Kansas City History

Some restaurants across the Kansas City metro are still running strong after more than 100 years in business, serving up delicious meals and defining the culinary landscape for generations.

Nora Holt was the first Black person in the United States to earn a master’s degree in music. A prolific composer and a club-hopping socialite, she once wrote a 42-page work for a 100-piece orchestra. But you’ve probably never heard any of it. Scholars have dreamt of finding her stolen manuscripts for nearly a century.

In 1940, Works Progress Administration workers took photos of every building in Kansas City — houses, restaurants, shops, gas stations and more. Kansas City Public Library maintains more than 50,000 of the images, and a new website is making them easier than ever to browse.

Abolitionist John Brown wasn't born in Kansas, but made his mark during the Bleeding Kansas era before the Civil War. Today, 165 years after his execution, Brown's violent acts and influence are commemorated across the state of Kansas — including the site of the Pottawatomie massacre.

Despite her success in the 1930s, Dana Suesse’s music remains underappreciated. From piano concertos infused with jazz to popular film music, Suesse was a woman of great musical prowess.

Laugh-O-gram Studios near 30th and Troost served as Walt Disney's first animation house in 1922. After preservationists saved the deteriorating building from collapse, an ambitious $4 million fundraising campaign wants to transform it into a digital storytelling center and teaching hub.

Kansas City’s historic Union Cemetery, founded in 1857, serves as the final resting place for more than 55,000 people, including many early pioneers of Westport. A group of volunteers has cleaned more than 300 grave markers there as a way of learning about and connecting with local history.

Armada con una grabadora, la bibliotecaria de Kansas City, Irene Ruiz, capturó la evolución de la historia del vecindario de Westside e hizo de la biblioteca un lugar más acogedor para los inmigrantes mexicanos y latinos que vivían allí. Hoy en día, la sucursal del vecindario de Westside la Biblioteca Pública de Kansas City, que cuenta con la sólida colección de idioma español que Ruiz comenzó, lleva su nombre en su honor.

There’s a whole lot of history packed into the little town of Weston, Missouri. Just a 45-minute drive north of Kansas City, it's an ideal destination for weekend getaways, whether you like to hike and bike, dine and drink, or enjoy local festivals.

Armed with a tape recorder, Kansas City librarian Irene Ruiz captured the evolving history of the Westside and made the library a more welcoming place for the Mexican immigrants and Latinos who lived there. Today, the Westside branch of the Kansas City Public Library — featuring the robust Spanish language collection that Ruiz began — is named in her honor.

The arch was built to honor Rosedale soldiers who fought in World War I. After the monument fell into disrepair, the community has spent decades restoring it. Now, neighbors are throwing the arch a birthday party to celebrate.

George C. Hale served as the Chief of the Kansas City, Missouri Fire Department, for 31 years. At the end of the 19th century, he revolutionized firefighting with his more than 60 patented inventions, including the Hale Water Tower and the telephone fire alarm, and helped bring the country's fire departments into the modern era.