Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 156,607, making it one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area. It is situated at Kaw Point, the junction of the Missouri and Kansas rivers. It is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified Government". It is the location of the University of Kansas Medical Center and Kansas City Kansas Community College.

History

Kansas City can trace its origins back to the earlier city of Wyandotte (also called "Wyandotte City"), which was incorporated by an act of the Kansas Territorial legislature on January 29, 1859. In October 1872, "old" Kansas City, Kansas, was incorporated under its current name. The first city election was held on October 22 of that year by order of Judge Hiram Stevens of the Tenth Judicial District and resulted in the election of Mayor James Boyle. The mayors of the city after its organization were James Boyle, C. A. Eidemiller, A. S. Orbison, Eli Teed, and Samuel McConnell. In June 1880, the Governor of Kansas, John St. John, proclaimed the city of Kansas City a city of the second class with Mayor McConnell present.

As with adjacent Kansas City, Missouri, the percentage of the city's most populous ethnic group, non-Hispanic White, has declined from 76.3% in 1970 to 40.2% in 2010. In 1997, voters approved a proposition to unify the city and county governments, creating the Unified Government of Wyandotte County.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water.

thumb|right|Kansas City Municipal Office Building (City Hall) at 701 North 7th Street (2018)

Neighborhoods

thumb|The [[Cathedral of Saint Peter (Kansas City, Kansas)|Cathedral of Saint Peter]]

Neighborhoods of Kansas City, Kansas, include the following:

  • Downtown
  • Argentine – former home to the silver smelter for which it was named; it was consolidated with Kansas City in 1910
  • Armourdale – formerly a city, it was consolidated with the city of Kansas City in 1886
  • Armstrong – a small town sitting on the northern bluff of the Kansas River, absorbed in the merger of Wyandotte, Kansas City, and Armourdale
  • Arrickary Subdivision
  • Bethel – a neighborhood located generally along Leavenworth Rd., between 72nd and 77th Streets. It was never incorporated as a municipality
  • Fairfax District – an industrial area along the Missouri River
  • Hanover Heights
  • Historic Westheight
  • Muncie
  • Maywood – until the late 1990s, Maywood was a quiet, isolated residential area; it is now part of the "Village West" project that includes the Legends shopping and entertainment district, the Sporting Park soccer stadium, Monarchs' Community America baseball park, the Kansas Speedway racetrack and Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway
  • McGrew Grove
  • Nearman
  • Northeast Neighborhoods
  • Parkwood
  • Piper
  • Polish Hill
  • Pomeroy – a late-19thearly-20th-century Train Depot, Trading Post, Saw Mill, and river landing for barges to load and unload
  • Quindaro Bluffs
  • Riverview – like Armstrong, a small town on the northern river bluff, absorbed in the merger of Wyandotte, Kansas City, and Armourdale
  • Rosedale – consolidated with Kansas City in 1922
  • Stony Point
  • Strawberry Hill
  • Turner – community around the Wyandotte-Johnson County border to the Kansas River north-south, and from I-635 to I-435 east-west
  • Vinewoodthumb|[[Kaw Point|Kaw Point Park from the west (2007, highlighted by red arrow)]]
  • Wolcott
  • Welborn

Parks and parkways

  • City Park

thumb|Wyandotte County Lake Park

  • Wyandotte County Lake Park
  • Big Eleven Park
  • Boston Daniels' Park (Dedicated to the first Black Chief of Police in the United States)
  • Kaw Point Park

Climate

Kansas City lies in the Midwestern United States, as well as near the geographic center of the country, at the confluence of the longest river in the country, the Missouri River, and the Kansas River (also known as the Kaw River). The city lies in the humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa) zone, with four distinct seasons and moderate precipitation, and is part of USDA plant hardiness zone 6. Being located in the center of North America, far removed from a significant body of water, there is significant potential for extremes of hot and cold swings in temperature throughout the year. Unless otherwise stated, normal figures below are based on data from 1981 to 2010 at Downtown Airport. The warmest month of the year is July, with a 24-hour average temperature of . The summer months are hot but can get very hot and moderately humid, with moist air riding up from the Gulf of Mexico. High temperatures surpass on 5.6 days of the year<!--140 occurrences in 25 "valid" years--> and on 47 days. The coldest month of the year is January, with an average temperature of . Winters are cold, with 22 days where the high is at or below the freezing mark and 2.5 nights with a low at or below . the May 2003 tornado outbreak sequence, and the tornado outbreak of May 25–30, 2019. The region can also fall victim to sporadic ice storms during the winter months, such as the 2002 ice storm during which hundreds of thousands lost power for days and (in some cases) weeks. Kansas City and its outlying areas are also subject to flooding, including the Great Flood of 1951 and the Great Flood of 1993.

Demographics