and other surrounding areas. Flooding resulted in the Kansas, Neosho, Marais Des Cygnes, and Verdigris river basins. The damage in June and July 1951 exceeded $935 million dollars in an area covering eastern Kansas and...

and never fully recovered.

Strawberry Hill

In 1887, John G. Braecklein constructed a Victorian home for John and Margaret Scroggs in the area of Strawberry Hill

Strawberry Hill (Kansas City, Kansas)

Strawberry Hill is a Kansas City, Kansas neighborhood on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. It is now a mainly South Slavic community....

. It is a fine example of the Queen Anne Style architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

erected in Kansas City, Kansas.

1890s to 1940

Pendergast era

The Pendergast era, under Democrat big city bosses James Pendergast

James Pendergast

James Francis Pendergast was a Democratic politician who was to be the first Big City Boss of Kansas City, Missouri. He was the elder brother of Thomas J. Pendergast and Michael J. Pendergast....

and Tom Pendergast

Tom Pendergast

Thomas Joseph Pendergast controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri as a political boss. "Boss Tom" Pendergast gave workers jobs and helped elect politicians during the Great Depression, becoming wealthy in the process.-Early years:Thomas Joseph Pendergast, also known to close friends as...

from 1890 to 1940, ushered in a colorful and influential era for the city. Pendergasts presided over an era when many outsize personalities shaped the city and contributed to the whole country. During this period, the Pendergast's ensured that national prohibition

Prohibition in the United States

Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...

was meaningless in Kansas City; the Kansas City boulevard and park system was developed; the Country Club Plaza

Country Club Plaza

The Country Club Plaza is an upscale shopping district and residential neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It was the first shopping center in the world designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile...

, Country Club District

Country Club District

The Country Club District is the name of a group of neighborhoods comprising a historic upscale residential district in Kansas City, Missouri, and Johnson County, Kansas, USA, developed by noted real estate developer J.C. Nichols. The district was developed in stages between 1906 and 1950...

, and Ward Parkway

Ward Parkway

Ward Parkway is a boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri near the Kansas-Missouri state line. Ward Parkway begins at Brookside Boulevard on the eastern edge of the Country Club Plaza and continues westward along Brush Creek as U.S. Route 56 until it turns southward across the creek just before the...

were created; TWA made Kansas City the hub of national aviation; most of the downtown Kansas City buildings were built; its inner city culture blossomed with contributions to the Negro League (baseball), Kansas City jazz (music), Kansas City-style barbecue (cuisine), the stockyards and train station (industry and transportation) was second only to Chicago; and Harry S Truman, from nearby Independence, became President. Much of the construction during these "wide open days" used Pendergast Readi-Mix Concrete, and the era was marked by considerable violence and corruption. Pendergast was ultimately defanged with a 1940 income tax evasion charge.

Prohibition

Kansas enacted statewide prohibition

Prohibition in the United States

on February 19, 1881. In Kansas City, however, residents on the Kansas side of who wished to drink simply went across the state line to Kansas City, Missouri, to the many saloons and taverns there. 12th Street in Downtown Kansas City

Downtown Kansas City

Downtown Kansas City is the central business district of Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. It is located between the Missouri River in the north, to 31st Street in the south; and from the Kansas–Missouri state line east to Troost Avenue as defined by officials of the...

was known for its large number of taverns. Despite the ongoing temperance movement

Temperance movement

A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...

, however, Missouri never enacted statewide prohibition. In fact, Missourians actually rejected statewide prohibition in three separate referenda in 1910, 1912, and 1918, all of which were brought by citizens' initiative petitions. In April 1901, famous temperance crusader Carrie A. Nation came to Kansas City and began to enter the saloons on 12th Street and smash liquor bottles with her hatchet. When she entered Flynn's Saloon on April 15, she promptly was arrested, hauled into Police Court (today the Municipal Court of Kansas City), fined $500 ($11,500 in 2006 dollars), and ordered by a judge to leave Kansas City and never return.

When prohibition finally was imposed on Missouri in 1919 by means of the 18th Amendment and the subsequent Volstead Act

Volstead Act

The National Prohibition Act, known informally as the Volstead Act, was the enabling legislation for the Eighteenth Amendment which established prohibition in the United States...

, Kansas City remained essentially unaffected, mostly due to the Pendergast machine. Thanks to Pendergast, prohibition simply "never existed in Kansas City": Pendergast kept the bars open and the liquor flowing, and Kansas City's federal prosecutor

United States Attorney

United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...

(who was on Pendergast's payroll) never brought a single felony prosecution under the Volstead Act. Dr. George Miller

George L. Miller

Dr. George Lorin Miller was a pioneer physician, editor, politician, civic leader and land owner in Omaha, Nebraska. The founder of the Omaha Herald, which later became part of the Omaha World-Herald, Miller arrived in Omaha in 1854, the year the city was founded...

, the editor of the Omaha Herald, even remarked, "If you want to see some sin, forget about Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. Go to Kansas City." So, when prohibition finally was repealed in 1933 by means of the 21st Amendment, very little changed in Kansas City.

World War I memorial

The Liberty Memorial

Liberty Memorial

The Liberty Memorial, located in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, is a memorial to the fallen soldiers of World War I and houses the The National World War I Museum, as designated by the United States Congress in 2004.. Groundbreaking commenced November 1, 1921, and the city held a site dedication...

, which houses The National World War I Museum, was dedicated on November 11, 1926, by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...

. In attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony on November 1, 1921, were Lieutenant General Baron Jacques of Belgium, Admiral Lord Earl Beatty

David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty

Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO was an admiral in the Royal Navy...

of Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, General Armando Diaz

Armando Diaz

Armando Diaz, 1st Duca della Vittoria was an Italian general and a Marshal of Italy.Born in Naples, Diaz began his military career as a student at the Military Academy of Turin, where he became an artillery officer. He was a colonel commanding the 93rd infantry during the Italo-Turkish War, and...

of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Marshal Ferdinand Foch

Ferdinand Foch

Ferdinand Foch , GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier, war hero, military theorist, and writer credited with possessing "the most original and subtle mind in the French army" in the early 20th century. He served as general in the French army during World War I and was made Marshal of France in its...

of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

and General John Pershing of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. In 1935, bas reliefs by Walker Hancock

Walker Hancock

Walker Kirtland Hancock was a 20th-century American sculptor and teacher. He created notable monumental sculptures, including the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

of Jacques, Beatty, Diaz, Foch and Pershing were unveiled.

Union Station massacre

Violence and gangster activity proliferated during this time as well. On June 17, 1933, three gangsters attempted to free Frank Nash

Frank Nash

Frank Nash has been called “the most successful bank robber in U.S. history,” but he is most noted for his violent death in what has become known as the Kansas City Massacre...

from FBI custody, but wound up killing him and four unarmed agents. This is known as the Union Station massacre

Kansas City Massacre

The Kansas City massacre was the shootout and murder of four law enforcement officers and a criminal fugitive at the Union Station railroad depot in Kansas City, Missouri, on the morning of June 17, 1933. It occurred as part of the attempt by a gang led by Vernon Miller to free Frank "Jelly" Nash,...

. The gangsters had spent the prior evening at the Hotel Monroe, adjacent to Pendergast's office, and had received assistance in eluding a bribed police force from John Lazia

John Lazia

John Lazia, also known as "Brother John" , was an American organized crime figure in Kansas City, Missouri, during the prohibition period in the United States.-Early years:...

, a major underworld figure with connections to Pendergast.

James Pendergast

In 1880, James Pendergast, the oldest son of Irish immigrants, moved to Kansas City's West Bottoms

West Bottoms

. He worked at a local iron foundry until buying a bar with money he won from betting on a longshot horse ("Climax") at a local race track. From his new bar, Pendergast began networking with local leaders and soon built a powerful faction in the Jackson County Democratic Party. Pendergast's faction was called the "goats" because they were backed by those living in the hills above the river. His chief rival were the "rabbits" because they tended to come from the area around the rivers. The lead of this faction was Joe Shannon

Joe Shannon

For the Major League Baseball player of the same name, see Joe Shannon .Joseph Bernard Shannon was a Democratic political boss in Kansas City, Missouri that was a rival to the more dominant Pendergast political machine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Shannon was born in St...

Tom Pendergast

Just prior to winning his first of nine terms on the city council in 1892, he summoned his youngest brother Tom

Tom Pendergast

from nearby St. Joseph

Saint Joseph, Missouri

Saint Joseph is the second largest city in northwest Missouri, only second to Kansas City in size, serving as the county seat for Buchanan County. As of the 2010 census, Saint Joseph had a total population of 76,780, making it the eighth largest city in the state. The St...

. As Jim's health deteriorated, Tom began to utilize many of Jim's connections to lead the "Goat" faction after Jim's death in 1910. Tom succeeded Jim in the council too, but left after three terms but assumed more powerful position as chairman of the Jackson County Democratic Club with its headquarters at 1908 Main Street.

City manager

In 1925, Kansas City, Missouri, voted in favor of establishing a city manager-based government with one city council of 12 members instead of two chambers of 32 members total, giving Tom an easier road to gaining majority control. By 1925, the Pendergast machine had established a majority, appointing a passive mayor and powerful city manager Henry McElroy. Pendergast's power grew during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, creating a Ten-Year Plan bond plan aimed at putting unemployed Kansas Citians to work building civic structures that still stand, including City Hall, Municipal Auditorium, and the Jackson County Courthouse. These structures, sporting art deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

architecture, were built with concrete supplied by Pendergast's Ready-Mixed Concrete company and other companies that provided kickbacks to Pendergast.

At its peak, the machine wielded considerable influence on state politics, handily electing Platte County judge Guy Brasfield Park

Guy Brasfield Park

Guy Brasfield Park was a politician from the U.S. State of Missouri.Park was born in Platte City, Missouri and he graduated from law school at the University of Missouri. Park practiced law in Platte City, twice winning election to be the prosecuting attorney for Platte County...

governor of Missouri in 1932 when the Democratic candidate Francis Wilson

Francis Wilson

Francis Wilson may refer to:*Francis H. Wilson , U.S. Representative from New York*Francis Wilson , American actor*Francis Wilson , Australian lichenologist...

died two weeks before the election. Also during this time, Kansas City also became a center for night life and music, with jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

by musicians such as Count Basie

Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...

, Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

and blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

Kansas City blues

Kansas City Blues

Kansas City Blues may refer to::*Kansas City Blues , a 1902-1954 minor-league baseball team*Kansas City Blues , a Rugby Super League team founded in 1966*Kansas City Blues , a minor-league hockey team...

flourishing in areas such as 18th and Vine. Pendergast's machine became synonymous with inflating election results by bringing in out-of-town hoodlums to vote for machine candidates repeatedly. The March 27, 1934 municipal elections (dramatized in Robert Altman

Robert Altman

Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...

's 1996

1996 in film

Major releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...

film Kansas City) resulted in nine deaths.

Machine's demise

Tom Pendergast's power was brought down by health ailments and a determined effort by reform leaders, capped by Tom pleading guilty to tax evasion on May 24, 1939. Remnants of the machine lingered until the 1950s.

Walt Disney

Main articles: Laugh-O-Gram Studio

Laugh-O-Gram Studio

Laugh-O-Gram Studio was a film studio located on the second floor of the McConahay Building at 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, Missouri.The studio played a role in the early years of animation: it was home to many of the pioneers of animation, brought there by Walt Disney, and is said to be the...

and Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

Walt Disney moved to Kansas City with his family in the early 20th century. He attended weekend classes at the Kansas City Art Institute

Kansas City Art Institute

The Kansas City Art Institute is a private, independent, four-year college of fine arts and design founded in 1885 in Kansas City, Missouri....

and was said to have been inspired to make the affectionate depiction of a mouse after seeing one in his office in Kansas City. After World War I Disney's first animation efforts were at Laugh-O-Gram Studio

Laugh-O-Gram Studio

in Kansas City.

Joyce Clyde Hall

Main articles: Joyce Clyde Hall, Hallmark Cards

Hallmark Cards

Hallmark Cards is a privately owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce C. Hall, Hallmark is the largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was awarded the National Medal of Arts....

, and Crown Center

Crown Center

Crown Center is a commercial complex and neighborhood located near Downtown Kansas City, Missouri located between Gillham Road and Grand Boulevard to the east and west, and between Pershing Boulevard and Union Hill to the north and south. The shopping center is anchored by Halls, a department store...

J.C. Hall founded Hallmark Cards

Hallmark Cards

greeting card company with his brother Rollie in the early 20th century, by first selling Valentines Day cards. He expanded the corporate headquarters into Crown Center

Crown Center

shortly before he died in the 1960s.

TW&A

Main articles: TWA

Twa

The Twa are any of several hunting peoples of Africa who live interdependently with agricultural Bantu populations, and generally hold a socially subordinate position: They provide the farming population with game in exchange for agricultural products....

, Jack Frye

Jack Frye

William John "Jack" Frye was an aviation pioneer, who with Paul E. Richter and Walter A. Hamilton, built TWA into a world class airline during his tenure as chairman from 1934-1947....

, Paul E. Richter

Paul E. Richter

Paul E. Richter, 1896 to 1949,Aviation pioneer, co-founder of TWA."The Airline Run by Flyers" During the "Golden Age" of flying, Paul E. Richter played a decisive role in creating and building all aspects of commercial aviation and military air transport...

and Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes

Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...

Charles Lindbergh

Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...

helped lure the newly created Transcontinental & Western Airline (TW&A)--later TWA

Twa

--to locate its corporate headquarters in Kansas City because of the city's central location. During the latter part of the Golden Age of Aviation, the 30s and 40s, TWA was known as "The Airline Run by Flyers." With about 300 employees prior to World War II, the airline eventually employed more than 20,000 people from the metropolitan area.

William T. Kemper

William T. Kemper became the scion for a powerful financial family that had controlling interest of the city's two biggest banks Commerce Bancshares

Commerce Bancshares

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. is a Kansas City, Missouri based U.S. bank holding company with branches of its Commerce Bank in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Oklahoma....

and City Center Bank

UMB Financial Corporation

UMB Financial Corporation is an American financial services company based in Kansas City, Missouri with operations in seven, mostly Midwestern, states. The company owns commercial banks, a brokerage company, a community development corporation, a consulting company, a mutual fund servicing...

. The family has influenced financial endeavors throughout the Missouri and Kansas including Kemper Arena

Kemper Arena

Kemper Arena is a 19,500 seat indoor arena, in Kansas City, Missouri.It is named for R. Crosby Kemper Sr., a member of the powerful Kemper financial clan and who donated $3.2 million, from his estate for the arena...

and Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 1994 in Kansas City, Missouri. The core of the museum's permanent collection is the Bebe and R. Crosby Kemper Jr. Collection, a gift of the museum's founders. The collection includes works created after the 1913 Armory Show to works by present-day...

. William became president of Commerce. One of his sons R. Crosby Kemper

R. Crosby Kemper

Rufus Crosby Kemper Sr. transformed City Center Bank into UMB Financial Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri, during his tenure from 1919 to 1967....

controlled United Missouri Banks while the other son James Madison Kemper took over Commerce.

William Rockhill Nelson

Main articles: William Rockhill Nelson

William Rockhill Nelson

William Rockhill Nelson was a real estate developer and founder of The Kansas City Star. He donated his estate for the establishment of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.-Early life:...

and Kansas City Star

William Rockhill Nelson founded the Kansas City Star in 1880 and was to eventually take over its prime competitor the Kansas City Times

Kansas City Times

. Nelson was a big Democratic supporter and urban booster. At the urging of his paper the city built Memorial Hall

Memorial Hall (Kansas City, Kansas)

The Kansas City Memorial Hall is a 3,500-seat multi-purpose venue, located in Kansas City, Kansas. The auditorium, which has a permanent stage, is used for public assemblies, concerts and sporting events....

in 1899 to attract the 1900 Democratic National Convention

1900 Democratic National Convention

The 1900 Democratic National Convention was a United States presidential nominating convention that took place the week of July 4, 1900 at Convention Hall in Kansas City, Missouri....

. The hall burned in early 1900 was rebuilt in 90 days in time for the convention. After Nelson he left provisions that his house ultimately be torn down to create Nelson-Atkins Gallery of Art.

J. C. Nichols

Main articles: J. C. Nichols

Jesse Clyde Nichols

Jesse Clyde Nichols , better known as J. C. Nichols, was a prominent developer of commercial and residential real estate in Kansas City. He was born in Olathe, Kansas, attended the University of Kansas and Harvard University...

, Country Club Plaza

Country Club Plaza

, and Country Club District

Country Club District

Beginning in 1906, developer J. C. Nichols

Jesse Clyde Nichols

created a planned upscale community called the Country Club District, south of Brush Creek. This development is well known for beautiful Ward Parkway

Ward Parkway

, a wide, divided and manicured boulevard that gently slides north and south through the neighborhood. The parkway is lined with several large and attractive homes. In the 1920s, Nichols created the Country Club Plaza, a shopping district and neighborhood along Brush Creek modeled after the city of Seville, Spain. "The Plaza" is the world's first shopping center specifically designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile. In 2008, it is still one of the most popular shopping and dining venues in Kansas City—day and night. Every Thanksgiving evening, throngs of Kansas Citians flock there to watch the traditional Lighting of the Plaza, which kicks off the Christmas shopping season.

Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

, who was born in Lamar, Missouri

Lamar, Missouri

Lamar is a city in Barton County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,474 at the 2011 census. It is the county seat of Barton County. Lamar is well known as the birthplace of President Harry S. Truman.-Geography:...

, but grew up in Jackson County, started a haberdashery in downtown Kansas City after World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. When his business failed, he asked Pendergast for a job and wound up an Eastern Jackson County judge (actually a county commissioner position). Truman was later promoted to Senator. He was one of the few politicians who attended Tom Pendergast's funeral in 1945 just a few days after he became Vice President

Vice president

A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...

R. A. Long

Robert A. Long

Robert Alexander Long was a lumber baron, developer, investor, newspaper owner, millionaire, and philanthropist. He lived most of his life in Kansas City, Missouri and founded the city of Longview, Washington and the town of Longville, Louisiana....

(1850–1934) was born in Shelby County, Kentucky

Shelby County, Kentucky

Shelby County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2010, the population was 42,074. Its name is in honor of Isaac Shelby, the first Governor of Kentucky. Its county seat is Shelbyville...

. In 1873 Long moved to Columbus, Kansas

Columbus, Kansas

Columbus is the second largest city and county seat of Cherokee County, Kansas, United States, 15 miles south-southwest of Pittsburg, Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,312.-History:...

and with a friend and a cousin, Victor Bell and Robert White, started a hay business. This was unsuccessful but there seemed to be a need for lumber so the three formed the R. A. Long & Company. After the death of Robert White the remaining two formed the Long-Bell Lumber Company

Long-Bell Lumber Company

In 1887, Robert A. Long and Victor Bell formed the Long-Bell Lumber Company in Columbus, Kansas. The Long-Bell Lumber Company branched out using balanced vertical integration to control all aspects of lumber from the sawmills to the retail lumber yard...

in 1887 and the headquarters was moved to Kansas City. This was a very lucrative business and Long became a millionaire. His other milestones achieved were lumber baron, developer, investor, newspaper owner, town and city builder, being Longville, Louisiana

Louisiana

and Longview, Washington

Longview, Washington

Longview is a city in Cowlitz County, Washington, United States. It is the principal city of the "Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area", which encompasses all of Cowlitz County. Longview's population was 36,648 at the time of the 2010 census and is the largest city in Cowlitz County...

, and philanthropist. In 1907 he built the R.A. Long Building

R.A. Long Building

R.A. Long's Long-Bell Lumber Company had outgrown the office space in the Keith & Perry Building. Expanding operations and the need for a larger headquarters resulted in the construction of the R.A. Long Building completed in 1907. This was the first all-steel framed building in Kansas City,...

, the first steel framed skyscraper, in Kansas City. The building was bought by City National Bank & Trust Company

UMB Financial Corporation

in 1940. Long was a founding member and president of the Liberty Memorial

Liberty Memorial

Association that secured funding for the memorial. James M. Kemper was treasurer as well as president of a bank. In 1911 he built Corinthian Hall, a 72 room mansion and in 1914 he built the Longview Farm

Longview Farm

Longview Farm in Lee's Summit, Missouri, United States was built by Robert A. Long. In planning the farm Long again turned to Henry F. Hoit of Hoit, Price and Barnes, as he had designed Corinthian Hall and the R.A. Long Building. George Kessler was chosen as the landscape architect. The farm and...

18th Street & Vine

One of the most dramatic developments of the era was the flourishing of the inner city neighborhood of 18th Street and Vine.

KC Monarchs

The Kansas City Monarchs

Kansas City Monarchs

The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro Leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri and owned by J.L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930. J.L. Wilkinson was the first Caucasian owner at the time...

played at Municipal Stadium (Kansas City)

Municipal Stadium (Kansas City)

Kansas City Municipal Stadium was a baseball and football stadium that formerly stood in Kansas City, Missouri. It hosted the minor league Kansas City Blues of the American Association from 1923 to 1954 and the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues during the same period...

and were one of the premiere Negro Leagues baseball teams with championship teams and stars such as Satchel Paige

Satchel Paige

Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend in his own lifetime...

, Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson

Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...

and John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil.

Kansas City Jazz

With Kansas City not enforcing liquor laws and clubs allowed to stay open all night, musicians began all night jam sessions after performing in structured big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

performances. The Kansas City sound became Bebop

Bebop

Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...

that hit the national stage with Kansas City native Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

KC-style barbecue

Henry Perry first introduced a Memphis-style barbecue to the city from his restaurant in the 18th Street and Vine area in the early 20th century. Arthur Bryant (restaurateur)

Arthur Bryant (restaurateur)

Arthur Bryant was a purveyor of Kansas City barbecue who operated Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City, Missouri.Bryant was born on a farm in Branchville, Texas in Milam County, Texas. He attended Prairie View A&M College, an all-black school in Texas...

later added more molasses

Molasses

Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet,...

to the recipe when he took over Perry's restaurant. One of Perry's cooks opened Gates and Sons Bar-B-Q which added more molasses. In 1986, Rich Davis

Rich Davis

Richard E. Davis founded KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce.Davis, born in Joplin, Missouri, graduated from Topeka High School in 1944 and served a year and a half in the army. After World War II, he attended Washburn University, Columbia University and Colorado College. While at Washburn, he was...

sold KC Masterpiece

KC Masterpiece

KC Masterpiece is a barbecue sauce which has been claimed by its manufacturer to be the number 1 premium barbecue sauce sold in the United States....

Bar-B-Q Sauce to the Kingsford charcoal division of Clorox

Clorox

The Clorox Company is a US-based manufacturer of various food and chemical products based in Oakland, California, which is best known for its bleach product, Clorox.- History :...

Crossroads of the World

The period between the 1940s and the 1970s was a heady time when Kansas City was sometimes considered the crossroads of the world. This was fueled by the Presidency of hometown boy Harry Truman from 1945 through 1953, followed immediately by Kansan Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

from 1953 to 1961. From the 1930s and part of this period TWA

Twa

, under the leadership of Jack Frye

Jack Frye

William John "Jack" Frye was an aviation pioneer, who with Paul E. Richter and Walter A. Hamilton, built TWA into a world class airline during his tenure as chairman from 1934-1947....

, Paul E. Richter

Paul E. Richter

and Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes

Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...

as a stockholder, was headquartered in Kansas City. The city planned to turn the cosmopolitan hub into the gateway to the world. But the era's great expectations died down with the diminished presence of TWA.

1940s

After the fall of the Pendergast machine, reformer John B. Gage was elected mayor in 1940 and L. P. Cookingham

Laurie Perry Cookingham

Laurie Perry Cookingham, more commonly known as L.P. Cookingham or L. Perry Cookingham, was a noted public administrator in the United States having served as City Manager of Kansas City, Missouri for 19 years, a tenure longer than anyone else had served as city manager in any city in the United...

was named city manager. John B. Gage

John B. Gage

John Bailey "Jack" Gage was mayor of Kansas City, Missouri from 1940 to 1946 who made reforms following the collapse of the political machine of Thomas Pendergast.Gage was born on the family farm at 9th and Cleveland...

was elected mayor three times and served until 1946, while City Manager Cookingham served until 1959. The Gage and Cookingham government sought to “clean up” Kansas City from its corrupt past and enact “fair” government practices and merit-based hiring of city employees.

The war effort brought defense jobs to Kansas City, which was still suffering from the Great Depression, including the Pratt & Whitney engine plant. Other armaments plants in Kansas City, Kansas and eastern Jackson County provided additional jobs to the region. This was a relatively prosperous time for the city. In 1945, Harry Truman, a resident of Jackson County became President of the United States, following the death of Franklin Roosevelt.

Sprawl/Annexation

In the mid-1940s, the Gage and Cookingham government began to annex land to expand the city’s size. Annexation programs continued though the 1970s, when the city increased its geographical size to five times its size in 1940. Following World War II, Kansas City, like many older cities, experienced sprawl and population shifts from the city’s core to the suburbs and periphery. While other cities shrank, the newly annexed land helped Kansas City retain its population. Growth since 1970, however, has been limited and often negative, despite a modest population growth in the 1990s.

1950s

Since the 1950s, Kansas City has gone through a transition and tried to shed its Cow Town image. This began when Kansas City was at its height of national attention with the back-to-back Presidencies of Harry Truman and Kansas favorite-son Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

. Events of the day saw the heyday of Roy A. Roberts

Roy A. Roberts

Roy Allison Roberts was a managing editor, president, editor and general manager of The Kansas City Star who guided the paper during its influential period during the Presidencies of Harry S. Truman and Dwight D...

influence as editor of the Kansas City Star.

The change began in the early 1950s with the precipitous decline of the railroad to competition from the automobile and jet travel. Union Station (Kansas City) which had lorded over the second (to Chicago) busiest rail intersection began a rapid decline. The Great Flood of 1951

Great Flood of 1951

decimated the Kansas City Stockyards

Kansas City Stockyards

in the West Bottoms. The stockyards (which were also second to Chicago in size) never came back to their full glory as stockyards moved away from urban and unionized centers. In 1955, Kansas City formally began its relationship with major league sports when the Philadelphia Athletics moved to become the Kansas City Athletics playing at Municipal Stadium (Kansas City)

Municipal Stadium (Kansas City)

1960s

The 1960s were marked by a period of many projects coupled with the rapid urban decay

Urban decay

Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...

of many inner city neighborhoods. During this period, many historic buildings were demolished to make way for parking lots, and office buildings. The area became primarily for business rather than for everyday city life.

During this inner city

Inner city

The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...

decay, Kansas City began to annex land and expand its area. In the process, Kansas City eventually became one of the largest cities in the United States area-wise at 318 square miles (824 km²), while its population decreased by 15,000 from 1950-2000. It is still not uncommon to find cattle and corn fields on the extreme edges of Kansas City. Kansas City in 2000 ranked 21st in the United States in terms of area while #40 in terms of the list of United States cities by population.

In 1967 the Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...

participated in the first ever Super Bowl

Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...

, losing to the Green Bay Packers. In the same year Charlie Finley got permission to move the Kansas City Athletics out of the 1923-era Municipal Stadium (Kansas City)

Municipal Stadium (Kansas City)

. Kansas City responded to these developments by approving a bond issue to build the Truman Sports Complex

Truman Sports Complex

The Harry S. Truman Sports Complex is a sports and entertainment facility located in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.. It is home to two major sports venues- Arrowhead Stadium, home of the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs, and Kauffman Stadium, home of Major League Baseball's Kansas City...

on the extreme suburban eastern edge of the city by the I-70 and I-435 intersection. The construction of the complex was so successful that many major league ballparks and football stadiums have been designed in accordance with the Truman Complex master plan, and most have been designed by Kansas City architects.

Also in 1967 work began on the Crown Center

Crown Center

complex around the headquarters of Hallmark Cards

Hallmark Cards

. Another development in the 1960s was the approval of a bond issue to move the city's main airport from Kansas City Downtown Airport

Kansas City Downtown Airport

Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport , also known as Kansas City Downtown Airport, is a public airport located in Kansas City, Clay County, Missouri, United States. This airport is publicly owned by City of Kansas City.-History:...

to the TWA

Twa

Kansas City Overhaul Base

The Kansas City Overhaul Base is a manufacturing and maintenance plant adjacent to Kansas City International Airport.The plant at its peak in the 1960s and 1970s employed more than 6,000 people who worked on repairing the entire fleet of Trans World Airlines and it was Kansas City's biggest...

at what was formerly called Mid-Continent International Airport—now called Kansas City International Airport

Kansas City International Airport

Kansas City International Airport , originally named Mid-Continent International Airport, is a public airport located 15 miles northwest of the central business district of Kansas City, in Platte County, Missouri, United States. In 2008, 10,469,892 passengers used the airport...

(but which is referred to in baggage tags by its original abbreviation of MCI). Although Kansas City continued to expand outward in the 1960s, the inner city endured numerous heartbreaks, fires and the 1968 riots following the assassination

1968 Kansas City riot

The 1968 Kansas City riot was a riot that occurred in Kansas City, Missouri in April 1968. Kansas City became one of thirty-seven cities in the United States to be the subject of rioting after the assassination Martin Luther King, Jr....

of Martin Luther King. White flight continued on a large scale, ironically, resegregating the city even further than it was before the Civil Rights movement.

1970s

The first half of the 1970s was dominated by Kansas City's ambitious urban renewal projects that were showcased when the city hosted the 1976 Republican National Convention

1976 Republican National Convention

The 1976 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States met at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, from August 16 to August 19, 1976. The convention nominated incumbent Gerald Ford for President, but only after narrowly defeating a strong challenge from former California...

. Though these projects did little to bring people back to the city, they removed many historic buildings in favor of more parking, and more office structures, as well as public housing projects.

New Arenas and Teams

After Charlie Finley moved the Kansas City Athletics to Oakland, Missouri Senator Stuart Symington

Stuart Symington

William Stuart Symington was a businessman and political figure from Missouri. He served as the first Secretary of the Air Force from 1947 to 1950 and was a Democratic United States Senator from Missouri from 1953 to 1976.-Education and business career:...

threatened to remove professional baseball's antitrust exemption. Major League Baseball responded by awarding an expansion team to Kansas City which started play in 1969 under Ewing Kauffman

Ewing Kauffman

Ewing Marion Kauffman was an American pharmaceutical magnate, philanthropist, and Major League Baseball owner....

. The Royals had winning seasons by 1971 and moved into their new home in the Truman Sports Complex

Truman Sports Complex

at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium

Kauffman Stadium

Ewing M. Kauffman Stadium is a Major League Baseball stadium located in Kansas City, Missouri, and home to the Kansas City Royals of the American League. Together with Arrowhead Stadium, home of the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs, it is a part of the Truman Sports Complex...

) in 1973 beginning a decade in which they appeared in the World Series

World Series

The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...

twice (winning once) and winning six American League West

American League West

The American League West is one of three divisions in Major League Baseball's American League. The division currently has four teams, but it has had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams currently only reside along the west coast and in Texas, historically the...

division titles. In 1972 the Kansas City Chiefs played their first game at the new Arrowhead Stadium

Arrowhead Stadium

Arrowhead Stadium is a stadium located in Kansas City, Missouri and home to the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs....

. Ironically, the football Chiefs, who had defined Kansas City in the 1960s and those heady days at Municipal Stadium, went into a decline when they had only two winning seasons between 1974 and 1986.

In 1972 Kansas City acquired the Cincinnati Royals National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

team to the city with promises of building a new indoor arena. Kemper Arena

Kemper Arena

which was the first major project by architect Helmut Jahn

Helmut Jahn

Helmut Jahn is a German-American architect, well known for designs such as the US$800 million Sony Center on the Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, the Messeturm in Frankfurt and the One Liberty Place, formerly the tallest building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Suvarnabhumi Airport, an international...

was built in 18 months from 1973 to 1974 on former location of the Kansas City Stockyards

Kansas City Stockyards

in the West Bottoms

West Bottoms

. Its construction was financed by general obligation bonds, donated land from the stockyards, donations from the American Royal and R. Crosby Kemper

R. Crosby Kemper

Rufus Crosby Kemper Sr. transformed City Center Bank into UMB Financial Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri, during his tenure from 1919 to 1967....

Sr. The arena was considered an architectural gem because of how fast it could be built and the fact that with external supports there were no obstructions to sight lines. The Arena was seen as the crowning achievement for luring the 1976 Republican Convention. The Arena also resulted in Kansas City being awarded the National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

expansion team Kansas City Scouts

Kansas City Scouts

The Kansas City Scouts was a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League from 1974–76. In 1976, the franchise relocated to Denver, Colorado and became the Colorado Rockies...

which began playing in 1974.

KCI Airport

The Kansas City Downtown Airport

Kansas City Downtown Airport

built initially during the Pendergast in the Missouri River bottoms immediately north of downtown was convenient. However it lacked room for expansion and jets landing and taking off had to avoid the 200 foot high bluffs, and the neighborhood of Quality Hill

Quality Hill

at its south edge. TWA, which was headquartered in Kansas City at the time, had an overhaul base with a landing strip surrounded by open farm land 15 miles (24 km) north of downtown in rural Platte County, Missouri

Platte County, Missouri

As of the census of 2000, there were 73,781 people, 29,278 households, and 20,231 families residing in the county. The population density was 176 people per square mile . There were 30,902 housing units at an average density of 74 per square mile...

. The airport was listed on maps as Mid-Continent International Airport.

In 1966 voters approved a $150 million bond issue to move the city's main airport to an expanded Mid-Continent. However, the city did not annex the area, instead the small town of Platte City, Missouri

Platte City, Missouri

Platte City is a city in Platte County, Missouri, along the Little Platte River. The population was 3,866 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Platte County.-Geography:Platte City is located at...

annexed the airport. Following a series of court battles, Kansas City eventually annexed the airport and selected architect firm Kivett and Myers

Kivett and Myers

Kivett & Myers was a Kansas City, Missouri architecture firm that pioneered the design of modern professional sports stadiums.Clarence Kivett graduated from the University of Kansas in 1928 and his first big design project was the art deco design of Katz Drug at Main Street and Westport in 1934...

to design the airport which was dedicated in 1972. Almost all the airlines that were at the old facility moved to the new airport which was renamed Kansas City International Airport

Kansas City International Airport

to more closely identify it with the city. The international designation was applied because of jets traveling to and from Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. The MCI abbreviation remained because it was an existing airport and had already been listed on navigation charts.

River Quay

One of the most tragic times during this period occurred when a gangland war broke out among members of the Kansas City mafia

Mafia

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

over control of the newly created (and thriving) River Quay entertainment district (and also control over mob skimming at the Stardust Resort & Casino

Stardust Resort & Casino

The Stardust Resort & Casino was a casino resort located on along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada.The Stardust opened in 1958, although most of the modern casino complex was built in 1991. At its March 13, 2007 demolition it was the youngest undamaged high-rise building to ever be...

in Las Vegas). In the process several mobsters were killed and three buildings were blown up in the River Quay which effectively ended its function as Kansas City's entertainment center. The battle was to end the era of mob control of the Vegas casinos.

The River Quay in the City Market area along the Missouri River

Missouri River

on the north edge of Downtown Kansas City, had been a 1970s urban renewal project to offer a more family friendly entertainment complex based on the city's of Kansas City Jazz heritage replacing the establishments along 12th Street which had deteriorated into a center for crime, drugs and prostitution. The battle over mob skimming in Las Vegas was highlighted in the book Casino

Casino (film)

Casino is a 1995 crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese...

and movie by Nicholas Pileggi

Nicholas Pileggi

Nicholas Pileggi is an Italian-American author and screenwriter.-Career:Pileggi is best known for writing the book Wiseguy, which he adapted into the movie Goodfellas, and for writing the book and screenplay Casino. The movie versions of both were co-written and directed by Martin Scorsese...

Big storms

Although the Kansas City area, which is in Tornado Alley

Tornado Alley

Tornado Alley is a colloquial and popular media term that most often refers to the area of the United States where tornadoes are most frequent. Although an official location is not defined, the area between the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains is usually associated with it.The areas...

, is usually hit with at least one and often many more tornadoes each year, two major storms that were not tornadoes had profound effects on the city. On September 12, 1977, following a soggy summer, 16 inches of rain fell on Kansas City, flooding the entire region. The most dramatic flooding was in the Country Club Plaza

Country Club Plaza

neighborhood along Brush Creek. The storm killed 25 people and did nearly $100 million of damage to property. On June 4, 1979, an evening storm collapsed the roof of Kemper Arena

Kemper Arena

. Nobody was injured as there were no events at it at the time. Initial reports indicated the collapse was the result of a downburst

Downburst

A downburst is created by an area of significantly rain-cooled air that, after reaching ground level, spreads out in all directions producing strong winds. Unlike winds in a tornado, winds in a downburst are directed outwards from the point where it hits land or water...

. However an investigation later revealed that storm water had pooled on the roof and then the supports could not handle the heavier roof when coupled with high winds that rocked its exterior skeleton. The arena was repaired and reopened in early 1980.

Small Market Major League

Kansas City's grandiose dreams began to diminish in the 1980s as TWA and the major league hockey and basketball teams left and the NCAA no longer played its Final Four games in the city. The Kansas City Scouts

Kansas City Scouts

The Kansas City Scouts was a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League from 1974–76. In 1976, the franchise relocated to Denver, Colorado and became the Colorado Rockies...

were unable to create the same National Hockey League

National Hockey League

buzz as the St. Louis Blues and they departed in 1976 to become the Colorado Rockies

Colorado Rockies (NHL)

The Colorado Rockies were an American professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League that played in Denver, Colorado, from 1976 to 1982. They were a relocation of the Kansas City Scouts, a 1974 expansion team. The franchise moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey, in 1982 and was...

(which in turn became the New Jersey Devils

New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

in 1982). In 1986, the Kansas City Kings left town to become the Sacramento Kings

Sacramento Kings

The Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...

. Kansas City began to settle into the fact that it is one of the smallest markets of major league teams ranking #31 according to its television market. The era from 1980 to the present has been marked by substantial bond issues by the city to protect its past such as Union Station and Liberty Memorial as well as to make major improvements to the airport and sports complex. Kansas City is now experiencing the biggest building boom in downtown since the Pendergast era.

Desegregation case

The single most divisive issue in Kansas City in 1980s and 1990s was school desegregation

Desegregation

Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...

case that was to span three decades, cost millions of dollars, be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and be featured in a CBS 60 Minutes

60 Minutes

60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....

profile about good intentions gone awry. The case began in 1977 when the Kansas City Missouri school district sued its neighboring districts for funds to help it desegregate its schools. In the ensuing court battle, Kansas City's school system itself was put under a federal court judge guidance and the judge then proceeded to order tax increases to improve the quality of the schools as the system built its network of magnet school

Magnet school

In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...

s including the high schools of Lincoln College Preparatory Academy

Lincoln College Preparatory Academy

Lincoln College Preparatory Academy is a 3 year middle school and 4 year college preparatory Magnet School in the Kansas City, Missouri School District. The school is highly competitive as students are required to take entrance exams to get in...

and Paseo Academy

Paseo Academy

Paseo Academy, also referred to as Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, and sometimes as Paseo High School is a magnet performing arts high school located at 4747 Flora in Kansas City, Missouri...

. The battle dragged in the entire state of Missouri as schools outside the metropolitan area argued they should not have to pay for Kansas City schools. Further, Kansas City residents were angered over plans to bus students an hour or more each day over Kansas City's vast area.

At the height of the debate Kansas City Missouri spent more than $11,700 per pupil—the most of any large public school district in the country. Teacher salaries zoomed, teacher-student ratios were 12 or 13 to 1 and some schools were equipped with Olympic size swimming pools, wildlife sanctuaries and model United Nations with simultaneous translation capability. Kansas City Missouri had hoped to stop white flight to attain 35% white enrollment at nearly every school. Instead, over the life of the case minority enrollment has grown from 67% to 84%.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1995 in Missouri v. Jenkins

Missouri v. Jenkins

Missouri v. Jenkins, 515 U.S. 70 , is a case decided by the United States Supreme Court. On June 12, 1995 the Court, in a 5-4 decision, overturned a District Court ruling that required the state of Missouri to correct de facto racial inequality in schools by funding salary increases and remedial...

ruled that the courts had exceeded their authority in the case. The case still continued to work its way back through the courts and in 2003 a federal court judge finally released Kansas City from the judicial oversight.

Hyatt Regency disaster

One of the biggest showcases of Kansas City Metro's rebirth in this era was Crown Center

Crown Center

which was being built by Hallmark Cards

Hallmark Cards

which is headquartered in the complex by Union Station

Union Station (Kansas City, Missouri)

. The newest addition to the complex was the site of the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse

Hyatt Regency walkway collapse

The Hyatt Regency hotel walkway collapse was a collapse of an interior suspended skywalk system that occurred on July 17, 1981, in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, killing 114 people and injuring 216 others during a tea dance. At the time, it was the deadliest structural collapse in U.S...

in 1981 during a tea dance

Tea dance

A tea dance, or thé dansant is a summer or autumn afternoon or early-evening dance from four to seven, sometimes preceded in the English countryside by a garden party. The function evolved from the concept of the afternoon tea, and J. Pettigrew traces its origin to the French colonization of Morocco...

which had been set up to bring back the magic of Kansas City Jazz. The Kansas City Star, which had been caught flat footed after the Kemper Arena collapse, hired a structural engineer following the Hyatt disaster and wound up winning a Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

for its coverage.

Champions of the World

The Kansas City Royals

Kansas City Royals

The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...

were to boost city morale in 1980 when they played their first World Series (in which they were favored to win but lost) and then in 1985 in the I-70 Series

1985 World Series

-Game 1:Saturday, October 19, 1985 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri-Game 2:Sunday, October 20, 1985 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri...

with the intrastate rival St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...

(in which they were underdog to the St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals

but won). The 1985 Kansas City Royals season

1985 Kansas City Royals season

The 1985 Kansas City Royals season ended with the Royals' first world championship win over their intrastate rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. The Royals won the Western Division of the American League for the second consecutive season and the sixth time in ten years...

ended with the Royals' first world championship win over their intrastate rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. The Royals won the Western Division of the American League for the second consecutive season and the sixth time in ten years. The team improved their record to 91-71 on the strength of their pitching, led by Bret Saberhagen's Cy Young Award-winning performance. In the playoffs, the Royals went on to win the American League Championship Series for just the second time and the World Series for the first time. Both series were won in seven games after losing three of the first four games. The championship series against the Cardinals was forever remembered by umpires' blown calls: one that cost the Royals a run in the 4th, and a "blown call" in Game Six by umpire Don Denkinger that St. Louis fans claim led to the Royals tying the game. In actuality, the dropped foul ball by Jack Clark had as much or more to do with the Royals rally that inning. Regardless, St. Louis had no answer for Royals pitcher Brett Saberhagen in the following game as KC won it 11-0 and the series four games to three.

The 1990s

Kansas City grew by 6,399 people during the 1990s, ending two decades of population loss. Emanuel Cleaver

Emanuel Cleaver

Emanuel Cleaver II is a United Methodist pastor and the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2005. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and in January 2010 became chair of the Congressional Black Caucus....

became the city’s first African-American mayor in 1991, before being elected to Congress in 2004. The opening of the American Jazz Museum

American Jazz Museum

The American Jazz Museum is a jazz museum in the United States. Located in the historic 18th and Vine district in Kansas City, Missouri, in a building also housing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, it preserves the history of the American music: jazz. The museum features exhibits on Charlie...

, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was founded in 1990 in Kansas City, Missouri.-History:The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was founded in 1990 by a group of former Negro Leagues baseball players, including Kansas City Monarchs outfielder, Alfred Surratt, Buck O'Neil, and Horace Peterson...

, and refurbishing of Union Station as Science City helped memorialize early 20th century Kansas City. The decade closed with Kansas City electing its first female mayor, Kay Waldo Barnes in 1999.

External links

Kansas City history database from the Kansas City Public Library
Sween, The Kansas City Stars 125th Anniversary homepage
"Pictorial History of Kansas City and Wyandotte County Kansas". August 2000.
Vintage Kansas City.com
Murrel Bland, History of Wyandotte County
William G. Cutler, "History of the State of Kansas", Kansas City, Kansas.
TWA history

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