{{Short description|Neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.}} {{Use American English|date=November 2024}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}} {{Coord|39.102755|-94.603441|region:US_type:landmark|display=title}} [[File:Kaw-point-aerial.jpg|thumb|The West Bottoms is above the [[confluence]] of the [[Kansas River|Kansas]] and [[Missouri River]]s, facing [[Kaw Point]].]] [[File:Bull-kemper.jpg|thumb|The [[American Hereford Association]] bull on [[Quality Hill, Kansas City|Quality Hill]], with [[Hy-Vee Arena]] and the [[Kansas City Livestock Exchange Building]] in the former stockyards of the West Bottoms]]
The '''West Bottoms''' is a historic industrial neighborhood of [[Kansas City, Missouri]], immediately west of downtown and straddling the border of Kansas City, Missouri and [[Kansas City, Kansas]]. At the [[confluence]] of the [[Missouri River]] and the [[Kansas River]], it faces [[Kaw Point]], an early campsite of the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]]. The region was originally settled by the [[Native Americans in the United States|native tribes]], and this spot was permanently settled as part of [[French Bottoms]] in the early 1800s by [[François Chouteau]] for his trade with the tribes and early [[American pioneer]]s. It is one of the oldest areas of the metro along with [[Westport, Kansas City, Missouri|Westport]]. Its neighboring [[Quality Hill, Kansas City|Quality Hill]] neighborhood is a historical center of the pioneer Town of Kansas, which became Kansas City, Missouri.
The West Bottoms is mostly characterized by brick high-rise historical industrial buildings, built in the early 1900s for major regional stockyards, train yards, and factories. Most of these were converted into art galleries, restaurants, shops, apartments, and corporate offices. Its antique shops and [[Haunted attraction (simulated)|haunted house attractions]] are very popular.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kelly |first=Dan |date=October 4, 2019 |url=https://www.kansascity.com/news/your-kcq/article235779247.html |title=Kansas City Has the Best Haunted House in the U.S.? This KCQ Shows Why That's Dead On |work=[[The Kansas City Star]] |access-date=December 28, 2019 }}</ref>
==History== ===Founding and early history=== The West Bottoms was founded as a livestock and meatpacking district in 1871.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 13, 2014 |title=How Kansas City's West Bottoms Went From Vacant To Vibrant |url=https://www.kcur.org/economy/2014-08-13/how-kansas-citys-west-bottoms-went-from-vacant-to-vibrant |access-date=October 27, 2024 |website=KCUR - Kansas City news and NPR }}</ref> It was home to the [[Kansas City Live Stock Exchange]], [[Kansas City Stockyards]], and the city's first [[Union Depot (Kansas City, Missouri)|Union railway depot]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kirkman |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jVXcDwAAQBAJ&dq=kansas+city+first+union+depot+west+bottoms&pg=PT9 |title=A History Lover's Guide to Kansas City |date=October 19, 2020 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-7027-9 |access-date=October 27, 2024 }}</ref> The stockyards occupied more than two hundred acres and were surrounded by hotels, offices, shops, and banks for cattle buyers and cowboys.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simonson |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tW92CQAAQBAJ&q=bottoms |title=Paris of the Plains: Kansas City from Doughboys to Expressways |date=May 31, 2010 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-61423-276-6 |page=62 |access-date=October 28, 2024 }}</ref> As the industrial center of Kansas City, the West Bottoms attracted unskilled laborers seeking employment. Recent European immigrants, native-born white and African Americans arrived to work in West Bottoms factories and settled in tenements and boarding houses there. The area became known as a [[red-light district]], with numerous saloons, gambling dens, and brothels catering to the high volume of railway passengers passing through Kansas City daily.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Spencer |first=Thomas Morris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fp7TAyM7cTwC&dq=west+bottoms+factories&pg=PA224 |title=The Other Missouri History: Populists, Prostitutes, and Regular Folk |date=2004 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=978-0-8262-6430-5 |access-date=October 27, 2024 }}</ref>
In 1876, [[Jim Pendergast|James "Jim" Pendergast]], son of [[Irish diaspora|Irish immigrants]] who had settled in [[St. Joseph, Missouri]], moved to the West Bottoms to find employment. Pendergast lived in boarding houses and worked in meatpacking and then in several [[Ironworks|iron foundries]] in the neighborhood. In 1881, Pendergast purchased the American House saloon and hotel on St. Louis Avenue. This West Bottoms establishment served as a gambling den, informal bank, and headquarters for political organizing for Jim and his brother [[Tom Pendergast]], architects of the [[Pendergast machine|Pendergast political machine]] that controlled Kansas City for the next four decades.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Larsen |first1=Lawrence H. |last2=Hulston |first2=Nancy J. |date=July 5, 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-Qiu53FCOsC&pg=PR5 |title=Pendergast! |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=978-0-8262-6099-4 |access-date=October 27, 2024 }}</ref>
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe were recruited to work in West Bottoms meatpacking facilities due to [[Strike action|strikes by local workers]]. These immigrants first settled in an area known as the "Strawberry Patch" near the meatpacking plants. Then, after the flood of 1903, they founded the nearby historic neighborhood of [[Strawberry Hill (Kansas City, Kansas)|Strawberry Hill]] uphill from the "Strawberry Patch."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Broomfield |first=Andrea L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=67pnCgAAQBAJ&dq=west+bottoms+serb&pg=PA75 |title=Kansas City: A Food Biography |date=February 25, 2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-3289-1 |page=75 |access-date=November 1, 2024 }}</ref> Serbs founded St. George Serbian Orthodox Church on April 18, 1906. The community purchased two houses on North 1st Street. One was converted to a church and the other used as a parish home. The parish stayed in the West Bottoms until 1925.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.st-george-church.org/history |publisher=St. George Serbian Orthodox Church |access-date=October 29, 2024 }}</ref>
===World War II=== During [[World War II]], [[Harry Darby|Darby Steel Corporation]] built most of the [[landing craft tank]]s (LCTs) for various amphibious invasions. The plant built one craft per day and floated them more than {{convert|1000|mi|km}} down the Missouri and [[Mississippi River]]s to [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], prompting their "Prairie Ships" nickname. Darby's plant at the mouth of the Kansas River could hold eight 135í LCTs and 16 LCMs in various stages of construction. The [[American Royal]] livestock show at [[Kemper Arena]] was the site of the [[1976 Republican National Convention]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Ayres |first=B. Drummond Jr. |date=August 16, 1976 |title=Kemper Arena: Ordinary Inside, Unique Outside |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/16/archives/kemper-arena-ordinary-inside-unique-outside.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=December 28, 2019 }}</ref>
===Historic floods=== The low-lying area of the West Bottoms, close to the Missouri River, has always been prone to floods. In 1903, a major flood damaged West Bottoms businesses, shut down water and power in the city, and persuaded developers to choose a new location for the Union station railway depot. In 1946, construction began on a $1.5 billion flood wall to protect the meatpacking and livestock business, as part of the [[Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program|Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=TimesMachine: Friday March 22, 1946 - NYTimes.com |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1946/03/22/issue.html |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=October 29, 2024 }}</ref> However, the [[Great Flood of 1951]] severely damaged the West Bottoms stockyards, and the meatpacking industry in Kansas City never fully recovered.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 10, 2015 |title=How Floods Shaped The Kansas City We Know Today |url=https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2015-08-10/how-floods-shaped-the-kansas-city-we-know-today |publisher=KCUR |access-date=October 29, 2024 }}</ref>
==Notable people== * [[Ed Asner]], actor<ref>{{cite news |last=Partain |first=Dorri |date=October 27, 2021 |title=Well Known Actor Laid to Rest at Sheffield Cemetery |newspaper=Northeast News |url=https://northeastnews.net/pages/well-known-actor-laid-to-rest-at-sheffield-cemetery/ |access-date=March 19, 2023 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
[[Category:Economy of Kansas City, Missouri]] [[Category:Neighborhoods in Kansas City, Missouri]] [[Category:Pendergast era]]