Local History

On January 22, 1882, future architect William Drewin Wight was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1911, he joined his older brother, Thomas, in Kansas City, where they created the architectural firm of Wight & Wight.

Kansas City Restaurant Week is underway and continues through January 19. A new donation to the Library's Missouri Valley Special Collections has boosted the Kansas City restaurant menu collection.

On January 15, 1967, the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I.

KCQ looks at the 1953 abduction and murder of 6-year-old Bobby Greenlease.

On December 25, 1925, a string of Christmas lights hung over a doorway at the Country Club Plaza for the first time and began a tradition.

Nell Donnelly and her chauffeur, George Blair, were kidnapped on December 16, 1931. Donnelly had become famous after the founding of the Donnelly Garment Company.

In 1940, Works Progress Administration workers took photos of every building in Kansas City — houses, restaurants, shops, gas stations, and more. The Library maintains more than 50,000 of the images, and a new website is making them easier than ever to browse.

On December 11, 1884, Nelle Nichols Peters was born to a farming family in Niagara, North Dakota. She would become one of the most prolific architects in Kansas City during the 1920s.

On December 7, 1940, the U.S. Army Air Corps announced that the Fairfax Industrial District in Kansas City, Kansas, would host a North American Aviation B-25 bomber production plant to prepare for World War II.

What's Your KCQ? What do you want to know about our community? The Library and The Kansas City Star combine resources to find answers to questions about regional topics.