Kansas City
States: Kansas and Missouri
This double city in the Midwest, straddling the border between Kansas and Missouri, lies at the junction of the Kansas River with the Missouri, extending along the high banks of both rivers (the Bluffs). World-famous for its steaks and its jazz, Kansas City is now the center of an
extensive agricultural region. The great stockyards and packing stations of the 19th c. have given place to highly efficient foodstuffs industries and other processing industries (automobile construction, engineering, chemicals, paper). A glance at the skyline of Kansas City, Missouri is enough to show that it remains the more important of the two sister cities. Not for nothing does it enjoy national renown as the "Barbecue Capital" and jazz metropolis - this is where Charlie "Bird" Parker created "bebop".
History Kansas City, Kansas (pop. 186,000) developed in the mid-19th c. out of a small town established by white settlers. For a time it was the eastern terminus of the first transcontinental railroad and thus gained importance as a commercial center. Kansas City, Missouri (pop. 450,000), grew out of a settlement of French fur traders and a Jesuit mission and during the 19th c. rapidly developed into a lively economic and cultural center.
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