Kansas City History

The 1951 Black Friday Flood on the Kaw River destroyed Kansas City's Stockyards and meatpacking industry, did $12 billion worth of damage and displaced 750,000 people.

If you go to any ice cream truck or swimming pool snack bar, you’ll likely find the red, white and blue Bomb Pop. The famous treat was invented in Kansas City in 1955. But when the popsicle first came out during the Cold War, some parents didn’t like the idea of selling a frozen weapon of war to children.

The red-white-and-blue popsicles are the ultimate shorthand Americana — a throwback to the simple days of ice cream trucks, July 4th fireworks and humid summer nights. But after the Bomb Pop came on the market in July 1955, some parents revolted over the symbolism of selling a frozen weapon of war to children.

The JuneteenthKC Heritage Festival takes place this year across two days in a newly-transformed Historic 18th and Vine district. It's also the first time festival organizers will welcome a World Cup audience.

Los esfuerzos de Kansas City de ser anfitriona de la Copa Mundial se remontan a 1988. Y ahora, el torneo finalmente está aquí, tras cuatro años de preparativos que no solo han remodelado la infraestructura de la zona metropolitana, sino que también han consolidado su identidad como una auténtica ciudad del fútbol.

City officials, community members and business owners celebrated the grand opening of a nearly yearlong project to transform the corridor into a more walkable public space. It’s part of a $400 million push to revitalize the historic neighborhood.

Kansas City’s efforts to host the World Cup go back all the way to 1988. Now the tournament is finally here, after four years of preparations that not only reshaped the metro’s infrastructure, but also solidified its identity as a true soccer city. How did we land such a big event, and are we ready?

Kansas City’s efforts to host the World Cup go back all the way to 1988. Now the tournament is finally here, after four years of preparations that not only reshaped the metro’s infrastructure, but also solidified its identity as a true soccer city.

Residents and visitors can get in the World Cup spirit with these six soccer-themed exhibitions at museums, galleries and institutions across the area.

Kansas City is bustling today, but it wasn’t always destined to be that way. Hear how Irish immigrants literally carved the city's first streets.

Bluffs up to 120 feet tall once hugged the Missouri River by Kansas City, making it difficult to traverse the landscape and expand the growing town. So in the mid-1800s, a Catholic priest named Father Bernard Donnelly recruited hundreds of Irish immigrants for a dangerous but critical task: digging streets for the city from rocks and mud.

Quindaro in present-day Kansas City, Kansas, was founded before the Civil War as a diverse community that helped people escaping slavery. Now, Reps. Sharice Davids, Emanuel Cleaver II and Derek Schmidt are trying to pass a law that would give national protections to the ruins.