The West Bottoms is an industrial area immediately to the west of downtown

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. Located in Kansas City, Missouri and

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

it sits at the confluence of the Missouri River and the

Kansas River The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...

. The area is one of the oldest areas of the cities. While the West Bottoms is still home to several industrial buildings today, its antique shops and haunted houses are very popular. Additionally, there are several art galleries and restaurants located in the West Bottoms, and a few companies have offices in the area.

History

Kansas City's first Union Depot was located here. It was home to the

Kansas City Live Stock Exchange The Kansas City Live Stock Exchange was the headquarters of the Kansas City Stockyards. It is located at 1600 Gennesse in Kansas City, Missouri, in the West Bottoms. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is owned ...

and

Kansas City Stockyards The Kansas City Stockyards in the West Bottoms west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri flourished from 1871 until closing in 1991. Jay B. Dillingham was the President of the stockyards from 1948 to its closing in 1991. History The stockyards w ...

(now defunct) prompting the huge annual

American Royal The American Royal is a livestock show, horse show, rodeo, and barbecue competition held each year in September – November at various sites in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The Future Farmers of America (now the National FFA Organiza ...

livestock show at

Kemper Arena The Hy-Vee Arena, previously known as Kemper Arena, is an indoor arena located in Kansas City, Missouri. Prior to conversion to a youth sports and community gymnasium facility, Kemper Arena was previously a 19,500-seat professional sports arena ...

, the site of the

1976 Republican National Convention The 1976 Republican National Convention was a United States political convention of the Republican Party that met from August 16 to August 19, 1976, to select the party's nominee for President. Held in Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, the ...

. Additionally, The West Bottoms was home to large industrial district which produced plows and tractors starting in the 1870s. Many of the factory buildings still stand. Some prominent examples ar
The Oliver BuildingThe Nichols and Shepard Building
and The John Deere Building. The low-lying area has been prone to floods including the

Great Flood of 1951 In mid-July 1951, heavy rains led to a great rise of water in the Kansas River, Missouri River, and other surrounding areas of the Central United States. Flooding occurred in the Kansas, Neosho, Marais Des Cygnes, and Verdigris river basins. ...

and the

Great Flood of 1993 The Great Flood of 1993 (or Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993) was a flood that occurred in the Midwestern United States, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from April to October 1993. The flood wa ...

Jim Pendergast James Francis Pendergast (January 27, 1856 – November 10, 1911) was a Democratic politician and the first Big City Boss of Kansas City, Missouri. He was the elder brother of Thomas J. Pendergast and Michael J. Pendergast. Early life Pender ...

founded the political machine here that was furthered by

Tom Pendergast Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1872 – January 26, 1945), also known as T. J. Pendergast, was an American political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, from 1925 to 1939. Pendergast only briefly held elected ...

. Tom Pendergast was an early supporter and promoter of

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

in Jackson County and Missouri politics. Truman would later become

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

as Vice-President under Franklin D. Roosevelt, upon Roosevelt's death in April 1945. Jim started operations at the "Climax" Saloon on St. Louis Avenue named for a winning

race horse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

he had bet on. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Darby Steel Corporation built most of the

landing craft tank The Landing Craft, Tank (LCT) (or Tank Landing Craft TLC) was an amphibious assault craft for landing tanks on beachheads. They were initially developed by the Royal Navy and later by the United States Navy during World War II in a series of ver ...

s (LCTs) that were used in various amphibious invasions. The plant built one craft a day and floated them more than 1,000 miles down the Missouri and

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

s to

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, 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. Many

Serbians The term Serbians in English is a polysemic word, with two distinctive meanings, derived from morphological differences: * Morphology 1: Serb-ian- s, derived from the noun ''Serb'' and used interchangeably to refer to ethnic Serbs, thus having ...

arrived in the early 1900s and found work in the meat packing houses in the area. The 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 when they built a new church on Lowell Street still in

. Today, the parish is located in

Lenexa, Kansas Lenexa is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is one of four principal cities of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area and 9th most populated city of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 57,434. It is t ...

, having built their third location in 2006.

References

External links

Map of Jim Pendergast Climax Saloon

Livestock Exchange Building Commercial Website
{{coord, 39.102755, -94.603441, region:US_type:landmark, display=title Economy of Kansas City, Missouri Neighborhoods in Kansas City, Missouri Pendergast era