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Question Everything

Home | curiousKC | Question Everything

What is curiousKC?

At Flatland we believe that the public’s voice matters. So, we launched a project called curiousKC, an effort where we answer questions submitted by you. Share them with our team and see what we can find.

How does it work?

1. Share your questions with the team about the Kansas City area. Send them below 👇🏽:

Questions and the stories with the answers will fall into one of four buckets – art, community, food or history.

2. Then, our team sifts through the submissions to find three to four questions for the next month's voting round. As an added bonus, the question-asker has the option of working with our journalists as we search for an answer. Vote below 📮:

3. When a question wins the popular vote, we’ll use our multimedia reporting skills and a little creativity to answer it. Read our findings in the 'Questions Answered' section at the bottom of this page or link below and share the stories 📱:

If you’d like to learn more, please reach out to our community reporter Vicky Diaz-Camacho who is leading this effort. Email her at vdiaz-camacho@kcpt.org. Keep up with the latest from curiousKC when you subscribe to Flatland's newsletter.

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A Cat in a Bowtie Named Sly James
Article
Taming the Mighty Mo
The Missouri River has had a long and winding history. Today not as much. Rebecca Nunn wondered why. She rode a boat on the Missouri River when she was young. Today she works at the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport. All that ex…
By Emily Woodring
curiousKC
An Oasis for the Less Religious
Community and connection often can be found at places of worship. But where can people who are agnostic or atheist connect with like-minded folks in Kansas City? That’s the earnest inquiry the curiousKC team recently received fr…
By Cody Boston
History
Unearthing the Truth About Slave Burial Sites at KCI
There's a persistent rumor in local circles that part of Kansas City International Airport was once a slave graveyard.  The topic crossed Flatland’s radar when an anonymous contributor asked the curiousKC team to see if the…
By Vicky Diaz-Camacho
History
A Tale of Two (Kansas City) Royals
There are two famous royals in the Kansas City area – the Kansas City Royals and the American Royal.  Both boast their own version of the World Series – one competes with a ball and a bat, and the other with smoke and mea…
By Vicky Diaz-Camacho
artists
curiousKC Follows the Artists
Many years ago, a pioneering developer working in the neglected Garment District offered a young reporter some sage advice. “Keep your eye on the artists,” Mel Mallin said. “They’re the bird dogs of development.” His poi…
By Multiple Reporters
Food
Burgers, Bods and Hot Rods
Recalled through the sepia-toned filter of nostalgia, you can imagine a place like Peter’s Drive-in smack in the middle of a Bob Seger song, where local kids gather “trying to lose the awkward teenage blues...Workin' on our ni…
By Emily Woodring
Community
Going Ape About Habitat at the Kansas City Zoo
The Great Ape House at the Kansas City Zoo may have been a provocative piece of local architecture. Ultimately, though, it proved not fit for man nor beast. Put simply, that’s the answer our curiousKC team found when a loyal rea…
By Cody Boston
History
Terror in the Heartland: The Bobby Greenlease Kidnapping
It remains one of the most famous crimes in Kansas City history - the horrendous kidnapping and murder of young Bobby Greenlease. Yet much of the twisty, grizzly story has never been fully told. And one key element of the crime re…
By John McGrath
Community
Finding the Heart of the Kansas City Metro Area
Looking at a map of the Kansas City metropolitan area, would you be able to point to the mean center of the population? The U.S. Census Bureau defines the "mean center" as the “balance point” of an area. Imagine a life-sized p…
By Vicky Diaz-Camacho
Food History
Taco Bell's Seven Layers of Mystery
As we scrolled through the latest curiousKC questions, this true-or-false query piqued our interest for its national acclaim and—possibly—local ties.  “Is it true that the first enclosed Taco Bell was located at Linwood…
By Emily Woodring
History
Big Tree "A Living Monument" in Old Northeast
There’s a certified branch of local history looming over 328 S. Monroe Ave. in the old Northeast area of Kansas City.  A bur oak towers to the left of the red brick house with white awnings, which is owned by Benjamin Jones…
By Vicky Diaz-Camacho
History
Bringing Out the Dead: The Great Stockyard Fire of 1917
One of the biggest agricultural disasters in Kansas City history occurred in 1917, when a fire scorched the stockyard in the West Bottoms, leaving thousands of dead cattle and hogs charred in its wake. Consider it an industrial-sc…
By John McGrath
Community
In Kansas and Missouri, Immigrants are Rooted in the Agriculture Workforce
Rows of workers perch on ladders. They hoist hundred-pound baskets, which get heavier with every apple they pluck, around their necks. That’s the grind 14 hours a day, every day except for Sunday, while they earn maybe $13 an ho…
By Multiple Reporters
Arts & Culture
Tiny Toys, Big Museum
The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures outpunches its weight among museum goers. The museum, established in 1982, is a not-so-secret treasure at 5235 Oak St. on the campus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City. In fact, th…
By Brad Austin
History
Backers Continue Push for a Walt Disney Museum in Kansas City
Speeding up or down 31st Street at Forest Avenue, it’s easy to miss the wall-sized mural, “Thank You, Walt Disney.”  That location was once the Laugh-O-Gram Studio, Disney’s first professional film studio and apartmen…
By Vicky Diaz-Camacho
Food history
The Story Behind Naming a Restaurant "Sambo's"
Sambo’s once was a popular family restaurant chain, peaking in the late 1970s with more than 1,100 locations across the country. The founders said the name originally came from combining parts of their names: Sam Battistone Sr. …
By Emily Woodring
Community
In Full Bloom
Kansas City’s embrace of green space dates back to the late 1800s, when famed landscape architect George Kessler laid out its system of parks and boulevards. A century later, in 1991, the local chapter of the American Society of…
By Mike Sherry
Environment
Climate Change’s Serious Effects On Kansas Citians Disproportionately Affect The Poor
The discussion about climate change often centers around what increasingly extreme weather will mean for agriculture and the environment. But what about its effect on poverty? That’s certainly on the radar of Tom Jacobs, environ…
By Multiple Reporters
Community
Push is Underway in Kansas City to Make the 2020 Census Count
The mantra of the U.S. Census Bureau could very well be: For every vote to count, every person must be counted. That’s because the bureau carries out the constitutionally mandated population count that drives congressional repre…
By Mike Sherry
History
Pondering Tom Pendergast's Complicated Legacy
Boss Tom Pendergast long ago earned a place on any list of the most influential people in Kansas City history. His legacy, though, is rather mixed. In response to a question from a Flatland reader, local historian Terence O'Malley…
By John McGrath
Community
Kansas City Square Dance Clubs Still Kicking Up Heels
Joyce Schemmer stands in the middle of an empty hardwood floor at Vesper Hall, a senior center in Blue Springs, Missouri. She is clapping and beckoning the other participants in the room, including her husband, Marvin, to join her…
By Jacob Douglas
Food history
Dixon’s Famous Chili Celebrates A Century Of Beans, Meat And Loyal Customers
Vergne Dixon started selling chili out of a cart – precursor to the modern food truck - before opening his first permanent location at 15th and Olive in Kansas City. At one point, there were as many as 15 Dixon’s drawing custo…
By Emily Woodring
Community
What’s Behind the Plane Behind the House Off Ward Parkway?
Driving past the stately homes along Ward Parkway in Kansas City, Missouri, it’s common to see shrubs or fences shrouding backyards. One curious Kansas Citian, however, glimpsed something unusual. Chris Nelson saw the nose of an…
By Peter Loganbill
History
The Mission Link
For years, Kathy Dix, has walked her dogs on a mulch path behind the Shawnee Indian Mission, which is located in her Fairway, Kansas, neighborhood. She’s a longtime volunteer at the mission, but as a history buff, she can never …
By Multiple Reporters
History
Ghost (Signs) of KC's Past
The past fades, but it doesn’t disappear. The same is true of those old painted advertisements still faintly visible on buildings throughout Kansas City, including in the River Market and West Bottoms. These are the billboards o…
By Peter Loganbill
Religion and Hate
Keeping The Faith in Kansas City
In the best of all worlds, religion fosters a common cause for self improvement and good works. Yet, as we have seen, harmony disintegrates when some followers espouse views that seem to contradict the basic tenets of their faith.…
By Catherine Hoffman
Country Music
When Townes Was in Town
From the jazz greats of the 1930s to The Who’s iconic performance at Shawnee Mission South, to the Beatles Municipal Stadium gig, Kansas City’s venues have hosted some of music’s most iconic legends.  In that vein, curi…
By Dan Calderon
Art
What More Latinx Murals in KC Mean For Representation
For Kansas City artist Emily Alvarez, painting images of people like her and her family helps establish their place in society.  Alvarez’s works are on display in several public spaces, such as the Aquatic Center locker roo…
By Multiple Reporters
Infrastructure
Bridging The Gap
Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump. Bump-Bump. So goes the steady rumble of the nearly 44,000 vehicles a day traversing the U.S. highway 169 bridge in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The structure’s three steel arches make it look like a smal…
By Jacob Douglas
History
Does Kansas City Have Any Streets Named After Women?
Kansas City’s streets are always talking. And if you listen close enough, you’ll learn a near-forgotten history.  The city has a plethora of female street names, but the origin of these names has remained a mystery. Until…
By Ieshia Downton
Faith
Holding a Balance of Unity Within Diversity
Jo Shryrock likes living in Tonganoxie, Kansas. It’s a small town, with a population of little more than 5,000. The people are friendly, and it’s a great place to raise children. But she wishes there were more diversity, parti…
By Samantha Waigand
Art
The Halo Effect: What’s Behind the Graffiti Markings in the Crossroads?
Passersby along Southwest Boulevard may notice the graffiti that covers the Crossroads Art District. It’s everywhere: down alleyways, along buildings, across dumpsters and even on electrical equipment. Heading east, past the wel…
By Peter Loganbill
Infrastructure
Digging Up The Truth About Kansas City Tunnels
They say that the party is under your own feet. It turns out that for Kansas Citians, there’s a lot more under there too. curiousKC fielded a question about tunnels in the Historic Northeast neighborhood, between Ward Parkway ho…
By Catherine Hoffman
Food history
Baking it the Ole Fashioned Way: K.C. Bakeries Established Before 1950
Flatland loves a good fluff piece. Two years ago we chronicled the history of Kansas City’s legendary Cake Box. A little while later, curiousKC fielded this question: “What were the other bakeries in Kansas City established be…
By Jacob Douglas
History
What Happened To The Dead Soldiers In The Battle Of Westport?
During one of her periodic walks through Loose Park on a nice day this winter, Kelly Akers came across a sign she had not noticed before about the Battle of Westport. Part of the self-guided tour of the battlefield, the marker men…
By Claire Bradshaw
Community
Steamboat Arabia Seeks New Quay
Should I stay, or should I go? Those are lyrics from a 1980s rock song, but it also sums up the current state of affairs for the  Arabia Steamboat Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. That’s because it’s unclear whether the m…
By Peter Loganbill
Faith
What’s The Story Behind That Shiny Spire In Independence, Missouri?
Like many Metropolitan-area residents, Valorie Wells Fenton has driven by the silver spire that corkscrews skyward in Independence, Missouri. She heard it’s the place Mormons expect Jesus to return and wondered if the site may b…
By Multiple Reporters
Faith & Community
Breaking Down Negative Portrayals of Muslim Women
To Melody Petet, it seemed as if popular culture mostly portrayed Muslim women as either victims or terrorists. But Petet, who lives in the Waldo neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri, knew there had to be more to the story in rea…
By Multiple Reporters
History
'Who Lived in the Kansas City Museum?'
Earlier this month, Flatland announced its launch of curiousKC kids and the voting round winner. With the 49-person vote of confidence, we got busy to answer the winning question: Who lived in the mansion that is now the Kansas Ci…
By Vicky Diaz-Camacho
History
The Story Behind Kansas City’s Oldest Church
When Mary Cheney moved to the Kansas City area, she traded farm life for the suburban life of Overland Park, Kansas, with her husband. The move came more than 50 years ago, yet Cheney has never felt she has a great handle on the r…
By Multiple Reporters
Infrastructure History
How Did Trails West Influence The Growth of Westport?
Gary Jenkins has always been interested in the trails that ran through town before Kansas City was even on the map. He volunteers on camping trips with teenagers from the Kansas State School for the Blind along the Oregon Trail. A…
By Tammy Worth
Community
Finding Friends When You Are Over 60
Sheryl Raineri grew up in the Chicago suburbs, relocated to the warmer climes of San Antonio for almost two decades, and then found herself in Kansas City, North, of all places, nearly seven years ago. She came here for family sup…
By Mike Sherry
Infrastructure
How (And Why) is Kansas City’s Kauffman Center Shaped Like That?
Accordion-like folds curve toward downtown Kansas City, Missouri — now a staple of city’s skyline. We’re talking about the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts. You can’t ignore its towering structure driving along Intersta…
By Vicky Diaz-Camacho
Faith & Community
Understanding Islam in KC
At 79 years old, Marian Thomas of Leawood, Kansas, still shares much in common with the girl who wore out her Sunday school teachers with questions. Religion has been a common thread throughout her life, whether it was serving as …
By Multiple Reporters
Community
Not Quite a Hat Trick | Kansas City's Two Seasons of Pro Hockey
Joe Lynch makes slow, easy circles on the Crown Center Ice Terrace testing the edge on his newly sharpened ice skates. A pair of sisters watch wide-eyed, waiting for help to tie the brown laces on their skates. I approach Lyn…
By Jonathan Bender
Infrastructure History
What Are the 3 Oldest Buildings in KC?
This is my first foray into answering a curiousKC question. I decided to answer (what I thought would be) a straightforward history question thrown our way by Kansas Citian Stacey McBride. “What are the top three oldest survivin…
By Brad Austin
black history
How One Kansas City Hospital Treated Segregation in the ‘50s
During a snowstorm in early January, Carol Johnson’s power went out, so her neighbor invited her over for dinner. They started talking about Queen of the World Hospital, a now-shuttered medical facility dating back to the ‘50s…
By Vicky Diaz-Camacho
American Graduate
‘I Just Care. They Become Family.’
Dana Steinwart is a devoted teacher. So devoted that she tears up when she considers where her students might find themselves after high school. “I just care,” she said. “They become family because I’m with them for four y…
By Multiple Reporters
curiousKC
Update: Waiter! There Is A Bug In My Pizza
Update: After this story was published on Jan. 16, Kansas Citians wrote to us asking if the restaurant on Independence Avenue was somehow connected to the one they knew on Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park, Kansas. The answer is ye…
By Vicky Diaz-Camacho
American Graduate
Finding Equitable Access to Education and the Workforce
Kendall Riley loves to sculpt. He’s also such a technological whiz that he once disassembled — then reassembled — a Chromebook laptop. The 20-year-old is also autistic, diagnosed as a toddler by doctors at Children’s Mercy…
By Multiple Reporters
bess truman
Is Pie the Sweet Dessert Spirit Animal of Kansas City?
The meal is over. The dishes are in the sink. What are you serving for dessert, Kansas City? “What’s the quintessential Kansas City dessert? Something we’ve really been known for over the years,” was the #curiousKC questio…
By Jonathan Bender
Todd George Parkway
This Man Paved The Way For Lee’s Summit
There are two sorts of people in the world — those who are blissfully uninterested in the origin of street names, and those who are helplessly intrigued by the history behind this most basic feature of public life.When it comes …
By Grace Lett
bogdon's candy co.
The Bogdon Candy Co. Made Sweet Treats For Three Generations
The next time you bring a gift to a wedding, you should think of Walter Bogdon. The late chocolatier first invented the reception stick -- a crunchy, chocolate-enrobed hard candy -- for a local couple about to get married more tha…
By Jonathan Bender
infrastructure
Jumping on e-scooters on the fly? Think twice
Exiting her daughter’s apartment building on a recent Sunday, Janet Korte spotted something that looked just like the motorless Razor scooters her children loved to ride. “So I thought, ‘This’ll be a piece of cake,’” s…
By Vicky Diaz-Camacho
curiousKC
Do You Know Twelfth Street’s (Famous) Past?
If there’s a street that defines Kansas City, Missouri, which one would you say it is? Obvious candidates include Ward Parkway, The Paseo and Southwest Boulevard. But what would you say to the dark horse selection of 12th Street…
By Multiple Reporters
curiousKC
The Rise and Fall of an Overland Park Icon
Metcalf Avenue is certainly not the Champs-Élysées, but at one time, a French-themed market loomed large — like a medieval castle — above Overland Park’s main drag. This superstore, in fact, was named the French Market, an…
By Caroline Watkins
curiousKC
Is Kansas City’s Population Growing?
Ben Evans is a Kansas City transplant, and after he recently bought a house in Waldo, he started wondering: Are other people moving to Kansas City? And how do experts and forecasters expect the population to change in the coming y…
By Lindsay Huth
curiousKC
How Should Police Officers Combat Stress?
Clinical psychotherapist Pat Hinkle was a police officer for 30 years before starting his counseling practice to help other officers work through stress and trauma. During his time as an officer, Hinkle recognized that there was a…
By Meg Vatterott
curiousKC
Crooked Missouri
David Bonebrake describes himself as the kind of guy who likes order. If he sees a crooked picture on the wall, he wants to fix it. When Bonebrake, a Kansas native, saw an aerial picture of Kansas City from 438 miles above — a p…
By Michelle Stoddart
American Graduate
How Do Schools Prepare Students For The Digital Economy?
Jeremy Bonneson, vice principal of Summit Technology Academy in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, asked curiousKC: “How do schools adapt to the ever-changing and disruptive nature of the workforce landscape for today's digital economy?…
By Rachel Thomas
curiousKC
What's In Our Tap Water?
By Lauren Langdon As the “Big Muddy” winds its way through Kansas City, it might be hard to believe that approximately 660,000 residents rely on the Missouri River for their drinking water — after it has been treated, of cou…
By Flatland
Affordable Housing
Where Are Those 20-Somethings Living?
Where do young Kansas Citians live? The traditional Midtown haunts? High-end urban apartments? The large rental complexes in suburbia? CuriousKC delved into the topic after receiving this inquiry: “Who ARE all these people who c…
By Flatland
Local History
What’s the Oldest House in the Kansas City Area?
Retired teacher Del Candler can trace her ancestors’ arrival in Jackson County to the 1840s, and wondered what structures remain from that period and Kansas City’s origins. She asked curiousKC, “What is the oldest house stil…
By Lindsey Foat
affordable housing
Can You Improve an Area Without Gentrifying It?
By Anne Kniggendorf As a traffic engineer, Jay Aber worries that some of the improvements he designs have the exact opposite effect of what he had hoped. “We try to improve the street for the people who live there,” Aber said.…
By Flatland
local history
Searching For Her Dad's Technical High School
By Jack Harvel Like so many men of his generation, Jack Harrigan was a small-town kid born early in the 20th century, weathered the Great Depression, fought in World War II, then returned home to raise a family while working a blu…
By Flatland
black history
The Rise and Fall of a Boomtown
By Steve Everly, Paul Wenske and David Hayes  The Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 made Kansas territory the center of the conflict over the future of slavery. The act’s “popular sovereignty” provision ditched the long-held Miss…
By Flatland
Beyond Belief
What Are the Open Belief Centers in KC?
By Humera Lodhi Sharon Divine found faith as an adult. Or rather, she lost religion and then found faith. Divine grew up as a Christian attending Methodist, Lutheran, and Unity churches at various points in her life. The older Div…
By Flatland
local history
A Trip Back to a Childhood Spent in Westport Orphanage
By Tess Vrbin Joe Bessenbacher’s most vivid childhood memories include “a white triangular bonnet.” This piece of headgear is part of the habit that the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul wore. The order of nuns ran…
By Flatland
local history
A Sweet Memory Prompts Strawberry Hill Question
By Rachel Thomas When she was around 10 years old, Christine Rogge attended an ethnic festival in the area of Kansas City, Kansas, known as Strawberry Hill. That was decades ago, but the fond memory remains, and the south Kansas …
By Flatland