Kansas City History Is Ugly

The top photo . . . The ancient "McClure Flats" which once served as the toughest and most desperate slums ever established in Kansas City. 

As for this cowtown's ugly past . . . That's likely true in many ways, here's one . . .

Most people probably don’t realize that until the late 19th century, Kansas City was downright homely.

In the 1858 book “Annals of the City of Kansas,” C.C. Spalding wrote, “It is very true that the topographical view of our city, at first sight, is anything but inviting to the vision. Bluffs, ridges and ravines seem to be a poor and costly place to build a city.”

So how did Kansas City turn from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan?

The key was getting rid of those bluffs, ridges and ravines by leveling the area south of the riverfront. The process took more than a half-century, and for much of that time the city was a carved-up mess.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

'Kansas City is so ugly': How our town leveled up from its dirty, hilly, homely past

Local folks like to boast about the beauty of Kansas City, with its boulevard system to rival Paris' and nearly as many fountains as Rome. But most people probably don't realize that until the late 19th century, Kansas City was downright homely. In the 1858 book "Annals of the City of Kansas," C.C.