Kansas City’s efforts to host the World Cup go back all the way to 1988. Now the tournament is finally here, after four years of preparations that not only reshaped the metro’s infrastructure, but also solidified its identity as a true soccer city. How did we land such a big event, and are we ready?

Suzanne Hogan brings us the fourth installment of our mini-series on Kansas City’s soccer history.

This episode of A People's History of Kansas City was reported, produced, and mixed by Suzanne Hogan with editing by Mackenzie Martin and Gabe Rosenberg.

This is the final installment of a series leading up to the 2026 World Cup in collaboration with the Great Game Lab at Arizona State University, which explores how sport connects the us to the rest of the world, and the Us@250 Initiative at New America.

Read and listen to the first installment, "The immigrants who made us a soccer city," the second installment, "Lamar Hunt and the dream of U.S. soccer," and the third instsallment, "How women made the U.S. a soccer powerhouse."

If you know about a local champion of soccer in Kansas City who helped bring the city to this extraordinary moment, email us at [email protected]

Bluffs up to 120 feet tall once hugged the Missouri River by Kansas City — making it difficult to traverse the landscape and expand the growing town. So in the mid-1800s, a Catholic priest named Father Bernard Donnelly recruited hundreds of Irish immigrants for a dangerous but critical task: sculpting the city's streets from mountains of rock and mud. KCUR's Jacob Smollen reports. 

This episode of A People's History of Kansas City was reported, produced, and mixed by Jacob Smollen with editing by Suzanne Hogan, Mackenzie Martin and Gabe Rosenberg.

With the Current’s trailblazing stadium, women’s soccer staked its claim as a vital part of Kansas City’s local identity. The women’s game is a central reason why this city will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and why the United States gets taken seriously in soccer at all. 

But after more than a century of prejudice, unequal funding and outright bans, fans don't take this dominance for granted. KCUR’s Suzanne Hogan brings us the third installment of our mini-series on Kansas City’s soccer history.

This episode of A People's History of Kansas City was reported, produced, and mixed by Suzanne Hogan with editing by Mackenzie Martin and Gabe Rosenberg.

This is the third installment of a series leading up to the 2026 World Cup in collaboration with the Great Game Lab at Arizona State University, which explores how sport connects the us to the rest of the world, and the Us@250 Initiative at New America.

Read and listen to the first installment, "The immigrants who made us a soccer city," and the second installment, "Lamar Hunt and the dream of U.S. soccer."

If you know about a local champion of soccer in Kansas City who helped bring the city to this extraordinary moment, email us at [email protected]

Kansas City, Missouri, became the first major city in the country to repeal its anti-jaywalking ordinance, after research found that tickets were being disproportionately issued to Black men. It’s a full-circle moment, because Kansas City was also the first city to criminalize jaywalking more than a century earlier. Mackenzie Martin reports in the second of our two-part series.

This episode of A People's History of Kansas City was reported, produced, and mixed by Mackenzie Martin with editing by Suzanne Hogan and Gabe Rosenberg.

Kansas City was not only the birthplace of the term “jaywalking,” it also became the first city in the U.S. to arrest people for such a crime. Fueled by auto industry propaganda, this decision set off a nationwide trend to redesign our roads for the car — at the expense of everyone else. Mackenzie Martin reports in the first of our two-part series. 

Since 1956, Leila Cohoon had amassed the world’s largest collection of hair art and jewelry — intricate works made of human hair. Her museum in Independence, Missouri, was the only one of its kind. But when Cohoon died last year, the future of this Kansas City institution -- and the unusual tradition it preserved -- was suddenly an open question. Suzanne Hogan speaks to KCUR’s Julie Denesha to find the answer.

This episode of A People's History of Kansas City was reported by Suzanne Hogan and Julie Denesha, and produced and mixed by Jacob Smollen, with editing by Mackenzie Martin and Gabe Rosenberg.

Support this podcast by becoming a KCUR member!: https://kcurwebdonate.umkc.edu/alleg/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=F13SOCIAL&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=8cudlVFocLfjxn40cNGmMa1gzMC6uhq5nDjkJobrCdg%3d

As the United States prepares for the 2026 World Cup, it's hard to remember that professional soccer in this country once felt like an impossible dream. But one Kansas City businessman, better known as the founder of the Chiefs, was a steadfast believer.

From the failed attempts at a national league, through the creation of MLS and the very first U.S. soccer stadium — Lamar Hunt was there. Suzanne Hogan brings us the second installment of our mini-series on Kansas City’s soccer history.

This is the second installment of a series leading up to the 2026 World Cup in collaboration with the Great Game Lab at Arizona State University, which explores how sport connects the us to the rest of the world, and the Us@250 Initiative at New America.

Read and listen to the first installment, "The immigrants who made us a soccer city," here.

If you know about a local champion of soccer in Kansas City who helped bring the city to this extraordinary moment, email us at [email protected]

For decades, urban legends have held that tornadoes seem to “split” around certain cities, like Tonganoxie, Kansas, or avoid sacred places, like Burnett’s Mound in Topeka. Mackenzie Martin and Maya Cederlund investigate whether these weather myths are backed up by evidence -- or if they’re just stories we tell ourselves in the dark.

Support this podcast by becoming a KCUR member!: https://kcurwebdonate.umkc.edu/alleg/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=F13SOCIAL&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=8cudlVFocLfjxn40cNGmMa1gzMC6uhq5nDjkJobrCdg%3d

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Artist Luis Quintanilla fled Spain to escape fascism and civil war, but most of his work did not survive. Today, only two of his murals remain in the world, one of which sits in an otherwise ordinary corner on the campus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City. 85 years later, Quintanilla’s bizarre and enthralling masterpiece stands as a testament to immigrants, and a warning against authoritarianism. KCUR’s Nomin Ujiyediin reports.

Support this podcast by becoming a KCUR member!: https://kcurwebdonate.umkc.edu/alleg/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=F13SOCIAL&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=8cudlVFocLfjxn40cNGmMa1gzMC6uhq5nDjkJobrCdg%3d

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On a Friday morning in rural Kansas, the publisher of a tiny local newspaper hears a knock at the door. It’s the police — with a search warrant. Within minutes, they’re inside his home, seizing his electronics. At the same time, officers are raiding his newsroom, confiscating computers and phones. No subpoena. No warning. And, according to legal experts, no right to do it. The publisher scrambles to understand: Why is this happening? Who’s behind it? He has made some enemies over the years, in this town of just 2,000 people. And then something even more devastating happens. A tragedy that would make national news, and change his life forever. (This episode comes to us from the podcast Question Everything.)

Support this podcast by becoming a KCUR member!: https://kcurwebdonate.umkc.edu/alleg/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=F13SOCIAL&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=8cudlVFocLfjxn40cNGmMa1gzMC6uhq5nDjkJobrCdg%3d

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.