History
Kansas City, Kansas formed in 1868 and incorporated in October 1872. The first city election was held October 22, 1872, by order of Judge Hiram Stevens of the Tenth Judicial District, and resulted in the election of Mayor James Boyle. The mayors of the city after its organization have been James Boyle, C. A. Eidemiller, A. S. Orbison, Eli Teed and Samuel McConnell. John Sheehan was appointed Marshal in 1875, by Mayor Eli Teed. He was also Chief of Police, having a force of five men. In June 1880, the Governor of Kansas proclaimed the city of Kansas City a city of the second class with the Mayor Samuel McConnell present. James E. Porter was Mayor in 1910.
It was one of the nation's 100 largest cities for many US Census counts, from 1890 to 1960, including 1920, when it had over 100,000 residents for the first time. In 1997, voters approved a proposition to unify the city and county governments.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 127.8 square miles ( 331.0 km²). 124.3 square miles (322 km2) of it is land and 3.5 square miles (9.1 km2) of it is water.
Cityscape
Kansas City, Kansas, is organized into a system of neighborhoods, some with histories as independent cities or the sites of major events.
Neighborhoods of Kansas City, Kansas
Downtown Kansas City, Kansas
Argentine, former home to the silver smeltery for which it was named.
Armourdale, formerly a city, consolidated with the city of Kansas City in 1886.
Armstrong, a town absorbed by Wyandotte.
Bethel
Fairfax District, an industrial area along the Missouri River.
Climate
Kansas City is situated in "Tornado Alley", a broad region where cold air from the Rocky Mountains and Canada collides with warm air from the Gulf of Mexico, leading to the formation of powerful storms. The most recent tornado to strike Kansas City itself was in May 2003. The region is also prone to ice storms, such as the 2002 ice storm during which hundreds of thousands lost power for days and (in some cases) weeks. The MoKan area was subject to flooding, including the Great Flood of 1993 and the Great Flood of 1951.
See also: List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks, List of tornadoes striking downtown areas, and 1980 United States heat wave
Source: U.S. National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina.
As of the census of 2000, there were 146,866 people, 55,500 households, and 36,241 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,181.9 people per square mile (456.3/km²). There were 61,446 housing units at an average density of 494.5 per square mile (190.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 55.7% White, 30.12% African American, 0.75% Native American, 1.72% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 8.61% from other races, and 2.99% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 16.78% of the population.
There were 55,500 households out of which 32.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.2% were married couples living together, 18.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.7% were non-families. 29.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.25.
In the city the population was spread out with 28.6% under the age of 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 95.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $33,011, and the median income for a family was $39,491. Males had a median income of $30,992 versus $24,543 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,737. About 13.0% of families and 17.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.8% of those under age 18 and 11.5% of those age 65 or over.
Economy
Kansas City, Kansas is the home to the General Motors Fairfax Assembly Plant, which manufactures the Chevrolet Malibu and the Buick LaCrosse. The Federal Bureau of Prisons North Central Region Office is in Kansas City, Kansas.[6] In addition Associated Wholesale Grocers and Kansas City Steak Company are based within the city.
Village West, located at the intersection of Interstates 70 and 435 (11 miles from Downtown KCK), is a development that has significantly fueled growth in KCK and Wyandotte County.[citation needed] Anchored by the Kansas Speedway, tenants include The Legends At Village West, Cabela's, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Great Wolf Lodge, CommunityAmerica Ballpark, home to the Kansas City T-Bones of the American Association, and Livestrong Sporting Park, home of Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. Schlitterbahn Vacation Village, a 370-acre (1.5 km2) resort and waterpark, opened across I-435 from Village West in June 2009.
Kansas City was ranked the #7 best city in the U.S. to start over after foreclosure. Average rent in Kansas City is only $788, which is low in relation to the national average of $1087 spent on rent.
There are now two proposals being looked at by the Kansas Lottery Commission. Penn Hollywood "Hollywood Casino" and Kansas Entertainment "Hard Rock Hotel and Casino" have both received an extension from the Kansas Lottery Commission. This extension gives them until August 28, 2009 to finalize their changes in their proposals.
On March 30, 2011, Google announced that Kansas City had been selected as the site of an experimental fiber-optic network that Google will build at no cost to the city. Kansas City was chosen from a field of 1,100 US communities that had applied for the network. Google plans to have the network in operation by 2012.
Public libraries
Kansas City, Kansas is also home to a library system, with 5 branch libraries spread throughout Wyandotte County.[9] These include the Main Library, Argentine Library, Turner Community Library, West Wyandotte Library and in Wyandotte County Lake Park, the Mr. & Mrs. F.L. Schlagle Library.
Law and government
Kansas City, Kansas has a consolidated city-county government in which the city and county have been merged into one jurisdiction. As such, it is simultaneously a city, which is a municipal corporation; and a county, which is an administrative division of a state.
The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department was founded in 1898. In 1914. By 1918, it was taking photographs and fingerprints of all the felons it arrested. The Kansas City, Kansas Fire Department was founded on December 25, 1883. The fire department is part of the Firefighter's Relief Association which was founded February 28, 1918. The department has 18 fire stations in the city. They cover an area of approximately 127 square miles. They also have specialty teams including heavy rescue, hazardous materials, foam team, water rescue, tactical medic, trench rescue, high angle/rope rescue, and technical urban search and rescue. The fire department has four public service programs. The programs are citizens assist program, fire prevention, safe place, and the smoke detector program. All information can be found on wycokck.org.
Mayor/CEO
– Joe Reardon
Board of Commissioners
– At-Large District 1, Mayor Pro Tem, Rev Mark Holland
– At-Large District 2, John J. Mendez
– District 1, Nathaniel Barnes
– District 2, William J (Bill) Miller
– District 3, Ann Brandau-Murguia
– District 4, Mark Mitchell
– District 5, Mike Kane
– District 6, Particia Huggins Pettey
– District 7, Thomas R. Cooley
– District 8, Benoyd M. Ellison
Crime
Of the statistics available in 2000 based on data collected by the FBI as part of its Uniform Crime Reporting Program, which represent from arrests made by State and local law enforcement agencies as reported to the FBI, there were a total of 696 incidents.
Transportation
River transportation was important to early Kansas City, Kansas as it's location at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers afforded easy access to trade. A portion of I-70 was the first project in the United States completed under the provisions of the new Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 (though not the first constructed or begun)
Interstate 70 as it enters Kansas, crossing the Kansas River
Major Highways
Interstate 35: To Des Moines, Iowa, to the North and Wichita, Kansas, to the South.
Interstate 70: To St. Louis, Missouri, to the East and Topeka, Kansas/Denver, Colorado, to the West.
Spur routes and notable roads
Interstate 435: A Bi-State Loop through the Missouri and Kansas suburbs.
Interstate 635: Connects the Kansas suburbs with Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City International Airport.
Interstate 670: A southern bypass of I-70 and Southern portion of the downtown loop. Signed as East I-70 when exiting from I-35 while traveling north.
US-24-40: Combination of the US-24 and US-40 highways that pass through Kansas City.
K-5: A minor freeway bypassing the north of Kansas City, Kansas, connecting the GM Fairfax plant with I-635. K-5 continues as Leavenworth Road west to I-435 then on to Leavenworth, Kansas.
K-7: A freeway linking Leavenworth County, Kansas, Wyandotte County, Kansas, Johnson County, Kansas, and Douglas County, Kansas.
K-32 A highway that links Leavenworth County, Kansas, Wyandotte County, and Douglas County, Kansas.
ads
US-169, 7th Street Trafficway
South 18th Street Expressway
State Avenue and Parallel Parkway
Kansas Avenue and the Turner Diagonal
Culture
There are a number of buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Kansas City, Kansas is home to the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, which covers 12,500 square miles (32,000 km2) of the Roman Catholic community in eastern Kansas.
Memorial Hall (Kansas City, Kansas) is a 3,500-seat indoor arena/auditorium located in downtown Kansas City, Kansas. The venue, which has a permanent stage, is used for public assemblies, concerts and sporting events. In 1887, John G. Braecklein constructed a Victorian home for John and Margaret Scroggs in the area of Strawberry Hill. It is a fine example of the Queen Anne Style architecture erected in Kansas City, Kansas.
Rosedale arch, a replica of the Arc de Triomphe, at the top of memorial drive (39°3′49.8″N 94°36′54.2″W).
The Rosedale Arch, dedicated to the men of Kansas City, Kansas who served in World War I, is a small-scale replica of France's famous Arc de Triomphe. It is located on Mount Marty in Rosedale, overlooking the intersection of Rainbow and Southwest boulevards.
Wyandotte High School is a notable public school building located at 2501 Minnesota Avenue. Built in 1936 as a Works Progress Administration project, the school was later designated as a Kansas City, Kansas Historic Landmark in 1985 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 30, 1986.
The 1917 Argentine Carnegie Library (the only Carnegie library existing in the metropolitan area),
Fire Station No. 9,
Granada Theater,
Hanover Heights Neighborhood Historic District,
Huron Cemetery,
Judge Louis Gates House,
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas Fire Headquarters
Great Wolf Lodge
Schlitterbahn Vacation Village
Quindaro Townsite,
Sauer Castle,
Scottish Rite Temple,
Shawnee Street Overpass,
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building
St. Augustine Hall
Theodore Shafer House
Trowbridge Archeological Site
Westheight Manor and Westheight Manor District,
White Church Christian Church
Wyandotte County Courthouse
The Muncie area.
Media
Kansas City, Kansas is a portion of the Kansas City, Missouri media market.
Broadcast media
The Kansas City, Missouri metro area's media market includes ten television channels along with 30 FM and 21 AM radio stations. KCK residents receive broadcasts from the following stations:
WDAF-TV 4 – Fox affiliate.
KCTV 5 – CBS affiliate.
KMBC-TV 9 – ABC affiliate.
KCPT 19 – PBS Member Station
KCWE 29 – The CW affiliate.
KMCI 38 (independent)
KSHB-TV 41 – NBC affiliate.
KPXE 50 – Ion Television affiliate.
KSMO-TV 62 – My Network TV affiliate.
KUKC-LP 48 – Univision affiliate.
Newspapers
The Kansas City Star (based in Kansas City, Missouri, it's the primary daily newspaper for the Kansas City metropolitan area)
The Kansan (Daily KCK newspaper (online only))
The Wyandotte Echo (Weekly legal newspaper)
The Pitch (Alternative weekly newspaper)
The Record (serving Turner, Argentine and Rosedale)
Piper Press (serving Piper)
The Kansas City Call (Weekly African-American newspaper)
Dos Mundos (Bilingual newspaper)
The Kansas City Metro Voice
Kansas City Business Journal
The Wyandotte West (weekly publication for western Wyandotte Co.)
Sports
The city is home to one major professional sports team, Major League Soccer's Sporting Kansas City (known as the Wizards from 1996–2010). Additionally Kansas City is home a minor league baseball club, the Kansas City T-Bones who play in the American Association. The Kansas Speedway is also located in the city.
Kansas Speedway is an auto racetrack adjacent to the Village West area in western Wyandotte County, Kansas. The speedway, which is used by the NASCAR Sprint Cup series and the Indy Racing League, is a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) tri-oval with 15-degree banking in the turns. The track held its first race on June 2, 2001, when the Winston West series contested the Kansas 100. The top-level NASCAR Sprint Cup series holds the annual Hollywood Casino 400 at the track.
Kansas City T-Bones
The Kansas City T-Bones are a professional baseball team that moved to Kansas City, Kansas in 2003. The T-Bones were members of the Northern League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, until the dissolution of the Northern League following the 2010 season. While the remaining Northern League teams entered the North American League as part of the Northern League's merger with the Golden Baseball League and United Baseball League, the T-Bones joined many former Northern League teams in the relatively new American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. From the 2003 season to the present, the T-Bones have played their home games at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, located adjacent to the Village West development in western Wyandotte County, Kansas. The T-Bones were the 2008 Northern League Champions.
Sporting Kansas City
Sporting Kansas City is a Major League Soccer team that currently plays at Livestrong Sporting Park. The team originally planned to move to a new stadium in Kansas City, Missouri in 2011, but the project fell through in 2009. The developer of the planned venue moved the project to the Village West area, near CommunityAmerica Ballpark, and received the needed approvals in January 2010.
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