Kansas city: discover outstanding museums, great shopping, and succulent barbecue in Western Missouri - If You Only Have A Day In … - Brief Article

Travel America, Jan-Feb, 2002 by Barbara Gibbs Ostmann

If you only have a day in Kansas City, you have a dilemma. There is so much to see and do--and eat--that you will have to resign yourself to that fact that you will only be able to sample a few of the City of Fountains' charms.

With Kansas City's well-deserved reputation for barbecue, it is tempting to spend the day sampling barbecue at some of the more than 80 BBQ establishments in the area. Among the classics are Arthur Bryant's Barbecue, at 18th and Brooklyn, which New Yorker columnist Calvin Trillin once called "the single best restaurant in the world," and Gates Barbecue, with several locations in the metro area. Locals have their own favorites; ask people you meet for their preferred BBQ joint.

Kansas City, nicknamed K.C., is also famous for jazz, and you can enjoy both food and music while you're in the 18th street area. Just down the street from Arthur Bryant's is the 18th and Vine Historic Jazz District. Jazz greats, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Charlie "Bird" Parker, performed here in the 1920s and 1930s. Today the once decaying neighborhood is enjoying a rebirth, with a collection of museums that pay tribute to the area's heritage. You'll find the American Jazz Museum, with its attached jazz club, the Blue Room, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the Black Archives of Mid-America, and more in this historic district.

Another K.C. icon is Country Club Plaza, the nation's first suburban shopping center, established in 1922. But to call it a shopping center is inadequate; an outdoor museum is more like it. Constructed in Spanish-style architecture with red-tiled roofs, ornate ironwork, and numerous towers, the buildings spread over 55 acres and house more than 180 retail and service establishments. A walking tour--or a ride in a horse-drawn carriage--around the Plaza will lead you past more than 40 fountains and 50 sculptures.

Art lovers will want to schedule a stop at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, both located near the Plaza.

After standing dormant for almost a decade, Union Station is today one of K.C.'s most sparkling gems. After a massive renovation effort, the magnificent Beaux Arts train station houses a science museum, theater district, numerous restaurants, and several shops. Science City, the museum, offers hands-on educational activities especially geared to kids.

Union Station, built in 1914, is second in size only to New York's Grand Central Station. A glass-enclosed skywalk connects Union Station with Crown Center, one of K.C.'s premier shopping and entertainment destinations.

A once-deserted, 100-year-old freight house behind Union Station is today home to the bustling Freight House District. Three top-notch restaurants, several artist studios and art galleries, and other businesses are part of the re-energized district.

Another thriving and vibrant area is the City Market, nestled in the bend of the Missouri River. This restored downtown riverfront district boasts a fresh produce market and arts and crafts market, as well as restaurants, live entertainment, and other attractions. It is also home to the Arabia Steamboat Museum, which displays thousands of artifacts salvaged from a steamboat that sunk in the Missouri River in 1856.

New to the city is the country's largest monument to explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Unveiled in 2000, the Corps of Discovery monument is at Clark's Point in Case Park. The site is significant because it is believed that on Sept. 15, 1806, Lewis and Clark stopped at Clark's Point on their return trip from the Pacific Ocean.

Did you know that Mickey Mouse was "born" in Kansas City? Walt Disney lived in K.C. off and on between 1911 and 1920 (he was born in Marceline in northern Missouri). He filmed numerous cartoons for his company, Laugh-O-Gram Films, out of the two-story Carroll Building before he moved to California. It is believed that while working in his studio, he fed a small mouse that became the inspiration for the famous cartoon character, Mickey Mouse. The animation studio, once scheduled for demolition, has been saved through the efforts of a nonprofit group called Thank You, Walt Disney. Renovation is underway.

Just 11 miles from downtown Kansas City is Independence, best-known as the home of Harry S. Truman, the nation's 33rd president. The Truman Presidential Library and Museum is undergoing an extensive three-part renovation. The grand opening for phase two was last November. It includes a permanent exhibit with interactive theaters that engage visitors in the most important decisions of the Truman presidency. Among the museum's most impressive exhibits is the recreation of the President's White House Oval Office down to the last detail, including the famous "The Buck Stops Here" plaque.

Independence's slogan is "where the trails start and the buck stops." Known as the "Queen City of the Trails," Independence was the starting point for three major trails to the West: the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon trails. The National Frontier Trails Center is on the site of a spring where pioneers once filled their water barrels.