Quote:
Originally Posted by xzmattzx
Nice pictures. I like the view of Downtown Kansas City Kansas! Do you happen to know why the Middouri side flourished into the big city, and the Kansas side is smaller?
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I can answer that!
Take a look at
this map. Kansas City developed at a natural landing on the Missouri River, where the bluff isn't quite as steep. Just to its west, there's a highly defensible point with
commanding vistas along the Missouri and up the Kaw river valleys. It's an excellent site to build a city.
While Kansas City, KS, is closer to the Kaw's mouth than KCMO, its site isn't as optimal. Its bluff is much steeper, and it doesn't have quite the natural defensibleness KCMO has -- while it's arguable the Missouri River viewshed, especially downstream, is superior, its Kaw River viewshed is much curtailed due to the way the latter river turns north just before emptying into the Missouri. And -- unlike KCMO, which has a relatively gentle hillside between the bluffs -- KCKS just doesn't have a particularly good natural landing; the Missouri is on the far side of its alluvial valley at that point.
That's basically the ca. 1840s logic that put KC on the MO side rather than the KS one, and by the time tech levels passed that, KCMO was already off to the races as the region's main center.