Our industrywide over reliance on selling already-built, move-in ready homes – I.e.: resales – prioritized over building business models which are predicated on building new homes, creating additional housing inventory and marketing new home construction options to home buyers has contributed substantively to housing inflation. As well as to sales numbers – in 2024 – which are comparable to sales numbers we saw thirty years ago.
Sometimes the correct answer includes plain old hard work. Coupled to changed perspectives.
Kansas City, Kansas’s beginning came to be by way of a merger of towns. A merger of towns which then became KCK neighborhoods.
In 1886 Kansas City, Kansas was formed when the independent settlements of Kansas City, Wyandotte City, Armstrong, Riverview and Armordale combined.
Twenty-four years later, Kansas City annexed Argentine. Argentine was built around smelting and mining plants. Argentine’s plants, benefitting from Argentine’s location alongside the Santa Fe Railroad.
Today’s KCK neighborhood of Argentine borders Rosedale.
Prior to its annexation by Kansas City in 1922, Rosedale had been The Town of Rosedale. Settled in 1872.
Annexed by Kansas City in 1923, Quindaro was originally a free state port alongside the Missouri River. Within the abolitionist movement, Quindaro was once an Underground Railroad station.
There is an interesting, historically significant 10-mile street in Kansas City, Missouri which runs from 4th Street to Bannister. The Kansas City, Missouri street I am referring to here is Troost Avenue.
Among the Kansas City, Missouri neighborhoods which border Troost Avenue are…Beacon Hill, Longfellow, Squier Park, Rockhill and Hyde Park. All are fabulously sought-after KC neighborhoods.
Troost Avenue was named after a doctor – Benoist Troost. Dr. Troost, as well as being a prominent Kansas City physician, had been a civic leader in KC. Troost Avenue.
Troost Avenue was once home to “Millionaire’s Row.” Early in the 20th Century, “Millionaire’s Row” had been a strip of stunning mansions constructed all along Troost Avenue. Those mansions adorned Troost from 31st Street to 34th Street.
Today, Troost Avenue is experiencing keen interest. And a tasteful renaissance of redevelopment. In times past, Troost Avenue experienced a storied history of disinvestment. And decline. Prior to Troost’s renaissance. So what led to Troost’s decline?
Disinvestment. But real estate disinvestment was not the primary catalyst which led to Troost’s mid-20th Century decline. Real estate disinvestment certainly was one catalyst which led to Troost’s decline. But real estate disinvestment was not the primary catalyst which led to Troost’s decline.
Disinvestment in public schools east of Troost was the primary catalyst which led to Troost’s decline.
Starting off in the late ‘60’s, the School Board in Kansas City, Missouri consistently requested increases in education funding for Kansas City, Missouri schools located east of Troost Avenue. For this topic, there were in the range of twenty such education funding requests made by the Kansas City School Board during this time. These were funding requests made throughout 1960’s. Throughout the 1970’s. For twenty years.
The additional funds – if approved – would have gone to Kansas City, Missouri public schools east of Troost Avenue. Funding requests were voted down. The result? White flight.
Families – those having the means, that is…meaning, predominantly white families at that time – moved. Families moved outside of the underfunded Kansas City, Missouri School District. Schools east of Troost were underfunded.
White flight. Neighborhood home values decreased. One prominent Kansas City mayor once referred to Troost Avenue as, “…the demarcation line in a war zone.”
The problem – east of Troost – wasn’t the legal segregation of schools. Nor was the problem – east of Troost – the illegal segregation of schools. The problem – east of Troost – was school funding. Or a lack thereof.
Long before round after round after round after round of failed requests were submitted to secure funding for Kansas City, Missouri public schools east of Troost, those same public schools were in fact desegregated. Yet school desegregation didn’t really solve this problem in Kansas City east of Troost. Because while school desegregation based upon race was the national mandate after Brown v. the Board of Education, decisions made which affected education funding were – and are – made at the local level. And therein was the problem for public schools east of Troost. At that time.
In 1954, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that state-sanctioned segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. Prior to this 1954 Supreme Court ruling, in Kansas City, Missouri – east of Troost Avenue – Lincoln High School had once been the only high school providing post-elementary education to Black students. One high school.
In 1955, one year after Brown v. the Board of Education, the Kansas City School Board kind of enacted a “segregation” of public schools, in a different way. This was like a “de-facto segregation.” Not based upon race. But rather, this was a different form of segregation which was based upon attendance zones. Not race.
Yet, do we recall the aforementioned white flight east of Troost? The white flight which took place as round after round of funding requests for schools was voted down? Which led to panic selling? Which led to block busting? As white families relocated out of the Kansas City, Missouri school district?
Kansas City, Missouri public schools east of Troost were not segregated based upon race after the 1954 Supreme Court decision. But yet, in a practical sense, they kinda still were.
The city’s expansion…
Beginning in the 1950’s, and extending onwards through the 1960’s, Kansas City, Missouri – as a city – grew. During this time, Kansas City, Missouri added over 200 square miles to the city’s footprint. Yet, during this same time, what about Kansas City, Missouri public school sizes? What about Kansas City, Missouri public school teacher count? What about Kansas City, Missouri public school classroom sizes? What about Kansas City, Missouri public school classroom capacity?
None of those public school categories grew in a commensurate way – east of Troost, that is – to Kansas City’s population growth. Nor to Kansas City’s expanding public school education requirements. During the city’s expansion in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s – east of Troost – Kansas City, Missouri public schools remained overcrowded. And underfunded. The city’s expansion just made it worse.
In real estate, developers often utilize – and benefit from – tax abatements. On Troost Avenue – and east of Troost – there is a genuine renaissance which has taken hold. It’s long overdue. And it’s welcomed.
Let’s go back for a moment to the topic of Kansas City, Missouri public schools, east of Troost. To the underfunding of public schools, east of Troost. To classroom sizes…
The definition of a tax abatement is, the reduction of, or the exemption from, taxes granted by a government for a specific period, usually to encourage certain activities.
Over one six-year period – between 2017 and 2023 – Kansas City, Missouri public schools lost in excess of $200 million in potential education funding which could have gone (but didn’t go) to Kansas City, Missouri public schools. Funds redirected away from Kansas City, Missouri public schools due to development incentives given out. Development incentives coming from tax abatements.
Public schools in Kansas City, Missouri have accrued nearly $400 million in deferred maintenance. Underfunded.
Those of us who love Kansas City applaud the spectacular redevelopment which is taking place on Troost Avenue. Still, it’s not really a stretch for us to take a moment and think about what led to Troost’s decline. It was the schools.
If the #1 goal is redevelopment and private schools…all good.
While panic selling and block busting were two factors which contributed to neighborhood disruption east of Troost long, long ago, neighborhoods east of Troost will experience no such disruptions this time. As the “Troost pendulum”swings all the way…in the other direction.
What we’ll see is, not decreasing property values east of Troost. We’ll see increasing property values east of Troost.
We won’t see panic selling east of Troost. We’ll see home sellers fetching ever-increasing prices for their homes, east of Troost.
We won’t see blockbusting, east of Troost. We’ll see continued investor interest in homes, east of Troost.
What we’ll also see – east of Troost – is community members being priced out of their neighborhoods. We’ll see gentrification. We’ll see investment. Not disinvestment. We’ll see tax abatements.
We’ll also see hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance which has already been incurred by Kansas City, Missouri public schools.
We’ll see challenges in education. Different education challenges. Not segregation. Not the same challenges as before. But challenges in education east of Troost, nonetheless.
If redevelopment on Troost Avenue is the goal, all good.
If there are other topics to consider, maybe we revisit Kansas City history? Focusing on this topic: public schools east of Troost.
Within a Redevelopment Area, a municipality’s goal could be to transition residential, commercial and industrial properties within the Redevelopment Area into vibrant community assets. The pursuit of which could take on a community-centric theme. Renovations, repurposing properties, new home construction… Goals pursuant to the redevelopment of properties within a Redevelopment Area.
Redevelopment of properties within a Redevelopment Area could start out with a city council resolution. To redevelop properties. With the resolution, a planning board might then choose to construct a Redevelopment map. With a Redevelopment map – and upon notification to the public of an upcoming hearing – a planning board could then look to adopt a Redevelopment resolution. The resolution could recommend the establishment of a Redevelopment Area within the municipality.
Potential steps a municipality could consider beginning with in order to establish a Redevelopment Area within the municipality…
You can direct any comments or questions to Ted Ihde.
During the latter part of the 19th Century, goods making their way to the Western-most points of an ever-expanding United States would have likely ended up trekking through Paris of the Plains. Through Kansas City. Through Crossroads.
Kansas City was (and is) truly an American Crossroads.
In a fast-industrializing early-20th Century United States, Kansas City – I.e.: Crossroads – connected an industrial Northeast to agricultural centers in the American west. And in the American southwest.
The Santa Fe Trail. Kansas City’s unique location at the confluence of two major rivers – the Kansas River and the Missouri River. And later, as a major railroad hub. A railroad hub which, during its heyday, was second only to Chicago’s railyards in terms of rail traffic, and rail capacity. Each converged in Kansas City. Kansas City became a Crossroads. Due to its geographical location. Due to America’s expansion west. Due to rail. Due to trade patterns. Crossroads…
Lewis and Clark arrived in Crossroads at the onset of the 19th Century. Lewis and Clark arrived in Crossroads at a time when the United States government was keen on opening up the west to American interests. The most effective pathway west at that time? That would have been the Missouri River. Kansas City was built alongside “Big Muddy.” Built alongside the Missouri River.
Switching eras. Fast forwarding in time. Switching methods of transportation. Yet staying on the subject of Crossroads..
In order to facilitate Kansas City’s unique position as an American Crossroads, nearly 100 years after Lewis and Clark arrived with their team of 50 – and 3 boats – by the late-19th Century, the first train depot opened in Kansas City. The year was 1878. And that Crossroads train depot would have been Kansas City’s Union Depot.
Kansas City’s Union Depot became the second union depot which opened in the United States. Indianapolis’s union depot was the first.
By 1945, nearly 700,000 rail passengers stepped foot in Kansas City’s train station. At its height, close to 200 trains pulled into Kansas City every single day. Crossroads.
A Crossroads. A gateway. To an exciting new 19th Century American frontier. A Crossroads for 20th Century American train travelers. A Crossroads for American soldiers during wartime. A Crossroads for American industry. A Crossroads for freight trains. Crossroads.
In the mid-20th Century, rail was the preeminent method of transportation for freight. In the mid-20th Century, rail was the preferred method of transportation for civilian passengers. As an American Crossroads, Kansas City quickly outgrew its original Union Depot.
Desiring – and requiring – additional capacity for their freight trains, the railroads which were collectively utilizing Kansas City’s Union Depot in KC’s industrial West Bottoms made a decision. Their decision? They were going to replace the outdated, ill-sized Union Depot with a new, larger more accommodative train station. Built in a new location. Union Depot was out. A depot in the West Bottoms – as the West Bottoms was prone to floods – was out. The new Kansas City train station would be near Kansas City’s central business district. Not in a floodplain. Built up on the hill.
Kansas City’s Union Station opened to the public in 1914 – a 850,000 square feet major railway hub. Union Station prospered. Rail, at that time, was an integral part of Kansas City’s position as an American Crossroads. Yet, as Union Station – and as rail – cemented Kansas City’s Crossroads status, macro circumstances in the United States changed. Macro circumstances changed the future of Kansas City’s Union Station. Macro circumstances changed the utilization of Kansas City’s Union Station. Macro circumstances changed the fate of Kansas City’s Union Station.
As the 20th Century progressed, the preferred method of transportation in the United States changed. For civilian passengers. For industry.
An emerging airline industry – coupled to travelers’ newfound preference for convenient flights, rather than long train rides – changed how Kansas City functioned as a rail-centric Crossroads. And trucks. Highways.
As flights replaced rail for passengers, trucks and highways replaced rail as the preferred method of transportation for freight. As such, the “DNA” for Crossroads changed.
By the 1970’s, rail traffic through Kansas City’s Union Station dropped. Significantly. From what had been a near-700,000 train passengers walking through Kansas City’s Union Station each year…that number precipitously dropped. Year by year. To, in the early part of the 1970’s, just about 30,000 yearly passengers.
At one time, close to 200 trains pulled into Kansas City’s Union Station everyday. Today? A total of 4 Amtrak trains pull into Union Station, daily.
Through it all, the origin for Kansas City’s status as a Crossroads? I would say, that was never Union Station. It was not the nearly-200 trains which pulled into Kansas City each day. It was not the American GI’s who arrived in Kansas City during the War. The origin for Kansas City’s status as Crossroads? That would be one United States President. The origin for Kansas City’s status as Crossroads would be, in my humble opinion, Thomas Jefferson.
In 1803, the size of the United States doubled. The doubling in size of the United States in 1803 was the result of one $15,000,000 real estate deal. That real estate deal being the Louisiana Purchase.
The Louisiana Purchase added 828,000 square miles to the footprint of the United States. And, once the Louisiana Purchase was enacted, Kansas City’s location went from perfect, to PERFECT.
One year after the Louisiana Purchase, President Thomas Jefferson tapped an old wartime buddy of his. That buddy? Meriweather Lewis. Jefferson’s idea? For Meriweather Lewis to lead an expedition west. For Lewis to explore this vast new territory acquired by the United States through the Louisiana Purchase.
Meriweather Lewis added William Clark to this planned expedition. Six weeks after the Jefferson-directed expedition began, Lewis and Clark arrived at a confluence of two important rivers. The Missouri River. The Kansas River.
Or, as we now know this area to be, six weeks after Lewis and Clark ventured out with 3 boats – and a team of 50 – Lewis and Clark arrived at Crossroads. Lewis and Clark arrived in, what would go on to become…Kansas City.
Kansas City’s stockyards – and the KC cattle business – once dominated a section of Kansas City, Missouri known as the West Bottoms.
The cattle industry had been Kansas City’s first multi-million dollar business. Actually, at one time, Kansas City’s stockyards were a multi-million dollar a day business. At their peak, Kansas City’s stockyards were the second busiest stockyards in the United States. Surpassed only by Chicago’s stockyards.
Long before trains transported cattle to and from the Kansas City stockyards, Kansas City’s West Bottoms were known as the French Bottoms. A place where French trappers and native Americans partook in commerce.
The Santa Fe Trail. Trade with Mexico. Western immigration routes. Steamships transporting goods along the Missouri River… At one time, one way or another, each converged in Kansas City’s West Bottoms. And in a country eager to expand its footprint to the West, Kansas City’s West Bottoms was the hub. As Kansas City became known as “the Gateway to the Southwest.”
In the early Twentieth Century, Kansas City executives oversaw livestock businesses from offices located in the West Bottoms. Today, many of those old offices are lofts. The West Bottoms has become a trendy destination…sought after by young urban professionals. That office space which was once been used by cattle executives? It now houses budding Kansas City entrepreneurs.
There is still manufacturing in the West Bottoms. There are still warehouses. Today, a West Bottoms manufacturing facility – or a West Bottoms warehouse -might just be located on the same block as a restaurant or a haunted house. Near The Beast. Or The Edge of Hell. Or The Chambers of Edgar Allan Poe…
In 1923, the West Bottoms received 3,500,000 hogs, 350,000 calves, 1,000,000 sheep, plus 40,000 horses. That same year, Kansas City’s stockyards set the world record for one day’s receipt of cattle: 60,206 head.
One hundred years later? No cattle.
The live cattle price of $2.88 USD per pound and the lean hog price of $.83 USD per pound? Not too relevant in the West Bottoms in 2024.
High-speed Internet connection? Great restaurants? Those are relevant.
Freight trains still roll through Kansas City’s West Bottoms. Often, transporting millions of gallons of Bakken crude. Railroad tracks run straight through the middle of the West Bottoms. Train engine horns still blare…everyday. At its peak, 16 railroads once converged in the West Bottoms.
Kansas City… Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City, Kansas.
There had been a few different beginnings for what we now know to be Kansas City. The very first one?
In the 1830s, we had the first one – Westport Landing.
Westport Landing was established on a section of 257 acres which would evolve into what would become Kansas City, Missouri.
The 257 acres had been sold by the federal government to a man of French ancestry…Gabriel Prudhomme. This land sale took place in 1831.
Whereas the land Gabriel Prudhomme purchased from the federal government would go on to become Kansas City, Missouri, Westport Landing was the early, pre-Kansas City, Kansas City development.
Westport Landing – strategically set up alongside the heavily-trafficked Santa Fe Trail – was an unincorporated collection of merchants. These were merchants who established their businesses in Westport Landing to provide Santa Fe Trail travelers with supplies.
The merchants were inland. And the Westport Landing merchants figured out they could reduce their costs by receiving supplies by way of the Missouri River. Rather than by land. And they did.
The waterway entry point at which Westport Landing merchants were able to receive supplies shipped to them on the Missouri River was located where what is now Grand Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri intersects with the Missouri River. And it is at this intersection – where Grand Boulevard meets the “Big Muddy” – where we found Westport Landing.
Twenty years later – in 1850 – Westport Landing was incorporated as the Town of Kansas.
Three years after that – in 1853 – the Town of Kansas was reincorporated and renamed. The new name for the Town of Kansas? The City of Kansas. And this renaming – as the City of Kansas – took place eight years before the State of Kansas became the 34th state of the United States. In 1861.
In 1889, the name for the city – the City of Kansas – was changed. Changed to Kansas City. The very, very first Kansas City – that first Kansas City being, Westport – was annexed by Kansas City, Missouri eight years later. In 1897.
All the while, on the other side of the Missouri River – in the new Kansas Territory – small Kansas settlements were forming. And growing. Growing into small Kansas towns.
In 1872, a consortium of small Kansas towns – on the other side of the river – merged. And incorporated. Therein – in 1872 – we have the origin for Kansas City, Kansas.
Wherein the larger Kansas City – and the older Kansas City, too – is the one which is located in Missouri, and not in Kansas, the “Kansas” in Kansas City is not derived from the State of Kansas.
The name of the city – Kansas City, Missouri – was named after a river. Not a state. Not Kansas. That river being…the Kanza River.
The Kanza River would go on to become the Kansas River. The Kansas River provided the name – “Kansas” – for the city – Kansas City, Missouri.
So the city – Kansas City – which originally formed as Westport Landing, which would later go on to become the Town of Kansas, which would later go on to become the City of Kansas, which would later go on to become Kansas City…does not derive its name from its neighbor to the west – the State of Kansas.
Kansas City… Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City, Kansas.
There had been a few different beginnings for what we now know to be Kansas City. The very first one?
In the 1830s, we had the first one – Westport Landing.
Westport Landing was established on a section of 257 acres which would evolve into what would become Kansas City, Missouri.
The 257 acres had been sold by the federal government to a man of French ancestry…Gabriel Prudhomme. This land sale took place in 1831.
Whereas the land Gabriel Prudhomme purchased from the federal government would go on to become Kansas City, Missouri, Westport Landing was the early, pre-Kansas City, Kansas City development.
Westport Landing – strategically set up alongside the heavily-trafficked Santa Fe Trail – was an unincorporated collection of merchants. These were merchants who established their businesses in Westport Landing to provide Santa Fe Trail travelers with supplies.
The merchants were inland. And the Westport Landing merchants figured out they could reduce their costs by receiving supplies by way of the Missouri River. Rather than by land. And they did.
The waterway entry point at which Westport Landing merchants were able to receive supplies shipped to them on the Missouri River was located where what is now Grand Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri intersects with the Missouri River. And it is at this intersection – where Grand Boulevard meets the “Big Muddy” – where we found Westport Landing.
Twenty years later – in 1850 – Westport Landing was incorporated as the Town of Kansas.
Three years after that – in 1853 – the Town of Kansas was reincorporated and renamed. The new name for the Town of Kansas? The City of Kansas. And this renaming – as the City of Kansas – took place eight years before the State of Kansas became the 34th state of the United States. In 1861.
In 1889, the name for the city – the City of Kansas – was changed. Changed to Kansas City. The very, very first Kansas City – that first Kansas City being, Westport – was annexed by Kansas City, Missouri eight years later. In 1897.
All the while, on the other side of the Missouri River – in the new Kansas Territory – small Kansas settlements were forming. And growing. Growing into small Kansas towns.
In 1872, a consortium of small Kansas towns – on the other side of the river – merged. And incorporated. Therein – in 1872 – we have the origin for Kansas City, Kansas.
Wherein the larger Kansas City – and the older Kansas City, too – is the one which is located in Missouri, and not in Kansas, the “Kansas” in Kansas City is not derived from the State of Kansas.
The name of the city – Kansas City, Missouri – was named after a river. Not a state. Not Kansas. That river being…the Kanza River.
The Kanza River would go on to become the Kansas River. The Kansas River provided the name – “Kansas” – for the city – Kansas City, Missouri.
And Kansas
So the city – Kansas City – which originally formed as Westport Landing, which would later go on to become the Town of Kansas, which would later go on to become the City of Kansas, which would later go on to become Kansas City…does not derive its name from its neighbor to the west – the State of Kansas.
When you are considering whether to pursue a real estate development project, reaching out to local government officials regarding the availability of tax incremental financing is one step you can take.
Tax incremental financing – TIF –is a development subsidy whereby the municipality diverts future property tax revenue towards economic development. The origin of tax incremental financing traces back to the State of California. And to 1952.
In order to establish a TIF subsidy, an urban renewal district – a TIF district – is first drawn up by the municipality.
With tax incremental financing, the municipality will be diverting increases in property taxes within the urban renewal district from the municipality, to development. It’s a subsidy. With a lifespan of twenty or twenty-five years.
The foundation for TIF? Development leads to increases in property values within the TIF district. As well as in surrounding neighborhoods. The theory? Increasing property values, which lead to an increase in property tax receipts collected by the municipality, offset TIF subsidies.
A film row is a collection of film studio offices which are located next to each other. Film rows functioned as motion picture industry sales hubs and fulfillment centers. Film rows also played host to meetings and events.
From the 1920’s and on through the 1970’s, Hollywood used film rows to produce and distribute content.
Kansas City’s Old Film Row was located in what is today Crossroads Arts District – 17 buildings within a four block radius. Most of those buildings are still there.
Columbia Pictures and Paramount had offices between Central and Wyandotte on 18th Street.
Where 17th Street intersects with Wyandotte, Warner Brothers and Universal Studios were across the street from one another. 1700 Wyandotte had been Universal Studios’ Midwest storage and distribution center.
United Artists had an office on the corner of Central and 18th Street.
Walt Disney Company was located on 18th Street…just off Wyandotte.
Disney evolved out of Laugh-O-Gram Studio. Laugh-O-Gram started out in the McConahay Building – 1127 East 31st Street.
The MGM building – built in 1930 – was at 220 West 18th Street.
National Screen Service – 18th Street and Baltimore – was one of the largest distributors of movie posters, accessories and print ads.
Screenland Café – Wyandotte and 18th Street – had two screening rooms as well as two theatre circuits. Those two theatre circuits would evolve into AMC Theaters.
AMC was founded in 1920 in KC by Maurice, Edward and Barney Dubinsky. The Durbinsky’s would go on to change their name. From Dubinsky to Durwood.
Prior to AMC, the Durwood’s had Durwood Theatres. Durwood Theatres started out on Baltimore Street. In Old Film Row.
