Kansas City, Missouri

===Pendergast era===
At the start of the 20th century, [[political machines]] gained clout in the city, with the one led by [[Tom Pendergast]] dominating the city by 1925. Several important buildings and structures were built during this time, including the [[Kansas City City Hall]] and the Jackson County Courthouse. During this time, he aided one of his nephew's friends, [[Harry S. Truman]], in a political career. Truman eventually became a senator, then vice president, then [[Presidency of Harry S. Truman|president]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=Jon |title=Harry Truman and the Pendergast Political Machine |url=https://pendergastkc.org/article/harry-truman-and-pendergast-political-machine |website=pendergastkc |date=June 16, 2017 |publisher=Kansas City Public Library |access-date=August 31, 2021 |archive-date=October 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010214303/https://pendergastkc.org/article/harry-truman-and-pendergast-political-machine |url-status=live }}</ref> The machine fell in 1939 when Pendergast, riddled with health problems, pleaded guilty to tax evasion after long federal investigations. His biographers have summed up his uniqueness:

{{blockquote|Pendergast may bear comparison to various big-city bosses, but his open alliance with hardened criminals, his cynical subversion of the democratic process, his monarchistic style of living, his increasingly insatiable gambling habit, his grasping for a business empire, and his promotion of Kansas City as a wide-open town with every kind of vice imaginable, combined with his professed compassion for the poor and very real role as city builder, made him bigger than life, difficult to characterize.<ref>{{cite book |author=Lawrence H. Larsen and Nancy J. Hulston |year=2013 |title=Pendergast! |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=n-Qiu53FCOsC|page=11}} |publisher=University of Missouri Press |page=xi}}</ref>}}

====Troost redlining and white flight====
[[Troost Avenue]] was once the eastern edge of Kansas City, Missouri and a residential corridor nicknamed Millionaire Row. It is now widely seen as one of the city's most prominent racial and economic dividing lines due to urban decay, which was caused by [[white flight]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://info.umkc.edu/unews/troost-wall-the-product-of-kansas-citys-long-running-racial-plight/|title='Troost Wall' the product of Kansas City's long-running racial plight: Racist real estate practices leave urban decay – University News|website=info.umkc.edu|date=March 5, 2013 |access-date=November 18, 2019|archive-date=May 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505031259/https://info.umkc.edu/unews/troost-wall-the-product-of-kansas-citys-long-running-racial-plight/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kcur.org/community/2014-03-27/how-troost-became-a-major-divide-in-kansas-city|title=How Troost Became a Major Divide in Kansas City|date=March 27, 2014 |publisher=KCUR 89.3 – NPR in Kansas City|access-date=April 19, 2020|archive-date=May 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505063331/https://www.kcur.org/community/2014-03-27/how-troost-became-a-major-divide-in-kansas-city|url-status=live}}</ref> During the civil rights era the city blocked people of color from moving to homes west of Troost Avenue, causing the areas east of Troost to have one of the worst murder rates in the country. This led to the dominating economic success of neighboring [[Johnson County, Kansas|Johnson County]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kansan.com/opinion/shondell-redlining-in-kansas-city-contributes-to-systemic-racism/article_2987f836-1779-11e8-afce-7fa966f3796e.html|title=Shondell: Redlining in Kansas City contributes to systemic racism|first=Joseph|last=Shondell|website=The University Daily Kansan|date=February 25, 2018 |access-date=November 18, 2019|archive-date=June 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623055156/https://www.kansan.com/opinion/shondell-redlining-in-kansas-city-contributes-to-systemic-racism/article_2987f836-1779-11e8-afce-7fa966f3796e.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1950, African Americans represented 12.2% of Kansas City's population.<ref name="U.S. Census Bureau"/> The city's most populous ethnic group, non-Hispanic whites,<ref name="census1">{{cite web|url=http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/29/2938000.html |title=Kansas City (city), Missouri |work=State & County QuickFacts |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date=April 20, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423160756/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/29/2938000.html |archive-date=April 23, 2012 }}</ref> declined from 89.5% in 1930 to 54.9% in 2010.<ref name="U.S. Census Bureau"/>

In 1940, the city had about 400,000 residents; by 2000, it had about 440,000. From 1940 to 1960, the city more than doubled its physical size, while increasing its population by only about 75,000. By 1970, the city covered approximately {{convert|316|sqmi|km2}}, more than five times its size in 1940.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}} Aggressively annexing the surrounding suburbs and undeveloped land spared Kansas City from the severe population loss suffered by cities like St. Louis and Detroit, similar cities which both lost over 50% of their population in the postwar era. In the most neglected neighborhoods, however, the same pattern of abandonment occurred and left behind massive numbers of vacant lots and abandoned homes, especially in the areas east of Troost.

====Hyatt Regency walkway collapse====
The [[Hyatt Regency walkway collapse]] was a major disaster that occurred on July 17, 1981, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200 others during a [[tea dance]] in the 45-story [[Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center|Hyatt Regency hotel]] in [[Crown Center]]. It is the deadliest structural collapse in US history other than the [[September 11 attacks]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://interestingengineering.com/understanding-hyatt-regency-walkway-collapse|title=Understanding the Tragic Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse|date=July 4, 2017|website=interestingengineering.com|access-date=November 18, 2019|archive-date=February 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227121238/https://interestingengineering.com/understanding-hyatt-regency-walkway-collapse|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2015 a memorial called the Skywalk Memorial Plaza was built for the families of the victims of the disaster, across the street from the hotel which is now a Sheraton.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kcur.org/community/2015-11-12/three-decades-on-a-memorial-for-the-victims-of-the-hyatt-disaster|title=Three Decades On, A Memorial For The Victims Of The Hyatt Disaster|date=November 12, 2015|website=KCUR 89.3 – NPR in Kansas City.|access-date=April 19, 2020|archive-date=May 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505031302/https://www.kcur.org/community/2015-11-12/three-decades-on-a-memorial-for-the-victims-of-the-hyatt-disaster|url-status=live}}</ref>