More Quindaro history stories sought as part of National Historic Landmark efforts

Researchers are seeking people with memories about the old Quindaro area in northern Kansas City, Kan., to recount their stories.

The second session of the Quindaro Oral History Project is set for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 20 at the Kansas City, Kan., Public Library, 625 Minnesota Ave. Researchers will record interviews in the first-floor meeting rooms. No appointments are needed.

The oral history project is part of an effort to obtain National Historic Landmark status for the Quindaro neighborhood and the old ruins that still exist on the hillside between the bluffs and the Missouri River below.

Free-staters who needed a safe entry port into Kansas territory built Quindaro into a thriving boom city during the Bleeding Kansas and Underground Railroad eras. The city itself lasted only a few years but the community, which became home to hundreds of former slaves and their offspring, continued for generations.

Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area and the Unified Government are working with the National Park Service to gain landmark status for the Quindaro neighborhood.

Quindaro oral histories will be kept on video and also transcribed for research purposes and to preserve memories and history of the area, organizers said.

This story was originally published May 3, 2017 at 1:35 PM with the headline "More Quindaro history stories sought as part of National Historic Landmark efforts."