KCK’s Memorial Hall turns 100. Its place in music history is legendary
The road to 100 hasn’t been easy for Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in downtown Kansas City, Kansas.
It’s been pummeled by wrestling and rock ‘n roll—and lived to tell about it.
Built in 1925, Memorial Hall housed a variety of community events and veterans’ activities. With its massive pillars and a beautiful, spacious foyer it carried an air of grandeur.
The building that hosted a diverse century’s-worth of events and entertainment is being celebrated this year by the residents of Wyandotte County. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, threw the hall a birthday party on Sept. 12 by opening it up to the public and hosting a street fair on North Seventh Street that passes in front of the building. The columned facade of Memorial Hall sort of blends in with the other government buildings that line North Seventh Street, but how the centenarian hall has been a place to draw people together stands out in Wyandotte County and even the metropolitan area as a whole.
Country music came calling first. According to Greg Wooton, Wyandotte County’s Buildings & Logistics Manager, musicians making their way from Nashville to Los Angeles made it a regular stop. The Grand Ole Opry came through often, and KC’s own “Brush Creek Follies” radio show was (at least for awhile) a tenant too.
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Sadly, one country music legend played her final show at Memorial Hall in March, 1963. Patsy Cline performed at a benefit for a Kansas City DJ, then died in a plane crash on the way back home.
Boxing was a staple from the beginning, but by the 1950s, professional wrestling was the real star of the show at Memorial Hall. For decades, Thursday night matches featuring the likes of Bob Geigel, Harley Race, the Viking, the Stomper, Rufus R. Jones, Andre the Giant and a host of others drew reliably raucous crowds.
But the most surprising part of Memorial’s history is the years it served as a popular music venue, a place where top-tier talent played regularly, especially in the 1970s and 1980s.
Led Zeppelin, check. Janis Joplin, check. Bruce Springsteen, Talking Heads, the Grateful Dead (8 times), Elton John, Little Feat, U2, Elvis Costello, the Doobie Brothers, Peter Frampton, Black Sabbath., and well, you get the idea.
They all stopped at 7th & Barnett, parked their tour bus tour next to the building and cranked out a night’s worth of tunes.
Rick Hellman who runs the kcrockhistory.com website says simply, “it was a magical place.”
Hellman first went to the hall to watch some wrestling. He still remembers Bulldog Bob Brown “flying from the rafters.” Later, he picked up the country rock bug, caught bands like Loggins & Messina and Poco there, and kept diving deeper and deeper.
Luckily, promoters like Chris Fritz kept feeding the beast. In the days of AOR (album-oriented rock radio) there was no shortage of artists making records and young people buying them. With a capacity of just under 3,000, Memorial Hall seemed to fit the industry’s needs perfectly.
“Let’s face it, Memorial Hall’s not fancy,” Kansas Citian Tim Willis readily admits. “But it had such wonderful sight lines. There wasn’t really a bad seat in the house, and the sound was good too.”
Just for the record, Willis puts the Kinks, Elvis Costello (with Mink Deville and Rockpile as openers) the Dead in ‘77 and the Boss in ‘78 as his favorite shows. And he’s got the ticket stubs to prove it.
Granted, people’s memories can get a little hazy at times, but here’s an unscientific sample of what some other metro music fans hold dearest about Memorial Hall.
Al Lundeen from Kansas City Kansas counts himself lucky to have seen Pink Floyd debuting “Dark Side of the Moon” there in 1972. Same for seeing David Bowie during his “Ziggy Stardust” days. And Al still chuckles about the “older ladies” crowding the stage to get a closer look at B.B. King.
Chad Posladek from Leawood remembers he was too young to drive to the Jefferson Airplane show in 1969. The tickets cost $3 apiece. He also knows that he was one of the hardy souls who braved a snowstorm that winter to see the triple bill of Jethro Tull, Joe Cocker and Fleetwood Mac.
John Johnson from Overland Park thinks the Genesis tour in support of “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” album was the best of many shows he saw at Memorial Hall, even though he knew little about the band at the time. He also recalls worrying that Supertramp might actually “blow out the windows.”
Rob Podrebarac from Kansas City, Kansas, has a similar thought about high volumes. As the opening act for Ozzy Osborne, Motorhead had Rob’s ears ringing in a matter of seconds. Pancake breakfasts at the hall and the foot-long hot dogs at wrestling matches have also stuck with him.
Dave Simmons from Kearney, Missouri, described the thrill of venturing across the state line as a 14-year-old to see R.E.M. and Camper Van Beethoven. He added that the Black Crowes and various versions of Bad Company were a good fit for the “vibe” at Memorial Hall.
Jack Goodrich from Overland Park nominated the triple bill of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam (complete with Eddie Vedder “climbing the walls”) in 1991 as the best of the best. He even grabbed a setlist as a memento.
And finally, Dan Carlson lives in the Bay Area now, but as a Northland teenager he found himself attending, and even photographing a number of concerts. Frank Zappa and prog rock groups like Nektar and Kraftwerk made the top of his lengthy list. Dan definitely wins some kind of prize for taking his mom to see the Tubes at Memorial Hall on Mother’s Day 1976. Afterward, she told him that she liked the show, but “not all the pot smoking.”
These days, the concert world has moved on from Memorial Hall. Lighting and sound systems have grown exponentially larger, and adequate parking is still a concern.
Rocki Mayes, the building’s manager, says it staying busy nonetheless, hosting lots of “community and non-profit events,” graduations and ceremonies for the local police and fire departments.
One fun link to the past has emerged recently. The KC Roller Warriors are doing their roller derby best to bring thrills and spills back to the arena floor. It can’t match the glory days yet, but as Memorial Hall heads toward 200, it’s a great start.
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This story was originally published September 11, 2025 at 5:00 AM.