History of Kansas City, Missouri, USA

1830 - December 29 - A very heavy snowstorm ushered in the "winter of the deep snow." The storm produced 30 inches of snow at Peoria IL and 36 inches at Kansas City MO.

WeatherForYou.com
December 29, 1830

1854 - Kanzas
Kanzas, a pleasant post-village of Jackson county, Missouri, on the Missouri river, three- quarters of a mile below the mouth of Kanzas river, and 14 miles W. from Independence. It hag a good landing, and an active business. Great numbers of emigrants pass through this place. It contains several churches and (in 1853) about 1000 inhabitants.
A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy ... Thomas Baldwin (of Philadelphia.) Joseph Thomas January 1, 1854 Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Company 1854.

1879 - Fatal Loss and Fire. Fire Persons Burned To Death In The Ruins Of A Candy Manufactory.
Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 8. - A terrible disaster occurred at the corner of Second and Main Streets yesterday afternoon. Four brick three-story building occupied by Carle & Sons, cracker and candy manufacturers, tumbled down and were completely consumed by fire. At the time the accident occurred, 107 persons, mostly boys and girls, aged from 12 to 20 years, were at work in the factory, all of whom escaped alive except six. The cause of the accident cannot be fully determined; but as an explosion occurred simultaneously with the fall of the walls, it is supposed to be a repetition of the accident in New York last year, viz. a starch explosion. As soon as the walls fell, the building took fire, and the Fire Department being on hand in a few minutes, by their efficient service the flames were prevented from extending to the buildings adjoining. As soon as the news of the accident had spread about the city the parents and friends of those employed there flocked to the scene to learn the... Read MORE...

1882 - Tornado
KANSAS CITY, June 17. - This city was visited last night by a terrific tornado, which unroofed and overturned houses, blew down trees and fences and worked general havoc. Fowler Brother's cooper were blown down, and Thoman madden, who was in the latter, was killed. The Howell Hotel, at Roseda's a suburban town, was also blown down, killing William Reese, Fred Powell had a leg broken. At Wyandotte, across the Kansas river, Durring's opera house was unroofed. The loss in Kansas City is estimated at $200,000.
The Macon Telegraph and Messenger
Macon, Georgia
June 18, 1882

1884 - A Train Ditched.
Kansas City, August 29 - Switch engine No. 27, of the Council Bluffs railway, was badly ditched about five o'clock this morning while taking a train of empty stock cars out of the stock yards. The train was on the western track, next to the Kaw river, and was in the rear of the Stock Exchange when a broken rail sent the engine flying from the river bank, breaking it up very badly, and pinning to the ground Thomas BOYLE, a yardman, who was standing on the pilot of the engine when it jumped. The engineer and fireman escaped injury by jumping. BOYLE was dug out after an hour's hard labor, and strange to say received slight injuries, the cylinder of the engine having kept the great weight off from his leg. His only hurt is a badly bruised foot, but no bones are broken. The business on the west track was stopped for eight hours on account of the wreck.

, Atchison, KS 30 Aug 1884
The Atchison Globe
Atchison, Kansas
August 30, 1884

1895 - Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri, the second city of the state in population and importance, is in Jackson co., on the right or S. bank of the Missouri River, 3 mile below the mouth of the Kansas River. Lat. 39°4' N.; lon. 94° 37' 40" W. By railroad it is 283 miles W. by N. of St. Louis, 26 miles S.E. of Leavenworth, and 70 miles S. by E. of St. Joseph. It is the W. terminus of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which connects here with the Kansas Pacific Railroad. Ten other roads meet here from various directions, and the trains of several lines cross the Missouri River on a magnificent iron bridge which was erected at a cost of about $1,000,000. The city is mostly built on the top and sides of a steep hill, the site having been originally very rough and uneven. It has, however, been greatly improved by grading, and much money has been expended in sewers, water-works, and mains. It has 28 churches, 14 schools, 2 medical colleges, a seminary, 2 hospitals, an orphan asylum, a workhouse, 2 theatres,... Read MORE...

1895 - FIRE AT KANSAS CITY. Property to the Value of $300,000 or $350,000 Go Up in the Flames. WAS AIDED BY A HIGH WIND.
In One Hour Nothing but Walls and Burning Debris Remained to Mark the Place Where the Building Stood - Western Newspaper Union and the Western Type Foundry Principal Sufferers.

KANSAS CITY, March 14. - Fire destroyed between $300,000 and $350,000 worth of property at Fourth and Broadway last evening. At about 5:30 flames burst out of the windows of the big 4-story building at 410 West Fifth street, occupied by the English Supply company, dealers in engine supplies and wrought iron materials, and spread with great rapidity. One hour after it started only walls and a mass of debris were left to mark the place where the big building had stood. The wind was blowing a gale when the fire broke out, and the flames were carried to the top of the 5-story brick building north of the English building, occupied by the Western Newspaper union and the Great Western Type Foundry. Within half an hour the walls of the Western Newspaper union building began falling and all hopes of saving it were... Read MORE...

1895 - Lost His Life in a Burning Theater.
Kansas City, Mo., Oct 10. - Fire which started from an unknown cause on the stage of the old Comique theater yesterday resulted in the complete destruction of the building. $8,000 damage to an adjacent building occupied by Mrs. John Hughes as a saloon, and the death of Alvin E Canaday, brother-in-law of Chief Hale and a member of fire company No. 1. The loss on the theater is $12,000, on scenery $3,500, insurance on building and scenery $2,500. Beside these losses the Billy Rice Minstrel Company lost all of its scenery, wardrobe and other effects, valued at $1,500 or $2,000.
Lorain County Reporter
Elyria, Ohio
October 12, 1895

1898 - May 14 - A severe thunderstorm, with some hailstones up to 9.5 inches in circumference, pounded a four mile wide path across Kansas City MO.
South-facing windows were broken in nearly every house in central and eastern parts of the city, and several persons were injured. An even larger hailstone was thought to have been found, but it turned out to be a chunk of ice tossed out the window of a building by a prankster.
WeatherForYou.com
May 14, 1898

February 12, 1899 - The temperature dropped to 22 degrees below zero at Kansas City MO.

WeatherForYou.com
February 12, 1899

1901 - Kansas City - The Central City by Charles S. Gleed
In early literature and in early United States Indian treaties the Indian word” Kansas” appears as Caucis, Konza, Konseas, Kons, Kanzaw, Kanzau, Kaw, and Kanzas. Kansas, meaning smoky, was the name of a tribe of Indians still existing in the Indian Territory and it came to be applied to all the country west of the Missouri River over which the tribe roamed (the country which is now largely in the State of Kansas), and also to its chief river.

There are two Kansas Cities, one in Misouri, the other in Kansas. The Kansas City in Missouri was named after the Kansas Indians, the Kansas River, the Kansas country, or all of them. The Kansas City in Kansas was named after the Kansas City in Missouri. The two cities are one except in law and the line dividing them is not discoverable except by the surveyor. The Kansas City in Kansas was made up of a number of small towns the chief of which was Wyandotte. It was thought that the Kansas town would be helped by adopting the good name belonging ... Read MORE...

1901 - KANSAS CITY THEATRE BURNED. Coates Opera House a Complete Loss - L'Aiglon Was Booked for Monday.
Kansas City, Mo., Jan. 31 - Fire late to-night destroyed the Coates Opera House, the principal theatre of Kansas City, situated at Tenth Street and Broadway, and occupying a detached building. WALKER WHITESIDE and his company were playing "Heart and Sword" in the house, and had just concluded the evening performance, when some actors discovered that the building was afire, the flames enveloping the whole rear part of the theatre in a few moments. The company lost their wardrobes and scenery, being obliged to flee from their dressing rooms.

The firemen were helpless to check the flames, and directed their chief attention to the Coates Hotel, diagonally across the street, the largest hotel in the city. Wind blew great showers of cinders upon the hotel. The guests were notified of their danger, and some left the house, but it was not damaged.

At 12:15 o'clock the theatre block was a total wreck, but still blazing. No one was injured. The audience had left the theatre only five... Read MORE...

1916
Kansas City, a city of Missouri, the second in population and importance, is in Jackson co., on the right or S. bank of the Missouri River, \ mile below the mouth of the Kansas River. Lat. 39° 8' N. ; Ion. 94° 37' W. It is an important railroad-centre and situated 235 miles (direct) W. by N. of St. Louis. Among the railroads centring here are the Missouri Pacific, the Union Pacific, the Wabash, etc. Several fine bridges cross the Missouri at this point. The city is mostly built on the top and sides of a steep hill, the site having been originally very rough and uneven. Among the most prominent buildings are the city-hall, court-house, art-museum, Board of Trade, and custom-house. The city has various higher educational institutions (Kan sas City School of Law, University Medical College, Scarritt Training School), opera-house, theatres, etc., and is adorned with three fine parks, — Troost, Fairmount, and Washington. Elevation, 730 feet. The centre of a region of extraordinary... Read MORE...

1921 - TRAIN SMASH INJURES TWO - A FORD WAS STRUCK AT ARLINGTON AVENUE.
Broken Bones Were Received by the Men in the Car, but They Narrowly Escaped Death.

John H. Lewis, Kentucky and Hultig avenues, Mount Washington and George L. Sevedge, Sterling and Peery avenues, [illegible], narrowly escaped death about 7:15 o'clock this morning when the Ford sedan in which they were riding was struck and demolished by a Chicago & Alton passenger train, the Hummer, at Arlington avenue.

Mr. Lewis suffered a broken right arm in two places and cuts and bruises on the head and face. Mr. Sevedge a sprained back and probable fractures of ribs and both arms. They were taken to the Lewis home and were to be removed to Grace hospital.

Lewis and Sevedge are partners in the concrete contracting business and were on their way to work. They were in Lewis's car. He was driving.

Lewis was driving north on Arlington avenue, which slopes upward to the railroad tracks at that point. Lewis said it was raining. he said he heard no whistle and did not know the train was... Read MORE...

1925 - EXPLOSION AND FIRE WRECK KANSAS CITY PLAY HOUSE; NUMBER OF DEAD UNKNOWN. HUNDRED PEOPLE IN THEATER AT TIME OF DISASTER, BUT DEATH LIST CANNOT BE DETERMINED UNTIL SEARCH OF RUINS IS MADE; EXPLOSION BELIEVED DUE TO GAS LEAKAGE.
Kansas City, Mo. - (AP) - Firemen and an army of workers from the street department Friday began searching the smoldering ruins of the Gillis theater for bodies of persons believed to have lost their lives when a fire and an explosion wrecked the theater and more than a dozen stores here late Thursday night.

Several hours after the search of the debris started no bodies had been recovered. The only known death to result from the catastrophe was that of JOHN HOGAN, fireman, who was killed while enroute to the scene when a fire truck overturned.

ALEXANDER HENDERSON, fire chief, after a survey of the situation, said he believed that not more than six or eight bodies would be found and perhaps not that many.

A cook in a restaurant adjoining the theater, which was entirely demolished, is the only one police know of to be unaccounted for. It was estimated that approximately a hundred persons were in the show-house at the time of the blast. How many of them escaped was not... Read MORE...

1932 - AVIATRIX SUFFERS BROKEN NECK IN PLANE CRASH.
Kansas City, Aug. 7 (AP) - MILDRED KAUFFMAN, 25-year-old Kansas City aviatrix, was injured probably fatally, and RUSSELL SHAW, her passenger, received a severe head injury when MISS KAUFFMAN'S plane locked wings with another at an altitude of 75 feet above Fairfax Airport here tonight. MISS KAUFFMAN suffered a broken neck.

The other plane was piloted by DON MOSS. Both were flying at high speed and crashed to the ground together. MOSS, uninjured, extricated his passenger, JACK LEFTWICH, 12 years old, who suffered only a small cut on the forehead.

MISS KAUFFMAN, a licensed transport pilot, established a world record for women in St. Louis on February 21, 1930, by looping 46 times. She has participated in many air races.
Wilkes-Barre Record
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
August 8, 1932

1933 - June 17 – Union Station massacre: In Kansas City, Missouri, Pretty Boy Floyd kills an FBI agent, 3 local police, and the person they intended to rescue, captured bank robber Frank Nash.

wikipedia.org
June 17, 1933

1935 - CRASH AT PARK NEAR KANSAS CITY. 60 HURT AS PIER COLLAPSES AT WINNWOOD BEACH; SIDE SHOW SNAKES INTO CROWD. PANIC FOLLOWS, MANY TRAMPLED. VOLUNTEERS WITH ROPES, 'HUMAN CHAINS' USED TO PULL VICTIMS FROM MUD.
Kansas City, July 5. AP - Dropped 18 feet into the mud at Winnwood Beach, approximately 50 persons were injured, none seriously, when a section of an amusement pier collapsed last night.

Panic caused by release of a box full of snakes being exhibited on the pier accounted for injury of several persons trampled in the scramble to safety, police said after a check of injured in the various city hospitals.

One victim, eight-year-old ROBERT LOUDERMILK, was treated for snake bite.

Ambulances called to the park were delayed by heavy holiday traffic on the highways and it was several hours after the collapse before all victims had been treated and accounted for.

C. H. Winger president of the Winnwood Operating Company, attributed the collapse to the settling of two cement foundation piers into the mud beneath the walk, throwing a strain upon the crowded platform and causing it to buckle.

Not all of the snakes were recovered. Police said they were unable to learn whether their... Read MORE...

1957 - DEATH TOLL MOUNTS TO 35 AS TORNADO STRIKES KANSAS CITY. GREATEST LOSS OF LIFE IS IN RUSKIN HEIGHTS SUBDIVISION.
Kansas City, May 21 (AP) - The year's deadliest tornado thus far slashed across Kansas City's southern outskirts at sundown yesterday, leaving 35 dead and more than 200 injured in its 80-mile path.

Injured were still being dug out of wreckage as late as 7 a.m. (CST) today and the search for additional possible victims continued.

Martial law was declared in the Ruskin Heights - Hickman Mills area to expedite relief work, stop looting and keep out sight-seers.

The death toll included 29 in the Kansas City suburbs, four at Spring Hill, Kan., and two at Ottawa, Kan., where the storm began its hop-skip scourge.

Greatest loss of life apparently was in a less than three-year-old shopping center at the mushrooming Ruskin Heights sub-division. Many of the commuters and their families were doing their customary shopping in the center's 16 shops when the twister struck in full blast.

The center serves not only the sub-division but nearby Hickman Mills and several communities.... Read MORE...

1968 - Race riots occurred in Kansas City after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ motimeln.htm

2023 - Here's a mix of places to visit and things to do in Kansas City, Missouri:
1. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art:
Start your trip with some culture at this renowned art museum. It boasts an impressive collection of Asian, European, and American art, including the iconic Shuttlecocks on the lawn.

2. Country Club Plaza:
This outdoor shopping district is famous for its Spanish-style architecture, upscale shops, and a plethora of dining options. It's a great place for a leisurely stroll.

3. Union Station:
A historic train station turned into a science center, cinema, and planetarium. It's a hub of activity with beautiful architecture and interesting exhibits.

4. WWI Museum and Memorial:
Kansas City is home to the National World War I Museum and Memorial. It's a moving experience with exhibits that provide a deep understanding of the Great War.

5. The Plaza Lights:
If you visit around the holiday season, don't miss the Plaza Lights. The entire Plaza area is adorned with thousands of dazzling lights, creating a magical atmosphere.

6. Kauffman Center... Read MORE...