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| Kansas City Apartment Locator Services : Kansas City |  | Contents | |
| History |
| Significant non-native settlement of the area
dates to 1831, when members of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints ("LDS Church"; see also Mormon)
coming from Kirtland, Ohio and New York State purchased about
2,000 acres (8 km²) of land in the Paseo and Troost Lake
areas. Conflict between the Yankee Saints and southern Missourians
led to the expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County in 1833. |
| About this time a dock was established on the
Missouri River to land supplies for Westport Landing (now Westport).
The land surrounding the dock was bought by "Town Company"
in 1838. The area outside of Westport Landing was renamed the
Town of Kansas, after the local Kanza Indians, in 1839. The
town was incorporated by the state of Missouri as the City of
Kansas on March 28, 1853. At the first municipal election in
1853 there were sixty-seven voters from a population of 2,500.
In 1889, with a population of around 60,000, the city adopted
a new charter and changed its name to Kansas City. In 1897,
Kansas City annexed Westport. |
| The City was connected to the telegraph system
in 1858, to the railway in 1864 (with a bridge crossing the
river in 1869) and the first aircraft landed at the Municipal
Airport in 1927. |
| Due to its central location, Kansas City became
and remains the second largest railroad hub in the United States,
ahead of St. Louis and behind Chicago. Union Station, built
in 1914, was one of the largest passenger terminals in the country.
After deteriorating significantly in the second half of the
20th Century, the station was renovated in the late 1990s. It
now houses a museum, theaters, shops, and restaurants, adjacent
to an increasingly active arts district. |
| Initially, the city's major industry was cattle.
By the 1860s it had one of the largest cattle markets in America.
That industry peaked in the early 20th century. |
| The Country Club Plaza shopping district and neighborhood,
begun in 1922 by developer J.C.Nichols, is dominated by the
130-foot-tall bell tower designed after the original Giralda
Tower in Seville, Spain, and decorated with countless more European
fountains, sculptures and Spanish architecture. Today, top stores
such as Tiffany's, Coach and others have shops there, along
with lively pedestrian traffic and increasingly modern architecture. |
| Pendergast era |
| 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 buying a bar with money he won from
betting on a longshot horse 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. |
| Just prior to winning his first of nine terms
on the city council in 1892, he summoned his youngest brother
Tom from St. Joseph. As Jim's health deteriorated, Tom began
to utilize many of Jim's connections to lead the "Goat"
faction after Jim's death in 1910. Tom succeeded Jim in the
council too, but left after three terms. |
| In 1925, Kansas City 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 mananer 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. |
| At its peak, the machine wielded considerable
influence on state politics, handily electing Platte County
judge Guy Brasfield Park governor of Missouri in 1932 when the
Democratic candidate (Francis Wilson) died two weeks before
the election. Also during this time, Kansas City also became
a center for night life and music, with jazz by musicians such
as Count Basie and blues (Kansas City blues) flourishing in
areas such as 18th and Vine. |
| Tom Pendergast's power was brought down by health
ailments and a determined effort by reform leaders, capped by
Tom pleading guilty to tax evasion in May 1939. The machine
lingered until the 1950s. |
| Harry S. Truman, former U.S. president, was county
judge of Jackson County under the Pendergast regime, and was
initially regarded in his early career as a corrupt politician
because of this. However, most people came to regard him as
having a great deal of integrity because of his subsequent actions
in various political offices. |
| Downtown Redevelopment |
The center of Kansas City is roughly contained inside
the downtown loop (shaded in red). |
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| After years of neglect and seas of parking lots,
downtown Kansas City is currently undergoing a renaissance.
Many residential properties have recently been or are currently
under redevelopment. A planned entertainment district is being
developed in the southern part of the downtown highway loop
by the Cordish Company of Baltimore, Maryland. Adjacent to the
entertainment district will be a new arena, dubbed the Sprint
Center, set to open in 2007. The arena, to be designed by a
consortium of local architects, hopes to lure an NBA or NHL
franchise to the city. Los Angeles based Anschutz Entertainment
Group has invested in the arena project and will run its daily
operations. |
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