Kansas City, This is the History Question We’re Digging Into

This story has been updated to include voting round results.

Kansas Citians love their barbecue. But curiousKC has revealed something else: We also have an insatiable appetite for local history.

So after combing through tons of questions submitted to us, we narrowed it down to three different topics: early TV, wagons and animals. It was on you to decide, folks, and now we have our winner.

This voting round lasted one month, and your votes determined what we’ll uncover next: Kansas City’s development along the Westport wagon trails!

We welcome any tips or suggestions that could help us tell the story even better.

“Where is the cast of ’41 Treehouse Lane’ now?” – 14 votes

While we couldn’t reach the person who asked the question, there was enough intrigue about the nostalgic local kids’ show that we decided to put it to a vote.

“How did Kansas City develop along the wagon trails leading into Westport?” – 89

After Gary Jenkins gave the expert take on Villa Capri’s mob history, he wrote us this question. Why? Because, he said, “I learned a lot about the trails, and I noticed that streets like Westport Road were not exactly straight. I figured that was because it was once a horse and wagon trail.”

Jenkins was also once a volunteer who took groups of visually-impaired teenagers on a two-week camping trip along the Oregon or Santa Fe routes.

“What happened to the animal sculptures at The Landing shopping mall on Troost?” – 54

For those who were children in the 1950s and ‘60s, the animal sculptures at The Landing shopping mall spark fond memories. Though we couldn’t contact the person who sent this in, the question got a few of our folks in the newsroom chatting about what kinds of animals there were and what happened to them.

This post has been updated to clarify Jenkins’ communications.