18th and Vine- baseball and jazz!

A Tribute to Legends. That's the motto of the 18th and Vine district in Kansas City, Missouri. Back in the day, this part of the town was the heart of Kansas City culture. With the Southward expansion of the city, this area declined and sadly became somewhat deserted. In the last few years however, there has been a massive revitalization of the district, helping to revitalize a very important piece of Kansas City history.

As I travel across the country, I find that most people have no idea that Kansas City has a very rich history of Jazz. In fact, it is often said that Jazz was born in New Orleans, and grew up in Kansas City. Kansas City Jazz is often credited with marking the transition from the structured big band style to the musical improvisation style of Bebop in the 1930's. (taken from Wikipedia where you can read more about KC Jazz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_jazz). As you can see from the picture above, the Jazz Museum is even in Kansas City, located at the infamous 18th and Vine district. Across the street from the museum, you'll find the 100 year old Gem theater, famous for its annual American Jazz Museum’s national concert series, “Jammin’ at the Gem.”



In addition to Jazz, baseball played a very important role in this cultural epicenter. No, I'm not talking about the Kansas City Royals, keep your jokes to yourselves! I'm talking about the Kansas City Monarchs- the longest running franchise of baseball's Negro Leagues. Unlike the Royals, this team was good!! The Negro Leagues were founded in 1920 spearheaded by the Chicago American Giants owner Andrew "Rube" Foster. In fact, Foster an a few other Midwestern team owners had a meeting Kansas City's very own Paseo YMCA were the league was formed. While in the area last week, I took a photo of this building because I was struck by the architecture and superb condition of the building, along with the fabulous red fire escape. I had no idea that THIS was the place!


Soon after this meeting, other teams joined from the Eastern and Southern states. According to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum website, "The Leagues maintained a high level of professional skill and became centerpieces for economic development in many black communities." visit the website here: http://www.nlbm.com/s/history.htm. The Monarchs however, were the Negro Leagues version of the NBL's New York Yankees. According to Wikipedia: "The Monarchs won ten league championships before integration, and triumphed in the first Negro League World Series in 1924. After sending more players to the major leagues than any other Negro League franchise, the team was finally disbanded in 1965." Now why they couldn't have transferred that talent to the Royals is beyond me. I was glad however, to still see evidence of Monarch pride even today. As I was driving around the YMCA building to get a better photo, I found this mural on the other side:





How awesome is that! As a preservationist it was so fantastic to see this whole area revitalized. Most areas like this across the country are nothing but rubble and abandoned buildings. This area was so important to Kansas City's history, it's very heartening to see that people have cared enough about it to keep it going. But then, if you have this kind of backup, I guess anyone would do the same: "Under the rule of Mob Boss Tom Pendergast, the 1920s, 30s and 40s saw the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District as an epicenter of activity, often coined as the "Paris of the Plains." (taken from http://www.americanjazzmuseum.com/). Uh, yes, that's right, in addition to great baseball, jazz and bar-b-que, KC has a legacy of the mob, but that's an entirely different blog altogether.

Don't let that last fact scare you, they don't control so much in KC these days. If you are ever in the Kansas City area, don't miss a chance to visit 18th and Vine, the history is amazing!