Troost

Despite years of organizing and more than 12,000 petition signatures, Mayor Quinton Lucas placed a hold this week on an ordinance that would rename Troost Avenue to “Truth Avenue.” The street is named after Dr. Benoist Troost, Kansas City's first physician and a known slaveowner.

Troost Avenue is one of Kansas City's major thoroughfares, running north from Columbus Park down to Bannister Road. You'll find plenty of options for coffee and ice cream, Jamaican and Caribbean fare, Mexican cuisine and bakeries.

Several new coffee shops are building out spaces in a block that already includes Blackhole Bakery, High Hopes Ice Cream and The Littlest Bake Shop. "Hopefully, the more the merrier," one owner says.

Owner Zach Moores purchased two buildings on Troost Avenue that will be used as a production area and community gathering space. He first opened the coffee shop next to UMKC in 2014.

Most of Kansas City’s four-lane roads are too fast and too empty. The Kansas City Council decided to slim down a batch of 28 roads the next time they’re repaved to make them safer.

The Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven has played a central role in Kansas City's music and counterculture scene for 50 years. But now owner Jan Fichman is retiring, leaving longtime customers to reflect on what the record store has meant to them.

Constructed around 1940, the space at 3740 Troost Ave. was one of Kansas City's first purpose-built structures for grocery store giant Safeway. Developers plant to turn it into a business complex that will be "positive for the neighborhood."

Nearly 200 people died in Kansas City car crashes in 2022 and 2023. The numbers suggest that high speeds and intersections, particularly on Truman Road, pose the greatest danger.

For two years, business owners on Troost Avenue have campaigned for Kansas City to rename the street. That effort is now stalled in the city council.

Business owners have campaigned for nearly two years to sever Troost Avenue from its slaveholding past. But the effort has hit a bureaucratic roadblock, as Mayor Quinton Lucas tries to avoid another public controversy like the failed renaming of The Paseo.

New eateries continue to open on Troost between 30th to 79th Street, with offerings that include African, Jamaican, Irish, Mexican and Middle Eastern cuisines. Restaurant owners hope that the rest of the city rallies around the historic thoroughfare as a business district of its own.

After several years inside Made in KC's Midtown market, Brian Roberts is expanding the Black Pantry into its own, 1,500-square-foot storefront on Troost Avenue. The store is expected to feature a retail area with a diverse selection of Black-owned home goods and self care products.