How Kansas City’s past shapes its vibrant culture

The curated articles show how Kansas City's past continues to shape its food, faith, sports, and streets. Local traditions, historical events, and landmark buildings all influence modern life in the metro area.

One article describes a long-running barbecue restaurant returning to its old ways with the original family management and plans to revive the patio smoker. Another story explores how Kansas City's streetcar lines trace back to 19th-century engineers who shaped travel routes still in use today. A different piece discusses students fighting to save a community orchard from being turned into a parking lot, highlighting the tension between development and preservation. Yet another article reveals how the Chiefs store their team history and artifacts in a sprawling subterranean complex called SubTropolis, linking present-day sports culture to the city's industrial roots. Together, these stories show that Kansas Citians navigate change by remembering and reshaping elements of their shared past.

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Chiefs historian Mike Davidson lifts the top of a trunk on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, revealing a collection of artifacts inside the team’s underground SubTropolis storage facility, located in the limestone caverns along the Missouri River north of downtown Kansas City. By Emily Curiel

NO. 1: INSIDE THE CHIEFS’ SUBTROPOLIS LAIR AND ITS BURIED TROVE OF HISTORICAL TREASURES

Some of these sports artifacts — airline stationery bearing the original, scribbled idea for an “American Football League,” or the original suggestion for the name of the Super Bowl, or early notes detailing the notion of an NFL-AFL merger — are worthy of display the at Pro Football Hall of Fame, or even the Smithsonian. | Published October 24, 2025 | Read Full Story by Blair Kerkhoff

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. 2: 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

Pendleton Heights Community School student Jenny Haluck hugs a fig tree at the community orchard on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Kansas City. Students are advocating to preserve the orchard, which could be replaced by a parking lot. By Emily Curiel

NO. 3: STUDENTS PICK PAWPAWS AT THIS ORCHARD IN KC. IT COULD BECOME A PARKING LOT

School kids who walk to their local orchard in Pendleton Heights to pick pears, figs and pawpaws could soon see the community garden get paved over with a fresh parking lot. | Published October 20, 2025 | Read Full Story by Chris Higgins

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. 4: 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

A rendering of Starlight Theatre in Kansas City following renovations to add a new production light bridge and canopy over seats.

NO. 5: STARLIGHT THEATRE’S $40 MILLION MAKEOVER FORCED TO PAUSE FOR ONE YEAR

Theaters and drama go together. | Published October 15, 2025 | Read Full Story by Eric Adler, Dan Kelly

Selah Thompson (front) teaches how the skirt is used in Afro Cuban dance to mimic natural movements seen in nature at the Traditional Music Society dance class. By Susan Pfannmuller

NO. 6: INSIDE KC’S THRIVING AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE COMMUNITY, YOUNGER THAN EVER

At the Traditional Music Society’s Saturday class, Kansas City percussionist Bird Fleming stood in front of a congregation of students from various races, ages, and genders. | Published October 22, 2025 | Read Full Story by J.M. Banks

Community Christian Church, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and opened in January 1942, has received a $160,000 matching grant to help with repairs due to water damage. By Eric Adler

NO. 7: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT CHURCH NEAR KC’S COUNTRY CLUB PLAZA GETS $160K REPAIR GRANT

When famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed what is now the modern, white Community Christian Church just east of Kansas City’s County Club Plaza, he reportedly declared it to be fireproof, earthquake proof and vermin proof. | Published October 21, 2025 | Read Full Story by Eric Adler

After going through security, travelers heading to the gates in the new $1.5 billion single terminal at Kansas City International Airport on opening day Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. By Tammy Ljungblad

NO. 8: WHY DID KANSAS CITY OFFICIALS PUT A NEW NAME ON KCI’S TERMINAL? HERE’S THE TITLE

Kansas City is honoring President Harry Truman by adding his name to the terminal at Kansas City International Airport, city officials have announced. | Published October 20, 2025 | Read Full Story by Nathan Pilling

The 129-year-old Leeton United Methodist Church in southeast Johnson County, Missouri, was heavily damaged by a fire Monday night. Investigators suspect arson.

NO. 9: 129-YEAR-OLD CHURCH IN SMALL MISSOURI CITY RAVAGED BY FIRE: ARSON SUSPECTED

A 129-year-old church in the small community of Leeton in southeast Johnson County, western Missouri, was heavily damaged Monday night in a fire that investigators say was intentionally set, according to the fire department. | Published October 21, 2025 | Read Full Story by Robert A. Cronkleton

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An illustration demonstrates how powerhouse steam engines drove the underground cables that pulled early streetcars.

NO. 10: LONG BEFORE MAIN STREET EXTENSION, HE BUILT STREETCARS TO TAKE KC SOUTHWARD

The KC Streetcar’s Main Street extension opens Friday, and Kansas Citians are once again thinking about transit. | Published October 22, 2025 | Read Full Story by Michael Wells

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A two-towered building has stood at 9th and Walnut since 1884, beginning as Kansas City’s first post office, later transformed into the Fidelity Bank skyscraper, and today known as 909 Walnut. The site’s evolving skyline tells the story of more than a century of change in downtown Kansas City. By Monty Davis

NO. 11: ONE BUILDING WITH TWO TOWERS HELPED SHAPE THE KANSAS CITY SKYLINE

In 1884, Kansas City didn’t have much of a skyline, but this three-story building, topped by two towers, was a good start.. | Published October 22, 2025 | Read Full Story by Randy Mason, Monty Davis

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.