Were you a mail carrier or mayor at Exchange City? Kansas City, tell us your stories
Whether you were a fifth-grade judge, factory worker or DJ, we want to hear your stories of Exchange City to include in an upcoming article.
From 1980 to the mid-2010s, Kansas City fifth graders held jobs for the day at Exchange City. The goal of this field trip experience was to help kids learn about economic concepts like loans, interest and taxes by participating in their own mini town.
With a town snack shop, newspaper, factory and bank, kids had many jobs to choose from — more than 65 in 1999, according to a Star article.
The kid-run town moved around — Exchange City was located at a converted warehouse near the Liberty Memorial, a cave north of the river and the Penn Valley community college campus during its over 30 year history.
The Kansas City area was home to similar programs, like Blue Springs School of Economics or Earthworks. Feel free to share your experiences at these programs, though the upcoming story will focus on Exchange City.
If you ever visited, brought students to or worked at Exchange City, The Star would love to hear from you. We are collecting stories for a future article about this bygone Kansas City experience.
Tell us below if you ever went bankrupt from buying too much popcorn or got ticketed for walking on the grass.
If you can’t see the form, click here.
