There are two kinds of Kansas Citians. There are the natives and then there are the "natives." The former were born here. They have marked the passage of years by the golden-hued sunsets of autumn, dripping like honey from the white branches of sycamores that grace this city. Those delicate trees, like a company of ballet dancers, stretch their white arms, pivoting and prancing in the gusty winds across Kansas City's soft green hillsides.
They have reveled in September watercolor landscapes not obscured by the pollution that has accompanied progress in other well-intentioned metropolises. They have seen their city survive floods, fires, and uprooting tornadoes that nearly yanked away everything at times -- everything but the hopes and optimism of a diligent people who have learned how to cope with the elements.
They now watch proudly and unabashedly as Kansas City comes into its economic spring. Buffered by its growing national reputation as an affordable and good place to live, and by the gold-rush mentality of Fortune 500 companies, of which more than 200 have offices here, Kansas City gingerly unfolds. It captivates its residents and could-be residents with a quality that will bring them back time and time again -- a homeyness, a friendliness that forms the marrow of life in Kansas City.
Kansas City is a family town. It is a community...a place where people commune with each other.
It is no surprise, then, that there is a second kind of "native." They came from other shores to this City of Kansas (as it was reincorporated in 1853, first being the Town of Kansas) at the confluence of the Missouri and Kaw rivers. Some may have come here via job relocations, or quite by accident, popped here from other places like ice cubes from one of those plastic trays you twist. Everyone's twist of fate is a little bit different.
However they come to call themselves Kansas Citians, a commonality tends to develop. Kansas City fosters a sense of pride among its residents, a strong tradition of community attachment that stretches back to pioneer times. This shared spirit, not always the stuff that history books chronicle, perhaps best comes into focus with certain impressionistic snapshots, revealing the finer texture of a city.
Looking Up
Entertainment in Kansas City was simple in 1964. After supper, if the air wasn't too nippy, entire families would button themselves into sweaters for a walk around their neighborhoods. Or there was the bluff at the end of 6th Street, overlooking the downtown airport. On lilting summer evenings, families would drive to that hillside and sit along a broad stone wall and watch the planes take off.
Small white planes would glide through dusky, dimming twilight, leaving a chalking white path of exhaust. People pointed and commented, laughter lacing their talk. Some ate from picnic dinners. Children counted the planes and invented their own games.
The stone perch is gone, but the hillside is still there. The vantage point still offers quite a nice view of the skyline. But the excitement, not only of jets coming and going but the airline industry itself, has moved north, just a small distance beyond the farms scattered along Interstates 35 and 29 and Highway 291, the routes to Kansas City International Airport, or KCI.
KCI is to Kansas City what the Arch is to St. Louis: a gateway. It's no secret that Kansas City's airline industry is taking off. Trans World Airlines makes its international headquarters here, and seven other airlines have recently established new operations, adding 70 more flights to Kansas City's already humming roster. Miami-based Eastern Airlines launched its largest single-city service ever, with 34 daily departures to 24 cities. In 1964, while families watched from 6th Street, eight airline carriers serviced the downtown airport. By 1984, the number of passengers had nearly tripled, as 26 airlines were flying out of KCI, evidence of Kansas City's arrival as a major transportation hub.
Back in the 1850s, the Town of Kansas had strategically settled itself on the Missouri bend to become quite literally the jumping off point of America. As the eastern terminus of the thriving migration west, the frontier town was the bona fide gateway to the West. Its present-day status as transportation hub brings Kansas City full circle, a point not lost on its ardent citizenry.
Looking Back
The towheaded boy, just a toddler, gurgled in pleasure and clapped his tiny hands. No one seemed to notice the youngster place a penny on the railroad track at Union Station at Main Street and Pershing Road.
Nearly 10,000 Kansas Citians braved this frosty afternoon with steely clouds beginning to billow in lofty mounds, conspiring for a snowstorm that would come that night. Onlookers raced through nearby Washington Square, one of the city's 302 elegant parks covering more than 20,000 acres. There was an anxious, grateful glow on their faces as they came to visit their old friend, the Great Dame of Kansas City nostlagia, the expansive Union Station.
Seventy years earlier, another crowd numbering 100,000 gathered at this same spot to witness the dedication of the $6 million station designed by the Chicago architect, Jarvis Hunt. Union Station was part of a $40 million terminal plan of the city rails and viaducts. Its vastness was said to symbolize the unrestrained hopes of Kansas City's growing population.
In its heyday, the station handled 300 trains a day. Today, a pared-down Amtrak operation of six trains daily occupies the building, along with a few restaurants. The remarkable station lobby rises the equivalent of seven stories and has produced equally remarkable heating costs for Amtrak. In a surreal gesture, the terminal operations are conducted inside an inflatable bubble nowadays. Rumors of renovation of this worthy candidate have been bandied about Kansas City for several years now, but as yet, nothing has materialized. No doubt as they descend upon this station, eager citizens are confident better days are ahead for their magnificent landmark.
In a matter of minutes now, Union Pacific steam engine Number 8444 -- built for passenger service during World War II -- would chug up the track in a spectacular show en route to the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans. At that moment, the train's huge wheels would leave an imprint on the boy's penny, just as his father was hoping the day would leave an imprint on his son, building a lasting fondness for the Great Dame, and an enduring reverence for the heritage of this city that many Kansas Citians share.
Looking Forward
Kicking back on the soft grass. The sweetness of lazy days of summer seems to exude from the blades of green. Willows frame the sky, a boat passes nearby on the wat, and the park seems to cushion any intrusion of the city. Kansas City always has been, and still is, a place where there is room to breathe. It's impossible to be far from a park in Kansas City. The city's parks define this place as more than somewhere to exist; it is truly a livable city. Likewise, Kansas City's boulevards -- 140 miles of broad swaths, stately and gracious, landscaped and tree-lined -- distinguish the city as something other than a typical American concrete jungle.
But, Kansas City is not some sleepy, hayseed town from a Ray Bradbury novel, where the only allure is the occasional traveling circus plagued by wickedness. No, Kansas City knows how to make progress without producing clutter. In 1984 alone, more than $160 million in new construction projects is to be completed, and ground will be broken on the new $140 million American Telephone and Telegraph Company's regional headquarters. Spanning two city blocks, the granite and glass structure will provide 1.2 million square feet of office space and retail shopping. While creating a new pinnacle in the Kansas City skyline (it will become the tallest building downtown), the new 38-story structure also will incorporate 70,000 square feet of renovated historic buildings into the overall ambiance. That is the way of Kansas City -- reaching new heights while preserving the intrinsic richness of its history.
Kansas City's richness extends to its cultural life. Downtown comes alive with ballet, theater, jazz, and Broadway musicals in more than a half dozen posh settings, including the 19th century Folly Theater. Just over a decade ago, the Folly teetered on the border of demolition until residents raised more than $300,000 to secure its fate.
Kansas Citians are best at doing what often-harried people in bustling cities only dream about and frequently relegate to "retirement." They are living life in their own way, at their own pace. No one cramps anyone's style here. There are about 280 people per square mile. In Boston, there are 2,233 per square mile; in New York, 23,452. Although there is a geographic distance between Kansas Citians (it was planned that way -- the city's artistic boulevard system, populated by parks, was no accident), there is an emotional closeness, a closeness that causes people who were born here to stay, or young professionals who go away to come back. It is a closeness that invites new residents to call this home and to forget other roots. You don't have to have the same last name to be part of the extended family. Just relax. Take off your shoes. You may be on your way to becoming a "native," too.
Kansas City is a family town. It is a community...a place where people commune with each other.
It is no surprise, then, that there is a second kind of "native." They came from other shores to this City of Kansas (as it was reincorporated in 1853, first being the Town of Kansas) at the confluence of the Missouri and Kaw rivers. Some may have come here via job relocations, or quite by accident, popped here from other places like ice cubes from one of those plastic trays you twist. Everyone's twist of fate is a little bit different.
However they come to call themselves Kansas Citians, a commonality tends to develop. Kansas City fosters a sense of pride among its residents, a strong tradition of community attachment that stretches back to pioneer times. This shared spirit, not always the stuff that history books chronicle, perhaps best comes into focus with certain impressionistic snapshots, revealing the finer texture of a city.
Looking Up
Entertainment in Kansas City was simple in 1964. After supper, if the air wasn't too nippy, entire families would button themselves into sweaters for a walk around their neighborhoods. Or there was the bluff at the end of 6th Street, overlooking the downtown airport. On lilting summer evenings, families would drive to that hillside and sit along a broad stone wall and watch the planes take off.
Small white planes would glide through dusky, dimming twilight, leaving a chalking white path of exhaust. People pointed and commented, laughter lacing their talk. Some ate from picnic dinners. Children counted the planes and invented their own games.
The stone perch is gone, but the hillside is still there. The vantage point still offers quite a nice view of the skyline. But the excitement, not only of jets coming and going but the airline industry itself, has moved north, just a small distance beyond the farms scattered along Interstates 35 and 29 and Highway 291, the routes to Kansas City International Airport, or KCI.
KCI is to Kansas City what the Arch is to St. Louis: a gateway. It's no secret that Kansas City's airline industry is taking off. Trans World Airlines makes its international headquarters here, and seven other airlines have recently established new operations, adding 70 more flights to Kansas City's already humming roster. Miami-based Eastern Airlines launched its largest single-city service ever, with 34 daily departures to 24 cities. In 1964, while families watched from 6th Street, eight airline carriers serviced the downtown airport. By 1984, the number of passengers had nearly tripled, as 26 airlines were flying out of KCI, evidence of Kansas City's arrival as a major transportation hub.
Back in the 1850s, the Town of Kansas had strategically settled itself on the Missouri bend to become quite literally the jumping off point of America. As the eastern terminus of the thriving migration west, the frontier town was the bona fide gateway to the West. Its present-day status as transportation hub brings Kansas City full circle, a point not lost on its ardent citizenry.
Looking Back
The towheaded boy, just a toddler, gurgled in pleasure and clapped his tiny hands. No one seemed to notice the youngster place a penny on the railroad track at Union Station at Main Street and Pershing Road.
Nearly 10,000 Kansas Citians braved this frosty afternoon with steely clouds beginning to billow in lofty mounds, conspiring for a snowstorm that would come that night. Onlookers raced through nearby Washington Square, one of the city's 302 elegant parks covering more than 20,000 acres. There was an anxious, grateful glow on their faces as they came to visit their old friend, the Great Dame of Kansas City nostlagia, the expansive Union Station.
Seventy years earlier, another crowd numbering 100,000 gathered at this same spot to witness the dedication of the $6 million station designed by the Chicago architect, Jarvis Hunt. Union Station was part of a $40 million terminal plan of the city rails and viaducts. Its vastness was said to symbolize the unrestrained hopes of Kansas City's growing population.
In its heyday, the station handled 300 trains a day. Today, a pared-down Amtrak operation of six trains daily occupies the building, along with a few restaurants. The remarkable station lobby rises the equivalent of seven stories and has produced equally remarkable heating costs for Amtrak. In a surreal gesture, the terminal operations are conducted inside an inflatable bubble nowadays. Rumors of renovation of this worthy candidate have been bandied about Kansas City for several years now, but as yet, nothing has materialized. No doubt as they descend upon this station, eager citizens are confident better days are ahead for their magnificent landmark.
In a matter of minutes now, Union Pacific steam engine Number 8444 -- built for passenger service during World War II -- would chug up the track in a spectacular show en route to the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans. At that moment, the train's huge wheels would leave an imprint on the boy's penny, just as his father was hoping the day would leave an imprint on his son, building a lasting fondness for the Great Dame, and an enduring reverence for the heritage of this city that many Kansas Citians share.
Looking Forward
Kicking back on the soft grass. The sweetness of lazy days of summer seems to exude from the blades of green. Willows frame the sky, a boat passes nearby on the wat, and the park seems to cushion any intrusion of the city. Kansas City always has been, and still is, a place where there is room to breathe. It's impossible to be far from a park in Kansas City. The city's parks define this place as more than somewhere to exist; it is truly a livable city. Likewise, Kansas City's boulevards -- 140 miles of broad swaths, stately and gracious, landscaped and tree-lined -- distinguish the city as something other than a typical American concrete jungle.
But, Kansas City is not some sleepy, hayseed town from a Ray Bradbury novel, where the only allure is the occasional traveling circus plagued by wickedness. No, Kansas City knows how to make progress without producing clutter. In 1984 alone, more than $160 million in new construction projects is to be completed, and ground will be broken on the new $140 million American Telephone and Telegraph Company's regional headquarters. Spanning two city blocks, the granite and glass structure will provide 1.2 million square feet of office space and retail shopping. While creating a new pinnacle in the Kansas City skyline (it will become the tallest building downtown), the new 38-story structure also will incorporate 70,000 square feet of renovated historic buildings into the overall ambiance. That is the way of Kansas City -- reaching new heights while preserving the intrinsic richness of its history.
Kansas City's richness extends to its cultural life. Downtown comes alive with ballet, theater, jazz, and Broadway musicals in more than a half dozen posh settings, including the 19th century Folly Theater. Just over a decade ago, the Folly teetered on the border of demolition until residents raised more than $300,000 to secure its fate.
Kansas Citians are best at doing what often-harried people in bustling cities only dream about and frequently relegate to "retirement." They are living life in their own way, at their own pace. No one cramps anyone's style here. There are about 280 people per square mile. In Boston, there are 2,233 per square mile; in New York, 23,452. Although there is a geographic distance between Kansas Citians (it was planned that way -- the city's artistic boulevard system, populated by parks, was no accident), there is an emotional closeness, a closeness that causes people who were born here to stay, or young professionals who go away to come back. It is a closeness that invites new residents to call this home and to forget other roots. You don't have to have the same last name to be part of the extended family. Just relax. Take off your shoes. You may be on your way to becoming a "native," too.
