historic preservation

The Kansas Historical Society’s archaeological field school this year gave volunteers a chance to dig into the state's territorial history at the site of an 1850s-era mansion near Lecompton.

The designation from the National Park Service opens up the Quindaro Townsite to new opportunities for federal funding and assistance. The ruins, now deteriorating, were once a haven for Black people escaping slavery and for Free State abolitionists.

The Kansas City Fire Department has responded to all kinds of emergencies since 1868, but some firefighters who died doing this dangerous work have been forgotten. Ray Elder is making certain all of them are remembered, and their names added to the Firefighters Fountain and Memorial.

Watermark West Rare Bookstore has overcome challenges for 40 years, including the internet upending the book business and a drop in rare book collecting. Owner Philip McComish doesn't know what the future holds for his historical repository.

The century-old, 54-room mansion has sat vacant for more than a decade. Now there are plans to transform the historic building, on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus, into a boutique hotel and spa.

Valentine residents complain that the insurance company has been hollowing out the neighborhood for decades and leaving them in the dark. Kansas City Life said its plans for a future mixed-use development are not ready to be made public.

Christmas Ranch Tree Farm in Excelsior Springs has been a destination for generations of families in the Kansas City area every holiday season — but it takes a lot of work. Plus: It's now a lot easier to find out what your Kansas City neighborhood looked like in 1940, thanks to the public library.

The statue, designed by a Native artist, is meant to each people about the painful history of ethnic cleansing and foster understanding healing for the small town of Steelville, Missouri.

A University of Missouri professor spent years listening to insects — hear how his work is influencing other researchers. Plus, a 117-year-old African American church in Parkville is getting much-needed restoration work thanks to the National Heritage fund.

A 117-year-old historically-Black church in Missouri is getting much-needed restoration work thanks to a grant from the National Heritage fund — and a crew of about a dozen volunteer builders.

Laugh-O-gram Studios near 30th and Troost served as Walt Disney's first animation house in 1922. After preservationists saved the deteriorating building from collapse, an ambitious $4 million fundraising campaign wants to transform it into a digital storytelling center and teaching hub.

Happy Halloween! This fall, volunteers at Kansas City’s historic Union Cemetery have been giving attention to hundreds of long-neglected gravestones. Plus: Republican Mike Kehoe and Democrat Crystal Quade are both campaigning to become Missouri’s next governor. How will the issue of abortion influence the vote?