Kansas City: One Identity, Two States, Much Confusion

People ask me all the time about Kansas City.

"So is it in Kansas? I've heard it's in Missouri."

Where are the Chiefs and Royals?

In fact, I just received a comment from Bill Roberts as follows;

Chris, I was hoping that you were going to talk about real estate in KC or even that little town in Kansas you call home. No such luck. All you want to do is add to the congestion in the sky. Is that airport you are pushing in Kansas? I heard that Kansas City, Missouri didn't even have an airport. They use one in the next state over. Is that true?

Bill Roberts

While the words are not always exactly the same...the confusion is. Kansas City is at the front door of fly-over country and we know it. So I'm going to try and clear this up a little bit for you and have a little fun at the same time. As we do, please remember this these two statements about Kansas City that are popular:

- It's a great place to live but I wouldn't want to vacation there.

and

- They come to Kansas City kicking and screaming and the leave kicking and screaming.

As you can see from the map above the greater Kansas City area is split in two by a state line. On the southern part of the map you can see it's nothing more than a straight line, or more accurately, State Line Rd that divides Kansas City, Missouri from it's Kansas suburbs of Mission, Prairie Village, Leawood and others. (Much like Western and Eastern and Southern Avenues in Washington, DC.) Literally, on one side of the street you are in Missouri, the other side Kansas.

To the north and then west you can see that it is the Missouri river that divides Kansas from Missouri. As you will see if you look carefully, the Kansas City airport is actually north of Kansas, not east.

Those are the facts...this is the truth.

The facts are that Kansas and Missouri are divided by nothing more than a two lane street or a river no wider than a 100 yards. The truth of the matter, however, is that the two states couldn't be more different. Ask anyone from the area. Missouri or Kansas. They'll all tell you they are from Kansas City. But at home they are quick to make a distinction between the two states.

College basketball is full of rivalries. Duke v Carolina. Georgetown v Syracuse. UCLA v USC. But really, Kansas v Missouri is an actual rivalry. You see, what other rivalry had folks that shot at each other?!?! From the very beginning the states were different politically. Missouri was pro slavery. Kansas a Free State. Many a raid was conducted across the border from both states. The most famous being Quantrill's raid on Lawrence where the Missourians burned Lawrence, future home of the University of Kansas.

Missouri tends to follow more with the Democratic Party during the elections. Kansas sides with the Republicans. Kansas City...on the Missouri side has the amenities big cities want and need. Stadiums, pro teams, art museums, galleries, urban lifestyle. Kansas is more suburban. Allowed to grow wealthy because it's residents don't have to support all that infrastructure.

Did you catch that last sentence? KCMO doesn't like the Kansas cities because they don't feel we pay enough in taxes to help them support themselves. Kansans answer if we wanted to pay for those things we'd live in KCMO.

Now, this is all oversimplified but basically on target. Kansans stay on the Kansas side when deciding where to live for themselves. Missourians do the same.

And yes, there is a Kansas City, Kansas as well. (Look at the map.) But in general when a person says he's from Kansas City he could mean anywhere in the area. For you folks looking in from the outside when you say Kansas City, you probably mean the one in Missouri.