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Interstate 29

Interstate 29

Interstate 29 (abbreviated I-29) is an interstate highway in the Midwestern United States. It runs from Kansas City, Missouri at a junction with Interstate 35 and Interstate 70 to the Canadian border near Pembina, North Dakota, where it connects with Manitoba Provincial Highway 75 via the short Manitoba Provincial Highway 29.

Length

Major cities along the route

- Kansas City, Missouri
- Council Bluffs, Iowa
- Sioux City, Iowa
- Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- Fargo, North Dakota
- Grand Forks, North Dakota

Intersections with other Interstates

- Interstate 70 in Kansas City, Missouri
- Interstate 35 in Kansas City, Missouri
- Interstate 80 in Council Bluffs, Iowa
- Interstate 90 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- Interstate 94 in Fargo, North Dakota

Spur routes

- Saint Joseph, Missouri - I-229
- Sioux City, Iowa - I-129
- Sioux Falls, South Dakota - I-229

Notes

Near its southern terminus, I-29 is multiplexed with I-35 and U.S. Highway 71. At its northern terminus, I-29 is multiplexed with U.S. Highway 81. I-29 and its successor in Manitoba, MB Provincial Route 75 provide a direct route into Winnipeg. 29 29 29 29 29

Interstate Highway

The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly called the Interstate Highway System, is a network of highways in the United States. The Interstate Highway System is a separate system within the larger National Highway System. With very few exceptions, Interstate highways are controlled-access freeways, allowing for safe high-speed driving when traffic permits. They are assigned a special level of funding at the federal level. Despite this federal funding, these highways are owned, designed, built and maintained by the state in which they are located, with the only exception being the federally-owned Woodrow Wilson Bridge on the Capital Beltway (I-95/I-495). The highways in the system are typically known as Interstate XX or I-XX; sometimes Interstate Highway XX (IH XX) or Interstate Route XX (IR XX) is used. In some areas the more generic Route XX or Highway XX is used. The system serves all major U.S. cities, and unlike its counterparts in most industrialized countries, often goes right through downtown areas rather than bypassing them. This facilitated the emergence of automobile-oriented postwar suburban development patterns, often pejoratively referred to as "urban sprawl". The system is prominent in the daily lives of most Americans. Virtually all goods and services are delivered via the Interstate Highways at some point. Many residents of American cities use the urban segments of the system to go to and from their jobs. Most long-distance journeys (for vacation or business) of less than 300 miles (500 km) use the interstate highway system at some point. Hawaii has several signed Interstates, but Alaska and Puerto Rico do not. The latter two do have roads designated as Interstates for funding purposes, but they are not currently or planned to be built to Interstate standards. The public controlled-access highways of Puerto Rico are the Autopistas (PR-22, PR-52, and PR-53).

History

Autopistas The interstate system was authorized by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956. It was lobbied for by major U.S. automobile manufacturers and championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and was influenced by both his experiences as a young soldier crossing the country in 1919 following the route of the Lincoln Highway, and by his appreciation of the German autobahn network. Planning for a system of new superhighways began in the late 1930s, even before federal commitment to build the Interstate highway system came in the 1950s. Construction on the world's first public limited-access highway, the Bronx River Parkway, had begun in New York as early as 1907. By the 1920s, longer highways such as the New York City parkway system had been built as part of local or state highway systems. As automotive traffic increased, planners saw a need for such an interconnected national system to supplement the existing, largely non-freeway, U.S. Highway system.The General location of national system of interstate highways, including all additional routes at urban areas designated in September, 1955 maps what became the interstate system, and is informally known as the Yellow Book. Although construction on the Interstate Highway system continues, it was officially regarded as complete in 1991 (though 1.5 miles of the original planned system remain unconstructed as of 2005 [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/interstate.html]). The initial cost estimate for the system was $25 billion over twelve years; it ended up costing $114 billion, taking 35 years to complete. As of 2004, the system contains over 42,700 miles (68,500 km) of roads, all at least four lanes wide.

Standards

:Main article: Interstate Highway standards The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has defined a set of standards that all new Interstates must meet unless a waiver from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is obtained. These standards have become stricter over the years. One almost absolute standard is the controlled access nature of the roads. Except for a few exceptions, traffic lights (and cross traffic in general) are limited to toll booths and ramp meters (metered flow control for lane merging during rush hours).

Speed limits

Speed limits vary according to location. By initial planning, the Interstate system was designed to provide reasonable road safety at speeds of 75 to 80 miles per hour (120 to 130 km/h) except in limited stretches (such as steep mountain passes or urban cores) where many vehicles cannot maintain such speeds. Many western states had high speed limits. Kansas, for example, had a posted limit of 80 mph (130 km/h)[http://people.smu.edu/acambre/blog/PermaLink,guid,5575625c-bbd4-47a3-be9f-9d5517d3a06f.aspx]. Some states, such as Oregon, defined the limit as whatever was "reasonable and proper", which would not be allowed today (see Montana reference below). In 1974, the federal government enacted 55 mph (90 km/h) as a gasoline conservation measure in response to the 1973 energy crisis. After the end of the embargo this restriction was continued as a safety measure. It was very unpopular, especially in western states. The 55 mph cap was relaxed in 1987 to allow 65 mph (105 km/h) speeds on rural Interstates if the states so chose. During this interim period, some roads (such as I-335 in Kansas) were specifically designated as Interstates to take advantage of this higher speed limit. Shortly thereafter, 65 mph limits were allowed on roads not numbered as interstates but which were built to interstate standards. The 55/65 mph caps were eliminated in late 1995, fully returning speed limit control to the states. Many states maintain several different limits. For example, in California, most interstates are limited to 55 mph within a major city, 65 mph (105 km/h) for most of the suburban highway stretches, and up to 70 mph (115 km/h) throughout the desert and rural stretches of the state. In some states, commercial trucks have a lower speed limit than passenger automobiles. In some mountainous regions, the condition of the roadway mandates a lower speed limit than would otherwise have applied. While some states have maintained the 65 mph limit, other states have increased the limits to 70 or 75 mph (110 or 120 km/h). Generally, the highest speed limits are found in the South and Southwest, while the lowest are found in the Northeast. Soon after the end of the National Maximum Speed Limit, the state of Montana ended daytime speed limits for automobile traffic on Interstate Highways in the state, instead instructing motorists to maintain a "reasonable and prudent" speed. A few years later, the "reasonable and prudent" law was declared unconstitutional for being too vague and a limit of 75 mph (120 km/h) was enacted in its place. Texas recently enacted a law allowing 80 MPH speed limits on certain portions of Interstates 10 and 20 in far west Texas. However, these limits are on hold pending further study by the Texas Department of Transportation.

Dual-purpose design

In addition to being designed to support automobile and heavy truck traffic, interstate highways are also designed for use in military and civil defense operations within the United States, particularly troop movements. One potential civil defense use of the Interstate Highway System is for the emergency evacuation of cities in the event of a potential nuclear war. Although this use has never happened, the Interstate Highway System has been used to facilitate evacuations in the face of hurricanes and other natural disasters. An option for maximizing throughput is to reverse the flow of traffic on one side so that all lanes become outbound lanes. This procedure is known as Contraflow, and could be seen in the evacuations of New Orleans, Louisiana and Houston, Texas prior to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, respectively. Several Interstates in the South, including I-16 in Georgia, I-40 in North Carolina, I-65 in Alabama, I-10 & I-59 in Louisiana, and I-59 in Mississippi, are equipped and signed specifically for contraflow, with crossovers inland after major interchanges to distribute much of the traffic. This is however not limited to Interstates; US 49 from Gulfport to Jackson and State Road 528, in Central Florida, have the same setup. A widespread but false urban legend states that one out of every five miles of the Interstate highway system must be built straight and flat, so as to be usable by aircraft during times of war.[http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/mayjun00/onemileinfive.htm] However, the Germans in World War II used the Autobahns for just such a purpose.

Terminology

While the name implies that these highways cross state lines, many Interstates do not. Rather, it is the system of interstates that connects states. There are interstate highways in Hawaii, funded in the same way as in the other states, but entirely within the populous island of Oahu. They have the designation of H-X, and connect military bases. Similarly, both Alaska and Puerto Rico have public roads that receive funding from the Interstate program, though these routes are not signed as Interstate Highways.

Primary routes

The numbering scheme for the Interstate Highway System (as well as the U.S. Highway System) is coordinated by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), though their authority is occasionally trumped by a number written into Federal law. Within the continental United States, primary Interstates (also called main line Interstates or two-digit Interstates) are given one- or two-digit route numbers. Most Interstates have two numbers; there are only three one-digit Interstates in the system: I-4, I-5 and I-8. Within this category, east-west highways are assigned even numbers, and north-south highways are assigned odd-numbers. Odd route numbers increase from west to east, and even numbered routes increase from south to north. Numbers divisible by 5 are intended to be primary routes, carrying traffic long distances. For example, I-5 runs from Canada to Mexico along the west coast (the only interstate to do so) while I-95 runs from Miami north to Canada. In addition, I-10 runs from Los Angeles, California to Jacksonville, Florida while I-90 runs from Seattle to Boston. However, not all primary routes traverse long distances. I-45 runs from Galveston, Texas north to Dallas, Texas, a distance of only 284 miles. It is the only primary route that does not cross state lines (see List of intrastate Interstate Highways). It should be noted that I-50 and I-60 do not exist (and there are no even-numbered Interstates between 46 and 62), mainly because they would most likely have passed through the same states that already have US 50 and US 60. AASHTO rules discourage Interstate and US Highways with the same number to exist in the same state, although I-24 and US 24 exist at opposite ends of Illinois. Some planned Interstates do not follow this guideline - I-69 will enter Texas (which has US 69), I-74 will have a multiplex with US 74 in North Carolina, and I-41 will do the same with US 41 in Wisconsin. Several two-digit numbers are shared between two roads at opposite ends of the country, namely I-76, I-84, I-86 and I-88. Some of these were the result of a change in the numbering system in the 1970s; previously letter-suffixed numbers were used for long spurs off primary routes; for example, western I-84 was I-80N, as it went north from I-80. In the 1970s, AASHTO decided to eliminate these; some became additional two-digit routes, while others became three-digit routes (see below). Only two pairs of these exist; I-35 splits into I-35W and I-35E through both the Dallas-Fort Worth and the Minneapolis-St. Paul areas. Strict adherence to the directional nature of the system results in some amusing oddities. For a ten-mile stretch east of Wytheville, Virginia, the driver can be traveling on both North I-81 and South I-77 at the same time (and vice versa) (see also Wrong-way multiplex). For the sake of efficiency, some Interstates double up for short or sometimes long distances, as in the example above. Another notable example are Interstates I-90 and I-94, which double and then separate several times as they criss-cross the upper Midwest and Great Plains.

Three-digit Interstates

Three-digit route numbers, consisting of a single digit prefixed to the number of a primary Interstate highway, are used to designate usually short spur or loop routes from their "parent" route, either directly or via another three-digit Interstate. A route that spurs from its parent and ends at an intersection with no other Interstates is given an odd first digit; a route that returns to its parent is given an even first digit. The number given to the first digit of a route that spurs from the parent and ends at another Interstate depends on the state; some consider these routes spurs and give them odd numbers, while others consider them loop-style connectors and give them even numbers. For instance, I-90 in New York has a full set of three-digit Interstates - I-190, I-290, I-390, I-490, I-590, I-690, I-790, I-890 and I-990. Due to the large number of these routes, they can be repeated in different places along the mainline; no two three-digit Interstates in the same state can share a number. The Minneapolis-St. Paul area has a single loop around the entire Metro area. I-94 intersects the loop in two spots and runs directly through it separating it into a northern and southern half. The southern half of it is labeled I-494 while the northern half of it is labeled I-694. Charlotte, North Carolina has a single loop around the city that intersects with both I-77 and I-85, but the entire loop is known as I-485. The Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area has several spur routes off of I-95. The area has I-195, I-295, I-495, I-795 and I-895. It also has two routes numbered I-395 (in Baltimore and Washington) and two I-695s (one is signed, the other is a secret designation), as well as an unsigned route called I-595. No I-995 exists anywhere. New York City has numerous spur routes off of I-78 and I-95, but none of I-78's spur routes actually intersect with I-78. A three-digit spur off a letter-suffixed two-digit Interstate (see above) was given a number without a letter suffix, except for one case - I-184 in Idaho was I-180N.

Exceptions

:Main article: List of gaps in Interstate Highways Interstate 238 near Oakland, California is one of two major exceptions to the numbering scheme, as no Interstate 38 exists. This number exists because Interstate 238 replaced a segment of California Highway 238, and no appropriate number was available. The other exception is I-99 in Pennsylvania, which was written into law as I-99 by Pennsylvania Congressman Bud Shuster; I-99 (which is also U.S. Highway 220) is west of several Interstates that are numerically less than 99, and was the nearest available unused two-digit number. Some proposed future Interstate routes have been given similarly non-conforming designations by their legislative proponents. For example, backers of the proposed Third Infantry Division Highway, a route in Georgia and Tennessee, have suggested it be named Interstate 3, in honor of the division for which the highway is named [http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-003.html].

Other notable examples

- I-82 lies fully north of I-84, but I-84 was I-80N when I-82 got its number.
- I-85 diverts west of I-75 (intersecting it near Atlanta, Georgia) The following two-digit Interstates change signed direction from their normal (even=east-west, odd=north-south) direction:
- I-69
- I-76 (west) Two-digit interstates in Hawaii, as well as the "paper" interstates of Alaska and Puerto Rico, are numbered sequentially in order of funding, without regard to the rules on odd and even numbers. Business Loop and Business Spur Interstates are not subject to any of the Interstate standards. Their designation is simple - a Business Loop heads into a downtown area from its parent and returns to its parent; a Business Spur ends downtown, occasionally continuing from the end of the main Interstate. Business routes can split from either two- or three-digit Interstates, and can be repeated within a state. In a few cases, where an Interstate has been realigned, the old road has been designated a Business Loop because it is not up to standards.

Financing

About 72% ([http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/hs03/htm/hf10.htm 2003 FHWA summary]) of the construction and maintenance costs are funded through user fees, primarily gasoline taxes, collected by states and the federal government, and tolls collected on toll roads and bridges. The rest of the costs come out of the federal budget. In the eastern United States, large sections of some Interstate Highways planned or built prior to 1956 are operated as toll roads. The taxes dedicated to the construction and maintenance of highways are often criticized as a direct subsidy from the government to promote and maintain auto-oriented development as we know it today. The dominant role of the federal government in road finance has enabled it to pass laws in areas outside of the powers enumerated in the federal Constitution. By threatening to withhold highway funds, the federal government has been able to force state legislatures to pass a variety of laws. Examples include increasing the legal drinking age to 21, for a number of years reducing the maximum speed limit to 55 miles per hour, passing Megan's Law legislation, lowering the legal intoxication level to 0.08/1000, and other laws. This has proved to be controversial. Those who support this feel that it is a way to provide an impetus to states to pass uniform legislation. Others feel that using highway dollars in this fashion upsets the balance between federal and states' rights in favor of the federal government, and effectively holds funds as ransom in order to coerce state governments into passing laws that would not have otherwised been introduced. As American suburbs push ever outward, the costs incurred of maintaining freeway infrastructure has started to catch up with the economy, leaving little in the way of funds for new interstate construction. This has led to the proliferation of the toll road (turnpike) as the new method of building limited-access highways in suburban areas. Also, some interstates are being privately maintained now (VMS in Texas, I-35) in order to cut rising costs of maintenance and allow state departments of transportation to focus on serving the fastest growing regions in their respective states. The future of the interstate system as we know it is in question. It is entirely possible that parts of the system will have to be tolled in the future to meet maintenance and expansion demands, as is done with adding toll HOV/HOT lanes in certain cities like Minneapolis, Houston, Dallas, and Washington D.C.

Non-chargeable Interstate routes

In addition to Interstate highways financed with federal funds (Chargeable Interstate routes), federal laws allow other highways to be signed as Interstates, if they meet the Interstate Highway standards and that they are logical additions or connections to the System. Called Non-Chargeable Interstate routes, these additions fall under two categories: # Routes that already meet Interstate standards. They can immediately be signed as Interstates once their proposed number is approved. # Routes designated as a future part of the system once they are upgraded to Interstate standards. Until then, it cannot be signed as an Interstate yet.

Signage

dollar Interstate Highways are signed by a number on a red, white and blue sign as shown to the right. In the original design, the state was formerly listed above the highway number, but in many states, this area is now left blank. The sign itself measures 36 inches high, and is 36 inches wide for two-digit interstates, or 45 inches for three-digit interstates. Business Loop and Business Spur Interstates use a special shield where the red and blue are replaced with green; the word BUSINESS appears instead of INTERSTATE, and the word SPUR or LOOP usually appears above the number. The majority of Interstates have exit numbers. All traffic signs and lane markings on the Interstates are supposed to be designed in compliance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). However, there are many local and regional variations in signage. The state of California is now adapting to an exit numbering system after many years as being the only state in the country that did not use such a system. In most states, the exit numbers correspond to the mileage markers on the Interstates (with an exception being I-19 in Arizona, whose length is measured in kilometers instead of miles). Many northeastern states label exit numbers sequentially, regardless of how many miles have passed between exits. On even-numbered Interstates, mileage increases to the east and decreases to the west; and on odd-numbered Interstates, mileage increases to the north and decreases to the south. In both cases, the exit numbers increase and decrease accordingly.

Interstate oddities

- Vinita, Oklahoma — A McDonalds is built over the top of Interstate 44. It goes from one side of the interstate to the other, passing over the interstate. Customers can sit inside and eat while traffic drives beneath them. It is also purported to be the "world's largest".
- Kearney, Nebraska — The Great Platte River Road Archway Museum is built over top of Interstate 80. The 1,500 ton structure spans 308 feet across the interstate and houses a museum dedicated to frontier culture.
- Reno, Nevada — A Walgreens store sits on top of a segment of Interstate 80 in downtown Reno.
- Newton, Massachusetts — A Star Market supermarket is built over the top of Interstate 90. Traffic reporters refer to this point on the highway as the "Star Market overpass".
- Newton, Massachusetts — A Sheraton hotel is built over the top of Interstate 90.
- Boston, Massachusetts — The Prudential Tower in downtown Boston is built over top of Interstate 90 as well. A less known fact about Interstate 90 is that it is built over what used to be the largest railroad corridor in New England; photos from the 1950s show huge rail yards where I-90 now comes into the city. Many of the oddities on I-90 are the result of deals struck by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, Perini Corporation (which constructed the majority of the highway), and existing buildings at the time of construction. In return for not obstructing the highway project, the MTA went to lengths such as preserving the aforementioned Star Market.
- Atlanta, Georgia — The Civic Center MARTA station is located over the Downtown Connector (Interstate 75/85) at West Peachtree Street, making it the only subway station built over an Interstate highway.
- Illinois — The Illinois Tollway oasis is a type of rest area which spans the top of the interstate highway it is on. There are seven of them which are on the Tri-State Tollway (Interstates 80, 94 & 294), Northwest Tollway (Interstate 90) and the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (Interstate 88). Customers are able to sit inside the Oases and eat while traffic goes by beneath them. This type of development is common in the UK.
- Seattle, Washington — The [http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/parks/parkspaces/FreewayPark.htm Seattle Freeway Park] sits on top of Interstate 5 (NB and SB, including HOV express lanes). The park is connected to the [http://www.wsctc.com Washington State Convention Center] connecting downtown to the [http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/tour/capitol.htm Capitol Hill] and First Hill districts (locally, First Hill is also known as "Pill Hill" as this is Seattle's medical district). The park is multi-level and as such, there are areas where visitors are able to watch traffic pass by.
- Breezewood, Pennsylvania — There is a sign of a policeman pointing at you saying, "You! Slow Down!" You then have to drive a few blocks on US 30 before returning to I-70. This is a rare instance of a traffic light on an interstate.
- Jersey City, New Jersey — Interstate 78 follows a pair of one-way streets for a short distance between the Newark Bay Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike and the Holland Tunnel, which leads into New York City. Along with the aforementioned I-70, this is the only other primary interstate with traffic lights.

Criticism

In addition to the various economic issues, the system has roused criticism on aesthetic grounds. The efficiency and faster speeds of the system, made possible in part by engineering techniques that often tend to cut through the land rather than merely following it as with the older U.S. Highway, have inevitably resulted in a safer but less-scenic drive. When the cross-country I-40 was finally finished in the late 1980s, by completing the segment between Raleigh, North Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina, Charles Kuralt stated, "It is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything!"

References

# 65 MPH Approved for Route, Wichita Eagle-Beacon, October 24, 1987 # Field, David. "On 40th birthday, interstates face expensive midlife crisis." Insight on the News, 29 July 1996, 40-42.

External links

- [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/interstate.html Interstate Highway information]
- [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/index.htm FHWA Route Log and Finder List]
- [http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/septoct00/urban.htm FHWA Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center] - Analysis and History of Interstate Highway System
- [http://www.kurumi.com/roads/3di/ 3-digit Interstate Highways]
- [http://www.aaroads.com/ Pictures of all Interstates]
- [http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=88 One] of 100 milestone documents of American history
- Federal Highway Administration's [http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/summer96/p96su10.htm article on the act]
- Fortune magazine on [http://www.fortune.com/fortune/fortune500/articles/0,15114,574088,00.html history of the Interstate Highway System]
- [http://www.geocities.com/michelleskinnerfreeway Another great Interstate Page], with facts on all 2-digit Interstates and links to their exit lists
- [http://www.ajfroggie.com/triskele Highway Heaven] Contains exit lists for most Interstate highways
- [http://www.triskele.com/fonts/index.html RoadGeek] - A complete set of TrueType fonts for simulating Interstate and other highway signage ja:ドワイト・デーヴィッド・アイゼンハワー全米州間国防高速道路網

Midwest

:This article is about the Midwestern region in the United States. For the similarly translated region in Brazil, see Center-West Region, Brazil.

the Midwest
Center-West Region, Brazil Red states show the core of the Midwest, states shown as pink may or may not be included in the Midwest, and thus their inclusion or exclusion varies from source to source.

The Midwestern United States (or Midwest) is a region of the north-central and northeastern United States of America. The term is now somewhat archaic, as this region was the "Middle West" of the United States before the Louisiana Purchase. Presently, this region is primarily neither the middle nor the west of the United States (see map). More accurate regional terms for these locations are the East North Central States and the West North Central States, as defined by the United States Census Bureau.

Terminology

The term "Middle West" originated in the 19th century, followed by "Midwest" and "Heartland", and referred to generally the same areas and states in the region. The heart of the Midwest is bounded by the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys, the "Old Northwest" (or the "West"), referring to the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin, which comprised the original Northwest Territory. This area is now called the East North Central States by the United States Census Bureau. The Northwest Territory was created out of the ceded English (formerly French and Native American) frontier lands under the Northwest Ordinance by the Continental Congress just before the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery and religious discrimination, and promoted public schools and private property. As Revolutionary War soldiers from the original colonies were awarded lands in Ohio and migrated there and to other Midwestern states with other pioneers, including many immigrants from central and northern Europe, the area became the first thoroughly "American" region. The Midwest region today refers not only to states created from the Northwest Ordinance, but also may include states between the Appalachian Mountains to the Rocky Mountains and north of the Ohio River. The term West was applied to the region in the early years of the country. During this time, the vast majority of the population lived east of the Appalachian Mountains, but the country's borders stretched west all the way to the Rocky Mountains. Later, the vast region west of the Appalachians was divided into the Far West (now just the West), and the Middle West. Some parts of the Midwest have also been referred to as North West for historical reasons (for instance, this explains the Minnesota-based Northwest Airlines and the former Norwest Bank, as well as Northwestern University in Illinois), so the current Northwest region of the country is called the Pacific Northwest to make a clear distinction. The Midwest term is used sometimes interchangeably with the Heartland term to refer to "Mid-America" and its citizens, "Mid-Americans". Heartland states would seem to increasingly include states like Arkansas and Oklahoma, whom Atlanta-based CNN referred as the location of the "tragedy in the Heartland".

Definition

Though definitions vary, any definition of the Midwest would include the Northwest Ordinance "Old Northwest" states and often includes many states that were part of the Louisiana Purchase. The states of the Old Northwest are also known as "Great Lakes states". Many of the Louisiana Purchase states are also known as Great Plains states. The Midwest is defined, by the U.S. Census Bureau as these 12 states:
- Illinois: Old Northwest, Ohio River and Great Lakes state
- Indiana: Old Northwest, Ohio River and Great Lakes state
- Iowa: Louisiana Purchase
- Kansas: Louisiana Purchase, Great Plains state
- Michigan: Old Northwest, and Great Lakes state
- Minnesota: Old Northwest, and Great Lakes state; western part Louisiana Purchase
- Missouri: Louisiana Purchase
- Nebraska: Louisiana Purchase, Great Plains state
- North Dakota: Louisiana Purchase, Great Plains state
- Ohio: Old Northwest (Historic Connecticut Western Reserve), Ohio River and Eastern Great Lakes state. Also a Northeastern Appalachian state in the SE.
- South Dakota: Louisiana Purchase, Great Plains state
- Wisconsin: Old Northwest, and Great Lakes state Chicago is the largest city in the region and the third largest in the nation; other important cities in the regions include Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Small cities and farming areas in Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska loom an imaginative description of the traditional Midwestern soul. Northeast Ohio is a region stuck in a middleground-state. The region includes Rustbelt cities that strikingly resemble Eastern cities like Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Cleveland Akron and Youngstown have a combined population of approximately 4 million. The people, depending on the specific city or subregion in NEO (Northeast Ohio) even argue about their regional preference or regional affiliation. The area's political views lean towards the Labor-Liberal persuasion. The NEO region is part of the Eastern Standard Time Zone, the Rustbelt, and cannot accurately be considered a part of the "Midwest," the Heartland, nor the Great Plains. A book was published in the mid-1990s labeling Cleveland as the city where "The East Coast Meets the Midwest." The author (Peter Jedick) claims that topographically the Great Plains do not begin until crossing westward over the Cuyahoga River which runs through central Cleveland. Although one of the original thirteen colonies, and situated in the Mid-Atlantic States, Pennsylvania is sometimes referred to as a Midwestern state, but in reality, only the western part of the state, around Pittsburgh shares any culture with the so-called Midwest. In actually, even Pittsburgh is a post-industrial, old Eastern/Appalachian city in rennaissance. Western Pennsylvania is much more a Rustbelt Region than one attached in anyway to the ideas and identity of the Heartland. The eastern half of the state of Pennsylvania, around Philadelphia undoubtedly identifies more with East Coast culture and the Megalopolis. In the West: the prairie parts of Montana, Wyoming, and especially Colorado are sometimes considered part of the Midwest, especially to people in the Great Plains which are closer to the geographic middle of the country, additions as such would be considered incorrect to most people in the Great Lakes region as many people near the Great Lakes don't even consider the Plains states to be the Midwest as much of those states are ranchland. Despite the seemingly obvious boundary that is the Ohio River, the Midwest and South do not have a clear boundary: many people in Kentucky would like to be considered Midwestern and Missouri has much of a Dixie element and has only been considered Midwest as of the 20th Century. Also, southern Illinois and Indiana are culturally influenced by the Southern centers of Memphis and Louisville while northern Kentucky near Cincinnati is almost always considered Midwestern. Often people from the Coasts act as if any area that is not near the Ocean or in the Deep South is the Midwest, lumping states like Idaho and Utah into the region. As this would add immense area to the Midwest, not to mention do injustice to the cultural differences that occur in different parts of the nation's interior, this would be incorrect if not insulting. See Middle America.

Geography

Despite the tendency to sometimes (quite deservingly) denigrate the states as being relatively flat, there is a measure of geographical variation. In particular, the eastern midwest lying within the foothills of the Appalachians, and the Great Lakes basin and northern parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa demonstrate a high degree of topographical variety. Prairies cover most of the states west of the Mississippi with the exception of southern Missouri and eastern Minnesota. Illinois lies within an area called the "prairie peninsula," an eastward extension of prairies that borders deciduous forests to the north, east, and south. Rainfall decreases from east to west, resulting in different types of prairies, with the tallgrass prairie in the wetter eastern region, mixed-grass prairie in the central Great Plains, and shortgrass prairie towards the rain shadow of the Rockies. Today, these three prairie types largely correspond to the corn/soybean area, the wheat belt, and the western rangelands, respectively; virgin hardwood forests were logged of in the late 1800s. The majority of the midwest can now be categorized as urbanized areas or pastoral agriculture. Areas in northern Michigan and Wisconsin, such as the Porcupine Mountains, and the Ohio river valley are largely undeveloped. Among the westernmost states of the Midwest, residents of the wheat belt generally consider themselves part of the Midwest, while residents of the remaining rangeland areas usually do not. Of course, exact boundaries are nebulous and shifting.

History

The Midwest is a cultural crossroads. Starting in the 1790s, American Revolutionary War veterans and settlers from the original Thirteen Colonies moved there in response to Federal government of the United States land grants. The Ulster-Scots Presbyterians of Pennsylvania (often through Virginia) and the Dutch Reformed, Quaker, and Congregationalists of Connecticut were among the earliest pioneers to Ohio and the Midwest. By the time of the American Civil War, European immigrants bypassed the East Coast of the United States to settle directly in the interior: German Lutherans to Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, and eastern Missouri, Swedes and Norwegians to Wisconsin and Minnesota, and Poles, Hungarians, and German Catholics and Jews to Midwestern cities. Many German Catholics also settled throughout the Ohio River valley and around the Great Lakes. In the 20th century, African American migration from the Southern United States into the Midwestern states changed cities dramatically, as factories and schools enticed families by the thousands to new opportunities. The region's fertile soil made it possible for farmers to produce abundant harvests of cereal crops such as corn, oats, and, most importantly, wheat. In the early days, the region was soon known as the nation's "breadbasket". Two waterways have been important to the Midwest's development. The first and foremost was the Ohio River which flowed into the Mississippi River. Spanish control of the southern part of the Mississippi, and refusal to allow the shipment of American crops down the river and into the Atlantic Ocean, halted the development of the region until 1795. The river inspired two classic American books written by a native Missourian, Samuel Clemens, who took the pseudonym Mark Twain: Life on the Mississippi and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Today, Twain's stories have become staples of Midwestern lore. The second waterway is the network of routes within the Great Lakes. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 completed an all-water shipping route, more direct than the Mississippi, to New York and the seaport of New York City. Lakeport cities grew up to handle this new shipping route. During the Industrial Revolution, the lakes became a conduit for iron ore from the Mesabi Range of Minnesota to steel mills in the Mid-Atlantic States. The Saint Lawrence Seaway later opened the Midwest to the Atlanic Ocean. Inland canals in Ohio and Indiana constituted another great waterway, which connected into the Great Lakes and Ohio River traffic. Because the Northwest Ordinance region, comprising the heart of the Midwest, was the first large region of the United States which prohibited slavery (the Northeastern United States emancipated slaves in the 1830s), the region remains culturally apart from the country and proud of its free pioneer heritage. The regional southern boundary was the Ohio River, the border of freedom and slavery in American history and literature (See: Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe; Beloved, by Toni Morrison). The region was shaped by the relative absence of slavery (except for Missouri), pioneer settlement, education in one-room free public schools, and democratic notions brought with American Revolutionary War veterans, Protestant faiths and experimentation, and agricultural wealth transported on the Ohio River riverboats, flatboats, canal boats, and railroads. The canals in Ohio and Indiana opened so much of Midwestern agriculture that it launched the world's greatest population and economic boom foreshadowing later "emerging markets". The commodities that the Midwest funneled into the Erie Canal down the Ohio River contributed to the wealth of New York City, which overtook Boston and Philadelphia. New York State would proudly boast of the Midwest as its "inland empire"; thus, New York would become known as the Empire State. The Midwest was predominantly rural at the time of the American Civil War, dotted with small farms across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, but industrialization, immigration, and urbanization fed the Industrial Revolution, and the heart of industrial progress became the Great Lakes states of the Midwest. German, Scandinavian, Slavic and African American immigration into the Midwest continued to bolster the population there in the 19th and 20th centuries, though generally the Midwest remains a predominantly diverse, Protestant region. Large concentrations of Catholics are found in larger cities like Chicago, Cleveland, and St. Louis because of Irish, Italian, and Polish immigration in the 19th century. Cleveland also has one of the nation's highest Jewish-American populations per capita of all major U.S. cities.

Culture

Education is another of the region's strongest legacies. The region contains numerous highly-regarded universities, both public and private. Notable public schools include Indiana University Bloomington, Purdue University, Ball State University, Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, The Ohio State University, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, the main Madison campus of the University of Wisconsin, and the main campus of the University of Minnesota located in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Notable private institutions include the best-known Catholic university in the United States, the University of Notre Dame; Northwestern University; and the University of Chicago, with which more Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated than with any other university in the world except Cambridge in the UK. A cluster of top-ranking liberal arts colleges in the Midwest include the University of Evansville, Oberlin College, Carleton College, Macalester College, Grinnell College, Kenyon College, Knox College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Denison University, The College of Wooster and Earlham College. The University of Michigan is considered one of the Public Ivies. Youngstown State University is home to the original American Center for Working-Class Studies, not to metion one of the oldest and most prestigious non-conservatory schools of music in the United States (The Dana School of Music). Midwesterners are alternately viewed as open, friendly, and straightforward, or stereotyped as unsophisticated and stubborn. The former values probably stem from the freedom-loving heritage of the free states in the region, and from belief in widespread education and tolerance. The latter values probably stem from the stalwart Calvinist heritage of the Midwestern Protestants and pioneers who settled the area, and in the mind of people on the coasts, this continuing religious appeal strikes many as anti-intellectual. For the religious adherents, though, this heritage is loving and inspirational. The Midwest remains a melting pot of Protestantism and Calvinism, mistrustful of authority and power. The Bible Belt, some say, starts in the South and ends in the Midwest. In fact, religious attendance is lowest in the United States in the Industrialized Midwest and in the Southeast, and highest in coastal cities like Boston, New York, and Los Angeles, due to strong Catholic and African American congregations there, and in the Southern and Midwestern strip from Texas to the Dakotas, where socialization in rural communities often starts at church services. Hence the "Bible Belt" going "across the middle of the country" is an archaic description of what is in fact a "Bible strip" going North to South in the Plains, and two "Bible Buckles" on the coasts. The rural heritage of the land in the Midwest remains widely held, even if industrialization and suburbanization have overtaken the states in the original Northwest Territory. Given the rural, antebellum associations with the Midwest, further rural states like Kansas have become icons of Midwesternism, most directly with the 1939 film, the Wizard of Oz. Midwestern politics tends to be cautious, but the caution is sometimes peppered with protest, especially in minority communities or those associated with agrarian, labor or populist roots. Due to 20th-century African American migration from the South, a large African American urban population lives in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Toledo, Dayton, and other cities. The combination of industry and cultures, Jazz, Blues, and Rock and Roll, led to an outpouring of musical creativity in the 20th century in the Midwest, including new music like the Motown Sound and techno from Detroit and house music from the south side of Chicago. Rock and Roll music was first identified as a new genre by a Cleveland radio DJ, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is now located in Cleveland. See also Music of the Midwest/Motown, Detroit, 70s Soul Music, Ohio Players, Kool and The Gang, and Dayton.

Political trends

The Midwest gave birth to one of America's two major political parties, the Republican Party, which was formed in the 1850s and included opposition to the spread of slavery into new states as one of its agendas. The rural Midwest is a Republican stronghold to this day. Hamilton County, the home of Cincinnati, is the only urban county in America which has voted predominately Republican at the close of the 20th century. From the Civil War to the Depression and World War II, Midwestern Republicans dominated American politics and industry, just as Southern Democrat planters dominated antebellum rural America and as Northeastern financiers and academics in the Democratic party would dominate America from the Depression to the Vietnam War and the height of the Cold War. In some upper midwestern states, such as Illinois, the story is quite different. Illinois is currently dominated heavily by the Democratic Party, and has voted blue in the past 5 elections. Minnesota was actually the only state among the 50 states of the U.S. to vote for Walter Mondale over Ronald Reagan in 1984. (Although Washington D.C. also voted for Mondale.) Youngstown, Ohio (Little Chicago/The Hoboken of Ohio) has remained a Democratic and cultural microcosm throughout history. It is the birthplace of, James Traficant. The city just elected its first African-American mayor, Independent Jay Williams. This is the first non-Democratic mayor the city has seen in over 80 years. Cleveland, Ohio was the first major U.S. city to elect a Black mayor (Stokes). From Buffalo to Cincinnati, the middle-eastern U.S. is the heart of the historic Underground Railroad. Around the turn of the 20th century, the region also spawned the Populist Movement in the Plains states and later the Progressive Movement, which largely consisted of farmers and merchants intent on making government less corrupt and more receptive to the will of the people. The Republicans were unified anti-slavery politicians, whose later interests in invention, economic progress, women's rights and suffrage, freedman's rights, progressive taxation, wealth creation, election reforms, and temperance and Prohibition eventually clashed with the Taft-Roosevelt split in 1912. Similarly, the Populist and Progressive Parties grew out intellectually from the economic and social progress claimed by the early Republican party. The Protestant and Midwestern ideals of profit, thrift, pioneer self-reliance, education, democratic rights, and religious tolerance eventually manifested into different political beliefs, and no matter the current political reallignment, the Midwest remains a political battleground over thoroughly American ideas and ideals. Perhaps because of their geographic location and heritage of pioneers and Revolutionary War veterans, many Midwesterners have been sometime adherents of Washington's ideal of isolationism, the belief that Americans should not concern themselves with foreign wars and problems. Protectionism was also promoted by Midwestern politicians to protect native industry from free trade. Other Midwesterners, though, led to America greater internationalism, and eventually, belief in free trade. In the current era, Midwesterners wrestle with free trade beliefs along with protecting industrial jobs. The decline of industry in the Midwest led to the "Rust Belt" era when productivity stagnated and employment declined. The loss of jobs among union households and the plight of the unemployed in the inner cities in the Midwest led to greater demands to protect jobs.

Linguistic influence

The accents of the region are generally distinct from those of the American Northeast and South. They are considered by many to be "standard" American English, and are preferred by many national radio and television broadcasters. Prominent broadcast personalities of the mid 20th century - such as Walter Cronkite, Johnny Carson, John Madden and Casey Kasem - came from this region and so influenced this perception. However, in some regions, particularly the farther North one goes, a definite accent is detectable, usually reflecting the heritage of the area. For example, Minnesota and Wisconsin both have a strong Scandinavian accent, which intensifies the farther north one goes. Parts of Michigan have noticeable Dutch-flavored accents. Also, residents of Chicago are recognized to have their own distinctive nasally accent which adds to the uniqueness of the city. A similar accent is sensed throughout some parts of Michigan, Cleveland, and Western New York State. The sounds may have arguably dervived from heavy Eastern European influences in the Great Lakes Region.

The Midwest today

Today, the wealth of the coastal regions and the growth of the Sunbelt have contributed to a sense of unease in the Midwest. The abandonment by many industries of the Midwest, in favor of the South, has led some to refer to the Midwest as the Rust Belt. As the East, South, and West retain colonial memories, the Midwest mainly remembers its American pioneer heritage. The Midwest remains, with the South, a disproportionately large source of servicemembers for the United States military, and remains a thoroughly patriotic and American center. Today the population of the Midwest is 64,482,997. Though its pioneer, religious, and economic heritage tends toward libertarianism and freedom, its geography in the center of America causes Midwesterners to be disproportionately concerned with the future of the federal government and America in general — East, South, and West. Conversely, the nation looks to the central and centrist Midwest to implicitly solve the inevitable political and geographic arguments of the wide-ranging nation.

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City is a city covering parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties in Missouri, USA. Although it is the largest city in Jackson County, the suburb of Independence is the county seat. Situated at the junction of the Missouri and Kansas rivers, it lies along the boundary between Missouri and Kansas, and is directly opposite Kansas City, Kansas. Often abbreviated KCMO, Kansas City is the center of the Kansas City metropolitan area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri and 27th in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 441,545, making it the largest city in Missouri. Combined with Kansas City, Kansas, the population is 588,411, but the entire urban area (in both states) is approximately 2 million. As the city and surrounding metropolitan area is consistently growing, the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network, a project of Birmingham University in the United Kingdom recently designated Kansas City a city with the potential of attaining world city status. The current mayor of Kansas City, Missouri is Kay Barnes, the city's first female mayor. Elected in March 1999 and again in March 2003, her second of two terms will expire in April 2007.

History

Significant non-native settlement of the area dates to 1831, when members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("LDS Church"; see also Mormon) coming from Kirtland, Ohio and New York State purchased about 2,000 acres (8 km²) of land in the Paseo and Troost Lake areas. Conflict between the LDS members & southern Missourians led to the expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County in 1833, although there is still a notable presence of LDS members in the KC area. About this time a dock was established on the Missouri River to land supplies for Westport Landing (now Westport). The land surrounding the dock was bought by "Town Company" in 1838. The area outside of Westport Landing was renamed the Town of Kansas, after the local Kanza Indians, in 1839. The town was incorporated by the state of Missouri as the City of Kansas on March 28, 1853. At the first municipal election in 1853 there were sixty-seven voters from a population of 2,500. In 1889, with a population of around 60,000, the city adopted a new charter and changed its name to Kansas City. In 1897, Kansas City annexed Westport, which now serves as an entertainment & shopping disctrict. The City was connected to the telegraph system in 1858, to the railway in 1864 and the first aircraft landed at the Municipal Airport in 1927. In 1867, Kansas City beat nearby Leavenworth, Kansas (then over twice Kansas City's size) for a railroad bridge over the Missouri River. The Hannibal Bridge, designed by Octave Chanute, opened in 1869. With that, the city's population quadrupled in fifty years. Due to its central location, Kansas City became and remains the second largest railroad hub in the United States, ahead of St. Louis and behind Chicago, Illinois. Union Station, built in 1914, was the largest passenger terminal in the country. The station deteriorated significantly in the second half of the 20th Century, however, and was renovated in the late 1990s. It now houses a museum, theaters, shops, and restaurants, adjacent to an increasingly active arts district known as the "Crossroads". Initially, the city's major industry was cattle. By the 1860s it had one of the largest cattle markets in America, earning the nickname "Cowtown." That industry peaked in the early 20th century. Kansas City's cattle stockyards in the city's West Bottoms neighborhood closed in 1984. The Country Club Plaza shopping district and neighborhood, begun in 1922 by developer J.C.Nichols, is dominated by the 130-foot-tall bell tower designed after the original Giralda Tower in Seville, Spain, and decorated with countless more European fountains, sculptures and Spanish architecture. Although the Plaza once contained mostly hometown shops, today it contains almost exclusively hypermaterial national chain stores such as Tiffany's, Coach, Sharper Image and others; the Plaza also contains a great amount of pedestrian traffic and increasingly modern architecture.

Pendergast era

In 1880, James Pendergast, the oldest son of Irish immigrants, moved to Kansas City's West Bottoms. He worked at a local iron foundry until buying a bar with money he won from betting on a longshot horse at a local race track. From his new bar, Pendergast began networking with local leaders and soon built a powerful faction in the Jackson County Democratic Party. Just prior to winning his first of nine terms on the city council in 1892, he summoned his youngest brother Tom from nearby St. Joseph. As Jim's health deteriorated, Tom began to utilize many of Jim's connections to lead the "Goat" faction after Jim's death in 1910. Tom succeeded Jim in the council too, but left after three terms. In 1925, Kansas City voted in favor of establishing a city manager-based government with one city council of 12 members instead of two chambers of 32 members total, giving Tom an easier road to gaining majority control. By 1925, the Pendergast machine had established a majority, appointing a passive mayor and powerful city mananer Henry McElroy. Pendergast's power grew during the Great Depression, creating a Ten-Year Plan bond plan aimed at putting unemployed Kansas Citians to work building civic structures that still stand, including City Hall, Municipal Auditorium, and the Jackson County Courthouse. These structures, sporting art deco architecture, were built with concrete supplied by Pendergast's Ready-Mixed Concrete company and other companies that provided kickbacks to Pendergast. At its peak, the machine wielded considerable influence on state politics, handily electing Platte County judge Guy Brasfield Park governor of Missouri in 1932 when the Democratic candidate (Francis Wilson) died two weeks before the election. Also during this time, Kansas City also became a center for night life and music, with jazz by musicians such as Count Basie, Charlie Parker and blues (Kansas City blues) flourishing in areas such as 18th and Vine. Violence and gangster activity proliferated during this time as well. On June 17, 1933, three gangsters attempted to free Frank Nash from FBI custody, but wound up killing him and four unarmed agents. The gangsters had spent the prior evening at the Hotel Monroe, adjacent to Pendergast's office, and had received assistance in eluding a bribed police force from Johnny Lazia, a major underworld figure with connections to Pendergast. Pendergast's machine became synonymous with inflating election results by bringing in out-of-town hoodlums to vote for machine candidates repeatedly. The March 27, 1934 municipal elections (dramatized in Robert Altman's 1996 film Kansas City) resulted in nine deaths. Tom Pendergast's power was brought down by health ailments and a determined effort by reform leaders, capped by Tom pleading guilty to tax evasion on May 24, 1939. Remnants of the machine lingered until the 1950s. Harry S. Truman, former U.S. president, was county judge of Jackson County under the Pendergast regime, and was initially regarded in his early career as a corrupt politician because of this. However, most people came to regard him as having a great deal of integrity because of his subsequent actions in various political offices.

Downtown redevelopment

president After years of neglect and seas of parking lots, downtown Kansas City is currently undergoing a renaissance. Many residential properties have recently been or are currently under redevelopment. A planned entertainment district is being developed in the southern part of the downtown highway loop by the Cordish Company of Baltimore, Maryland. Adjacent to the entertainment district will be a new arena, dubbed the Sprint Center, set to open in 2007. The arena, to be designed by a consortium of local architects, hopes to lure an NBA or NHL franchise to the city. Los Angeles based Anschutz Entertainment Group has invested in the arena project and will run its daily operations. In 2003 the Downtown population reached 15,100 people, up from 6,334 in 2000, aided by an ever-increasing real estate development converting vacant commercial buildings to loft style housing. Downtown KC has an area of 2.9 square miles bounded by the Missouri River in the north, 31st street to the south, Bruce R. Watkins Dr. (US Hwy 71) to the east and I-35 to the west according to the Downtown Council. West of I-35 exists the Upper Westside community & the West Bottoms (South of the Missouri river - host to various industrial establishments, art galleries, and Autumn Haunted Houses). Related articles: Downtown Kansas City - Alphabet Loop

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 823.7 km² (318.0 mi²). 812.1 km² (313.5 mi²) of it is land and 11.6 km² (4.5 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.41% water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 441,545 people, 183,981 households, and 107,444 families residing in the city. The population density is 543.7/km² (1,408.2/mi²). There are 202,334 housing units at an average density of 249.2/km² (645.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 60.68% White, 31.23% Black or African American, 1.85% Asian, 0.48% Native American, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 3.21% from other races, and 2.44% from two or more races. 6.93% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 183,981 households out of which 28.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.0% are married couples living together, 16.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 41.6% are non-families. 34.1% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.4% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.35 and the average family size is 3.06. In the city the population is spread out with 25.4% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there are 93.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 89.9 males. The median income for a household in the city is $37,198, and the median income for a family is $46,012. Males have a median income of $35,132 versus $27,548 for females. The per capita income for the city is $20,753. 14.3% of the population and 11.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 20.2% of those under the age of 18 and 10.5% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Transportation

Like most American cities, the main method of transportation is the automobile. Use of the automobile is supported by the existence of many limited-access interstate highways as well as numerous U. S. and state highways. For a list of major highways see Kansas City Metropolitan Area.

Mass transit

- The MAX: In July 2005, the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority started a new bus system called, "The MAX" (Metro Area Express). The bus route starts in the City Market in Downtown Kansas City, and has many stops along Main Street, The Plaza and southern Kansas City. The MAX buses are able to pro-long green traffic lights to stay on schedule.
- Buses run 7 days a week from 5:00am to 1:00am. During rush hour periods, the buses make stops every 10 minutes. All other times, the buses make stops every 15-30 minutes. Each bus ride cost $1.00.

Parks and parkways

Kansas City is well-known for its spacious parkways and many parks. The parkway system winds its way through the city with broad, landscaped medians that include statuary and fountains. One of the best examples is Ward Parkway on the west side of the city, near the Kansas state line. Swope Park is one of the nation's larger in-city parks, comprising over one thousand acres (4 km²). It includes a full-fledged zoo, two golf courses, a lake, an amphitheater, day-camp area, and numerous picnic grounds. Kansas City has always had one of the nation's best urban forestry programs. At one time, almost all residential streets were planted with a solid canopy of American elms but Dutch elm disease devastated them. Most of the elms died and were replaced with a variety of other shade trees.

Attractions

Dutch elm disease Dutch elm disease Kansas City ranks second in the world in number of fountains (160), exceeded only by Rome.
- American Jazz Museum ([http://www.americanjazzmuseum.com/ website])
- Negro Leagues Baseball Museum ([http://www.nlbm.com/ website])
- 18th and Vine Historic District
- River Market District ([http://kansascityrivermarket.com/ website])
- Crown Center, headquarters of Hallmark Cards and major downtown shopping and entertainment complex. Connected to Union Station by a series of covered walkways.
- Country Club Plaza
- Kansas City's Union Station, now home to Science City, restaurants, shopping, theaters, and the city's Amtrak facility.
- Liberty Memorial ([http://libertymemorialmuseum.org/ website)]-- Official World War I memorial and museum in the United States. Tower and observation deck restored and re-opened in 2002. Currently an even larger museum is being constructed underneath the monument.
- Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
- Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
- City Market ([http://kc-citymarket.com/ website])
- Airline History Museum
- Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City
- Westport, oldest part of the city and a vibrant entertainment district.
- Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun
- Kansas City Zoo, in Swope Park.
- Charlie Parker Memorial, at 17th Terrace and the Paseo
- Arabia Steamboat Museum ([http://www.1856.com www.1856.com]), in the historic River Market.
- Laughogram Studios ([http://www.laughograms.com www.laughograms.com]), Walt Disney's original cartoon studio in Kansas City. Now being renovated.
- Kansas City Museum ([http://www.unionstation.org/kcmuseum.cfm website]), located in an beautifully renovated 1910 mansion.
- Kansas City Renaissance Festival ([http://www.kcrenfest.com/ website]), annual festival that runs through the fall that features live entertainers, a medieval village, rides, games, sword fights, and more.
- Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library ([http://www.trumanlibrary.org website]), located in Kansas City suburb of Independence, MO.

Educational institutions

:This list includes schools with a Kansas City, Missouri address. For others in the metropolitan area, see Kansas City Metropolitan Area.

Post-secondary

- Avila University
- Calvary Bible College
- DeVry University of Kansas City
- Kansas City Art Institute
- Metropolitan Community Colleges :Penn Valley :Maple Woods :Business and Technology Center :Blue River :Longview
- Midwestern Baptist College
- Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
- National American University
- Rockhurst University
- University of Missouri - Kansas City
- University of Phoenix - Kansas City
- Webster University - Kansas City

Elementary and Secondary

- The Pembroke Hill School
- Rockhurst High School

Media

Print media

The Kansas City Star is the area's primary newspaper. William Rockhill Nelson first published the evening paper on September 1, 1880. The Star competed heavily with the morningTimes before acquiring it in 1926 and discontinuing it in March 1990. Monthly newspapers such as The Kansas City Metro Voice and The Business Journal, and several weekly papers, including The Pitch and various suburban papers, also serve the Kansas City area.

Broadcast media

The Kansas City media market (ranked 29 by Arbitron and 31 by Nielsen) includes ten television channels along with 30 FM and 21 AM radio stations.

Film community

The city of has often been a locale for Hollywood productions and television programming. Most notably, the 1983 made for television movie The Day After was filmed in Kansas City and Lawrence, Kansas.

Airports

- Kansas City International Airport
- Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport
- Richards Gebaur Airport Formerly an Air Force Base

Sports

Current teams

Kansas City Sports teams presently include the following: Kansas City Royals

Club	Sport	League	Venue	Logo
Kansas City Chiefs	Football	National Football League : AFC	Arrowhead Stadium	Arrowhead Stadium
Major League Baseball	American League	Kauffman Stadium	Kauffman Stadium
Kansas City Wizards	Soccer	Major League Soccer	Arrowhead Stadium	Arrowhead Stadium
Kansas City Knights	Basketball	American Basketball Association	Kemper Arena	Kemper Arena
Kansas City Brigade	Football	Arena Football League	Kemper Arena	Kemper Arena
Kansas City Explorers	Tennis	World TeamTennis	Country Club Plaza Tennis Center	Tennis

Past teams

Past teams include NBA's Kings (Sacramento Kings), IHL's Blades, NFL's Blues and Cowboys (1924-1926), NHL's Scouts (New Jersey Devils), MLB's Athletics (Oakland Athletics), two minor league baseball teams named the Blues (one of which became the American League's Washington Senators, now Minnesota Twins), MISL's Comets (formerly the Attack), the Negro American League's Kansas City Monarchs, and the Kansas City Outlaws of the United Hockey League.

Sporting events

- Kansas City is often the home of the Big XII College Basketball Tournaments. Men's Basketball is played at Kemper Arena, while women's Basketball is played at Municipal Auditorium. Lately newer arenas in Dallas, Houston and Oklahoma City have hosted the tournament.
- Arrowhead Stadium serves as the venue for various intercollegiate football games. Often it is the host of the Big XII Football Title Game.
On the last weekend in October, the Fall Classic rivalry game between Northwest Missouri State University and Pittsburg State University takes place at Arrowhead Stadium. Usually, the Bearcats of Northwest and Gorillas of Pitt State are ranked one-two in the MIAA conference.
In 2005, other games at Arrowhead included Arkansas State playing host to Missouri, and Kansas hosting Oklahoma.

Sports headquarters

Kansas City and nearby Overland Park, Kansas were once the home of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and has hosted ten men's final fours, more than any other city. However, with recent men's final fours taking place in indoor football stadiums (notably the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis in April 2005), hopes of Kansas City hosting an 11th are pinned on plans to build a retractable roof for Arrowhead Stadium. In recognition of Kansas City's ten final fours, the National Association of Basketball Coaches are based in the city, and will operate a full-time museum in the new Sprint Center when it opens in 2007. Kansas City is also home to the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association, a NCAA Division II conference of nine schools in Missouri and Kansas.

Sister cities

Kansas City has thirteen sister cities, as designated by [http://www.sister-cities.org/ Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI)]: Arusha (Tanzania), Hannover (Germany), Guadalajara (Mexico), San Nicolas de los Garza (Mexico), Metz (France), Kurashiki (Japan), Morelia (Mexico), Port Harcourt (Nigeria), Ramla (Israel), Seville (Spain), Xi'an (China), Freetown (Sierra Leone), and Tainan City (China).

External links

- [http://www.kcmo.org/ City of Kansas City]
- [http://www.kcmo.org/timeline.nsf/web/index/ Kansas City's 150th anniversary timeline]
- [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/gmd:@FILREQ(@field(SUBJ+@od1(United+States--Missouri--Kansas+City+))+@FIELD(COLLID+citymap)) Images of Kansas City] from the Library of Congress website
- [http://www.kclibrary.org/localhistory/ History Database] from the Kansas City public library
- [http://www.visitkc.com/ Official Travel and Tourism website]
- [http://www.kcchamber.com/