West Bottoms turns 100 and looks forward to next 100

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Historic West Bottoms Association is celebrating 100 years with Heritage Days that will bring numerous fun events to the neighborhood for the month of May.

Bruce Holloway with the association made the announcement while standing next to a 1924 Ford Model T outside the Oliver Building.

“We’ll have about 12 events throughout the month,” Holloway said. “Two of our biggest events will be the Stockyards Legends Dinner, which is Monday, May 6th, and the Missouri Valley Sunday series, which is the 19th – when the history of the West Bottoms will be featured.”

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas called the West Bottoms a neighborhood within a neighborhood.

“Another thing that we’ve talked about is a soon-to-come $500 million project that will begin to take shape this year,” Lucas said. “It’ll bring thousands of residents, office space, retail space, hotel rooms, and importantly – green space in addition to the land along the river.”

One of the exciting projects that is taking shape is the Rock Island Bridge entertainment district, which will bring food and adult beverages over the Missouri River between the stockyards district and KCK.

Developer Mike Zeller is heading up the project, which aims to open up this Summer, and of course, the West Bottoms will feed into that plan.

“The district is a pretty remarkable place, we all know it’s become a premier place to shop, and to dine, to even dance down here,” Zeller said. “Increasingly a place to build, to trade, to store, and to design. The West Bottoms is open for business.”

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