Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by population and area. Most of the city lies within Jackson County, with portions spilling into Clay, Platte, and Cass counties. It is the central city of the Kansas City metropolitan area, which straddles the Missouri–Kansas state line and has a population of 2,392,035. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090, making it the 37th most-populous city in the United States, as well as the sixth-most populous city in the Midwest. Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a port on the Missouri River at its confluence with the Kansas River from the west. On June 1, 1850, the town of Kansas was incorporated; shortly after came the establishment of the Kansas Territory. Confusion between the two ensued, and the name Kansas City was assigned to distinguish them soon after.
Thomas Joseph Pendergast, also known as T. J. Pendergast, was an American political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, from 1925 to 1939.
Lloyd Crow Stark was an American businessman and politician who served as the 39th Governor of the U.S. state of Missouri. He was a member of the Democratic Party.
Kansas City is a 1996 American crime film directed by Robert Altman, and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, Michael Murphy and Steve Buscemi. The musical score of Kansas City is integrated into the film, with modern-day musicians recreating the Kansas City jazz of 1930s.
Municipal Auditorium is a multi-purpose facility located in Kansas City, Missouri. It opened in 1935 and features Streamline Moderne and Art Deco architecture and architectural details.
The River Market is a riverfront neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri that comprises the first and oldest incorporated district in Kansas City. It stretches north of the downtown Interstate 70 loop to the Missouri River, and is bordered by the Buck O'Neil Bridge on the west and the Heart of America Bridge on the east. As of September 2018, the population was 1,345.
Quality Hill is a historic neighborhood near downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, on a 200-foot-high bluff which overlooks the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers in the West Bottoms below.
Charles Binaggio was an American gangster who became the boss of the Kansas City crime family and concocted a bold plan to control the police forces in Kansas City, Missouri and St. Louis, Missouri.
The history of the Kansas City metropolitan area has significant records since the 19th century, when Frenchmen from St. Louis, Missouri moved up the Missouri River to trap for furs and trade with the Native Americans. This strategic point for commerce and security at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers became the Kansas City metropolitan area, straddling the border between Missouri and Kansas. Kansas City, Missouri was founded in 1838 and surpassed the competing Westport to become the predominant city west of St. Louis. The area had a major role in the westward expansion of the United States. The Santa Fe and Oregon trails ran through the area. In 1854, when Kansas was opened to Euro-American settlement, the Missouri-Kansas border became the first battlefield in the conflict in the American Civil War.
William Rockhill Nelson was an American real estate developer and co-founder of The Kansas City Star in Kansas City, Missouri. He donated his estate for the establishment of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
The West Bottoms is a historic industrial neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri, immediately west of downtown and straddling the border of Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. At the confluence of the Missouri River and the Kansas River, it faces Kaw Point, an early campsite of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The region was originally settled by the native tribes, and this spot was permanently settled as French Bottoms in the early 1800s by François Chouteau for his trade with the tribes and early American pioneers. It is one of the oldest areas of the metro along with Westport. Its neighboring Quality Hill neighborhood is a historical center of the pioneer Town of Kansas, which became Kansas City, Missouri.
James Francis Pendergast was a Democratic politician and the first Big City Boss of Kansas City, Missouri. He was the elder brother of Thomas J. Pendergast and Michael J. Pendergast.
Joseph Bernard Shannon was a Democratic political boss in Kansas City, Missouri, who was a rival to the more dominant James Pendergast political machine in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries.
Ward Parkway is a boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. Ward Parkway begins at Brookside Boulevard on the eastern edge of the Country Club Plaza and travels west 2.8 miles along Brush Creek as U.S. Route 56 before turning south near Kansas-Missouri state line. It continues south for 4 miles, terminating at Wornall Road near Bannister Road. A short spur, Brush Creek Parkway, connects Ward Parkway to Shawnee Mission Parkway at State Line Road.
John Lazia, also known as Brother John, was an American organized crime figure in Kansas City, Missouri, during Prohibition.
Bryce B. Smith was the Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri from 1930 to 1940 at the height of power of the Thomas Pendergast political machine.
The Kansas City crime family, also known as the Civella crime family or Kansas City Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia family based in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Monroe Hotel was a hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. It was built in the early 1920s and soon afterward bought by Tom Pendergast, a local political boss, who arranged for connecting access between his office and the hotel. The hotel closed in 1971, and the building was later converted to condominium use.
William Marshall Boyle Jr. was an American Democratic political activist from Kansas. Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1949 to 1951, he was a friend of President Harry S. Truman and is credited with engineering Truman's upset victory over Governor Thomas Dewey in the 1948 Presidential election. He was forced to resign as chairman of the Democratic National Committee after being charged with financial corruption.
Henry F. McElroy (1865–1939) was the first City Manager of Kansas City, Missouri. He held this position during the era of political boss Tom Pendergast.
