Paris of the Plains

Paris of the Plains
Author: John Simonson
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 122
Release: 2010-05-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1614232768

From the end of the Great War to the final years of the 1950s, Kansas Citians lived in a manner worthy of a place called Paris of the Plains. The title did more than nod to the perfumed ladies who shopped at Harzfeld's Parisian or the one-thousand-foot television antenna nicknamed the "Eye-full Tower." It spoke to the character of a town that worked for Boss Tom and danced for Count Basie but transcended both the Pendergast era and the Jazz Age. Author John Simonson introduces readers to a town of vaudeville shows and screened-in porches, where fleets of cream-and-black streetcars passed beneath a canopy of elms. This is a history that smells equally of lilacs and stockyards and bursts with the clamor of gunshots, radio baseball and the distant whistle of a night train.

Paris of the Plains

Paris of the Plains
Author: John Simonson
Publisher: The History Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781609490621

Stories about Kansas City from the 1910s to the 1950s.

Prohibition in Kansas City, Missouri: Highballs, Spooners & Crooked Dice

Prohibition in Kansas City, Missouri: Highballs, Spooners & Crooked Dice
Author: John Simonson
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2018
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1467138711

Like most cities during Prohibition, Kansas City had illegal alcohol, bootleggers, speakeasies, cops on the take, corrupt politicians and moralizing reformers. But by the time the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed, Kansas City had been singled out by one observer as one of the wettest cities, as well as the wickedest. A grocer managed a still in the basement of his store. A raid on the Tingle Oil Company found two hundred drums of oil and the largest illegal brewery ever found in the state. This seedy underworld transformed the Heart of America into the Paris of the Plains. Author John Simonson resurrects forgotten stories by revisiting places where they occurred and telling the salacious history of booze in Kansas City.

Kansas City Hauntings

Kansas City Hauntings
Author: Becky Ray
Publisher:
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2020-09-22
Genre:
ISBN:

KANSAS CITY HAUNTINGSHISTORY AND MYSTERY OF THE PARIS OF THE PLAINSBY BECKY RAYFounded on the confluence of two rivers, Kansas City is a place of history, mystery, legend, and lore. The city helped settle the West as the gateway to the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails, and when the railroads arrived, it was considered the Crossroads of the Country. During the Civil War, the Missouri-Kansas border became the first battlefield in the bloody conflict. The Kansas City Stockyards put the city on the national map, as did the horrific massacre at Union Station, Kansas City jazz, and the crime and corruption of the Pendergast era and the years of Prohibition. With all that history, is it any wonder that Kansas City is one of the most haunted cities in America?Take a trip back in time to the early days of the city and discover how the events of the past created the hauntings that still linger in Kansas City today. Go behind the scenes of the most spirited places in the region with author Becky Ray as she reveals a colorful collection of favorite haunts, stories you've never heard before, and takes you behind locked doors for the true stories behind some of your favorite local haunts!You'll be shocked and terrified by historical tales of crime and murder with lurid stories of gangsters, killers, thieves, and cold-blooded murderers that haunt the stories of the Bobby Greenlease Kidnapping, the Union Station Massacre, Kansas City Strangler, the Bridge Murder Case, the Prospect Corridor Killer, and more!Then search for the phantoms of the Savoy Hotel, the Muehlebach, Hotel President, the Folly Theater, Power and Light Building, Epperson House, Sauer Castle, and even journey out beyond the city borders to the Belvoir Winery and Inn, Vaile Mansion, Elms Hotel and Spa, Glore Psychiatric Museum, and much more!Part history book, part true crime thriller, and part ghost book, this volume is sure to have you looking over your shoulder as you turn the pages at night!

Goin' to Kansas City

Goin' to Kansas City
Author: Nathan W. Pearson
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 322
Release: 1987
Genre: Jazz
ISBN: 9780252064388

"A big juicy wedge of jazz history. . . . Lots of wonderful stories." -- Los Angeles Daily News "Kansas City was a hub for Jazz bands that crisscrossed the country in the 1930s. . . . The interviews go beyond jazz into the infamous political machinery that made Kansas City a wide-open and corrupt town where jazz could flourish." -- Choice "A wealth of stories, a good measure of entertainment and a valuable stab at history -- not to mention some great pictures." -- The Kansas City Star

Storied & Scandalous Kansas City

Storied & Scandalous Kansas City
Author: Karla Deel
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2019-10-08
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1493042440

Welcome to Kansas City—the best town this side of Hell. The Paris of the Plains. Home to the Wettest Block in the World. This collection celebrates a storied history of one notorious city. Meet the mobsters and victims, bootleggers, madams, political bosses and raucous entertainers who truly brought the party to the plains even during Prohibition. Witness the best parades, the wackiest costumes and the wildest scams. Kansas City’s sordid underbelly is full of surprises sure to delight and entice—the odd, macabre and delightful. ,

Strong Towns

Strong Towns
Author: Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1119564816

A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

Paris

Paris
Author: Edward Rutherfurd
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 938
Release: 2013-04-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0385535317

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From Edward Rutherfurd, the grand master of the historical novel, comes a dazzling epic about the magnificent city of Paris. Moving back and forth in time, the story unfolds through intimate and thrilling tales of self-discovery, divided loyalty, and long-kept secrets. As various characters come of age, seek their fortunes, and fall in and out of love, the novel follows nobles who claim descent from the hero of the celebrated poem The Song of Roland; a humble family that embodies the ideals of the French Revolution; a pair of brothers from the slums behind Montmartre, one of whom works on the Eiffel Tower as the other joins the underworld near the Moulin Rouge; and merchants who lose everything during the reign of Louis XV, rise again in the age of Napoleon, and help establish Paris as the great center of art and culture that it is today. With Rutherfurd’s unrivaled blend of impeccable research and narrative verve, this bold novel brings the sights, scents, and tastes of the City of Light to brilliant life. Praise for Paris “A tour de force . . . [Edward Rutherfurd’s] most romantic and richly detailed work of fiction yet.”—Bookreporter “Fantastic . . . as grand and engrossing as Paris itself.”—Historical Novels Review “This saga is filled with historical detail and a huge cast of characters, fictional and real, spanning generations and centuries. But Paris, with its art, architecture, culture and couture, is the undisputed main character.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram “Both Paris, the venerable City of Light, and Rutherfurd, the undisputed master of the multigenerational historical saga, shine in this sumptuous urban epic.”—Booklist “There is suspense, intrigue and romance around every corner.”—Asbury Park Press

The New Geography

The New Geography
Author: Joel Kotkin
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2002-01-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1588361403

In the blink of an eye, vast economic forces have created new types of communities and reinvented old ones. In The New Geography, acclaimed forecaster Joel Kotkin decodes the changes, and provides the first clear road map for where Americans will live and work in the decades to come, and why. He examines the new role of cities in America and takes us into the new American neighborhood. The New Geography is a brilliant and indispensable guidebook to a fundamentally new landscape.

Kansas City Jazz

Kansas City Jazz
Author: Frank Driggs
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2006
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780195307122

Ranging from ragtime to bebop and from Bennie Moten to Charlie Parker, this work aims to capture the golden age of Kansas City jazz. It showcases the lives of the great musicians who made Kansas City swing, with profiles of jazz figures such as Mary Lou Williams, Big Joe Turner, and others.