Kansas City is the gateway city to the prairies located on the other side of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers. Once referred to as the “Paris of the Plains,” Kansas City provides a unique blend of mid western sensibility with Old World charm. Add into the mix some unique attractions, world-famous BBQ, and a Super Bowl caliber football team, and you have the makings of a very memorable vacation.
It is hard to define the city in a nutshell, but a good place to start is with its fountains. There are over 200 fountains spread across the city’s parks, boulevards, courtyards and public spaces, earning it the nickname, the “city of fountains.”
Some of the most impressive fountains are found in the Country Club Plaza, a 15 block outdoor shopping district that feels more like southern Spain than the plains. That is quite intentional, as it was built by a wealthy developer, JC Nichols, in the 1920s to resemble the iconic Moorish architecture of Seville, complete with a replica of the Seville Cathedral bell tower. Just beyond this district is the stunning, Spanish-mission style Church of the Visitation. JC Nichols was so impressed by the design of the church that he used it to market the residential development he was building nearby. The church has a monastic-style Blessed Sacrament chapel open throughout the day for prayer, as well as a separate rosary chapel lined with Peruvian religious art. Also in this neighborhood is Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. This free museum is found in a palatial setting and houses renowned works of European art. It also displays the “holy finger of Kansas City,” a reliquary believed to contain the finger of St. John the Baptist. This was acquired from the private collection of a German prince from Saxony.
In the downtown core, you will find the golden domed Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the seat of the Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph. It is located atop the site where the great Missouri missionary priest, Fr. Bernard Donnelly, built the city’s first brick church, dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Donnelly not only built the first brick church in Kansas City but was a true city builder in every sense of the word.
Fr. Donnelly was an engineer by training, who fled the potato famine in Ireland in 1847 to settle in the American frontier. After being ordained in St. Louis, he headed west, ultimately settling in KC, which at the time was hemmed in by bluffs making it near impossible to construct a city. Fr. Donnelly drew on his engineering knowledge to blast through the city’s bluffs and recruit a crew of over 300 Irish immigrant laborers from New York, Boston and elsewhere along the east coast to remove the bluffs and carve out the city streets prior to the Civil War. He remained active in his parish up until his death in 1880, opening schools and orphanages in the city.
In the immediate vicinity of the cathedral are some of Kansas City’s best known attractions, including the National World War I Museum and monument, and the historic 18th and Vine neighborhood which was the heart of the KC jazz scene, and where you can find the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The Power and Light District, a popular evening destination, is also nearby.
About three miles from the Cathedral is the beautiful church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, which is also the Divine Mercy Shrine in Kansas City. A stop at the church should be included in any itinerary for exploring downtown KC. Nearby is the free and fascinating money museum at the Kansas City Fed, where you can lift a gold bar, see Harry Truman’s coin collection and experience many interactive exhibits.
Also in close proximity to the Cathedral and the National World War I Museum, along Avenida Cesar Chavez, is the Sacred Heart of Guadalupe parish and Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe. The parish was formed in 1914 by two Carmelite refugees from Mexico who fled the persecution that followed the Mexican Revolution. The historic church remains vibrant to this day and houses a lovely shrine to the Patroness of the Americas.
A bit further afield, but well worth a visit given KC’s airline manufacturing heritage, is the Airline History Museum at the downtown Kansas City Airport. Also a short drive from downtown Kansas City is the town of Independence. The town was once the starting point of the Oregon Trail and will also forever be associated with President Harry Truman. You can visit the Truman home and the Truman Presidential Library, as well as the first Catholic church in the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, St. Mary’s.
Kansas City, Kansas
Crossing the Kansas River from downtown KC, you not only cross the state line, but you also leave the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and enter the Archdiocese of Kansas City. Here just a stone’s throw from the river is the historic St. John the Baptist Church. It is the Croatian parish of the region and its interior is like walking into a southern European country parish. Adjoining it is the Strawberry Hill museum, which is a mansion that was converted into an orphanage run by sisters attached to the parish. It is open to the public as a museum, which offers a rare glimpse of life inside a Catholic orphanage. There is also a shrine to St. John Paul II inside the museum, with a number of second class relics from his time traveling the United States aboard “Shepherd One.” Kansas City was the world headquarters for TWA and it was a TWA plane that JP II used for his early travels across the United States.
Now firmly on the Kansas side of the border, it is time to venture deeper into the heart of the plains states to meet some exemplary Catholic heroes. Click here to discover some fascinating Catholic road trips across the prairies.
CATHOLIC CONCIERGE 
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