History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
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The history of the Kansas City metropolitan area has significant records since the 19th century, when Frenchmen from
Exploration
Bourgmont
The first documented French visitor to the Kansas City area was
To clear his name, Bourgmont 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, and in 1714, "The Route to Be Taken to Ascend the Missouri River". In these documents, he described the junction of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, as 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 French rewarded Bourgmont 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, near his Brunswick home. In 1724, Bourgmont led a group of Native Americans probably up the Kansas River en route to the southwest to set up an alliance with the Comanche to fight the Spanish, thereby creating a New France 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 and 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 in 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.
Lewis and Clark
Following the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the Lewis and Clark Expedition left St. Louis on a mission to reach the Pacific Ocean. In 1804, Lewis and Clark camped for three days at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers. During their stay at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas, they met French fur traders and mapped the area of Quality Hill in what would eventually become Kansas City, Missouri, calling it "a fine place for a fort". This became Kansas City, Kansas, memorialized at Kaw Point Park.
Because of the burgeoning trade up the Missouri River from St. Louis, especially following Lewis and Clark's expedition, the
Kaw's Mouth
In 1812, after
Early to mid-1800s
Native Americans
Missouri joined the Union in 1821 and, after the
Early European settlers
The language of the first European settlement in Kansas City was French. In 1821, 24-year-old
The area was soon populated by trappers, scouts, traders, and farmers, leading to the incorporation of
Latter Day Saint movement
In 1831, members of
Later, various groups of Latter Day Saints returned to Jackson County, the first of whom were members of the diminutive
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is the largest sect in the Latter Day Saint movement and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. The LDS Church opened the Kansas City Missouri Temple on May 6, 2012.[2][3]
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, 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 on the California Trail, Santa Fe Trail, and Oregon Trail. 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 drove 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, Chouteau, and other merchants formed the Town of Kansas Company and purchased Prudhomme's 271-acre (1.1 km2) farm for US$4,220 (equivalent to about $121,000 in 2023). The investors had rejected other names for the new town including Port Fonda, Rabbitville, and Possum Trot. The next year, in 1839, Chouteau died, and the town outside of Westport Landing was named Kansas.
Throughout the 1840s, the population and importance of Kansas swelled as it and nearby Independence and Westport became starting points on the Oregon, Santa Fe, and California trails for
Jackson County finally formally incorporated Kansas, Missouri 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 Kansas in 1851.
City of Kansas
On March 28, 1853, Missouri officially incorporated it, renaming it 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 the location of what became Interstate 35) on the west, Independence Avenue on the south, Holmes Street on the east, and the Missouri River on the north. William S. Gregory was elected the first mayor but had to resign within 10 months when it was discovered that the mayor actually had to live within the city limits, so Johnston Lykins became the first legal mayor.
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
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
During the 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 to send in federal troops. The president agreed, and with the troops' presence the violence seemed quelled.
Civil War
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 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 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,
In 1864, Price invaded Missouri in a last-gasp Confederate offensive called
After the war, Kansas City remained a hotbed for former pro-Southerns.
Mid to late 1800s
Crossroads of the country
In 1865, the
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
Cow town
In 1871, the Kansas City Stockyards boomed in the 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
Strawberry Hill
In 1887, John G. Braecklein constructed a
1890s to 1940
Pendergast era
The Pendergast era, under Democrat big city bosses
Prohibition
Kansas enacted statewide prohibition on February 19, 1881. In Kansas City, however, residents on the Kansas side of the area who wished to drink simply went across the state line to Kansas City, Missouri, to the many saloons and taverns there. 12th Street in
When prohibition finally was imposed on Missouri in 1919 by means of the
World War I memorial
The
Union Station massacre
Violence and gangster activity proliferated during this time. On June 17, 1933, three gangsters attempted to free Frank Nash from FBI custody, but wound up killing him and four unarmed agents. This is known as the Union Station massacre. 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, a major underworld figure with connections to Pendergast.
Politics
James Pendergast
In 1880, James Pendergast, the oldest son of Irish immigrants, moved to Kansas City's West Bottoms. He worked at a local iron foundry until he bought 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 rivals were the "Rabbits" because they tended to come from the area around the rivers. The lead of this faction was Joe Shannon.
Tom Pendergast
Just prior to winning his first of nine terms on the city council in 1892, James summoned his youngest brother
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
At its peak, the machine wielded considerable influence on state politics, handily electing
Machine's demise
Tom Pendergast's power was brought down by health ailments and a determined effort by The federal treasury department along with local reform leaders, capped by Tom pleading guilty to tax evasion on May 24, 1939. Remnants of the machine lingered until the 1950s. His biographers have summed up Pendergast's uniqueness:
Pendergast may bear comparison to various big-city bosses, but his open alliance with hardened criminals, his cynical subversion of the democratic process, his monarchistic style of living, his increasingly insatiable gambling habit, his grasping for a business empire, and his promotion of Kansas City as a wide-open town with every kind of vice imaginable, combined with his professed compassion for the poor and very real role as city builder, made him bigger than life, difficult to characterize.[13]
Personalities
Walt Disney
Walt Disney moved to Kansas City with his family in the early 20th century. He attended weekend classes at the Kansas City Art Institute 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 ran his first animation studio at the Laugh-O-Gram Studio from 1921 to 1923 Kansas City.
Joyce Clyde Hall
J.C. Hall founded greeting card company Hallmark Cards with his brother Rollie in the early 20th century, by first selling Valentine's Day cards. He expanded the corporate headquarters into Crown Center shortly before he died in 1982.
TW&A
William T. Kemper
William Rockhill Nelson
William Rockhill Nelson founded the
J. C. Nichols
Beginning in 1906, developer
Nichols is responsible for "redlining" and residential covenants that kept Blacks, Jews, and other marginalized people from purchasing homes and living in the more desirable areas of Kansas City, like the neighborhoods around the Plaza that he developed. This racial divide continued in parts of the city, especially east of Troost Avenue.[14] Because of this, the name of J.C. Nichols was stripped from a fountain and street on The Plaza.[15]
Harry S Truman
R. A. Long
In 1873,
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.
Kansas City Monarchs
The
Kansas City Jazz
With Kansas City not enforcing liquor laws and clubs being allowed to stay open all night, musicians began all-night jam sessions after performing in structured big band performances. The Kansas City sound was hard-driving, riff-bass and blues oriented. This was the environment in which Charlie Parker developed in his early years before heading to New York City and laying the foundations for bebop.
Kansas City-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 later added more molasses to the recipe when he took over Perry's restaurant. Gates Bar-B-Q which was opened in 1946, by George W. Gates, is the only remaining family owned barbecue restaurant in the area. It is also the only sauce and product manufacturer based in Kansas City. The still family owned business is owned and operated by Ollie W. Gates. In 1986, Rich Davis sold KC Masterpiece Bar-B-Q Sauce to the Kingsford charcoal division of Clorox.
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 native Harry Truman from 1945 to 1953, followed immediately by Kansan Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961. From the 1930s and part of this period TWA, under the leadership of Jack Frye, Paul E. Richter, and Howard Hughes 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 was named city manager. Gage 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
Annexation
In the mid-1940s, the Gage and Cookingham government began to annex land to expand the city's size. The city increased its geographical size to five times its size in 1940, with the annexation programs continuing through the 1970s. Following World War II, Kansas City, like virtually all other metropolitan areas, experienced significant lower density expansion, which was fueled principally by movement from outside the area and also by population shifts from the city's core to the suburbs. While other cities shrank, the newly annexed land helped Kansas City retain its population. Growth since 1970, however, has been limited and often negative, even during 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. Events of the period saw the heyday of Roy A. Roberts' influence as editor of the Kansas City Star.
The change began in the early 1950s with the precipitous decline of the railroad due to competition from
1960s
The 1960s contained many projects coupled with the rapid urban decay 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 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 between 1950 and 2000. It is still not uncommon to find cattle and corn fields on the extreme edges of Kansas City. In 2000, Kansas City ranked as the 21st largest city in the United States in terms of area, while it placed 40th in population rankings.
In 1967, the Kansas City Chiefs participated in the first Super Bowl, losing to the Green Bay Packers. That year, Charlie Finley got permission to move the Kansas City Athletics out of the 1923-era Municipal Stadium. Kansas City responded to these developments by approving a bond issue to build the Truman Sports Complex on the extreme suburban eastern edge of the city by the intersection of Interstates 70 and 435. 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
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. Though these projects did little to bring people back to the city, they removed many historic buildings in favor of more parking, office structures, and public housing projects.
New arenas and teams
After Charlie Finley moved the Kansas City Athletics to Oakland, California, Missouri Senator Stuart Symington 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. The Royals had winning seasons by 1971 and moved into their new home in the Truman Sports Complex at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in 1973, beginning a decade in which they appeared in the World Series two times (winning once) and won six American League West division titles. In 1972, the Kansas City Chiefs played their first game at the new Arrowhead Stadium. Ironically the Chiefs football franchise, who had defined Kansas City in the 1960s and those heady days at Municipal Stadium, went into a decline, having only two winning seasons between 1974 and 1988 and participating in only one playoff game from 1972 through 1989.
In 1972, Kansas City acquired a
KCI Airport
The Kansas City Downtown Airport, which was 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 (61 m) high bluffs, and the neighborhood of 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. 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, and instead the small town of Platte City, Missouri did. Following a series of court battles, Kansas City eventually annexed the airport and selected architectural firm Kivett and Myers to design it, which was dedicated in 1972. Almost all the airlines that were hubbed at the old facility moved to the new airport, which was renamed Kansas City International Airport. The international designation was applied because of jets at the airport that traveled to and from Mexico. The "MCI" abbreviation remained because it was an existing airport and had already been listed on navigation charts.
On November 7, 2017, two weeks after KCI's 45th anniversary, Kansas City Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved a new privately financed and constructed single terminal at KCI. The New Terminal will replace the existing decrepit "Clover Leaf Terminals" and is expected to open in late 2021.
River Quay
One of the most tragic times during this period occurred when a gangland war broke out among the
The River Quay in the City Market area along the
Big storms
Although the Kansas City area, which is in Tornado Alley, is usually hit with at least one and often many more tornadoes each year, two major non-tornadic storms had profound effects on the city. On September 12, 1977, following a soggy summer, 16 inches (410 millimetres) of rain fell on Kansas City, causing severe flooding across the entire region. The most dramatic flooding was in the Country Club Plaza neighborhood, along Brush Creek. The storm killed 25 people, and caused nearly $100 million in property damage.[16] On June 4, 1979, a severe thunderstorm that moved through the city that evening collapsed the roof of Kemper Arena. As the arena was not holding an event that night, no one was injured at the facility. Initial reports indicated that the collapse was the result of a downburst. However, an investigation later revealed that heavy rain from the storm had collected on the arena's roof, to the point where the supports were unable to handle the weight of the pooled water 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
1980s
Desegregation case
The single most divisive issue in Kansas City in the 1980s and 1990s was a school
The legal case began in 1977 when the
At the height of the debate, the Kansas City, Missouri district spent more than $11,700 per pupil – the most of any large public school district in the country. Teacher salaries skyrocketed, 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.[18] The Kansas City, Missouri School District had hoped to stop white flight to attain 35% white enrollment at nearly every school. Instead, over the life of the case, minority enrollment had grown from 67% to 84%.[19] In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case Missouri v. Jenkins 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 walkway collapse
One of the biggest showcases of Kansas City metropolitan area's rebirth in this era was Crown Center, which was being built by Hallmark Cards, itself headquartered in the complex by Union Station. The newest addition to the complex was the
Champions of the World
The Kansas City Royals helped boost the city's morale in 1980, when they played their first World Series (in which they were favored to win, but lost to the Philadelphia Phillies four games to two), and then in 1985 in the "I-70 Series" with the intrastate rival St. Louis Cardinals. The 1985, 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 pitcher 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 in its history. Both series were won in seven games after losing three of the first four games.
The championship series against the Cardinals, in which the Royals were the underdog, 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. However, a 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 Saberhagen in the following game as the Royals won their first world championship over the Cardinals in Game 7, 11–0, and the series four games to three.
The Royals returned to the Fall Classic in 2014 losing in the 7th Game to the San Francisco Giants with the tying run just 90 feet away. In 2015, they returned once more and this time defeated the New York Mets in 5 games. The Royals won Game 1 in
The 1990s
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Kansas City grew by 6,399 people during the 1990s, ending two decades of population losses. Emanuel Cleaver became the city's first African-American mayor in 1991, before being elected to Congress in 2004. The opening of the American Jazz Museum, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and refurbishing of Union Station as Science City helped memorialize early 20th-century Kansas City.
The suburb of North Kansas City became home to the first casino facility in Missouri when
21st century
Population change
The City of Kansas City, Missouri's population has steadily increased by more than 24,000 people between the
Downtown KCMO rehabilitation
Downtown Kansas City, Missouri has had $6 billion in improvements, with main goals including to attract convention and tourist money, office workers, and residents.
Transportation
In July 2005, the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) launched Kansas City's first bus rapid transit line, the Metro Area Express (MAX), which links the River Market, Downtown, Union Station, Crown Center, and the Country Club Plaza.[29] In 2013, construction began on the first two-mile KC Streetcar line in downtown Kansas City (funded by a $102 million ballot initiative that was passed in 2012) that runs between the River Market and Union Station. It began operation in May 2016.[30][31][32]
On November 7, 2017, Kansas City, Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved a new single terminal at Kansas City International Airport by a 75% to 25% margin.[33]
See also
- Timeline of Kansas City, Missouri history
References
- ^ ""A History of Kansas City" (KCMO.org)". Archived from the original on November 4, 2006. Retrieved August 12, 2006.
- LDS Church. January 19, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
- ^ "Open house dates are extended for Kansas City Missouri Temple". Church News. April 6, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
- ^ O'Bryan, Tony. "Collapse of the Union Women's Prison in Kansas City". Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1854-1865. Kansas City Public Library. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ "Who was Jesse James, and what was his connection to the Kansas City area? Kansas City Public Library". Archived from the original on October 10, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2006.
- ^ "Mrs. Nation Fired in Police Court: Judge McAuley Assesses the Joint-Smasher $500 and Orders Her out of Town", The Kansas City World, April 15, 1901
- ^ Kenneth H. Winn, "It All Adds Up: Reform and the Erosion of Representative Government in Missouri, 1900-2000", published by the Missouri Secretary of State
- ^ Ira M. Wasserman, "Prohibition and Ethno-Cultural Conflict: the Missouri Prohibition Referendum of 1918", Social Science Quarterly, Volume 70, pp. 886-901.
- ^ "Mrs. Nation Fired in Police Court: Judge McAuley Assesses the Joint-Smasher $500 and Orders Her out of Town", The Kansas City World, April 15, 1901
- ^ "Mrs. Nation Barred from Kansas City", The New York Times, April 16, 1901
- ^ Allan May, "The History of the Kansas City Family", Crime Magazine, October 10, 2002
- ^ Ken Burns, "Kansas City, a Wide Open Town", from Jazz, PBS, 1997
- ISBN 9780826260994.
- ^ "History of Kansas City's Country Club Plaza". Kansas City Local's Guide. November 17, 2023. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
- ^ "Name of J.C. Nichols struck from KC fountain and parkway". Kansas City Star. July 1, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
- ^ bccp.org newsletter 2004 May-June
- ^ Peter Moran, "Too little, too late: The illusive goal of school desegregation in Kansas City, Missouri, and the role of the federal government". The Teachers College Record 107.9 (2005): pp 1933-1955.
- ^ cato.org pa-298
- ^ "sba.org DID31909 CID448". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved July 25, 2006.
- ^ "Missouri Gaming Commission: The History of Riverboat Gambling in Missouri". Mgc.dps.mo.gov. July 1, 1994. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
- ^ "Current and Past Estimates of the Land Area of Individual Annexations and of the Total Land Area of Kansas City, Missouri" (PDF). Planning and Zoning Department of Kansas City. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
- ^ "2000-2010 Population Change Map" (PDF). Mid-America Regional Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 3, 2011. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
- ^ Marie-Alice L'Heureux, "The Creative Class, Urban Boosters, and Race – Shaping Urban Revitalization in Kansas City, Missouri" Journal of Urban History (2015) 41#2 pp 245-260 abstract
- ^ "Kansas City Real estate Market" (PDF). Cushman Wakefield. 2017.
- ^ Collison, Kevin. "Millennials, Baby Boomers Fuel Apartment Growth In Kansas City". Retrieved November 19, 2017.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
- ^ Sinovic, Emily. "Big changes coming to shape the future of downtown Kansas City". Retrieved November 19, 2017.
- ^ "Downtown KC attracts company, 400 jobs from Overland Park". kansascity. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
- ^ "Maps and Schedules". KCATA. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
- ^ "Kansas City streetcar rides will be free". Kansas City Business Journal. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
- ^ "Kansas City voters approve streetcar plan". Kansas City Business Journal. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
- ^ "Streetcar enjoys high-traffic launch - Kansas City Business Journal". Kansas City Business Journal. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
- ^ "Kansas City voters approve a single terminal at KCI by a huge margin". kansascity. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
Further reading
- Brown, A. Theodore, and Lyle W. Dorsett. K.C. A History of Kansas City, Missouri (1978)
- Brown, A. Theodore. Frontier Community: Kansas City to 1870 (1963)
- Brown, A. Theodore. The politics of reform;: Kansas City's municipal government, 1925-1950 (1958)
- Brown, A. Theodore. "Business" Neutralism" on the Missouri-Kansas Border: Kansas City, 1854-1857." Journal of Southern History 29.2 (1963): 229-240. online
- Dorsett, Lyle W. "Kansas City and the New Deal", in John Braeman et al. eds. The New Deal: Volume Two - the State and Local Levels (1975) pp 407–19
- Dorsett, Lyle W. The Pendergast Machine - Kansas City (1968)
- Dorsett, Lyle W. "Kansas City Politics: A Study of Boss Pendergast's Machine." Arizona and the West 8.2 (1966): 107-118. online
- Glaab, Charles N. Kansas City and the Railroads: Community Policy in the Growth of a Regional Metropolis (1962) online
- Haskell, Harry. Boss-busters and Sin Hounds: Kansas City and Its Star (University of Missouri Press, 2007).
- Kirkman, Paul. A History Lover's Guide to Kansas City (Arcadia Publishing, 2020), popular history
- Larsen, Lawrence H. and Nancy J. Hulston, "Criminal Aspects Of The Pendergast Machine", Missouri Historical Review (91#2) (1997) pp 168–180.
- Larsen, Lawrence H.; Nancy J. Hulston (1997). Pendergast!. U of Missouri Press. ISBN 9780826211453.
- Jackson, David W. Kansas City Chronicles: An Up-To-Date History (Arcadia, 2010).
- Mallea, Amahia K. A river in the city of fountains: an environmental history of Kansas City and the Missouri River (University Press of Kansas, 2018).
- Matlin, John S. Political Party Machines of the 1920s and 1930s: Tom Pendergast and the Kansas City Democratic Machine. (PhD Dissertation, University of Birmingham, UK, 2009) online; Bibliography on pp 277–92.
- Montgomery, Rick, et al. Kansas City: an American story (Kansas City Star Books, 1999), popular history
- Reddig, William M. Tom's town: Kansas City and the Pendergast legend (University of Missouri Press, 1986).
- Renner, G. K. (October 1960). "The Kansas City Meat Packing Industry Before 1900". Missouri Historical Review. No. 55. pp. 18–29. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
- Shortridge, James R. Kansas City and How It Grew, 1822-2011 (University Press of Kansas; 2012) 248 pages; historical geography excerpt and text search
- Sprinkle, Timothy. Screw the valley : a coast-to-coast tour of America's new tech startup culture : New York, Boulder, Austin, Raleigh, Detroit, Las Vegas, Kansas City. OCLC 927625832.
- Wuthnow, Robert (January 17, 2011). Remaking the Heartland. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691146119.
Older histories
- Case, Theodore Spencer, ed. History of Kansas City, Missouri: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers (Brookhaven Press, 1888) online.
- Miller, William H. The History of Kansas City: Together with a Sketch of the Commercial Resources of the Country with which it is Surrounded (Birdsall & Miller, 1881) online.
- Whitney, Carrie Westlake. Kansas City, Missouri: Its History and Its People 1808-1908. Vol. 3 (SJ Clarke publishing Company, 1908) biographies of prominent figures. online.
- Shirley, Christian (2004). Before Lewis and Clark: The Story of the Chouteaus the French Dynasty That Ruled America's Frontier (1st ed.). OCLC 53434709.
Culture
- Broomfield, Andrea L. Kansas City: A Food Biography (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016).
- Buckner, Reginald T. "A history of music education in the Black community of Kansas City, Kansas, 1905-1954." Journal of Research in Music Education 30.2 (1982): 91-106. online
- Clifford-Napoleone, Amber R. Queering Kansas City jazz: Gender, performance, and the history of a scene (U of Nebraska Press, 2018).
- Driggs, Frank, and Chuck Haddix. Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop--A History (Oxford University Press, 2006) excerpt
- Dulin, Pete. Kansas City Beer: A History of Brewing in the Heartland (Arcadia, 2016).
- Ehrlich, George. Kansas City, Missouri: an architectural history, 1826-1990 (University of Missouri Press, 1992)
- Kirkman, Paul. Forgotten Tales of Kansas City (Arcadia, 2012)
- Londre, Felicia Hardison. The Enchanted Years of the Stage: Kansas City at the Crossroads of American Theater, 1870-1930 (University of Missouri, 2007)
- Peterson, John E. The Kansas City Athletics: A Baseball History, 1954-1967 (McFarland, 2015).
- Rose, Mark H. "Urban Environments and Technological Innovation: Energy Choices in Denver and Kansas City, 1900-1940." Technology and Culture 25.3 (1984): 503-539. online
- Russell, Ross. Jazz style in Kansas City and the southwest (Univ of California Press, 1983).
- Rury, John L.; Akaba, Sanae (June 30, 2014). "The Geo-Spatial Distribution of Educational Attainment: Cultural Capital and Uneven Development in Metropolitan Kansas City, 1960-1980". Histoire & Mesure. XXIX (1): 219–248. ISSN 0982-1783.
- Wolferman, Kristie C. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: Culture Comes to Kansas City (University of Missouri Press, 1993).
- Wiberg, Ella Lydia. The History of the Development of Public Education in Kansas City, Missouri (University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1925) online.
- University of Missouri at Kansas City. Marr Sound Archives. Rags to Be-bop: the Sounds of Kansas City Music, 1890–1945. [Text by] Chuck Haddix. Kansas City, Mo.: University of Missouri at Kansas City, University Libraries, Marr Sound Archives, 1991. Without ISBN
Society: gender, ethnicity, race
- Briggs, John W. An Italian Passage: Immigrants to Three American Cities (Yale UP, 1978) on Utica NY, Rochester NY, and Kansas City, MO, 1890-1930. online
- Coulter, Charles Edward. Take Up the Black Man's Burden: Kansas City's African American Communities, 1865-1939 (University of Missouri Press, 2006).
- Garay-Huamán, Alejandro N., and Clara Irazábal-Zurita. "Latinos in Kansas City: The Political Economy of Placemaking." Journal of Planning Literature 36.2 (2021): 131-154. online
- Garcia-Hallett, Janet, et al. "Latinxs in the Kansas City metro area: Policing and criminalization in ethnic enclaves." Journal of Planning Education and Research 40.2 (2020): 151-168. online
- Gotham, Kevin Fox. Race, real estate, and uneven development: The Kansas City experience, 1900-2000 (SUNY Press, 2002).
- Gotham, Kevin Fox. "Missed opportunities, enduring legacies: School segregation and desegregation in Kansas City, Missouri." American Studies (2002): 5-41. online
- Gotham, Kevin Fox. "A city without slums: Urban renewal, public housing, and downtown revitalization in Kansas City, Missouri." American Journal of Economics and Sociology 60.1 (2001): 285-316. online
- L'Heureux, Marie-Alice. "The Creative Class, Urban Boosters, and Race: Shaping Urban Revitalization in Kansas City, Missouri", Journal of Urban History (2015) 41#2 pp 245–260
- Peavler, David J. "Drawing the Color Line in Kansas City." Kansas History 27 (2005): 188-201. online
- Schirmer, Sherry Lamb. A city divided: The racial landscape of Kansas City, 1900-1960 (University of Missouri Press, 2002).
Historiography and memory
- Crawford, Anne E., Peyton Galloway, and Jane Greer. "Drawing hope from difficult history: Public memory and rhetorical education in Kansas City." College English 82.3 (2020): 255-281. online
- Glaab, Charles N., Mark H. Rose, and William H. Wilson. "The history of Kansas City projects and the origins of American urban history." Journal of urban history 18.4 (1992): 371-394. online
External links
- Kansas City history database from the Kansas City Public Library
- Sween, The Kansas City Star's 125th Anniversary homepage
- "Pictorial History of Kansas City and Wyandotte County Kansas Archived 2006-08-19 at the Wayback Machine". 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