Researching history: The secrets surrounding the new church being built in downtown Kansas City

A year ago, I was approached by a minister to conduct some research on a plot of land located between 16th and 17th street, and McGee and Grand Street, in Kansas City, Missouri. My church, United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Downtown, had just broken ground on a new building. They were looking for information on the location–historical data–in order to find out neat, interesting details about this plot.

Accompanied by a fellow history-phile, I conducted research at the Kansas City Public Library’s Missouri Valley Room on this location. After hours of digging through archived documents, microfiche, and other sources, we put together a report of this information. Give it a read here.

The photo to the right is a picture of the current location at 1522 McGee.

The most interesting facts were things we didn’t find…what was the Kennedy House? What went on in the