Shopping at City Market, Kansas City; credit VisitKC
Kansas City
How can a city, once so bawdy it attracted the top gangsters, transform itself into “Best Place to Raise a Family” in just a few decades? In a word, “Location.” Kansas City is the most centrally located major American city. A second response is that the central location attracted so many businesses and entrepreneurs, they overshadowed gangsters to eventually create solid communities and public attractions. Over the years, skyscrapers in Downtown Kansas City, the eye-catching Kansas City Convention Center, shops, hotels, restaurants, and performing arts centers converge to form a city, that is in many ways, the heart of America.
History
Kansas City has been a key Midwest city for African-Americans, even before the city was incorporated in 1850. Many people escaped slavery in the South to work as field and ranch hands here … More
Cultural Sites
American Jazz Museum features exhibits on Duke Ellington, Charley “Bird” Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong, which alone, are worth the trip for jazz fans. Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is a must visit for all sports fans … More
Historic Sites
18th & Vine Streets, Paseo YMCA, 12th Street Heritage District, Penn School Memorial Park, Lucille Bluford Library, Quandary Ruins, Charlie “Bird” Parker Gravesite, John Brown Monument and … More
Restaurants and Nightclubs
From the Blue Room at 18th & Vine, to Arthur Bryants Barbecue, to Gates Barbeque and the many other Barbeque and Soul Food restaurants around town … More
Shops and Galleries
Robert Frazier Gallery of Contemporary Art, Swing Shop, Gifted Hands, Bacara and Today’s Men’s Wear offer soulful shopping choices … More
18th & Vine District
The epicenter of a larger district historically and approximately bounded by 12th Street, Troost Ave, 23rd Street and Prospect Ave, this famous district was a magnet for Black folks from Omaha to Oklahoma City … More
Places of Worship
Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, Jamison Memorial Temple CME Church, Paseo Baptist Church, Ward Chapel AME Church, St. James United Methodist Church, United Nation of Islam and … More
Kansas City Jazz
To black musicians, “wide open” Kansas City meant steady work from the 1920s through the Depression and attracted the best Blues and Jazz artists from Omaha, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Memphis, Chicago and New Orleans … More
Kansas City Barbecue
If you think of steak and barbecue, you must add Kansas City to the same sentence. Local lore says that Kansas City Stockyards opened in 1870, thereby insuring Kansas City would rival Chicago as a major distribution center for beef … More
Family Attractions
Sprint Center, Union Station – Science City, Kansas City Zoo, Truman Sports Complex, Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun, National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame … More
General Attractions
Country Club Plaza is KC’s most popular destination, this 14-square-block plaza was designed in 1922 with an airy architecture style modeled after Seville, its sister city in Spain … More
Arts
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Coterie Theatre, Starlight Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Verizon Wireless Amphitheater give Kansas City and nice collection of classic and modern venues … More
Trivia, Radio Stations and Famous Residents
one of America’s encyclopedic art museums, includes a growing collection of modern sculpture enhanced with works by contemporary African American artists such as … More
Wichita
Wichita possesses a great deal of history. The city is named after the Wichita Indians who originally inhabited the area before it became a trading post at the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers in the 1850s … More
