What to See in Kansas City - Top Sights and Attractions

Art museum galleries and sculpture garden. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art.

In 2007, Time magazine ranked the museum's new Bloch Building number one on its list of "The 10 Best (New and Upcoming) Architectural Marvels" which considered candidates from around the globe.

On September 1, 2010, Julián Zugazagoitia (b. 1964) became the museum's fifth Director. Zugazagoitia had previously served for seven years as the Director and CEO of El Museo del Barrio in New York City.

The museum is open five days a week: Monday from 10 am-5 pm, closed Tuesday and Wednesday, open Thursday 10-5, Friday 10-9, Saturday and Sunday 10-5. To maintain social distancing in the galleries, visitors must reserve a timed admission ticket online or by phone.

Admission is free.^[1]

Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. The National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri was opened in 1926 as the Liberty Memorial. In 2004, it was designated by the United States Congress as the country's official war memorial and museum dedicated to World War I. It is managed by a non-profit organization in cooperation with the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners. The museum focuses on global events from the causes of World War I before 1914 through the 1918 armistice and 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Visitors enter the exhibit space within the 32,000-square-foot facility across a glass bridge above a field of 9,000 red poppies, each representing 1,000 combatant deaths.

The museum was temporarily closed in 1994 for renovations, and reopened in December 2006 with an expanded facility to exhibit an artifact collection that had begun in 1920.^[2]

Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. T-Mobile Center is a multi-purpose arena in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. It is located at the intersection of 14th Street and Grand Boulevard on the east side of the Power & Light District. The arena's naming rights partner is T-Mobile US, which completed a merger with Sprint Corporation in April 2020. The arena's name was officially changed on July 9, 2020, to reflect the brand’s change. T-Mobile’s second headquarters are in nearby Overland Park, Kansas.

T-Mobile Center opened on October 10, 2007, and a concert by Elton John held three days later was the arena's first event. The center is owned by the city of Kansas City, Missouri. The arena seats over 19,000 people and has 72 suites. T-Mobile Center has effectively replaced Kemper Arena, which was built in 1974 just a few miles away in the southern portion of the West Bottoms neighborhood, as the primary indoor arena in the city. Additionally, the College Basketball Experience, which includes the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, is connected to and directly north of T-Mobile Center.

T-Mobile Center hosted the Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament in 2008 and has done so every year since 2010. It also hosted the first and second rounds of the 2009 and 2013 NCAA Men's Tournaments, as well as the regional rounds of the 2017 NCAA Men's Tournament and the 2010 NCAA Women's Tournament; it also hosted a 2019 NCAA Men's Division I regional. The arena also was the home of the former Kansas City Command of the Arena Football League (AFL).

Since the arena's construction, various city officials of Kansas City have been in discussions with the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) about possible expansion or relocation of a professional hockey and/or basketball franchise for the arena; however, neither league has yet approved a team to play in T-Mobile Center.^[3]

Mall in Kansas City, Missouri. Ward Parkway Center, Ward Parkway Mall, or Ward Parkway Shopping Center is a shopping center located in Kansas City, Missouri on the Kansas/Missouri border line. The location surrounds the area on the North from 85th Terrace to 89th Street on the South and on the West from State Line Road to Ward Parkway on the East. Once a two floor mall with a food court it now has one floor with the first floor enclosed. The mall itself is currently in a redevelopment phase and has been in business since 1959. Former stores Sam Goody, Gap, T.G.I. Friday's, The Limited, and Winstead's. Ward Parkway Center is the location of the first modern movie multiplex, with its original two screens still operated by AMC Theatres. Originally a tiny two-screen theater located near Montgomery Ward, later expanded to the new complex.^[6]

Performing arts center in Kansas City, Missouri. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, at 16th and Broadway, near the Power & Light District, the T-Mobile Center and the Crossroads Arts District. Its construction was a major part of the ongoing redevelopment of downtown Kansas City.

The Center was created as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Unlike some other major civic construction projects, no taxpayer funds went into its construction. The City of Kansas City contributed to and operates a parking garage adjacent to the Kauffman Center.

It is the performance home to the Kansas City Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and the Kansas City Ballet which in the past performed at the Lyric Theatre, eight blocks north of the center. The Kauffman Center houses two unique performance venues: Muriel Kauffman Theatre and Helzberg Hall.

According to its website, the Kauffman Center's mission is "to enrich the lives of communities throughout the region, country and world by offering extraordinary and diverse performing arts experiences". Not only do notable performances take place almost weekly, but the Center is a place where the KC community comes together and celebrates the city's rich arts culture. The Kauffman Center seeks to fulfill this mission by offering a wide selection of performances, and also by offering specific programs to connect with the youth in the Kansas City area.^[9]

Sports venue in Kansas City, Missouri. The Barney Allis Plaza is a park located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri at the intersection of 12th Street and Wyandotte. It is named after the prominent Kansas City hotelier, and owner of the Standard Theater, Barney Allis.

From April 11 2006 until 2011, it was the home of the Kansas City Explorers, Kansas City's World TeamTennis. The Kansas City Sports Walk of Stars can be found on the edge of this park. The Walk was constructed in 1991, and the first three polished granite slabs bore the names of inductees George Brett, Len Dawson and Tom Watson. The Walk is officially recognized by the city, and has used its common-law trademark since 1993.

The park is sandwiched in between the Municipal Auditorium and the Marriott Hotel, just down the road from the Library District. The Kansas City Convention Center is also located to the West of the plaza.^[10]

Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Arrowhead Stadium is an American football stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. The stadium has been officially named GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium since March 2021, following a naming rights deal between GEHA and the Chiefs. The agreement began at the start of the 2021 season and ends in January 2031 with the expiration of the team's lease with the stadium's owner, the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority.

It is part of the Truman Sports Complex with adjacent Kauffman Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Arrowhead Stadium has a seating capacity of 76,416, making it the 27th-largest stadium in the United States and the sixth-largest NFL stadium. It is also the largest sports facility by capacity in the state of Missouri. A $375 million renovation was completed in 2010.^[11]

Wildlife habitats and interactive exhibits. The Kansas City Zoo is a 202-acre zoo founded in 1909. It is located in Swope Park at 6800 Zoo Drive Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States. The zoo has a Friends of the Zoo program. It is home to more than 1,300 animals and is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

In 2008, the Kansas City Zoo was voted to be one of America's best zoos. It was ranked number one in the nation for “African Animals and Exhibits,” with the authors, Allen W. Nyhuis and Jon Wassner, praising its 95-acre (38.4 ha) Africa exhibit as representing five nations with "one of the most extensive collections of African animals we’ve ever seen". The Zoo was also ranked among the top 10 in the nation for “Australian Animals and Exhibits” and for “Pachyderms: Elephants, Rhinos, Hippos”. In addition, the authors re-quoted famed ape expert Jane Goodall’s compliment that Kansas City has “one of the finest chimpanzee exhibits in North America”. “America’s Best Zoos 2008” ranks the Kansas City Zoo as the number one zoo in the nation for viewing both chimpanzees and kangaroos.^[13]

Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. The National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri was opened in 1926 as the Liberty Memorial. In 2004, it was designated by the United States Congress as the country's official war memorial and museum dedicated to World War I. It is managed by a non-profit organization in cooperation with the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners. The museum focuses on global events from the causes of World War I before 1914 through the 1918 armistice and 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Visitors enter the exhibit space within the 32,000-square-foot facility across a glass bridge above a field of 9,000 red poppies, each representing 1,000 combatant deaths.

The museum was temporarily closed in 1994 for renovations, and reopened in December 2006 with an expanded facility to exhibit an artifact collection that had begun in 1920.^[24]

Building. Shawnee Methodist Mission is also referred to as the Shawnee Mission today but is most appropriately called the Shawnee Indian Manual Labor Boarding School. In July 1830, Shawnee Tribal leadership formally requested that the US government make arrangements to establish a mission on tribal lands for childhood education. Day schools were then established by several Christian denominations, with the first Methodist school established by missionaries in 1830 in Turner, Kansas to educate children of the Shawnee tribe of Native Americans who had been removed to Kansas.

In June 1838, the Methodist Mission Society, led by Thomas Johnson, requested and received authorization and financial support from the U.S. government to build a large boarding school “mission,” consolidating the training of Indigenous children in manual trades from different tribes, thereby reducing costs through an economy of scale. In 1839, with approval of Shawnee leadership, Shawnee Indians and others labored to build and establish the school along with supporting infrastructure of almost 2000 acres in the heart of the Shawnee Reservation (currently in the City of Fairway in northeast Johnson County). A substantial portion of the construction costs were drawn from the Shawnee Tribe’s treaty funds. In addition, Shawnee treaty funds were used at this school to educate Shawnee children, even if they wanted to go to a different mission school on the tribe’s reservation. The site contained the three large buildings and thirteen smaller ones, with a maximum enrollment of nearly two hundred Indian boys and girls. Although the Shawnee Tribe was the only tribe that provided land for the school, the school was attended by children from all tribes in the region.

The Shawnee Indian Manual Labor Boarding School was one of the first residential boarding schools established in the territory acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. For 23 years (1839-1862) it functioned as a boarding school for numerous indigenous children until the federal government ultimately revoked the Methodists’ education contract due to heavy criticism regarding how the school was being administered. Designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1968, the Shawnee Methodist Mission is operated today as a museum. The site is administered by the Kansas Historical Society as the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site.

The Shawnee Indian Manual Labor Boarding School served briefly as the second capitol of the Kansas Territory, when the legislature was controlled by pro-slavery advocates, holding that designation from July 16 to August 7, 1855.

The Shawnee Methodist Mission is the origin of the Shawnee Mission name used by the United States Postal Service to refer to the Kansas City Metropolitan Area suburban communities in northeastern Johnson County. The Shawnee Mission School District serves those communities.^[31]

Park in Kansas City, Missouri. Penn Valley Park is an urban park overlooking the Downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

The 176-acre (0.71 km2) park was developed in 1904 on land through which the Santa Fe Trail had passed. It contains several famous landmarks: The Scout statue and the United States' official National World War I Museum and Memorial with its Liberty Memorial. The grounds also feature such commemorative statues as the Pioneer Mother Memorial and The Hiker.

The park has a large lake, a fitness trail, tennis courts and ball fields and is a popular spot for concerts and festivals during the summer months. Also features Kansas City's first off-leash dog park and is the host park to both the Penn Valley skatepark located in the southwestern corner of the park and the Just Off Broadway Theatre.

The Federal Reserve's new regional headquarters building is located just east of the park.^[34]