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About Kansas City
Kansas City is a city encompassing parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte
counties in the American state of Missouri. Situated at the junction of the
Missouri and Kansas rivers, it lies along the boundary between Missouri and
Kansas, directly opposite of Kansas City, Kansas. It is the most populous city
in Missouri, the seventh largest city in the Midwest and the 40th most populous
city in the United States. As of 2005, the city had an estimated population of
444,965 and a metro population of approximately 1,947,694, making it the 27th
largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States.
Kansas City was first incorporated in 1850. Originally known as the Town of
Kansas, the name was derived from a trading post in the area that had been
dubbed "the village of the Kansa", a reference to the local Kaw (or Kanza) tribe
of American Indians. Kansas City, Missouri is often abbreviated as "KCMO", or
just "KC" (although this often refers to the entire Kansas City metropolitan
area). It is nicknamed the City of Fountains, with over 200 installations,
ranking second in the world and exceeded only by Rome. It is also nicknamed the
Heart of America because it is within 250 miles (400 km) of both the geographic
and population centers of the United States. Informal nicknames include Cowtown,
and the BBQ Capital of the World, while residents are known as Kansas Citians.
The city's tap water was recently rated the cleanest among the 50 largest cities
in the United States, containing no detectable impurities.
History
History
The French explorers Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette were the first Europeans
to explore the area that came to be known as Kansas City, during a six-day canoe
trip up the Missouri River in 1673. The French first settled at St. Louis in the
lower Missouri Valley in 1765. François Chouteau established Chouteau Landing at
the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers in 1821.
In 1833 John McCoy established West Port along the Santa Fe Trail, three miles
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, and 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 0.98 square miles 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
and Charlotte Streets on the east.
The area was ripe with animosity as the Civil War approached. As 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.
Bird's eye view of Kansas City, Missouri. Jan. 1869. Drawn by A. Ruger,
Merchants Lith. Co.
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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 of 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. However, a successful raid on Lawrence,
Kansas led by William Quantrill forced General Thomas Ewing to issue General
Order No. 11, forcing the eviction of residents in four counties, including
Jackson, except those living in the city and nearby communities, or those whose
allegiance to the Union was certified by Ewing.
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.
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.
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 crooked city manager. 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.
After World War II, the city experienced considerable sprawl, as the affluent
populace bolted for suburbs like Johnson County, Kansas and eastern Jackson
County. However, many also went north of the Missouri River, where Kansas City
had incorporated areas during the 1920s and in 1963. This annexation would pay
off for the city in the 1970s, when a population and developmental boom occurred
in both Platte and Clay counties, bringing more buisinesses to the Northland and
making many of the landowners in the area millionares. The population of the
city proper dipped, but over the past 15 years has rebounded to nearly 450,000.
Not only has growth in annexed areas (as far north as Smithville and south as
Cass County) contributed to the growth, but also successful efforts to
revitalize the downtown area. Such growth and ability to annex surrounding areas
has allowed Kansas City to surpass St. Louis as the largest single municipality
in the state of Missouri.
Kansas City has served as a launching pad for several storied careers. Ernest
Hemingway wrote for the Kansas City Star during World War I. Walt Disney moved
to Kansas City and established his first animation studio, Laugh-O-Gram Studio,
at 31st and Locust in 1923. Early screen actors Jean Harlow, Ginger Rogers and
Craig Stevens, writer Robert Heinlein and director Robert Altman all grew up in
Kansas City.
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.
Downtown Kansas 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.
The city's tallest buildings and characteristic skyline is roughly contained
inside the downtown freeway loop (shaded in red). Downtown Kansas City itself is
established by city ordinance to stretch from the Missouri River south to 31st
Street (beyond the bottom of this map), and from I-35 to Bruce R. Watkins
Enlarge
The 39th Street District is known as Restaurant Row 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 is an upscale, outdoor shopping district. It was the
first shopping district in the United States designed to accommodate shoppers
arriving by automobile.
Kansas City's Union Station is now home to Science City, restaurants, shopping,
theaters, and the city's Amtrak facility.
Ward Parkway is a beautiful, landscaped boulevard known for its European art and
historic large houses.
Downtown Kansas City is an area of 2.9 square miles 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 is
currently undergoing a period of change. Many residential properties have
recently been or are currently under redevelopment. A planned entertainment
district, which will be called the "Power and Light District", is being
developed in the southern part of the downtown freeway loop by the Cordish
Company of Baltimore, Maryland; adjacent to the entertainment district will be a
new arena, named the Sprint Center, set to open in 2007. The arena is to be
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.
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.
Swope Park is one of the nation's larger in-city parks, comprising 1,763 acres.
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.