Kansas City History

Kansas City será la ciudad más pequeña de Norteamérica en ser anfitrión de la Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2026. Pero es posible que no hubiera adoptado este deporte en absoluto, de no ser por el esfuerzo de los primeros inmigrantes que lucharon por este deporte, incluso antes de que existieran los campos de fútbol.

Kansas City will be the smallest city in North America to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But it may not have embraced the sport at all, if not for the efforts of early immigrants who fought for the beautiful game — before there were even soccer fields to play on.

Uniting more than 200 sites across eastern Kansas and western Missouri, Freedom's Frontier preserves the story of the border war and the settlement of the western frontier. But the Trump administration has blocked funding for National Heritage Areas.

The wildly popular, sprawling public art installation plans its next display for April 2026, spanning the city's World Cup run. As many as 150 “Heartists” will be selected to turn blank canvas sculptures into expressions of Kansas City’s cultural identity and community pride.

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.

As the gay rights movement began picking up steam in the 1970s, Barbara Grier co-founded the largest lesbian publishing company in the world — right from her Kansas City home. Grier was bold, controversial, and unstoppable in her mission to make books reflect the people and love stories in her life.

The leader of Kansas City Parks & Recreation wants to transform Hope Lodge in Swope Park into a regional gathering place for indigenous people. Before integration, the site hosted a residential camping program for Black children.

The documentary "Sounds of the City," created by Kansas City filmmaker Dustin Phillips, explores the history of Kansas City's jazz, rock, folk and hip-hop scenes. The film will have its world premiere Friday, April 11 at the Uptown Theatre, and will be available to stream the next day.

Brian Platt joined six other former city managers who have been ousted by KansasCity Council. In fact, city managers are nearly as likely to be fired — or pressured to resign — as they are to leave on their own terms.

Kansas City is asking voters to buy into its public school system for the first time in nearly 60 years. Even after Kansas City Public Schools regained accreditation and turned the tide of student performance, crumbling buildings offer a persistent reminder of the city's disinvestment. It's a relationship strained by decades of racism, a history-making desegregation case and plenty of internal turmoil.

Since 1951, one locally-owned fast food chain has been a cult favorite for generations of Kansas City residents. How In-A-Tub, famous for its deep-fried tacos coated in a bright orange powdered cheese, came to be.

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.