Local

3 focal points where Kansas City history rides, smokes and whispers

Stories by Kansas City Star journalists, with AI summarization

The articles connect Kansas City's history through stories about railroads, barbecue, and local hauntings. Each shows how the city’s past unfolds through movement, flavor, and legend.

A family-run barbecue restaurant returns to old management, reviving wood-fired smoking and familiar hand-painted signs. Visitors can join tours in places said to host spirits, such as a historic hotel, a Civil War-era home, and a former jail. Tracks from the Strang Line Interurban Railroad once linked Olathe with Kansas City, shaping county growth and decline as travel habits changed.

Together, these stories show how rail cars, rib racks, and ghost tales continue to shape the metro’s history.

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Frankie Schloegel, from left, his father, Frank Schloegel III, and Oscar Scott, grandson, at Woodyard Bar-B-Que, 3001 Merriam Lane, in Kansas City, Kansas, on Tuesday, October 14, 2025. The family-owned business is back under the family's management and is making some improvements to the restaurant. Scott will be the general manager. By Tammy Ljungblad

NO. 1: LONG-RUNNING KANSAS CITY BARBECUE RESTAURANT IS BACK ‘UNDER OLD MANAGEMENT’

Woodyard Bar-B-Que has gone downhill. | Published October 15, 2025 | Read Full Story by David Hudnall

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A vintage postcard of Olathe’s Park Street highlights the Park Cherry Building where J.C Nichols once officed, and the tracks of the Strang Line Interurban railroad that ran from KC to Olathe. By Monty Davis

NO. 2: INTERURBAN RAILROAD HELPED SPUR EARLY GROWTH OF THIS KC-AREA COUNTY SEAT

The important role that Olathe played in Johnson County’s history is often overlooked. | Published October 15, 2025 | Read Full Story by Monty Davis, Randy Mason

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The Belvoir Winery in Liberty served as an orphanage and a retirement home for members of the Odd Fellows fraternal order. It now conducts paranormal investigations that the public can attend.

NO. 3: WHO NEEDS HAUNTED HOUSES? HERE ARE 5 REAL HAUNTS YOU CAN EXPERIENCE IN KC

If the manufactured scares of the haunted houses in the West Bottoms and elsewhere aren’t your thing, there are ways to experience genuine spookiness in the Kansas City area during the Halloween season. | Published October 17, 2025 | Read Full Story by Dan Kelly

The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.