When was Kansas City founded?
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city had an estimated population of 488,943 in 2017, making it the 37th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central city of the Kansas City metropolitan area, which straddles the Kansas–Missouri state line. Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a Missouri River port at its confluence with the Kansas River coming in from the west. On June 1, 1850 the town of Kansas was incorporated; shortly after came the establishment of the Kansas Territory. Confusion between the two ensued and the name Kansas City was assigned to distinguish them soon after.
Kansas City Royals
The Royals began play in 1969 in Kansas City, Missouri. In their inaugural game, on April 8, 1969, the Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 4–3 in 12 innings.
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the State of Kansas, the county seat of Wyandotte County, and the third-largest city of the Kansas City metropolitan area. Kansas City, Kansas is abbreviated as "KCK" to differentiate it from Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. It is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified Government". Wyandotte County also includes the independent cities of Bonner Springs and Edwardsville. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 145,786 residents. It is situated at Kaw Point, which is the junction of the Missouri and Kansas rivers.
Kansas City, Missouri
In 1833 John McCoy, son of missionary Isaac McCoy, established West Port along the Santa Fe Trail, away from the river. In 1834 McCoy established Westport Landing on a bend in the Missouri 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.
Kansas City metropolitan area
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a 14 county metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri, that straddles the border between the U.S. states of Missouri and Kansas. With a population of 2,104,509, it ranks as the second largest metropolitan area with its core in Missouri (after Greater St. Louis). Alongside Kansas City, the area includes a number of other cities and suburbs, the largest being Overland Park, Kansas; Kansas City, Kansas; Olathe, Kansas; and Independence, Missouri; each over 100,000 in population. The Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) serves as the Council of Governments and the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the area.
Kansas City Ballet
The Kansas City Ballet (KCB) is an American professional ballet company based in Kansas City, Missouri.
The company was founded in 1957 by Tatiana Dokoudovska. The Kansas City Ballet steadily developed and grew under Dokoudovska (1957-1981) and her artistic director successors Todd Bolender (1981-1995) and William Whitener (1996-2013).
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
The language of the first European settlement in Kansas City was French. In 1821, 24-year-old François Gesseau Chouteau, nephew of René Auguste Chouteau, set up a permanent trading post in the great bend in the Missouri River that makes up the Northeast Industrial District (crossed today by Chouteau Trafficway). He referred to the post as "the village of the Kansa." In 1825, after Indians agreed to leave the westernmost six miles of Missouri to the confluence of the Kansas, the area was referred to as "Chouteau's." In 1826, Chouteau moved his trading post to higher ground, Troost Avenue and the river, following a flood. He also financed the first Catholic church, which was built on Quality Hill.
Kansas City, Missouri
The following table lists the professional teams in the Kansas City metropolitan area:
The Chiefs – now a member of the NFL's American Football Conference (AFC) – started play in 1960 as the Dallas Texans and they moved to Kansas City in 1963. The team lost Super Bowl I to the Green Bay Packers. They came back in 1969 to become the last ever AFL champions and win Super Bowl IV against NFL champions Minnesota Vikings with a score of 23-7.
Missouri in the American Civil War
In 1863, following the Lawrence Massacre in Kansas, Union General Thomas Ewing, Jr. accused farmers in rural Missouri of either instigating the massacre or supporting it. He issued General Order No. 11 which forced all residents of the rural areas of four counties (Jackson, Cass, Bates and Vernon) south of the Missouri River on the Kansas border to leave their property, which was then burned. The order applied to farmers regardless of loyalty, although those who could prove their loyalty to the Union could stay in designated towns and those who could not were exiled entirely. Among those forced to leave were Kansas City founder John Calvin McCoy and its first mayor, William S. Gregory.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
The legal case began in 1977 when the Kansas City, Missouri School District sued its neighboring districts for funds to help it desegregate its schools. In the ensuing court battle, Kansas City's school system itself was put under a federal court judge guidance; the judge then proceeded to order tax increases to improve the quality of the schools as the system built its network of magnet schools, including two high schools, Lincoln College Preparatory Academy and Paseo Academy. The battle dragged in the entire state of Missouri as schools outside the metropolitan area argued that they should not have to pay for Kansas City area schools. Further, Kansas City residents were angered over plans to bus students an hour or more each day over the city's vast area.
History of Kansas
The Lewis and Clark Expedition left St. Louis on a mission to explore the Louisiana Purchase all the way to the Pacific Ocean. In 1804, Lewis and Clark camped for three days at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers in present-day Kansas City, Kansas (today recognized at the Kaw Point Riverfront Park). They met French fur traders and mapped the area. In 1806, Zebulon Pike passed through Kansas and labeled it "the Great American Desert" on his maps. This view of Kansas would help form U.S. policy for the next 40 years, prompting the government to set it aside as land reserved for Native American resettlement.
Kansas City Life Insurance Company
Originally chartered as Bankers Life Association on May 1, 1895, the Company was founded by Major William Warner, President; J.H. North, Vice President; and S.E. Rumble, Secretary. Rumble conceived the idea of forming a life insurance company in the "heart of America." At the time, Kansas City was known as the Athens of the West and was the second largest city in the western half of the United States; only San Francisco was larger.
Sunflower Showdown
The rivalry between the two schools can be traced indirectly back to their creation in the 1860s. The towns of Manhattan, Kansas (now home to KSU) and Lawrence, Kansas (now home to KU) both competed to be the site of the state University – required in the Kansas Constitution – after Kansas achieved statehood in 1861. Manhattan would have become the home of the University in 1861, but the bill establishing the University in Manhattan was controversially vetoed by Governor Charles L. Robinson of Lawrence. An attempt to override the veto in the Legislature failed by two votes. In 1862, another bill to make Manhattan the site of the University failed by one vote. Finally, on the third attempt, on February 16, 1863, the Kansas Legislature designated Manhattan as home to the state's Land-grant university. Yet the legislature was not done. Prodded by former Governor Robinson, the Legislature distinguished this institution from the "University" in the Constitution, and on February 20 the Legislature named Lawrence as the home to the state university (provided Lawrence could raise $15,000 and acquire not less than of land). When Lawrence met these conditions, the University of Kansas was established there in 1865.
University of Missouri–Kansas City
The school has its roots in the Lincoln and Lee University movement first put forth by the Methodist Church and its Bishop Ernest Lynn Waldorf in the 1920s. The proposed university (which was to honor Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee) was to be built on the Missouri–Kansas border at 75th and State Line Road, where the Battle of Westport (the largest battle west of the Mississippi River during the American Civil War) took place. The centerpiece of the school was to be a National Memorial marking the tomb of an unknown Union soldier and unknown Confederate soldier. Proponents of the school said it would be a location "where North met South and East met West." The Methodist interest reflected the church's important role in the development of the Kansas City area through the Shawnee Methodist Mission which was the second capital of Kansas.
History of Missouri
Kansas City also expanded rapidly during the period; its population increased from 3,500 in 1865 to more than 32,000 in 1870, largely due to the promotional efforts of Joseph G. McCoy. Kansas City became a hub for both meatpacking and wheat milling, and Armour & Company became a major employer in the city. Canned beef production in Kansas City totaled nearly 800,000 tins in 1880, expanding to more than 4 million tins in 1890. By 1878, the city processed more than 9 million bushels of wheat a year, and in 1880, eleven railroad lines operated in the city.
Municipal Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri)
Franchise owner Lamar Hunt moved the Dallas Texans of the fledgling American Football League (AFL) to Kansas City after the 1962 season, becoming the Kansas City Chiefs. The stadium was retrofitted for football. The playing field ran an unconventional east-west, along the first base line. Temporary stands were erected in left field to expand the stadium's capacity each fall, but had to be removed during the baseball season. Due to the lower capacity without the temporary bleachers, the Chiefs opened almost every season between 1963 and 1971 with three or more consecutive road games, except 1968, the year in between the Athletics' final season in Kansas City and the Royals' first season.
Kansas City Blues (ice hockey)
The Kansas City Blues were a minor-league hockey team based in Kansas City, Missouri that played in the Central Hockey League from 1967 to 1972, and again in the 1976-77 season, mainly as an affiliate of the in-state St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League. The 1967 Blues were owned by Missouri Lieutenant Governor (1968-1972) William S. (Bill) Morris, and represented the return of hockey to Kansas City for the first time in over 30 years. Morris was determined to bring an NHL team to Kansas City and tried to lay the groundwork by convincing his friend Sid Soloman, owner of the St. Louis Blues, to create a farm team in Kansas City. The Blues made history on February 21, 1971, when Blues goalie Michel Plasse became the first goaltender to score a goal in a professional hockey game, scoring against the Oklahoma City Blazers. This goal was unfortunately witnessed by few as a snow storm was moving through the Kansas City area causing even the team's owner to leave the arena early.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
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.
Kansas Territory
From June 4, 1812 until August 10, 1821 the area that would become Kansas Territory 33 years later was part of the Missouri Territory. When Missouri was granted statehood in 1821 the area became unorganized territory and contained little to no permanent white settlement with the exception of Fort Leavenworth. The Fort was established in 1827 by Henry Leavenworth with the 3rd U.S Infantry from St. Louis, Missouri; it is the first permanent European settlement in Kansas. The fort was established as the westernmost outpost of the American military to protect trade along the Santa Fe Trail from Native Americans. The trade came from the East, by land using the Boone's Lick Road, or by water via the Missouri River. This area, called the Boonslick, was located due east in west-central Missouri and was settled by Upland Southerners from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee as early as 1812. It's slave-holding population would contrast with settlers from New England who would eventually arrive in the 1850s. 
The land that would become Kansas Territory was considered to be infertile by 19th century American pioneers. It was called the Great American Desert, for it lacked trees and was dryer than land eastward. Technically, it was part of the vast grasslands that make up the North American Great Plains and supported giant herds of American bison. After the invention of the steel plow and more sophisticated irrigation methods the thick prairie soil would be broken for agriculture. By the 1850s immigration pressure was increasing and organization into a Territory was desired.
Kansas City, Missouri
In 2018, UNESCO named Kansas City as a "City of Music," making it the only city in the United States with that distinction. The city's funding of $7 million for improvements to the 18th & Vine Jazz District in 2016, coupled with the city's rich musical heritage, contributed to the designation.
The large community of Irish-Americans numbers over 50,000. The Irish were the first large immigrant group to settle in Kansas City and founded its first newspaper. The Irish community includes bands, dancers, newspapers, Irish stores and the Kansas City Irish Center at Drexel Hall in Midtown. 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 Kansas City Irish Fest is held over Labor Day weekend every year in Crown Center and Washington Park.
Kansas City Southern Railway
Arthur Edward Stilwell began construction on the first line of what would become the Kansas City Southern Railway in 1887, in suburban Kansas City, Missouri. Together with Edward L. Martin, Stilwell built the Kansas City Suburban Belt Railway, which was incorporated in 1887 and began operation in 1890, serving the Argentine District in Kansas City, Kansas; Independence, Missouri; and the riverside commercial and industrial districts of Kansas City. While the Belt Railway was a success, Stilwell had a much bigger dream. Over the ensuing decade, the line grew through construction and acquisition of other roads, such as the Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway, to become a through route between Kansas City and Port Arthur, Texas, with the final spike being driven north of Beaumont, Texas, on September 11, 1897, the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad Company (KCP&G) was completed. In 1939, another mainline between Dallas and New Orleans, via Shreveport, Louisiana, was added through the acquisition of the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway (L&A). From 1940 to 1969, the Kansas City Southern operated two primary passenger trains, the Flying Crow (Trains #15 & 16) between Kansas City and Port Arthur (discontinued on May 11, 1968) and the Southern Belle (Trains #1 & 2) between Kansas City and New Orleans (discontinued on November 2, 1969).
John Calvin McCoy
The natural wharf proved to be quite popular but the land surrounding it belonged to Gabriel Prudhomme, a farmer. After Prudhomme was murdered in 1831, his property was auctioned in 1838 to settle the estate. McCoy and 13 others formed a company to buy the property. Their company was called the Town of Kansas after the French description of the area around the town, "chez les Canses" ("home of the Kansa" Indians). In 1853, when the town was officially charted by the state of Missouri, the English pronunciation of the French name was applied to the new "City of Kansas," which later became known as Kansas City.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
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 in today's Kansas City, Kansas (memorialized at Kaw Point Riverfront Park). 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."
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member team of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expansion franchise in 1969, and has participated in four World Series, winning in 1985 and 2015, and losing in 1980 and 2014.
Douglas County, Kansas
In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1855, Douglas County was established. Douglas County was opened for settlement on May 15, 1854, and was named for Stephen A. Douglas, a senator from Illinois. The county was practically at the center of the Bleeding Kansas years as leaders in Lecompton (the territorial capital) wanted Kansas to be a slave state, whereas leaders in Lawrence wanted Kansas to be a free state. The pro- and anti-slavery settlers held great animosity towards one another, leading to many events, such as the drafting of the Lecompton Constitution (which would have admitted Kansas into the Union as a slave state), the Wakarusa War (1855), the Sack of Lawrence (1856), Battle of Black Jack (1856), and the Lawrence Massacre (1863).
Charles E. Kearney
During this time he saw the need for direct link from Chicago to Texas. He along with Kersey Coates and Robert T. Van Horn persuaded the railroad to build a cutoff of their line from Cameron, Missouri to Kansas City for the first bridge across the Missouri River which opened in 1869. He was the first president of the subsidiary. The result was the Hannibal Bridge which was the first bridge across the Missouri River. It established Kansas City rather than Leavenworth, Kansas or St. Joseph, Missouri as the dominant city in the region.
Kansas City Club
In the period after the Civil War, most of Kansas City’s existing social clubs were pro-Confederate. A group of prominent local businessmen and professionals, including Edward H. Allen, Victor B. Bell, Alden J. Blethen, Thomas B. Bullene, Gardiner Lathrop, August Meyer, Leander J. Talbott, William Warner, and Robert T. Van Horn, decided to provide an alternative, and organized the Kansas City Club on November 10, 1882. Initially, the club met at Kersey Coates's hotel on Quality Hill. In 1888, the club moved into its first clubhouse, a brick building at the corner of Twelfth and Wyandotte Streets.
In 1922, having absorbed several other clubs, and with a membership of more than 600, the club built a 14-story beaux arts clubhouse (the Kansas City Club Building) at the corner of Thirteenth Street and Baltimore Avenue, designed by local architect, Charles A. Smith. The clubhouse included a large dining room, several bars, private meeting rooms, a banquet hall, athletic facilities, an indoor pool, six floors of guestrooms, and a rooftop terrace. The club quickly grew and entered into reciprocal arrangements with many other prominent clubs worldwide. Membership was opened to women in 1975.
Manhattan, Kansas
In June 1855, the paddle steamer "Hartford", carrying 75 settlers from Ohio, ran aground in the Kansas River near the settlement. The Ohio settlers, who were members of the Cincinnati-Manhattan Company, had been headed twenty miles (32 km) further upstream to the headwaters of the Kansas River, the location today of Junction City. After realizing they were stranded, the "Hartford" passengers accepted an invitation to join the new town, but insisted that it be renamed Manhattan, which was done on June 29, 1855. Manhattan was incorporated on May 30, 1857.
Scott City, Kansas
In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France, keeping title to about 7,500 square miles. In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Purchase. In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized under the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1873, Scott County was established, which included the land for modern day Scott City.
Topeka, Kansas
After a decade of abolitionist and pro-slavery conflict that gave the territory the nickname Bleeding Kansas, Kansas was admitted to the Union in 1861 as the 34th state. Topeka was finally chosen as the capital, with Dr. Charles Robinson as the first governor. In 1862, Cyrus K. Holliday donated a tract of land to the state for the construction of a state capitol. Construction of the Kansas State Capitol began in 1866. It would take 37 years to build the capitol, first the east wing, and then the west wing, and finally the central building, using Kansas limestone. In fall 1864 a stockade fort, later named Fort Simple, was built in the intersection of 6th and Kansas Avenues to protect Topeka, should Confederate forces then in Missouri decide to attack the city. It was abandoned by April 1865 and demolished in April 1867.
Kansas Day
Kansas Day is a holiday in the state of Kansas in the United States. It is celebrated annually on January 29 to commemorate the anniversary of the state's 1861 admission to the Union. It was first celebrated in 1877 by schoolchildren in Paola.
Kansas City Missouri Temple
The Kansas City Missouri Temple is the 137th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is the first to be built in the Greater Kansas City area. Previous attempts at building an LDS temple in the area failed in Independence in 1833 and Far West in 1838, after church founder Joseph Smith had selected and dedicated locations for their construction. A temple was completed in Independence in 1994 by the Community of Christ, which is not affiliated with the LDS Church.
Silica, Kansas
For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1867, Rice County was founded.
Kansas City Journal-Post
It started as a weekly, "The Kansas City Enterprise," on September 23, 1854, a year after the city's founding and shortly after "The Public Ledger" went out of business. Kansas City's first mayor, William S. Gregory, and future mayors Milton J. Payne and E. Milton McGee, along with city fathers William Gillis, Benoist Troost, Thompson McDaniel, Robert Campbell and Kansas City's first bank and biggest store, Northrup and Chick, pooled $1,000 to start it.
Little River, Kansas
For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1867, Rice County was founded.
Kansas City Royals
Entering the American League in 1969 along with the Seattle Pilots, the club was founded by Kansas City businessman Ewing Kauffman. The franchise was established following the actions of Stuart Symington, then-United States Senator from Missouri, who demanded a new franchise for the city after the Athletics (Kansas City's previous major league team that played from 1955 to 1967) moved to Oakland, California in 1968. Since April 10, 1973, the Royals have played at Kauffman Stadium, formerly known as Royals Stadium.
Kansas River
The mouth of the Kansas River in the West Bottoms area of Kansas City (at a longitude of 94 degrees 36 minutes West) was the basis for Missouri's western boundary from Iowa to Arkansas when it became a state in 1821 (Kansas entered the Union in 1861.) South of the Missouri River, that longitude still remains the boundary between Kansas and Missouri. North of the Missouri River, the state of Missouri extended its boundary further to the west in 1836 with the Platte Purchase. The river has moved slightly since this designation, but the state boundary has remained the same. This line is known as the Osage Boundary.
Kansas City Country Club
The Kansas City Country Club (KCCC) was founded in 1896 in Kansas City, Missouri and today located in Mission Hills, Kansas, an affluent suburb in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The Country Club District and Country Club Plaza of Kansas City are named for the club, which claims to be the third oldest country club west of the Mississippi River.
Kansas City, Kansas
The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department was founded in 1898. By 1918, the department had begun taking photographs and fingerprints of all the felons its officers had arrested.
Kansas City Formation
The Kansas City Formation is a geologic formation in Illinois. It preserves fossils dating back to the Carboniferous period.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
In 1831, members of Church of Christ, the original name of the Latter Day Saint church founded by Joseph Smith, came from Kirtland, Ohio and New York State and purchased about of land in the Paseo and Troost Lake areas. Conflict between the Saints and other Missouri residents, leading to the eviction of the Latter Day Saint from Jackson County in 1833 and the 1838 Mormon War.
Crawford, Kansas
For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1867, Rice County was founded.
List of Kansas City Chiefs seasons
The team began play as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL) in 1960 as the Dallas Texans. Following the 1962 AFL season, the team relocated to Kansas City, Missouri and was renamed the Kansas City Chiefs. The team has played in 810 total games in a total of 51 seasons, and a winning percentage of .514. The team’s three 13-win seasons in 1995, 1997, and 2003 remain their best regular season records to date and their 2–14 record in 2008 and 2012 is the Chiefs’ worst.
Kansas City, Kansas
In the 1890s, the city saw an explosive growth in population as a streetcar suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. This growth continued until the 1930s. It was one of the nation's 100 largest cities for many U.S. Census counts, from 1890 to 1960, including 1920, when it had a population of over 100,000 residents for the first time.
Kansas City Country Club
The club has its roots in an informal golf course in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri. In 1896, Hugh C. Ward, Charles Fessenden Morse, Jefferson Brumback, H. L. Harmon, A. W. Childs, C. J. Hubbard, J. E. Logan, Gardiner Lathrop, St. Clair Street, Ford Harvey, E. H. Chapman, E. S. Washburn, and W. B. Clarke incorporated the Kansas City Country Club and leased a pasture at what today is Loose Park in the Sunset Hill neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri. The tract of land belonged to Ward's father Seth E. Ward, a pioneer who made his fortune outfitting settlers on the Oregon Trail.
University of Kansas
Founded March 21, 1865, the university was opened in 1866, under a charter granted by the Kansas State Legislature in 1864 following enabling legislation passed in 1863 under the State Constitution, adopted two years after the 1861 admission of the former Kansas Territory as the 34th state into the Union following an internal civil war known as "Bleeding Kansas" during the 1850s.
1968 Kansas City, Missouri riot
The 1968 Kansas City riot occurred in Kansas City, Missouri, in April 1968. Kansas City became one of 37 cities in the United States to be the subject of rioting after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.. The rioting in Kansas City did not erupt on April 4, like other cities of the United States affected directly by the assassination of King, but rather on April 9 after local events within the city.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
The area was soon populated by trappers, scouts, traders, and farmers, leading to the incorporation of Jackson County, Missouri, in 1827 and the founding of the town of Independence, located approximately from the river junction, as its county seat. As the number of farmers increased, the fur traders retreated northward. In 1831, Moses Grinter established a ferry on the Kansas River on the old Indian trail by the Kaw's water. Grinter was one of the earliest permanent white settlers in the Kansas City, Kansas, area.
Atchison, Kansas
Atchison was founded in 1854 and named in honor of Missouri senator David Rice Atchison, who, when Kansas was opened for settlement, interested some of his friends in the scheme of forming a city in the new territory. Senator Atchison was interested in ensuring that the population of the new Kansas Territory would be majority pro-slavery, as he had been a prominent promoter of both slavery and the idea of popular sovereignty over the issue in the new lands. However, it seems that all were not agreed upon the location he had selected, and on July 20, 1854, Dr. John H. Stringfellow, Ira Norris, Leonidas Oldham, James B. Martin and Neal Owens left Platte City, Missouri, to decide definitely upon a site. They found a site that was the natural outlet of a remarkably rich agricultural region just open to settlement. George M. Million and Samuel Dickson had staked claims near the river; Dr. Stringfellow staked a tract north of Million's. Million sold his claim for $1,000—an exorbitant price. Eighteen persons were present when the town company was formally organized by electing Peter T. Abell, president; James Burns, treasurer; and Dr. Stringfellow, secretary. The site was divided into 100 shares by the company, of which each member retained five shares, the remainder being reserved for common benefit of all. By September 20, 1854, Henry Kuhn had surveyed the and made a plat, and the next day was fixed for the sale of lots, an event of great importance as it had become understood that Senator Atchison would make a speech upon the political question of the day, hence the sale would be of political as well as business significance. At his meeting on the 21st, two public institutions of vital interest to a new community were planned for—a hotel and a newspaper. Each share of stock in the town company was assessed $25, the proceeds to be used to build the National Hotel, which was completed in the spring of 1855, and $400 was donated to Dr. Stringfellow and Robert S. Kelley to erect a printing office.
Kansas City, Missouri
Classic Kansas City-style barbecue was an inner-city phenomenon that evolved from the pit of Henry Perry, a migrant from Memphis who is generally credited with opening the city's first barbecue stand in 1921, and blossomed in the 18th and Vine neighborhood. Arthur Bryant's took over the Perry restaurant and added sugar to his sauce to sweeten the recipe a bit. In 1946 one of Perry's cooks, George W. Gates, opened Gates Bar-B-Q, later Gates and Sons Bar-B-Q when his son Ollie joined the family business. Bryant's and Gates are the two definitive Kansas City barbecue restaurants; native Kansas Citian and essayist Calvin Trillin famously called Bryant's "the single best restaurant in the world" in an essay he wrote for "Playboy" magazine in the 1960s. Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue is also well regarded. 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 recipe to the Kingsford division of Clorox. Davis retained rights to operate restaurants using the name and sauce, whose recipe popularized the use of molasses as a sweetener in Kansas City-style barbecue sauces. In 2009, Kansas City appeared on "Newsmax" magazine's list of the "Top 25 Most Uniquely American Cities and Towns," a piece written by CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg. In determining his ranking, Greenberg cited the city's barbecue, among other factors.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team was founded in 1960 as the Dallas Texans by businessman Lamar Hunt and was a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). (They are not associated with the NFL Dallas Texans.) In 1963, the team relocated to Kansas City and assumed their current name. The Chiefs joined the NFL as a result of the merger in 1970. The team is valued at over $2 billion. Hunt's son, Clark, serves as chairman and CEO. While Hunt's ownership stakes passed collectively to his widow and children after his death in 2006, Clark represents the Chiefs at all league meetings and has ultimate authority on personnel changes.
Kansas City Royals
The name Royals pays homage to the American Royal, a livestock show, horse show, rodeo, and championship barbeque competition held annually in Kansas City since 1899 as well as the identical names of two former negro league baseball teams that played in the first half of the 20th century (one a semi-pro team based in Kansas City in the 1910s and 1920s that toured the Midwest and a California Winter League team based in Los Angeles in the 1940s that was managed by Chet Brewer and included Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson on its roster). The Los Angeles team had personnel connections to the Monarchs but could not use the Monarchs name. The name also fits into something of a theme for other professional sports franchises in the city, including the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL, the former Kansas City Kings of the NBA, and the former Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League.
Kansas City, Missouri
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 combined with Dance St. Louis to form the State Ballet of Missouri, although it remained in Kansas City. From 1980 to 1995, the Ballet was run by dancer and choreographer Todd Bolender. Today, the Ballet offers an annual repertory split into three seasons, performing classical to contemporary ballets. The Ballet also performs at the Kauffman Center. Kansas City is home to The Kansas City Chorale, a professional 24-voice chorus conducted by Charles Bruffy. The chorus performs an annual concert series and a concert in Phoenix each year with their sister choir, the Phoenix Chorale. The Chorale has made nine recordings (three with the Phoenix Chorale).
Jamestown, Kansas
Jamestown was founded in 1878, and was incorporated as a city in 1883. It was named for either Senator James Pomeroy, or James P. Pomeroy, a railroad official. A post office was opened in Alva (an extinct town) in 1871, but it was moved to Jamestown in 1878. The town located itself on the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
Countryside, Kansas
Countryside was a half-mile-wide residential area in Johnson County, Kansas, USA, which was incorporated by its residents as a city on July 2, 1951 under Kansas Law. In a special election on December 3, 2002, residents voted to consolidate with the surrounding city of Mission, Kansas, in which the houses and streets had originally been built in the unincorporated Mission Township of Johnson County beginning in 1937. Countryside, as a city governmental entity, ceased to exist on January 15, 2003, however the originally founded Countryside Homes Association, Inc. neighborhood remains active.
Kansas City, Missouri
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 covered approximately , more than five times its size in 1940.
Film in Kansas City
Many popular feature films have been produced in Kansas City, including "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge" (1990); "Article 99" (1992); "Kansas City" (1996), a film about 1930s Kansas City and Kansas City Jazz music, directed by native Robert Altman; "Asteroid" (1997), which is loosely based in Kansas City; and "Ride with the Devil" (1999), about the anti-slavery/pro-slavery schism during the Civil War that took place on the Kansas–Missouri border near Kansas City. Recently, the Greater Kansas City Film Commission was founded to encourage producers to film in Kansas City, and the FilmFest Kansas City and Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee were begun as traditional local festivities.
Kansas Jayhawks
The 160-year-old rivalry between Kansas and Missouri began with open violence that up to the American Civil War known as Bleeding Kansas that took place in the Kansas Territory (Sacking of Lawrence) and the western frontier towns of Missouri throughout the 1850s. The incidents were clashes between pro-slavery factions from both states and anti-slavery Kansans to influence whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state. In the opening year of the war, six Missouri towns (the largest being Osceola) and large swaths of the western Missouri country side were plundered and burned by guerrilla "Jayhawkers" from Kansas. The Sacking of Osceola led to a retaliatory raid on Lawrence, Kansas two years later known as the Lawrence Massacre killing between 185 and 200 men and boys, which in turn led to the infamous General Order No. 11 (1863), the forced depopulation of several western Missouri counties. The raid on Lawrence was led by William Quantrill, a Confederate guerrilla born in Ohio who had formed his bushwhacker group at the end of 1861. At the time the Civil War broke out, Quantrill was a resident of Lawrence, Kansas teaching school.
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Kansas City, Missouri)
The Rev. Benedict Roux arrived in Kansas City in 1833. Two years later he built a church out of logs at Eleventh and Broadway that was named St. John Francis Regis. From 1845 to 1880 the parish was served by the Rev. Bernard Donnelly who was a circuit-riding priest. He had a brick church built in 1857 that was named Immaculate Conception.
The Diocese of Kansas City was established by Pope Leo XIII in 1880. Bishop John Joseph Hogan selected Immaculate Conception as the cathedral for the new diocese and laid the cornerstone for the present cathedral in 1882. While the interior of the building was incomplete and temporary windows filled the spaces, the first Mass in the church was celebrated on Trinity Sunday in 1883. The Cathedral was built on the highest ground of the city and at 250 feet (76.2 m) it was the tallest structure in Kansas City at the time. During the early years, the parish sold tickets to allowing residents to climb the steps in the tower to see the view.
Westport, Kansas City, Missouri
Westport was first settled by Reverend Isaac McCoy and his family in 1831. It was located approximately 3 miles due south of the present day location of downtown, Kansas City, Missouri. It was platted three years later, and formally incorporated in February 1857. Isaac's son John Calvin McCoy is generally considered the "father of Kansas City" after he formally founded the town. He had supplies landed at a rocky point on the Missouri River between Grand and Main streets, which became known as "Westport's Landing." When the landing became popular, young McCoy and other residents banded together to form the "Town of Kansas" company to buy the land. Westport's Indian trade extended to the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.
Hutchinson, Kansas
The city of Hutchinson was founded in 1871, when Indian Agent Clinton "C.C." Hutchinson contracted with the Santa Fe Railway to make a town at the railroad's crossing over the Arkansas River. The community earned the nickname "Temperance City" due to the prohibition of alcohol set by its founder. Hutchinson was incorporated as a city in August 1872.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
In 1925, Kansas City, Missouri, voted in favor of establishing a city manager-based government with one city council of 12 members instead of two chambers of 32 members total, giving Tom an easier road to gaining majority control. By 1925, the Pendergast machine had established a majority, appointing a passive mayor and powerful city manager Henry McElroy. Pendergast's power grew during the Great Depression, creating a Ten-Year Plan bond plan aimed at putting unemployed Kansas Citians to work building civic structures that still stand, including City Hall, Municipal Auditorium, and the Jackson County Courthouse. These structures, sporting art deco architecture, were built with concrete supplied by Pendergast's Ready-Mixed Concrete company and other companies that provided kickbacks to Pendergast.
Kansas City, Missouri
In 1950, African Americans represented 12.2% of Kansas City's population. The sprawling characteristics of the city and its environs today mainly took shape after 1960s race riots. The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. was a catalyst for the 1968 Kansas City riot. At this time, slums were forming in the inner city, and many who could afford to do so, left for the suburbs and outer edges of the city. The post-World War II idea of suburbs and the "American Dream" also contributed to the sprawl of the area. The city's population continued to grow, but the inner city declined. The city's most populous ethnic group, non-Hispanic whites, declined from 89.5% in 1930 to 54.9% in 2010.
Kansas City Chorale
The Kansas City Chorale was founded in 1982 by conductor Jonathan Griffith as part of his DMA graduate work at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music. When Mr. Griffith completed his work and moved on, the singers formed a board, hired a new conductor, and continued the choir. Mr. Bruffy began conducting the Chorale in 1988. The choir evolved from its “classy sassy” repertoire and bake sale fundraisers to one of the premiere performing arts organizations in North America.
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri was incorporated as a town on June 1, 1850, and as a city on March 28, 1853. 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.
Kansas City, Missouri
Some of the earliest organized violence in Kansas City erupted during the American Civil War. Shortly after the city's incorporation in 1850, so-called Bleeding Kansas erupted, affecting border ruffians and Jayhawkers. 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 via 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.
Kansas City, Missouri
The relocation of Union Station to its current location in 1914 and the opening of the Liberty Memorial in 1923 provided two of the city's most identifiable landmarks. Robert A. Long, president of the Liberty Memorial Association, was a driving force in the funding for construction. Long was a longtime resident and wealthy businessman. He built the R.A. Long Building for the Long-Bell Lumber Company, his home, Corinthian Hall (now the Kansas City Museum) and Longview Farm.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
The suburb of North Kansas City became home to the first casino facility in Missouri when Harrah's North Kansas City opened in September 1994. In 1996, Kansas City received a Major League Soccer franchise, the Kansas City Wiz (later, the "Kansas City Wizards" from 1997 to 2010 and now known as Sporting Kansas City). The decade closed with Kansas City electing its first female mayor, Kay Waldo Barnes in 1999.
Kansas City Cowboys (NFL)
The 'Kansas City Cowboys were a National Football League team based in Kansas City, Missouri.. The team was founded as the Kansas City Blues in 1924, and as the Kansas City Cowboys in 1925 and 1926. The Blues competed as a traveling team, playing all of their NFL games in other cities' stadiums in their only year under that name. LeRoy Andrews acted as the team's player-coach.
Kansas City, Missouri
After the 1804 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 1831, a group of Mormons from New York settled in what would become the city. They built the first school within Kansas City's current boundaries, but were forced out by mob violence in 1833 and their settlement remained vacant.
North Kansas City, Missouri
The City was incorporated on November 4, 1912. A five member board of trustees was elected in 1914 to oversee municipal affairs. One of the original trustees was William E. Macken, who was elected as the first mayor of North Kansas City in 1924. The city's largest park, Macken Park, is named for him.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
Missouri officially incorporated the city on March 28, 1853; it changed the name to the City of Kansas. At the first municipal election in 1853, there were 67 voters from an estimated population of 2,500. The initial incorporated area was about 10 blocks west to east and five blocks north to south. It was bordered by Bluff Road (about the location of present-day Interstate 35) on the west, Independence Avenue on the south and Holmes Street on the east and the Missouri River on the north. William S. Gregory became the first mayor but had to resign within 10 months when it was discovered that the mayor actually had to live in the city.
List of Kansas City Royals managers
The Kansas City Royals are a franchise based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are members of the Central division of Major League Baseball's American League. The Royals franchise was formed in 1969.
Kansas
Kansas was first settled by European Americans in 1827 with the establishment of Fort Leavenworth. The pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery debate. When it was officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854 with the Kansas–Nebraska Act, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine whether Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists prevailed, and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
Also in 1967, work began on the Crown Center complex located around the headquarters of Hallmark Cards. Another development in the 1960s was the approval of a bond issue to move the city's main airport from Kansas City Downtown Airport to the TWA Kansas City Overhaul Base at what was formerly called Mid-Continent International Airport – now called Kansas City International Airport (but which is referred to in baggage tags by its original abbreviation of MCI). Although Kansas City continued to expand outward in the 1960s, the inner city endured numerous heartbreaks, fires and a 1968 riot that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King. White flight continued on a large scale, ironically, resegregating the city even further than it was before the Civil Rights Movement.
Kansas City Statement of Faith
The Kansas City Statement of Faith is a 1913 confession of faith adopted by the National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States at Kansas City, Missouri. This concise statement of Congregational beliefs restates traditional congregational polity and endorses ecumenism, while also displaying the drift from Reformed theology that had occurred in American Congregationalism.
Isaac McCoy
McCoy, his son John, his daughter Delilah and her missionary husband Johnston Lykins, worked together as missionaries to the Shawnee and Lenape (Delaware), following them to what is now Kansas City, Missouri, on the border of Indian Territory and near their reservations. The younger McCoy established a trading post at Westport, Missouri. He was among the first organizers of Kansas City. His brother-in-law Lykins was elected as one of the city's first mayors.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
William Rockhill Nelson founded the "Kansas City Star" in 1880, and was to eventually take over its prime competitor, the "Kansas City Times". Nelson was a major supporter of the Democratic Party and an urban booster. At the urging of his paper, the city built Memorial Hall in 1899 to attract the 1900 Democratic National Convention. The hall burned in early 1900 was rebuilt in 90 days in time for the convention. Nelson left provisions that his house ultimately be torn down to create the Nelson-Atkins Gallery of Art.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan 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.
Newton, Kansas
For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1872, Harvey County was founded.
Kansas City Times
The Kansas City Times was a morning newspaper in Kansas City, Missouri, that was published from 1867 to 1990.
Kearney, Missouri
Kearney was unofficially founded in the spring of 1856 by David T. Duncan and W. R. Cave, and was originally called Centerville. Centerville was composed of what is now the southeastern portion of the town. In 1867, John Lawrence began laying out plans for another small settlement around the newly established Kansas City and Cameron Railroad subsidiary of the Hannibal and Saint Joseph Railroad which was to build the Hannibal Bridge establishing Kansas City, Missouri as the dominant city in the region. The president of the railroad was Charles E. Kearney (although there is speculation that it was named after Kearney, Nebraska). The railroad still operates as the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. As they grew, the two settlements of Centerville and Kearney were effectively merged, and the town of Kearney, Missouri was officially incorporated in 1869.
Kansas City, Kansas
In October 1872, "old" Kansas City, Kansas, was incorporated. The first city election was held on October 22 of that year, by order of Judge Hiram Stevens of the Tenth Judicial District, and resulted in the election of Mayor James Boyle. The mayors of the city after its organization were James Boyle, C. A. Eidemiller, A. S. Orbison, Eli Teed and Samuel McConnell. In June 1880, the Governor of Kansas proclaimed the city of Kansas City a city of the second class with Mayor McConnell present.
Kansas City Kansas Community College
Kansas City Kansas Community College was founded in 1923 as part of the Public School System of Kansas City, Kansas. In 1965, in accordance with legislation governing two-year colleges in the State of Kansas, the name of the college changed to Kansas City Kansas Junior College. In 1979, legislative action created another name change for the two-year colleges in the state. The term "junior" was dropped from their names and replaced with "community"; at this time the college officially became known as Kansas City Kansas Community College.
Kansas City Life Insurance Company
Kansas City Life Insurance Company is a public insurance company established in 1895 and located in Kansas City, Missouri. The company's 1,400 agents market individual life, annuity and group products through agencies located in 48 US states and the District of Columbia. Variable life, variable annuities, mutual funds and other investment options are offered through a subsidiary, Sunset Financial Services.
List of Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterbacks
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League (NFL). Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League. In 1963, the team moved to Kansas City, Missouri and were renamed the Kansas City Chiefs.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
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 were to drive traffic to the last outpost before settlers traveled up the Kansas River or Missouri River. The road connecting Westport with the trading post and Westport Landing followed Broadway. In 1834, the steamboat "John Hancock," which was laden with goods for McCoy, became the first steamboat to dock at the Westport Landing and opened up a new era of communication and transportation for the area.
Kansas City Monarchs
The Monarchs were formed in 1920, primarily from two sources. Owner J. L. Wilkinson drew players from his All Nations barnstorming team, which had been inactive during World War I, and the 25th Infantry Wreckers, an all-black team recruited into the U.S. Army almost exclusively for their playing talent. He put together a formidable collection of talent, including pitcher/outfielder Bullet Rogan, an eventual Hall of Famer who established himself as one of the most popular stars of the new league; sluggers Dobie Moore, Heavy Johnson, George Carr, and Hurley McNair; and pitchers Rube Currie and Cliff Bell. Immediate contenders, the Monarchs became bitter rivals to black baseball's reigning power, Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants. After three years of failing to break the Giants' hold on the pennant, Wilkinson fired manager Sam Crawford in mid-1923, replacing him with veteran Cuban star José Méndez, who sparked the Monarchs to the league championship.
Kansas City, Missouri
The following Public School Districts serve Kansas City:"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 with the morning "Kansas City Times" before acquiring that publication in 1901. The "Times" name was discontinued in March 1990, when the morning paper was renamed the "Star".
Octagon City
Octagon City is a ghost town in Allen County, Kansas, United States. It was a failed intentional community that was founded in 1856 about six miles (10 km) south of Humboldt, Kansas near the Neosho River. It was created by the Vegetarian Kansas Emigration Company, headed by prominent vegetarian Henry Clubb and entrepreneurs Charles DeWolfe and John McLaurin. The original intent was to build a vegetarian commune on the south side of the Neosho River for vegetarians only, but investor interest in a non-vegetarian moral community was much higher and so the decision was made to build Octagon City on the north side of the Neosho River to make the entire project sustainable. Members of Octagon City were under oath to educate their children and uphold a moral lifestyle.
Johnston Lykins
Johnston Lykins (April 15, 1800 – August 15, 1876) was a prominent figure in the early history of the United States frontier settlement which became Kansas City, Missouri. He was the city's second Mayor.
Kansas
To the north, Kansas City, with the second largest land area in the state, contains a number of diverse ethnic neighborhoods. Its attractions include the Kansas Speedway, Sporting Kansas City, Kansas City T-Bones, Schlitterbahn, and The Legends at Village West retail and entertainment center. Nearby, Kansas's first settlement Bonner Springs is home to several national and regional attractions including the Providence Medical Center Amphitheather, the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame, and the annual Kansas City Renaissance Festival. Further up the Missouri River, the city of Lansing is the home of the state's first maximum-security prison. Historic Leavenworth, founded in 1854, was the first incorporated city in Kansas. North of the city, Fort Leavenworth is the oldest active Army post west of the Mississippi River. The city of Atchison was an early commercial center in the state and is well known as the birthplace of Amelia Earhart.
Kansas City jazz
Kansas City jazz is a style of jazz that developed in Kansas City, Missouri during the 1920s and 1930s, which marked the transition from the structured big band style to the musical improvisation style of Bebop. The hard-swinging, bluesy transition style is bracketed by Count Basie who in 1929 signed with the Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra and Kansas City native Charlie Parker who ushered in the Bebop style in America. "While New Orleans was the birthplace of jazz, America's music grew up in Kansas City". Kansas City is known as one of the most popular "cradles of jazz". Other cities include New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York City. Kansas City was known for the organized musicians of the Local 627 A.F.M., which controlled a number of venues in the city.
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City briefly had four short-term major league baseball teams between 1884 and 1915: the Kansas City Unions of the short-lived Union Association in 1884, the Kansas City Cowboys in the National League in 1886, a team of the same name in the then-major league American Association in 1888 and 1889, and the Kansas City Packers in the Federal League in 1914 and 1915. The Kansas City Monarchs of the now-defunct Negro National and Negro American Leagues represented Kansas City from 1920 through 1955. the city also had a number of minor league baseball teams between 1885 and 1955. From 1903 through 1954, the Kansas City Blues played in the high-level American Association minor league. In 1955, Kansas City became a major league city when the Philadelphia Athletics baseball franchise relocated to the city in 1955. Following the 1967 season, the team relocated to Oakland, California.
History of the Kansas City metropolitan area
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 Downtown Kansas City was known for its large number of taverns. Despite the ongoing temperance movement, however, Missouri never enacted statewide prohibition. In fact, Missourians actually "rejected" statewide prohibition in three separate referenda in 1910, 1912, and 1918, all of which were brought by citizens' initiative petitions. In April 1901, famous temperance crusader Carrie A. Nation came to Kansas City and began to enter the saloons on 12th Street and smash liquor bottles with her hatchet. When she entered Flynn's Saloon on April 15, she promptly was arrested, hauled into Police Court (known today as the Municipal Court of Kansas City), fined $500 ($11,500 in 2006 dollars), and ordered by a judge to leave Kansas City and never return.
History of the University of Kansas
In 1859, provisions were written for a state university into the Wyandotte Constitution, under which Kansas became a state in 1861. The first Kansas state legislature, meeting in 1861, passed a bill that would establish the state university in Manhattan, Kansas, using the assets of the existing Blue Mont Central College. But the bill was vetoed by Governor Charles Robinson of Lawrence, and an attempt to override the veto in the Legislature failed by two votes. In 1862, another bill to make Manhattan the site of the state university failed by one vote. Finally, on February 16, 1863, the state accepted Manhattan's offer to donate the Blue Mont College building and grounds and established the state's land-grant college at the site – the institution that would become Kansas State University.
Kansas City, Missouri
Since its inception in 1857, City Market has been one of the largest and most enduring public farmers' markets in the American Midwest, linking growers and small businesses to the community. More than 30 full-time merchants operate year-round and offer specialty foods, fresh meats and seafood, restaurants and cafes, floral, home accessories and more. The City Market is also home to the Arabia Steamboat Museum, which houses artifacts from a steamboat that sank near Kansas City in 1856.
Architecture of Kansas City
The city was founded in the 1850s at the confluence of the Missouri and Kaw rivers and grew with the expansion of the railroads, stockyards, and meatpacking industry. Prominent citizens settled in the Quality Hill neighborhood and commissioned fine homes primarily in Italianate Renaissance Revival style, which continued to be the major influence for new structures past the turn-of-the century. George Kessler's urban plan for Kansas City with its expansive park and boulevard system, inspired by the City Beautiful Movement, made a profound and lasting impact on the city.
Kansas City Club
The Kansas City Club, founded in 1882 and located in the Library District of Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, was the oldest gentlemen's club in Missouri. The club began admitting women members in 1975. Along with the River Club on nearby Quality Hill, it was one of two surviving private city clubs on the Missouri side of Kansas City. Notable members included Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, General Omar Bradley, and political boss Tom Pendergast. It ceased operation in 2015.
Kensington, Kansas
Kensington was founded circa 1887. It was incorporated as a city in 1900.
Independence, Missouri
Named after the Declaration of Independence, Independence was founded on March 29, 1827, and quickly became an important frontier town. Independence was the farthest point westward on the Missouri River where the steamboats or other cargo vessels could travel, due to the convergence of the Kansas River with the Missouri River approximately six miles west of town, near the current Kansas-Missouri border. Independence immediately became a jumping-off point for the emerging fur trade, accommodating merchants and adventurers beginning the long trek westward on the Santa Fe Trail.
In 1831, members of the Latter Day Saint movement began moving to the Jackson County, Missouri area. Shortly thereafter, founder Joseph Smith declared a spot west of the Courthouse Square to be the place for his prophesied temple of the New Jerusalem, in expectation of the Second Coming of Christ. Tension grew with local Missourians until the Latter Day Saints were driven from the area in 1833, the beginning of a conflict which culminated in the 1838 Mormon War. Several branches of this movement gradually returned to the city beginning in 1867, with many making their headquarters there. These include the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) and the Restoration Branches.