POPULATION: 1,519,417 (urban), 2,071,133 (metro) | TIME ZONE: Central | CLIMATE: Humid continental (four distinct seasons, moderate precipitation, hot summers, cold winters, potential for extreme hot and cold swings year round, and is on the edge of Tornado Alley)
Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont. A big, fancy name for a French guy who became an illegal fur trader. He was the first European to explore the lower Missouri River, and the first visitor to Kansas City. The French commander during a Native American attack on Fort Détroit, he deserted his post and went on the lam from French authorities with his Native American wife, becoming an illegal fur trader. To help clear his name as a deserter, he wrote a report on how to best exploit the area. He described the junction of the Missouri River and the "Grande Rivière des Cansez." A Franco phoneticization of the Native American name Kansa (which has many, many alternate spellings), Cansez ended up on the first maps, and later Kansez. When Lewis and Clark visited, they pointed out that it was a good place to build a fort. When a group of investors anglicized the name to Kansas, formed the Kansas Town Company and began settling the area, the name was a lock.
NICKNAME(S)
Kansas side
KCHeart of America
Missouri side
City of Fountains
Jazz Capital of the World
Paris of the Plains
MOTTO(S)
Ad Astra Per Aspera (To The Stars Through Difficulty)
RANDOM SONG ABOUT THE CITY
Kansas City (Here I Come), by Leiber & Stoller
PRO SPORTS TEAMS
Kansas City Chiefs (NFL)
Kansas City Royals (MLB)
Sporting Kansas City (MLS)
Swope Park Rangers (MLS)
FC Kansas City (NWSL)
Missouri Mavericks (ECHL)
Missouri Comets (MASL)
Kansas City Blues (USA Rugby Division 1)
Kansas City Storm (WTFA)
ALSO KNOWN FOR...
Barbecue
Blues
Jazz
Most barbecue restaurants per capita in the U.S.
Lamar’s Donuts, rated #1 by cops
Birthplace of the McDonald’s Happy Meal
The National World War I Museum
Laugh-O-Gram Studio, Walt Disney’s first animation company
Country Club Plaza, the nation's first shopping center
Hallmark Cards
Negro Leagues Kansas City Monarchs, for which Jackie Robinson was shortstop
Don Cheadle, Jean Harlow, Misty Copeland, Charlie Parker, Ed Asner, Burt Bacharach, Robert Altman, Count Basie, Walt Disney, Joan Crawford