History

A elderly woman holds a match over a white candlestick. She's wearing a large amethyst ring. High schoolers watch in the background.

Chillicothe Remembers the Holocaust Through the Lives of its Survivors

By Mary Sanchez, Cami Koons | November 23, 2022

Chillicothe High School has staged a play preserving the story of Holocaust survivors George and Erika Mandler, who found a new home in the rural Missouri community.

Louise Graul, a recent nursing school graduate, arrived in South Vietnam in 1969. In 2015 this photo appeared on the cover of her book -- writing as Lou Eisenbrandt -- “Vietnam Nurse: Mending & Remembering.”

Veterans Who Write: Sharing Their Stories, Seeking Peace

By Brian Burnes | November 11, 2022

Many Kansas City area veterans have chosen to write – often several decades after the fact – stories about their military experiences. Here are their stories.

Tony Quiroga is a Kansas City veteran and former ice plant worker. His family's story is one of a handful about a small Mexican community nestled between the 42nd Street bridge and main rail line. (Ji Stribling | Flatland)

curiousKC | How Mexican Communities Kept KC Boxcars Cold

By Vicky Diaz-Camacho, Ji Stribling | October 10, 2022

This is the story of “La Hielera” aka “The Ice Plant,” the tiny Mexican community nestled behind the 42nd Street Bridge and Santa Fe Railroad main line.

A boy in a laundromat stares at the camera in a scene for the movie "Vie."

Art House | KC Filmmaker Vies to Share Black Perspective

By John G. McGrath | October 7, 2022

More diverse representation in local cinema comes through strongly in two compelling short films by DeVonte Brown, “Vie” and “Now What?”

Visitors to Elmwood Cemetery can examine thousands of grave markers and monuments.

Historic Elmwood Cemetery Honors Those Above and Below the Sod

By Brian Burnes | September 30, 2022

Kansas City’s historic Elmwood Cemetery’s 150th anniversary will be celebrated from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, at the cemetery at 4900 E. Truman Road.

This “land acknowledgment” sign at Second Presbyterian Church in Kansas City names the Indigenous tribes that consider the land on which the church sits as ancestral territory.

A Belated Lesson in the History of Indigenous People

By Bill Tammeus | September 25, 2022

People of faith are belatedly coming to grips with their troubled history with Indigenous People.

The exterior of the historic Central United Methodist Church.

Historic Central United Methodist Church Reflects on its Complex Past as it Prepares to Close

By Mary Sanchez | September 23, 2022

The historic Central United Methodist Church is reflecting on its complex past as it prepares to close. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection will reopen the church in December.

David McCullough (at right), when not in the Truman Library research room, would seek out then-living Harry Truman contemporaries across the Kansas City area for interviews.

Inside David McCullough’s Relationship with the Truman Library

By Brian Burnes | September 22, 2022

Here’s the inside story of how Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough helped raise the profile of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum.