ROYALS CITY

Kansas City is a city in Clay, Cass, Jackson, and Platte counties in Missouri. 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 the nation's largest in-city parks, comprising over one thousand acres (4 km²), and including 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 elm; Dutch elm disease was devastating to Kansas City, with almost all of its elms dying and replaced with a variety of other shade trees. Starting in 1915, with the city grown to 250,000 people, the city was run by one man, Tom Pendergast. He maintained control until 1940. The city also became a center for night life and music, with jazz by musicians such as Count Basie and blues (Kansas City blues) flourishing in areas such as 18th and Vine. Harry S. Truman, former U.S. president, was county judge of Jackson County, Missouri, 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. Kansas City has the following attractions; Kansas City ranks second in the world in number of fountains (160), exceeded only by Rome, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, 18th and Vine Historic District, Crown Center, Country Club Plaza, Kansas City's Union Station, now home to Science City, restaurants, shopping, and theaters, Liberty Memorial -- Only major World War I memorial in the United States, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Airline History Museum, Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City, Westport, Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun, Kansas City Zoo, Charlie Parker Memorial, at 17th Terrace and the Paseo. Kansas City Sports teams presently include the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League's American Conference Western Division; The Kansas City Royals, of Major League Baseball's American League Central; The Major League Soccer's Kansas City Wizards; the MISL's KC Comets; the American Basketball Association's Kansas City Knights; and the newly formed Kansas City Outlaws in the United Hockey League. The teams that called Kansas City home in the past are NBA's Kings, IHL's Blades, NHL's Scouts, and MLB's Athletics. Kansas city has it's fair share of famous people associated with it for various reasons, they are; Ed Asner, George Brett, Evan S. Connell, Chris Cooper, Walt Disney, Eddie Griffin, Joyce Hall, Jean Harlow, Ernest Hemingway, Lamar Hunt, Ewing Kauffman, General Richard B. Myers, Charlie Parker, Big Joe Turner, Smokey Joe Wood and Don Cheadle.