2019, Our Year Traveling by Ship, Train, Plane, Car and Barge: Kansas City Here I Come...

Kansas City Recommendations...

Jack’s Stacks & Gates BBQ
In Kansas City, there are two kinds of BBQ sauces, one that is more vinegar based that can be found at Gate's Restaurant; while the other is molasses based and can be found at Jack Stacks. Both cook their meats at low temperatures very slowly. More BBQ restaurants per capita than any other city.

Lydia, food Network chef, Joe Bastianich's mom

Cool contemporary tram that runs from Union Station to the River District

Kemper Contemporary Art Museum

Spider is a sculpture by Louise Bourgeois

and the Nelson Atkins Art Museum

(..."The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art arose from the instincts and ambitions of two private individuals who shared the dream of providing a public art museum for Kansas City and the surrounding region.

William Rockhill Nelson, founder of The Kansas City Star, was convinced that for a city to be truly civilized, art and culture were necessities. When he died in 1915, the bulk of his estate was used to establish the William Rockhill Nelson Trust for the purchase of works of art “which will contribute to the delectation and enjoyment of the public generally.”

Kansas City school teacher Mary McAfee Atkins had similar aspirations for her city. Although relatively unknown, she provided the city with approximately one-third of her million-dollar estate to purchase the land for a public art museum.

The Nelson estate was combined with Mary Atkins’ legacy to build an art museum for the people of Kansas City. The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and the Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts opened to the public on Dec. 11, 1933...")

Kansas Art Institute is located in close proximity to these other museums. The Nelson’s who owned the Kansas City Star built gorgeous Victorian homes for their executives and family. They are right by the museums.

is located inside Nelly Dawn’s former home. Wish we could have made it here too...sounds fascinating!

Had to borrow a photo since we couldn't one ourselves

Country Club Plaza was built by J C Nichols, a big developer in the area. J C Nichols Fountain he gave to the area. Seville, Spain influenced his architecture in this area. The free parking in the Plaza is thanks to Nichol's influence. They have a really huge Christmas Lights ceremony starting at Thanksgiving in this area. It is so incredible, but it pays to wait until after the opening, if you don't like large crowds!!!

One of the lovely sites here in Country Club Plaza

Jack Stack's BBQ down here

Our FL neighbors who live out here too. Phil and Susan came into the city to see us. It was great to see familiar faces!

The Chief's name is attributed to Kansas City's name which derived from the Native American "Kansa" tribes in the area. https://www.visitkc.com/visitors/things-do/trip-ideas-tools/discover/diversity/native-american-culture-kansas-city Kansas City has worked hard to understand and be sensitive to the Native American history of this area; by not encouraging the wearing of headdresses to their football games, and using drums only for special occasions...

Old Westport Rd was the original wagon trail West. Some individuals would pay $1 to jump on someone's wagon to go West. Also, the cattle drives came down this road 7 days a week, all year long.

National Headquarters of VFW

Lots of company headquarters here's besides Hallmark Cards.

Pioneers Mother's sculpture paid for by Mr Van Der Slice and he had given much of the land for the parks too. He is the baby in the group.

When Hoover was ahead of FBI originally had no guns until Kansas City Massacre when Frank Nash was on the way to Leavenworth jail.

First Friday of the month in Crossroads Arts District, 12 streets of partying with food trucks... Art Alley, is located there and the wall graffiti changes monthly.

Kansas City Star: Disney’s (Mickey Mouse was born here thanks to him feeding a little mouse that kept coming on his desk). Disney, Walter Cronkite and Hemingway worked for the Star at different points in their careers.

It's designed to sway with the winds... A pair of shell-like forms contain the two halls of this performing arts centre in Kansas City by Israeli architect Moshe Safdie of Safdie Architects. Clad in stainless steel panels, the 1,800-seat Muriel Kauffman Theatre and the 1,600 seat Helzberg Hall comprise the Kauffman Center.
Kauffman family made money in pharmaceuticals. They gave enormous sums of money to KC, but only the interest can be used for city improvements. Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and the sports stadium are some examples of their generosity. Cool building and fabulous acoustics for opera, symphony & ballet.

The old Trans World Airlines and Howard Hughes

The mural for the Monarch African American Baseball League

Major League Baseball built Urban Youth Academy downtown. It has lots of fields and sports areas. the KC original YMCA is where Satchel Paige learned to play.

Buck O Neil, first black coach to enter Major League Baseball

This beautiful mural was created by a homeless artist who went on to tremendous success, but I couldn't find his name???

Chicago & Cincinnati weren't the only cities to have bosses. During prohibition KC was run by Tom Pendergast, a Democratic City boss. With Harry Truman, as his judge,(an administrative position) he built the Jackson County courthouse and KC City hall; as well as, numerous county roads. Even a former brothel was turned into police headquarters. Pendergast owned the concrete business, so he got all the jobs. Another gang that dominated was the Black Hand, Sicilian gang here that demanded payment or else...

Mighty Missouri River is actually longer than Mississippi River. Missouri red brick is seen everywhere since it’s plentiful and safer than wood. Planters Seed Bldg. Still grind their own spices. It is in the River Market area. They are in the process of redoing all the manufacturing building into residences and/or mixed use. You can find the Steamboat Arabia Museum there. It was an old steamboat that sunk and was found years later incredibly well preserved. It was found buried under Missouri mud in a field; everything aboard was preserved. You can go to the museum to see those items...

Armor, Swift & Burlington is a vertical life bridge, like many we passed under with Moondance.

Hannibal Bridge changed Kansas City after it went in. Massive amount of people and animals coming here. There is a bar made out of shipping containers that you can bring your dogs. All kinds of things for the dog to do while their families drink and eat.

Second largest Union Station in Kansas City after Penn Station was torn down. Two states KS & MO went together to save it. It has lots of museums like Cincinnati Terminal , but it has numerous stores, offices, an Amtrak Station and restaurants.

Union Station

....And our Trolley Tour

Tom, our Trolley driver

Main concourse

One of the original Art Nouveau chandeliers

One of the hallways

Nickname for Kansas City is “City of Fountains” over 200 working...almost more than Rome.

Named after Kansa, Native Americans. Originally, it was the Town of Kansas.

Garment district still exists, but not in its former capacity. Nelly Dawn was a well known Kansas City garment maker who rose to national acclaim. She has her own museum

Cathedral of Immaculate Conception has 24 karat roof. Originally it was copper until the 1960’s.

Used as a point of reference for cattle drives coming into the city since the stockyards and slaughter houses were close by.

Charley Bird Parker famous blues musician and there are loads of great venues for blues or jazz here still.

The Castle was an old jail that is being redone but suppose to be haunted.

Humane Society was originally for assisting women and children. Eventually morphed into help for animals

Children’s Mercy Hospital started by two women to help kids. Those hospitals built on hills for breezes.

Crown Center is Hallmark Cards family business center still held by the Hall family. Lots of kids’ oriented things to do there like aquarium, Legoland, stores, restaurants Even has a Museum/Visitor’s Center done by Hallmark which showcases all that they have done for the city.

Looking back to the WWI museum...IN KC they use to say, "meet me under the Clock." which you can see here.

National WWI Museum
For whatever reason the only WWI museum ended up here. I really am not big on this type of history, but I have to say this museum was incredibly well done!!!

So many reasons for WWI...Europe is the center of global power. Same popular royal families are all connected to Great Britain's aristocracy.

Industrial Revolution is connecting the continents through trade, travel and supplies. Huge change from only farming, as the poor move to cities for new manufacturing jobs. Socialism begins to thrive among the people. Many unemployed even as the middle and upper classes are becoming wealthier. Nationalism rises creating prejudices, and tensions among ethnic groups, as loyalty to aristocracy is dying. Colonization becomes mandatory to the global powers. Germany, Great Britain and France start developing weapons and armies. Start looking at war, as a means for clearing up their problems.

Poppies become a symbol for WWI, since they grow wild all around Europe.

The sculptures on top of the monument on either side of the tower are sphinxes. One sphinx looks to the East which meant they couldn’t see a past; while the other looks to the West to the future...which was pretty dismal at the time, so both have wings over their eyes, so they couldn't see it.

Never heard of them???

These posters are an excellent examples of art for a Social cause

A German style trench that was much more fortified

I'm always amazed at the wide range of uniforms

The artillery

These large spiral spikes held the barbed wire to the ground

Weapons of destruction are endless

These facility trenches really gave you a much better sense of what they were dealing with...especially when they provided audio of actual WWI survivors explaining what it was like