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Top Attractions in Kansas City

KCTV Tower

KCTV, virtual channel 5 , is a CBS-affiliated television station serving Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas, United States. The station is owned by the Meredith Local Media subsidiary of the Meredith Corporation, as part of a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate KSMO-TV . The two stations share studio facilities located on Shawnee Mission Parkway in Fairway, Kansas; KCTV maintains transmitter facilities located on East 31st Street in the Union Hill section of Kansas City, Missouri (adjacent to the studios of PBS member station KCPT (channel 19)). On cable, the station is available on Time Warner Cable, Comcast and SureWest channel 3, and Google Fiber and AT&T U-verse channel 5. KCTV also serves as a default affiliate for Saint Joseph, as that market (located to the immediate north) does not have a CBS affiliate of its own (KQTV (channel 2), which had originally served as that market's CBS affiliate beginning at its sign-on in September 1953, became a full-time ABC affiliate in June 1967); KCTV's transmitter produces a city-grade signal that reaches Saint Joseph proper, and the station is carried on cable and satellite providers in that market.

Fairyland Park

Fairyland Park was an amusement park, located at 7501 Prospect Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri. The park operated from 1923 to 1977, at which time it was closed due to lack of attendance to the park and storm damage in late 1977. Marcia Brancato Accursos grandfather, Salvatore “Sam” Brancato, a Sicilian immigrant and blacksmith by trade, came to the United States in 1896. After settling in Kansas City, he went into the grocery business, then began buying up real estate. He opened Fairyland Park in 1923. It would be in the family until its closing in 1977. The park was segregated until 1964, when blacks were first allowed to attend the park. Admission to blacks came only after protest marches, demonstrations and arrests for blocking the entrance. Admission cost to the park was kept low . A storm in late 1977, which by some accounts was a wind storm, and by others a tornado, caused extensive damage to the park. This, combined with the nearby park Worlds of Fun caused the venerable park to shutter for good. During the 1950s and 1960s, Fairyland boasted 3 roller coasters, an 8 story ferris wheel, a swimming pool, bumper cars, a shooting range, and even a petting zoo at one time. Fairyland and its owners tried a number of gimmicks throughout their later days trying to compete with the newer and shinier Worlds of Fun. In 1967, knowing of the new park under construction, The Brancato family commissioned the construction of a new roller coaster, The Wildcat, in 1967. It would not be enough. The Wildcat was the parks biggest ride, and helped the park stay competitive. Other promotions included advertising saying "Where "Fun" is Still Affordable", keeping their admission at fifty cents while Worlds of Fun was charging five dollars, in addition to parking. With attendance dwindling, the park suffered major storm damage in the winter of 1977-1978, and never re-opened. Whether or not the park really was damaged was always questioned, with some believing the park was just deciding to shut down and needing a reason. The Brancato family tried unsuccessfully to redevelop The Fairyland parcel as many things after the park closed, a swap meet and a zoo were mentioned. But in the end, the park would never again entertain guests.

National Museum of Toys and Miniatures

The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, formerly known as the Kansas City Toy and Miniature Museum, is located on the campus of the University of Missouri Kansas City in a 38-room Italianate mansion at 52nd and Oak. (Bequeathed to the University in the 1960s, the home was originally designed for physician Herbert Tureman in 1906 by noted architect John McKecknie and completed by 1911.) Boasting more than 33,000 square feet of exhibit space and a collection of more than 300,000 items, the museum currently welcomes about 25,000 visitors a year. The museum has undergone two expansions in its more than 30 years of operation, and closed for a $9.2 million renovation (mainly of heating and cooling systems) beginning in 2014, reopening in July, 2015. At its origin, the Museum combined the toy collection of Mary Harris Francis with the fine miniature collection of Barbara Hall Marshall; the two women were avid collectors as well as lifelong friends. Opened in 1982, the Museum today boasts the largest collection of nostalgic toys in the Midwest, the world's largest collection of marbles, as well as the most extensive collection of fine-scale contemporary miniatures on earth.

ASB Bridge

The Armour-Swift-Burlington Bridge, also known as the North Kansas City Bridge and the LRC Bridge, is a rail crossing over the Missouri River in Kansas City, Missouri that formerly also handled car traffic. The piers were built in 1890. However, later that year, lack of funding prevented the bridge from being built. In 1909, Waddell & Harrington designed the current bridge and construction started. The bridge is one of two of this type that had car traffic on Route 9 on the upper level, and rail traffic on the lower level. The lower deck could be raised to permit riverboats to pass without interrupting car traffic on top. This design allowed the hangers from the lower deck to go through the truss members of the upper deck. It was built by a combination of Armour Packing Company, Swift & Company, and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. In 1987, the Heart of America Bridge bridge opened to the east to replace the vehicular portion. In 1996, the remaining part of the ASB was designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a national landmark in civil engineering. The bridge is now owned by the BNSF Railway. The ASB has a 428-foot main span, and makes it the ninth-longest vertical-lift drawbridge in the United States. It is also a tourist attraction, as many people visit it each year. This is also one of two of this type ever built.

Kansas City Zoo

Kansas City Zoo is a 202 acres zoo founded in 1909. It is located in Swope Park at 6800 Zoo Drive Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States. The zoo has a Friends of the Zoo program. It is home to more than 1,300 animals and is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums . In 2008, the Kansas City Zoo was voted one of America's best zoos. It was ranked number one in the nation for “African Animals and Exhibits,” with the authors, Allen W. Nyhuis and Jon Wassner, praising its 95-acre Africa exhibit as representing five nations with "one of the most extensive collections of African animals we’ve ever seen." The Zoo was also ranked among the top 10 in the nation for “Australian Animals and Exhibits” and for “Pachyderms: Elephants, Rhinos, Hippos” In addition, the authors re-quoted famed ape expert Jane Goodall’s compliment that Kansas City has “one of the finest chimpanzee exhibits in North America.” “America’s Best Zoos 2008” ranks the Kansas City Zoo as the number one zoo in the nation for viewing both chimpanzees and kangaroos.

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, at 16th and Broadway, near the Power & Light District, the Sprint Center and the Crossroads Arts District. Its construction was a major part of the ongoing redevelopment of downtown Kansas City. The Center was created as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Unlike some other major civic construction projects, no taxpayer funds went into its construction. The City of Kansas City contributed to and operates a parking garage adjacent to the Kauffman Center. It is the performance home to the Kansas City Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and the Kansas City Ballet which in the past performed at the Lyric Theatre, eight blocks north of the center. The Kauffman Center houses two unique performance venues: Muriel Kauffman Theatre and Helzberg Hall. According to its website, the Kauffman Center’s mission is “to enrich the lives of communities throughout the region, country and world by offering extraordinary and diverse performing arts experiences”. The Kauffman Center seeks to fulfill this mission by offering a wide selection of performances, and also by offering specific programs to connect with the youth in the Kansas City area.

Kansas City Garment District Museum

The Kansas City Garment District Museum is located in the Garment District, in the lobby of DST Systems Inc.s Poindexter Building. The Historic Garment District Museum of Kansas City was opened and dedicated in October of 2002 at an event sponsored by Kansas Citys Historic Garment District Group and Kansas City Parks and Recreation. The ceremony also included the dedication of the sewing needle sculpture located at an urban park located at 8th and Bank streets in downtown Kansas City. Ann Brownfield and Harvey Fried founded the museum and both are still involved in curation and tours. Brownfield worked in the Garment District beginning in 1960 as a shoe and clothing designer. All of the more than 300 garments housed at the museum were made in a Kansas City garment factory from the 1920s to 1988. The museums collection includes clothing, hats, photos of the period, and period tools of the trade such as sewing machines, scissors and industrial fabric cutters. Exhibits change with the seasons winter, spring, summer and fall. Nelly Don was one of the best known manufacturers and the largest maker of house dresses in the world. Gay Gibson made junior-sized dresses. The museum always has some of these iconic labels on display. Visitors to the museum will learn that the Kansas City Garment District was the second largest producer of coats and suits for ladies in the world at its peak. The garment industry was also the second largest employer in Kansas City from 1914-1960, consisting of entirely locally owned and operated factories. Unlike other "hands-off" museums, the Historic Garment District Museum of Kansas City offers many touch and feel opportunities.

Boulevard Brewing Company

Boulevard Brewing Company is a regional brewery located in Kansas City, Missouri. The Brewers Association currently ranks the American arm of Boulevards parent company, Duvel Moortgat USA, as the 12th largest craft brewery, and the 18th largest active brewery in the United States based on 2014 sales volume. After the sale of Anheuser-Busch to InBev in 2008, Boulevard was the largest independent American brewery in the state of Missouri. Boulevard is now no longer independent; it was acquired by Duvel Moortgat Brewery on October 18, 2013. Boulevards beers are available in select markets across the country. In 2013, Boulevard was acquired by Duvel Moortgat Brewery. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but industry publication Beer Business Daily estimated the sale price exceeds $100 million.

National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame

The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to mens college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, located at the Sprint Center. The hall is meant as a complement to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, with a focus strictly on those who have contributed greatly to college basketball. On November 17, 2006 the NABC honored around 180 players, coaches and other notable contributors to college basketball by inducting them into the founding class of the Hall of Fame. Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Dean Smith, John Wooden and the family of Dr. James Naismith, were selected to represent the inaugural class. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts has indicated it will help with the exhibits. The other interactive portions of the College Basketball Experience are called The Entry Experience, The Fan Experience, and The Game. The NABC recently renamed the Guardians Classic college tournament the CBE Classic to help promote it.

National Toy and Miniature Museum

The National Toy and Miniature Museum, formerly known as the Kansas City Toy and Miniature Museum, is located on the campus of the University of Missouri Kansas City in a 38-room Italianate mansion at 52nd and Oak. Boasting more than 33,000 square feet of exhibit space and a collection of more than 300,000 items, the museum currently welcomes about 25,000 visitors a year. The museum has undergone two expansions in its more than 30 years of operation, and will close for a $9.2 million renovation beginning in 2014. At its origin, the Museum combined the toy collection of Mary Harris Francis with the fine miniature collection of Barbara Hall Marshall; the two women were avid collectors as well as lifelong friends. Opened in 1982, the Museum today boasts the largest collection of nostalgic toys in the Midwest, the worlds largest collection of marbles, as well as the most extensive collection of fine-scale contemporary miniatures on earth.

John Wornall House Museum

Constructed in the year 1858 by John B. Wornall, the house stands as a reminder of Kansas Citys past. Built in the Greek Revival style architecture with bricks hand-fired on the Wornalls property, this house is one of the four remaining Civil War period homes in the Kansas City area. The story of the Wornalls begins in 1843 in Shelbyville, Kentucky. John Wornalls forty-four-year-old father, Richard Wornall had experienced extreme financial embarrassment due to his struggling business, which consisted of mule and horse trade. With his debts totaling almost $25,000, Richard sold 640 acres of Shelby County land, thirteen slaves, most of his livestock, farm equipment, household utensils and crops to his debtors. With the remnants of his money, Richard Wornall, his wife Judith, and their two sons George Thomas and John Bristow started the 600-mile trek to Westport, Missouri. Upon arrival in Westport in October 1843, Richard Wornall purchased a 500-acre farm from the town father, John Calvin McCoy. The land, for which Wornall paid $5 per acre, stretched between present-day 59th and 67th streets, State Line and Main Street in what is now Kansas City. Richard and Judiths second son, John B. Wornall, eventually inherited the property and built the house for his second wife, Eliza S. Johnson Wornall, which still stands today. During the American Civil War, the Wornalls home was used as a field hospital for both the Union and Confederate forces after the Battle of Westport. The historic house museum is furnished to represent the daily life of a prosperous, pre-Civil War family.

Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site

The Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site is located at 3616 Belleview, Kansas City, Missouri. The park was established in 1977 and preserves the house and studio of Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton. Tours are provided that show the furnished house and studio as he left it when he died on January 19, 1975. The house was built ca. 1903 for Walter E. Kirkpatrick. The architect was George Mathews, a proponent of the City Beautiful movement. Kirkpatrick was the secretary and treasurer for the Kansas City Electric Light Company, and on the board of directors of the KC Street Railway Company. The home is approximately 7800 square feet on 31/2 floors, containing 24 rooms, 4 fireplaces on 3 chimneys, and a full finished basement. The Benton family purchased the 1/3-acre property in 1939 for $6000.

Loose Park

Loose Park is the third largest park in Kansas City. It is located at 51st Street and Wornall Road. The park is home to a lake, a shelter house, Civil War markers, tennis courts, a water park, picnic areas and a Rose Garden. The Rose Garden is popular for all types of outdoor special events including theatrical performances and wedding ceremonies. The park was once a pasture belonging to Kansas City pioneer Seth Ward. During the Battle of Westport in American Civil War Confederate General Sterling Price is said to have to commanded his forces from gun emplacements on the south end of the park. In 1897 Ward leased the land to the Kansas City Country Club for its first golf course. In 1907 J.C. Nichols bought land around the course to form the Country Club District and Country Club Plaza. In 1925 when the golf club moved to Mission Hills, Kansas the land became a city park. In 1977 artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the Walk Ways with 12,500 m2 of orange-yellow coloured shiny nylon fabric. In 1979 Neal Patterson, Cliff Illig and Paul Gorup founded the Cerner Corporation while on a picnic in the park.

Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park

Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park is an urban park located in the heart of Kansas City, Missouris, Central business district. Located at the northeast corner of 12th and Walnut Streets, it used to be home to the Rain Thicket Fountain that was established in 1980. The park is often visited by business men and business women of the many surrounding buildings on lunch and coffee breaks. Some notable buildings in the surrounding area are One Kansas City Place, Town Pavilion, and 1010 Grand Building. A complete redesign and rebuilding of Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park at 12th and Walnut in downtown Kansas City, Missouri was dedicated on April 18, 2008. The park concept is named Celestial Flyways to celebrate the natural environment of the Kansas City area. The park was designed by Kansas City artist Laura DeAngelis and Davison Architecture + Urban Design and was commissioned by the Art in the Loop Foundation, a metropolitan organization of business and civic leaders with a continuing mission to enhance central Kansas City with public art. This project was a cooperative venture between the city of Kansas City and Jackson Country Parks and Recreation. It required two years of work, the talents of at least 150 people at a cost of nearly $500,000, much of which was donated. Celestial Flyways City of Fountains

Penn Valley Park

Penn Valley Park is an urban park overlooking Downtown Kansas City Kansas City, Missouri. The 176-acre park was developed in 1904 on land through which the Santa Fe Trail had passed. It contains several famous landmarks: The Scout and the United States official World War I museum with its Liberty Memorial. The grounds also feature such commemorative statues as the Pioneer Mother Memorial and the Hiker. The park has a large lake, a fitness trail, tennis courts and ball fields and is a popular spot for concerts and festivals during the summer months. Also features Kansas Citys first off-leash dog park and is the host park to both the Penn Valley skatepark located in the southwestern corner of the park and the Just Off Broadway Theatre. The Federal Reserves new regional headquarters building is located just East of the park.

Barney Allis Plaza

The Barney Allis Plaza was formerly a park located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri at the intersection of 12th Street and Wyandotte. As of April 11, 2006, it is now the home of the Kansas City Explorers, Kansas Citys World TeamTennis. The Explorers occupy their namesake tennis court, Explorers Stadium. The Kansas City Sports Walk of Stars can be found on the edge of this park. The Walk was constructed in 1991, and the first three polished granite slabs bore the names of inductees George Brett, Len Dawson and Tom Watson. The Walk is officially recognized by the city, and has used its common-law trademark since 1993. The park is sandwiched in between the Municipal Auditorium and the Marriott Hotel, just down the road from the Library District. The Kansas City Convention Center is also located to the West of the plaza.
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