Everything about Kansas City Missouri totally explained
Kansas City is the largest
city in the
state of
Missouri. It encompasses in parts of
Jackson,
Clay,
Cass, and
Platte counties. The city also serves as the anchor city of the
Kansas City Metropolitan Area, second largest in Missouri and largest with territory in Kansas, though
Wichita is the largest metro anchored in Kansas. As of 2006, the city had an estimated population of 447,306, with a metro area of nearly two million. Kansas City was founded in 1838 as the "Town of Kansas" at the
confluence of the
Missouri and
Kansas rivers and was incorporated in its present form in 1850. Situated opposite
Kansas City,
Kansas, the city was the location of several battles during the
Civil War, including the
Battle of Westport. The city is well known for its contributions to the musical styles of
jazz and
blues as well as to
cuisine (
Kansas City-style barbecue).
Abbreviations and nicknames
Kansas City, Missouri, is often abbreviated as "KCMO", or simply "KC" (both abbreviations often refer to the
metro area). It is officially nicknamed the
City of Fountains. With over 200 fountains, the city claims to have second most in the world, just behind
Rome. The city also has more boulevards than any city except
Paris and has often been called "Paris on the
Plains." Informal nicknames include
BBQ Capital of the World, and residents are known as
Kansas Citians. It is sometimes referred to colloquially as the
Heart of America as it's near both the
population center of the United States and the
geographic center of the 48 contiguous states.
History
Kansas City, Missouri was incorporated in 1850. The
territory straddling the border between Missouri and Kansas at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers was considered a good place to build settlements.
Exploration and settlement
The first documented European visit to Kansas City was
Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont, who was also the first European to explore the lower Missouri River. Criticized for his handling of a Native American attack of
Fort Detroit, he'd deserted his post as commander of the fort and was avoiding the French authorities. Bourgmont lived with a Native American wife in the
Missouri village about east near
Brunswick, 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 the documents he describes the junction of the "Grande Riv[iere] des Cansez" and Missouri River, being the first to refer to them by those names. French cartographer
Guillaume Delisle used the descriptions to make the first reasonably accurate map of the area.
The Spanish took over the region in the
Treaty of Paris (1763) 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. The
Chouteau family operated under the Spanish license at
St. Louis in the lower
Missouri Valley as early as 1765, but it would be 1821 before the Chouteaus reached Kansas City, when
François Chouteau established Chouteau's Landing.
After the
Louisiana Purchase,
Lewis and Clark visited the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, noting it was a good place to build a fort.
In 1833
John McCoy established
West Port along the
Santa Fe Trail, three miles (5 km) away from the river. Then in 1834, McCoy established
Westport Landing on a bend in the Missouri River to serve as a landing point for West Port. Soon after, the Kansas Town Company, a group of investors, began to settle the area, taking their name from an English spelling of "Cansez." In 1850 the landing area was incorporated as the Town of Kansas.
By that time, the Town of Kansas, Westport, and nearby
Independence, had become critical points in America's
westward expansion. Three major
trails -- the
Santa Fe,
California, and
Oregon -- all originated in
Jackson County.
On
February 22,
1853, the City of Kansas was created with a newly elected mayor. It had an area of and a population of 2,500. The boundary lines at that time extended from the middle of the Missouri River south to what is now Ninth Street, and from Bluff Street on the west to a point between Holmes Road and Charlotte Street on the east.
Civil War
The area was rife with animosity as the
Civil War approached. As citizens of a
slave state, Missourians tended to sympathize with the southern states. With Kansas petitioning to enter the
Union under the new doctrine of
popular sovereignty, many from the area crossed into Kansas to sway the state towards allowing
slavery, at first by ballot box and then by bloodshed.
During the Civil War, the City of Kansas was in the midst of battles, almost all of them victories by the Union. The
Battle of Independence in August 1862 stunted a
Confederate advance into northern Missouri (settled by pro-slavery
Virginians), and the October 1864
Battle of Westport effectively ended Confederate efforts to occupy the city. Moreover, General
Thomas Ewing--in response to a successful raid on nearby
Lawrence, Kansas, led by
William Quantrill--issued
General Order No. 11, forcing the eviction of residents in four western Missouri counties, including Jackson, except those living in the city and nearby communities and those whose allegiance to the Union was certified by Ewing.
Post-Civil War
After the Civil War, the City of Kansas grew rapidly. The selection of the city over
Leavenworth, Kansas, for the
Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad bridge over the Missouri River brought about significant growth. The population exploded after 1869, when the Hannibal Bridge, designed by
Octave Chanute, opened. The boom prompted a name change to Kansas City in 1889 and the city limits to extend south and east. Westport became part of Kansas City on
December 2,
1897. According to the
US Census
in 1900, Kansas City was the 22nd largest city in the country, with 163,752 residents.
Kansas City, guided by architect
George Kessler, became a forefront example of the
City Beautiful movement, developing a network of boulevards and parks around the city. The relocation of
Union Station to its current location in 1914 and the opening of the
Liberty Memorial in 1923 gave the city two of its most identifiable landmarks. Further spurring Kansas City's growth was the opening of the innovative
Country Club Plaza development by
J.C. Nichols in 1925 as part of his
Country Club District plan.
Pendergast era
At the
turn of the century, political machines attempted to gain clout in the city, with the one led by
Tom Pendergast emerging as the dominant machine by 1925. A new city charter passed that year made it easier for his Democratic Party machine to gain control of the city council (slimmed from 32 members to nine) and appoint a corrupt city manager. Several important buildings and structures were built during this time, to assist with the great depression—all led by Pendergast, including the
Kansas City City Hall and the Jackson County Courthouse—both added new skyscrapers to the city's growing skyline. The machine fell in 1939 when Pendergast, riddled with health problems, pleaded guilty to
tax evasion. The machine, however, gave rise to
Harry S. Truman, who quickly became Kansas City's favorite son.
Post-World War II sprawl
Kansas City's sprawl and the creation of suburbs originally began with the invention and implementation of streetcars into the city and the surrounding areas.
Streetcar suburbs began to pop up and more and more detached, single family homes were built away from the main part of town. The city's first "Suburbs" were in the neighborhoods of Pendleton Heights and Quality Hill. However, the real sprawl and creation of suburbs didn't start until after the second world war.
After
World War II, the city experienced considerable sprawl, as the affluent populace left for
suburbs like
Johnson County, Kansas, and eastern
Jackson County, Missouri. However, many also went north of the
Missouri River, where Kansas City had incorporated areas between the 1940s to 1970s. The population of the urban core significantly dipped, while the city as a whole gained population.
The sprawl of the city mainly took shape after the "race riots" of the Civil Rights Movement in Kansas City. At this time, slums were also beginning to form in the inner city, and those who could afford to leave, left for the suburbs and outer edges of the city. The post-WWII idea of suburbs and the "American Dream" also contributed to the sprawl of the area. As the city continued to sprawl, the inner city also continued to decline.
In 1940, the city had about 400,000 residents; by 2000, the same area was home to only about 180,000. From 1940 to 1960, the city more than doubled its physical size, while increasing its population by only about 75,000. By 1970, the city had a total area of approximately, more than five times its size in 1940.
The future for sprawl in Kansas City is uncertain. Johnson County has continued to sprawl at a constant rate, and Clay County, Missouri, also has begun to sprawl once more. However recent revelations in urban planning have slowed sprawl and focused instead on the inner city, existing infrastructure and housing, as well as reviving the city's formerly blighted downtown. Uses of the
New Urbanism style of planning is now also occurring in some of the most prominent suburban projects.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 318.0
sq mi (823.7
km²). 313.5 sq mi (812.1 km²) of it's land and 4.5 sq mi (11.6 km²) of it (1.41%) is water.
Kansas City is often imagined to be flat like
Chicago,
Manhattan or
Dallas, but in fact it has many rolling hills. Much of urban Kansas City sits atop 100-200ft bluffs overlooking the rivers and river bottoms areas. Kansas City proper is bowl-shaped and is surrounded to the north and south by
limestone and
bedrock cliffs that were carved by
glaciers. Kansas City is situated at the junction between the
Dakota and
Minnesota ice lobes during the maximum late
Independence glaciation of the
Pleistocene epoch. The Kansas and Missouri rivers cut wide valleys into the terrain when the glaciers melted and drained. A partially filled spillway valley crosses the central portion of Kansas City, Missouri. This valley is an eastward continuation of Turkey Creek valley.
Union Station is located in this valley.
The city's
municipal water was recently rated the cleanest among the 50 largest cities in the United States, containing no detectable impurities.
Climate
Kansas City lies near the geographic center of the contiguous United States, at the confluence of the second largest river in the country, the
Missouri River, and the
Kansas River (also known as the Kaw River). This makes for a
humid continental climate (
Koppen climate classification Dfa) with moderate precipitation and extremes of hot and cold. Summers can be very humid, with moist air riding up from the
Gulf of Mexico, and during July and August daytime highs can reach into the triple digits. Winters vary from mild days to bitterly cold, with lows reaching into the teens below zero a few times a year. Spring and autumn are pleasant and peppered with thunderstorms.
Weather
Kansas City is situated in "
Tornado Alley," a broad region where cold air from the
Rocky Mountains and
Canada collides with warm air from the
Gulf of Mexico, leading to the formation of powerful storms. Kansas City has had many severe outbreaks of
tornados, including the
Ruskin Heights tornado in 1957, and the
May 2003 tornado outbreak sequence, as well as other severe weather, most notably the
Kansas City derecho in 1982. The region is also prone to
ice storms, such as the
2002 ice storm during which hundreds of thousands lost power for days and (in some cases) weeks. Kansas City and its outlying areas are also subject to flooding, including the
Great Flood of 1993 and the
Great Flood of 1951.
Cityscape
See Also: Downtown Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri, is organized into a system of more than 150
neighborhoods, some with histories as independent cities or the sites of major events.
Downtown, the center of the city, is currently undergoing major redevelopment. Near Downtown, the urban core of the city has a variety of
neighborhoods, including historical
Westport, the
Crossroads Arts District,
18th and Vine Historic District,
Pendleton Heights,
Quality Hill, the
West Bottoms and the
River Market.
Other areas near Downtown Kansas City include:
The
39th Street District is known as Restaurant Row
(External Link) and features one of Kansas City's largest selections of independently owned restaurants and boutique shops. It is a center of literary and visual arts and
bohemian culture.
Crown Center is the headquarters of
Hallmark Cards and a major downtown shopping and entertainment complex. It is connected to Union Station by a series of covered walkways.
The
Country Club Plaza, or simply "the Plaza," is an upscale, outdoor shopping and entertainment district. It was the first shopping district in the United States designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile, and is surrounded by apartments and condominiums, including a number of high rise buildings.
The associated
Country Club District to the south includes the
Sunset Hill and Brookside neighborhoods, and is traversed by
Ward Parkway, a beautiful, landscaped boulevard known for its statuary, fountains and large, historic homes.
Kansas City's
Union Station is now home to
Science City, restaurants, shopping, theaters, and the city's
Amtrak facility.
Downtown redevelopment
Downtown Kansas City is an area of bounded by the Missouri River to the north, 31st Street to the south, Bruce R. Watkins Drive (
U.S. Highway 71) to the east and I-35 to the west.
After years of neglect and seas of parking lots,
Downtown Kansas City currently is undergoing a period of change. Many residential properties recently have been or currently are under redevelopment. The
Power & Light District, a new, nine-block entertainment district comprising numerous restaurants, bars, and retail shops, was developed by the
Cordish Company of
Baltimore, Maryland, and is nearing completion in the southern part of the
downtown freeway loop. Its first tenant opened on
November 9,
2007, with more openings to continue throughout 2007 and 2008. Due to a new Missouri state law passed in 2005, the Power & Light District will be one of only five places in the United States where
open containers of
alcohol are allowed in the street. As host of the first annual Downtown Kansas City Festival of the Arts
(External Link) the property gears up to be at the forefront in bringing cultural enrichment to the city.
Adjacent to the Power & Light District, a new arena, the
Sprint Center, opened on
October 10, 2007. The arena was designed by a consortium of local architects, and hopes to lure an
NBA or
NHL franchise to the city.
Los Angeles-based
Anschutz Entertainment Group has invested in the arena project and will run its daily operations.
Parks and parkways
Kansas City is well-known for its spacious parkways and numerous parks. The parkway system winds its way through the city with broad, landscaped medians that include statuary and fountains. One of the best examples is
Ward Parkway on the west side of the city, near the
Kansas state line.
Originally designed for aesthetics and minor automobile/horse and buggy traffic, many parkways were drastically altered to accommodate more and more vehicles, becoming minor freeways.
Swope Park is one of the nation's largest in-city parks, comprising 1,763 acres (2.75sq mi), more than twice as big as New York's Central Park
(External Link). It includes a full-fledged
zoo, two golf courses, a lake, an
amphitheatre, day-camp area, and numerous picnic grounds.
Kansas City has always had one of the nation's best
urban forestry programs. At one time, almost all residential streets were planted with a solid canopy of
American elms but
Dutch elm disease devastated them. Most of the elms died and were replaced with a variety of other shade trees. A program is underway currently to replace many of the fast-growing
sweetgum trees with
hardwood varieties.
Demographics
Economy
Greater Kansas City is headquarters to four
Fortune 500 companies (
Sprint Nextel Corporation,
H&R Block,
Embarq Corporation, and
YRC Worldwide Inc.) and additional
Fortune 1000 corporations (
Interstate Bakeries Corporation,
Great Plains Energy,
Aquila,
AMC Theatres, and
DST Systems).
Hallmark Cards's gross revenues certainly would qualify it for both lists, but it can't be included because it's privately owned by the
Hall family. Numerous agriculture companies operate out of the city and the
Kansas City Board of Trade is the principal trading center for hard red
winter wheat — the principal ingredient of
bread.
The business community is serviced by two major business magazines, the
Kansas City Business Journal (published weekly) and
Ingram's Magazine (published monthly), as well as numerous other smaller publications, including a local
society journal, the
Independent (published weekly).
Kansas City is literally "on the money."
Bills issued by the
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City are marked the letter "J" and/or number "10." The single dollar bills have Kansas City's name on them. Missouri is the only state to have two of the 12
Federal Reserve Bank headquarters (St. Louis also has a headquarters). Kansas City's effort to get the bank was helped by former Kansas City mayor
James A. Reed who as senator broke a tie to get the
Federal Reserve Act passed.
Law and government
City government
» See also: List of mayors of Kansas City
See also: Alcohol laws of Missouri
Kansas City is home to the largest
municipal government in the state of Missouri. The city has a
city manager form of government, however the role of city manager has diminished over the years following excesses during the days of
Tom Pendergast. The mayor is the head of the
Kansas City City Council, which has 12 members (one member for each district, plus one at large member per district), and the mayor himself is the presiding member. Kansas City holds city elections on odd numbered years (every four years unless there's a special reason). The last major city-wide election was May 2007, meaning the next one will be in May 2011.
From the late 19th century to the mid 20th century, Kansas City's municipal government was controlled by often corrupt political machines. Tom Pendergast was the most infamous leader of the party machine. The most nationally prominent Democrat associated with Pendergast's machine was
Harry S Truman, who became a Senator,
Vice President of the United States and then
President of the United States from 1945-1953.
Courts
Kansas City is the seat of the
United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, one of two
federal district courts in Missouri (the other, the
Eastern District, is in St. Louis). It also is the seat of the Western District of the
Missouri Court of Appeals, one of three districts of that court (the Eastern District is in St. Louis and the Southern District is in
Springfield).
Hosted national political conventions
Kansas City has hosted the
1900 Democratic National Convention, the
1928 Republican National Convention, which nominated
Herbert Hoover from
Iowa for President, and the memorable
1976 Republican National Convention, which nominated Kansas U.S. Senator
Bob Dole for Vice President.
Kansas City consistently vote Democratic in Presidential elections, however on the state and local level Republicans often find some success, especially in the Northland and other parts of Kansas City that are predominately suburban.
Congressional representation
Kansas City is represented by two members of the
United States House of Representatives:
Crime
History
Some of the earliest violence in Kansas City erupted during the
American Civil War. Shortly after the city's incorporation in 1850, the period which has become known as
Bleeding Kansas erupted, affecting
border ruffians and
Jayhawkers, who both lived in the city. During the war, Union troops
burned all occupied dwellings in Jackson County south of Brush Creek and east of Blue Creek to Independence in an attempt to halt raids into Kansas.
After the war, the
Kansas City Times turned outlaw
Jesse James into a folk hero in its coverage. James was born in the Kansas City metro area at
Kearney, Missouri, and notoriously robbed the Kansas City Fairgrounds at 12th Street and Campbell Avenue.
In the early 20th century under
Democratic political "Boss"
Tom Pendergast, Kansas City became the country's "most wide open town", with virtually no enforcement of
prohibition. While this would give rise to
Kansas City Jazz, it also led to the rise of the Kansas City
mob (initially under
Johnny Lazia), as well as the arrival of
organized crime. The 1930s saw the
Kansas City Massacre at
Union Station, as well as a shootout between police and outlaws
Bonnie and Clyde at the
Red Crown Tavern near what is now
Kansas City International Airport.
In the 1970s, the Kansas City mob was involved in a gangland war over control of the
River Quay entertainment district, in which three buildings were bombed and several gangsters were killed. Police investigations into the mob took hold after boss
Nick Civella was recorded discussing gambling bets on
Super Bowl IV (where the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Minnesota Vikings). The war and investigation would lead to the end of mob control of the
Stardust Casino, which was the basis for the film
Casino (although the Kansas City connections are minimized in the movie).
Today
As of
October 30,
2006, Kansas City
ranks 21st on the
Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual survey of crime rates for cities with populations over 400,000.
Kansas City ranked sixth in the rate of murders in that same study. The entire Kansas City metropolitan area has the fourth worst violent crime rate among cities with more than 100,000, with a rate of 614.7 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.. On the other hand, many of the surrounding cities in the
Kansas City Metropolitan Area reflect the opposite in crime statistics.
Much of the city's murders and violent crimes occur in the city's
inner core. The violent crime rates in the core consistently have driven the city and metropolitan area down on "livability" indices, hindering initiatives in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to revive downtown Kansas City. In the 2000s, however, attempts at revitalizing the downtown area have been more successful. Downtown currently has one of the lowest crime rates in the urban core, and thousands of new residents have moved there. Other parts of the urban core with higher
poverty levels remain places in which crime remains largely unabated.
According to an analysis by
The Kansas City Star and the
University of Missouri-Kansas City appearing in a Dec. 22, 2007 story, downtown has experienced the largest drop in crime of any neighborhood in the city during the current decade.
(External Link)
Transportation
First, it was at the confluence of the Missouri River and Kansas River and the launching pointing for travelers on the
Santa Fe,
Oregon, and
California trails. Then with the construction of the
Hannibal Bridge across the
Missouri River it became the central location for 11 trunk railroads. More rail traffic in terms of tonnage still passes through the city than any other city in the country.
TWA located its headquarters in the city and had ambitious plans to turn the city into an air hub for the world.
Missouri and Kansas were the first states to start building interstates with
Interstate 70.
Interstate 435, which encircles the entire city, is the second longest beltway in the nation. Today, Kansas City and its metropolitan area has more miles of limited access highway lanes per capita than any other large metro area in the United States, over 27% more than second-place
Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, over 50% more than the average American metro area and nearly 75% more than the metropolitan area with the least:
Las Vegas. The
Sierra Club in particular blames the extensive freeway network for excessive
sprawl and the decline of central Kansas City.
(External Link) On the other hand, the relatively uncongested freeway network contributes significantly to Kansas City's position as one of America's largest logistics hubs.
(External Link)
Airports
Kansas City International Airport was built to the specifications of TWA to make a world hub for the
supersonic transport and
Boeing 747. Its passenger friendly design in which its gates were from the street has, since the
September 11, 2001 attacks, required a costly overhaul to retrofit it to incorporate elements of a more conventional security system. Recent proposals have suggested replacing the three terminals with a new single terminal situated south of the existing runways, thus allowing the airport to operate during construction and to shave miles off of the travel time from downtown and the southern suburbs. The airport is completely supported by user fees and receives no general fund support for operations.
Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport was the original headquarters of
Trans World Airlines and houses the
Airline History Museum. It is still used for
general aviation and airshows.
Mass transit
Like most American cities, Kansas City's mass transit system was originally rail-based. An electric
trolley network ran through the city until 1957. The rapid sprawl in the following years led to this privately run system to be shut down. The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) was formed with the signing of a Bi-State compact created by the Missouri and Kansas legislatures on December 28, 1965. The compact gives the KCATA responsibility for planning, construction, owning and operating passenger transportation systems and facilities within the seven-county Kansas City metropolitan area. These include the counties of Cass, Clay, Jackson, and Platte in Missouri, and Johnson, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte in Kansas. The KCATA is governed by a 10-member Board of Commissioners, five from the state of Kansas and five from the state of Missouri.
The KCATA offers customers three types of service in the Kansas City area: (1) Fixed-route service along 75 routes (2) Share-A-Fare Paratransit service for the elderly and persons with disabilities (3) MetroFlex service, which offers a combination of fixed-route and demand-response.
The base fare is $1.25 one-way, with a variety of passes available. On predicted "Ozone Alert!" days between June 1 and September 30, the fare is $.50.
A light rail petition initiative was approved by voters in November 2006. The KCATA is currently conducting a federally mandated Alternatives Analysis study in an effort to gain federal funding toward a starter system. The starter line will likely run on or near Main Street from the Country Club Plaza to the Missouri River. Short segments will run north of the river to I-29 and east of Main to Prospect Avenue, primarily to support a suburban commuters and connections with heavily used bus routes on the city's poorer east side.
Bus rapid transit
In July 2005, the
Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) launched Kansas City’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line called "MAX" (Metro Area Express). MAX links the vibrant River Market, Downtown, Union Station, Crown Center and the Country Club Plaza. This corridor boasts over 150,000 jobs, as well as some of the area’s most prestigious real estate and treasured cultural amenities.
This $21 million project was the region’s most significant public transportation improvement in decades, providing quicker and more convenient service than the local bus routes. MAX is the spine for future transit expansions and a key component of the region’s long-range transit vision, Smart Moves.
By design, MAX operates and is marketed more like a rail system than a local bus line. A unique identity was created for MAX, including 13 modern diesel buses and easily identifiable “stations". MAX features state-of-the-art technology to deliver customers a high level of reliability, speed and comfort. Dedicated lanes during rush hour help give MAX a rapid, smooth ride, and special traffic signalization holds a green light longer -- only if needed -- to keep MAX on schedule. Limited stops resulted in reduced travel time between Downtown and the Plaza to about 10 minutes.
MAX has successfully attracted new riders who hadn't tried transit in Kansas City previously. In fact, 27% of MAX riders indicate they hadn't ridden transit prior to MAX and a full 77% say that as a result of their experience on MAX, that'll now use other Metro routes more often. An average of 5,000 riders use the MAX line daily. It is augmented by the #57 local route, which shares most of the same stops.
The second MAX line is in the design phase and will launch in the Troost Avenue corridor in 2009. It will augment the #25 route, which has an average of 7,500 riders daily.
MAX runs seven days a week from 5am to 1am. During rush hour periods, the buses make stops about every 9 minutes. The one-way fare is $1.25.
Light rail
Kansas City doesn't currently have a subway or light rail system, although St. Louis does. Several proposals to build one have been rejected by voters in the past. However, the city is currently in the development phase of a starter light rail system. On November 7, 2006, Kansas City voters approved a ballot initiative brought forward by Clay Chastain from Virginia, proposing a city-wide light rail system paid for by a 3/8-cent sales tax that currently funds 40% of Kansas City’s bus system. That sales tax, which will expire April 2009, would have been brought to vote for renewal, but the citizen petition for light rail occurred before this could happen. The initiative requires a light rail line running from the Kansas City Zoo, through the city’s urban core, and out to Kansas City International Airport. In addition to the light rail system, the initiative requires a gondola system that will link Kansas City’s Union Station with the Liberty Memorial, the purchase of 60 hybrid electric busses and the removal of street access through Penn Valley Park, adjacent to the Liberty Memorial. The KCATA estimates that to build the entire light rail system as written will cost between $1.4 and $1.6 billion. The original price tag presented to voters for the line was just below $800 million.
In August 2007, it was announced by the KCATA that an Alternatives Analysis study of the voter-approved light rail plan had a $415 million funding shortfall, even if the federal government paid half of planned construction costs. This study also revealed that the November 2006 plan had technical problems including issues with bridges, steep inclines, and sharp turns beyond typical tolerances. The City Council repealed the vote in November 2007 and is planning to place an alternative plan on a November 2008 ballot. The KCATA will complete its Alternatives Analysis in Spring 2008.
Trolley/Streetcars
Kansas City has a long history with streetcars and trolleys. From 1870-1957 Kansas City's streetcar system was among the top in the country, with over of track at its peak. Following the decision to scrap the system, many of its former streetcars have been serving other American cities for a long time. In 2007, ideas and plans arose to add normal trolley lines, as well as possibly fast streetcars to the city's Downtown for the first time in decades. These proposals are being seen as possible first steps in implemented a larger mass transit network, that would include light rail.
Culture
Ethnic Culture
There is a large community of Irish in Kansas City which numbers around 250,000. The Irish Community includes a large number of bands, including Kansas City's own The Elders, multiple newspapers, the numerous Irish stores, including Browne's Irish Market, the oldest Irish owned business in North America, and the Irish Museum and Cultural Center is the new center of the community. The first book that detailed the history of the Irish in Kansas City was Missouri Irish, Irish Settlers on the American Frontier, published in 1984. The first podcast on the history of the Irish in Kansas City appeared in 2006, under the title of 'Missouri Irish'. It is also of some note that the leading publisher of Irish family works, the Irish Genealogical Foundation, was founded and remains based in Kansas City.
Architecture
Bartle Hall Convention Center, the adjoined art deco Municipal Auditorium, and numerous skyscrapers such as the Kansas City Power and Light Building and One Kansas City Place (the tallest habitable structure in Missouri), as well as the KCTV-Tower (the tallest freestanding structure in Missouri and 31st tallest tower in the world), and the Liberty Memorial (the national World War I memorial and museum of the United States).
Kansas City offices of significant national and international architecture firms include ACI/Boland, BNIM, 360 Architecture, Ellerbe Becket, HNTB and HOK Sport.
City of Fountains
With more than 200 fountains, Kansas City claims that only Rome has more fountains. A fountain is the logo for the city and "City of Fountains" is an official nickname. The densest and most famous area for fountains is the Country Club Plaza (the 1960 J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain is located at 47th and Main). Many smaller fountains dot the streetscape throughout the district.
Kansas City cuisine
Kansas City is most famous for its steak and barbecue.
Kansas City steaks
During the heyday of the Kansas City Stockyards, the city was known for its Kansas City steaks or Kansas City strip steaks. The most famous of the steakhouses is the Golden Ox in the Kansas City Live Stock Exchange in the stockyards in the West Bottoms. The stockyards, which were second only to those of Chicago in size, never recovered from the Great Flood of 1951 and eventually closed. The famed Kansas City Strip cut of steak is largely identical to the New York Strip cut, and is sometimes referred to just as a strip steak.
Kansas City-style barbecue
Along with Texas, Memphis & North Carolina, Kansas City is a "world capital of barbecue." There are more than 90 barbecue restaurants(External Link) in the metropolitan area and the American Royal each fall hosts what it claims is the world's biggest barbecue contest.
The classic Kansas City-style barbecue was an inner city phenomenon that evolved from the pit of Henry Perry from the Memphis, Tennessee area in the early 1900s and blossomed in the 18th and Vine neighborhood. Arthur Bryant's was to take over the Perry restaurant and added molasses to sweeten the recipe. In 1946 Gates and Sons Bar-B-Q was opened by one of Perry's cooks. The Gates recipe added even more molasses. Although Bryant's and Gates are the two definitive Kansas City barbecue restaurants they've just recently begun expanding outside of the Greater Kansas City Area. Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue is well-regarded by many both locally and nationally.
In 1977 Rich Davis, a psychiatrist, test-marketed his own concoction called K.C. Soul Style Barbecue Sauce. He renamed it KC Masterpiece and in 1986 he sold the sauce to the Kingsford division of Clorox. Davis retained rights to operate restaurants using the name and sauce, with a restaurant in the suburb of Overland Park, KS.
Entertainment and performing arts
Classical/opera
Kansas City is home to the Kansas City Symphony, founded by R. Crosby Kemper Jr. in 1982 to supersede the Kansas City Philharmonic, which had existed since 1933. The symphony currently is located at the Lyric Theatre in Downtown Kansas City, but will move to the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, also downtown, when it's completed in December of 2009. The current music director and lead conductor of the symphony is the world-renowned Michael Stern.
The Lyric Opera of Kansas City, founded in 1970, is one of the nation's premier regional opera companies. It prides itself on offering one American contemporary opera production during its annual season consisting of either four or five productions. Originally, all operas were performed in English, although in the late-1990s the company decided to perform all productions in their original languages. The Lyric Opera also is located at the Lyric Theatre, and also will move to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in 2009.
Dance
The Kansas City Ballet, founded in 1957 by Tatiana Dokoudovska, is a ballet troupe comprising 25 professional dancers and apprentices. Between 1986 and 2000, it was combined with Dance St. Louis to form the State Ballet of Missouri, although it remained located in Kansas City. From 1980 to 1995, the Ballet was run by renowned dancer and choreographer Todd Bolender. Today, the Ballet offers an annual repertory split into three seasons which ranges from classical to contemporary ballets. The Ballet also is located at the Lyric Theatre, and also will move with the Symphony and Opera to the Kauffman Center in 2009.
Jazz
Kansas City Jazz in the 1930s marked the transition from big bands to the bebop influence of the 1940s. In the 1930s City Boss Tom Pendergast was at his height of his power and left Kansas City a wide open town in which night clubs were allowed to remain open from dusk to dawn. In this venue, an era of musical improvisation developed in which it wasn't uncommon for a single "song" to be performed all night by competing performers who passed through the city. The era ended in 1936 when producer John H. Hammond began signing Kansas City talent and transferring the acts to New York City.
The era of Kansas City influence is bracketed by the signing of Count Basie in 1929 to the advent of Kansas City native Charlie Parker in the 1940s. Pendergast pleaded guilty to income tax evasion in 1939 and the city soon began a crackdown of the clubs.
In the 1970s Kansas City attempted to resurrect the glory of the jazz era in a sanitized family friendly atmosphere. In the 1970s an effort to open jazz clubs in the River Quay area of City Market along the Missouri ended in a gangland war in which three of the new clubs were blown up in what ultimately resulted in the removal of Kansas City mob influence in the Las Vegas casinos that was partially depicted in the movie Casino (movie).
In 1981, 114 people died in the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse at a tea dance that was attempting to recreate the jazz era. In 1999 the American Jazz Museum opened in the 18th and Vine neighborhood.
Rock/Blues/Hip-Hop
Kansas City's local music scene enjoyed a revival starting in the mid-1960s, based around rock and blues in addition to jazz. Live music venues can be found throughout the city, with the highest concentration in the Westport entertainment district centered on Broadway and Westport Road near the Country Club Plaza. More recently, punk and hip-hop acts have been popular. Recent rock groups originating in Kansas City and direct surrounding areas include The Leo Project, Puddle of Mudd, The Get Up Kids, Shiner, Flee The Seen, The Life and Times, Reggie and the Full Effect, Coalesce, The Casket Lottery, The Gadjits, The Appleseed Cast, The Rainmakers (Kansas City, Missouri band) The Esoteric, Vedera,The Elders and Blackpool Lights. Native rappers include Tech N9ne, Solè, Skatterman & Snug Brim,Big Bear, Young Tuhbz, Kut Calhoun and X Dash. Now also the home of 2008's American Idol,David Cook from the eastern suburb, Blue Springs, Mo.
In addition, The New York Times declared nearby Lawrence, Kansas "the most vital music scene between Chicago and Denver" in a travel column dated February 25, 2005.
Improv Comedy
In 1995, Kansas City hosted the first ever national improv festival, 'Spontaneous Combustion: The US Improv Festival'. Since then, similar improv festivals have popped up all over the country, most notably, the Chicago Improv Festival. This festival's current incarnation is called KCiF: The Kansas City Improv Festival. In 2004, The City3 Project was launched in order to facilitate further growth of the art of improv in Kansas City. Since that time, the number of improv troupes in the metro area has tripled and new comedy theaters have opened. Major troupes in Kansas City include Comedy City, Improv-Abilities, Full-Frontal Comedy, and The Trip Fives.
Sister cities
As of December 2007, Kansas City has 13 sister cities as referenced to www.kcsistercities.org:
| Arusha, Tanzania (1995)
Freetown, Sierra Leone (1974)
Guadalajara, Mexico (1991)
Hannover, Germany (1993)
Kurashiki, Japan (1972)
Metz, France (2004)
Morelia, Mexico (1973)
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Port Harcourt, Nigeria (1993)
Ramla, Israel (1998)
San Nicolas de los Garza, Mexico (1997)
Seville, Spain (1967)
Tainan City, Republic of China (1978)
Xi'an, People's Republic of China (1989)
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Media
Print media
The Kansas City Star is the area's primary newspaper. William Rockhill Nelson and his partner, Samuel Morss, first published the evening paper on September 18, 1880. The Star competed heavily with the morning Times before acquiring it in 1901. The "Times" name was discontinued in March 1990, when the morning paper was renamed the "Star."
Weekly newspapers include The Call (African American focused) and several weekly papers, including the Kansas City Business Journal, The Pitch and the bilingual paper "Dos Mundos".
The city is served by two major faith-oriented newspapers: The Kansas City Metro Voice, serving the Christian community, and the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, serving the Jewish community.
Broadcast media
The Kansas City media market (ranked 29 by Arbitron and 31 by Nielsen) includes ten television channels along with 30 FM and 21 AM radio stations. Kansas City has been a stepping stone for many national broadcasters including Walter Cronkite, Rush Limbaugh, and Mancow Muller.
Film community
Kansas City has also been a locale for Hollywood productions and television programming. Also, between 1931 and 1982, Kansas City was home to the Calvin Company, a large movie production company that specialized in the making of promotional and sales training short films and commercials for large corporations, as well as educational movies for schools and training films for government. Calvin was also an important venue for the Kansas City arts, serving as training ground for many local filmmakers who went on to successful Hollywood careers, and also employing many local actors, most of whom earned their main income in other fields, such as radio and television announcing. Kansas City native Robert Altman got his start directing movies at the Calvin Company, and this experience led him to making his first feature film, The Delinquents, in Kansas City using many local thespians.
The 1983 television movie The Day After was filmed in Kansas City and Lawrence, Kansas. The 1990s film Truman starring Gary Sinise was also filmed in various parts of the city. Other films shot in or around Kansas City include Article 99, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge, Kansas City, Paper Moon, In Cold Blood, and Sometimes They Come Back (in and around nearby Liberty, MO).
Sports
Current teams
Kansas City sports teams presently include the following:
Sporting events
Kansas City is often the home of the Big 12 College Basketball Tournaments. Men's Basketball will be played at Sprint Center beginning in March 2008, while women's Basketball will be played at Municipal Auditorium. Lately, arenas in Dallas and Oklahoma City have hosted the tournament.
Arrowhead Stadium serves as the venue for various intercollegiate football games. Often it's the host of the Big 12 Football Title Game. On the last weekend in October, the Fall Classic rivalry game between Northwest Missouri State University and Pittsburg State University takes place here. Usually, the Bearcats of Northwest and Gorillas of Pitt State are ranked one-two in the MIAA conference. In 2005, other games at Arrowhead included Arkansas State playing host to Missouri, and Kansas hosting Oklahoma.
Sites of interest
Museums
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Belger Arts Center
American Jazz Museum
National World War I Museum of the United States.
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Airline History Museum
Irish Museum and Cultural Center located in Kansas City's Union Station.
Historical sites
Battle of Westport, one of the major battles of the American Civil War .
Country Club Plaza, first shopping center designed to accommodate the automobile.
Laugh-O-Gram Studio, Walt Disney's original cartoon studio in Kansas City. Now being renovated.
Entertainment
Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun amusement parks
Kansas City Zoo and Starlight Theatre, located in Swope Park.
Education
Post-secondary
Cleveland Chiropractic College(website )
Avila University
Calvary Bible College
DeVry University of Kansas City
Kansas City Art Institute(website )
Kansas City College
Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences
Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City (website ) » MCC-Penn Valley
MCC-Longview » MCC-Maple Woods
MCC-Business and Technology » MCC-Blue River
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
National American University
Nazarene Theological Seminary (website )
Rockhurst University
University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC)
University of Phoenix - Kansas City
Vatterott College
Elementary and secondary
Kansas City is served by a variety of school districts.
School districts that serve Kansas City include:
Blue Springs R-IV School District
Center School District
Fort Osage R-1 School District
Grandview Consolidated No.4 School District
Hickman Mills Consolidated No.1 School District
Independence School District
Kansas City, Missouri School District (KCMSD)
Lee's Summit R-VII School District
Liberty Schools
North Kansas City School District
Park Hill School District
Platte County School District
Raytown Consolidated No.2 School District
Smithville School District
Private schools in Kansas City include:
The Barstow School
Don Bosco Education Center
Kansas City Academy
Oakhill Day School
Lee's Summit Community Christian School
Lutheran High School
Bishop Miege High School
Notre Dame de Sion
The Pembroke Hill School
Rockhurst High School
Archbishop O'Hara High School
Saint Pius X High School
St. Teresa's AcademyFurther Information
Get more info on 'Kansas City Missouri'.
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