| Fun Facts Question 1: What "barbeque lingo" will help you enjoy Kansas City’s bill-of-fare? Answer: According to the Kansas City Barbeque Society, when it comes to lip-smackin', finger-lickin', chin-dribblin', literally rib-stickin' barbecue, Kansas City holds its own! The Carolinas can rightfully claim to be the cradle of American barbecue, and Texas is by far the brisket capital of the world. But Kansas City brings it all together with more than 90 barbecue eating places – from tiny eateries to full-blown, nothing-but-barbecue restaurants. Here are a few local expressions that may come in handy when ordering:
To learn more, visit: www.experiencekc.com/barbeque.html Question 2: Where did Baseball Hall of Famers' Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige begin their baseball careers? Answer: The Kansas City Monarchs was the premiere Negro Leagues baseball team that featured Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson. When in Kansas City, baseball fans can visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum where these famous ball players are featured. It was conceived as a museum to tell the complete story of Negro Leagues Baseball, from the average players to the superstars, and is an important part of the Kansas City’s museum complex. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is located in the city’s historic 18th & Vine district.
Workforce Innovations attendees will have the opportunity to visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum during the "Regional Rhythms" reception at the American Jazz Museum/Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, held Wednesday evening, July 18.
Question 3: Where do Workforce Innovations participants go "When They Care Enough to Send the Very Best?" Answer: Kansas City is the home of Hallmark Cards, Inc., the personal expression industry leader of greeting cards. The company was founded in 1910 by Joyce C. Hall (1891-1982), who established the Hallmark brand's reputation for "quality through uncompromising attention to detail" and, since 1944, through the slogan "When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best."
For special exhibits and tour information, visit: http://www.hallmarkvisitorscenter.com/?CFID=2017170&CFTOKEN=90977929
Question 4: What do President Truman and Workforce Innovations 2007 have in common? Answer: The Muehlebach Hotel is now known as the Muehlebach Tower of Marriott, and is part of the Marriott Kansas City Downtown, one of Workforce Innovation’s host hotels. Its Presidential Suite was often used by President Harry S. Truman. Known as "The Penthouse," the suite served as Truman's headquarters in Kansas City from the time of his vice presidential campaign in 1944 until he left the presidency in 1953. November 1-3, 1948, brought probably the most exciting times the room has ever known when Truman was elected President in his own right while headquartering his campaign at the Muehlebach. The Presidential Suite was also a famous place to stay before and after Truman's time. Every President from Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan has stayed in, or at least spent some time in, the suite (a few of them before or after their presidency).
To make your reservations at the Marriott Kansas City Downtown (which includes the Muehlebach Tower), contact the Workforce Innovations Customer Service Department at (888) 643-1119 or visit www.WorkforceInnovations.org/travel/cfm.
Question 5: Where can Workforce Innovations participants get their food delivered to their table by train? Answer: Fritz’s Railroad Restaurant – located at the Crown Center, a shopping and eating destination located 12 blocks south from the Convention Center – delivers your breakfast, lunch, or dinner by electric train! To learn more, visit: www.fritzsrailroadrestaurant.com/index.html Railroad fans can also check out the KC Rail Experience Museum at nearby Union Station, which is also home to unique restaurants and shops. And just like in 1914, when Union Station was built, you can still catch a train there!
To learn more, visit: www.unionstation.org.
Question 6: For Civil War aficionados, where did the “Gettysburg of Missouri” take place? Answer: Kansas City's Westport area, which is now a colorful tapestry of unique restaurants, boutiques and night spots interwoven with remnants of the area's historical past, was also a key location of the Battle of Westport, sometimes referred to as the "Gettysburg of Missouri.” Under the leadership of Major General Samuel C. Curtis, U.S. Army forces defeated an outnumbered Confederate Army. The conflict, fought on October 23, 1864, was declared a turning point in the South’s attempt to take over Missouri.
To learn more, visit: Question 7: What unique destination will World War I buffs find under Kansas City’s Liberty Memorial? Answer: On Dec. 2, 2006, the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial debuted as the first and only American, national museum dedicated to the "Great War." Housed beneath the existing Liberty Memorial, the 30,000-square-foot museum features more than 49,000 artifacts. The museum contains the world's second largest WWI collection; you’ll have to go to Britain's Imperial War Museum to find a larger collection. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday thru Sunday. The Liberty Memorial itself is America's National World War I Memorial. On September 21, 2006, Secretary of the Interior declared it a National Historic Landmark. The Memorial was dedicated on November 11, 1926 by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge.
To learn more visit: Question 8: Where did Ernest Hemingway’s rise to literary fame begin? Answer: Ernest Miller Hemingway was 18 years old when he walked into the newsroom of The Kansas City Star and began his writing career. Straight out of high school from Oak Park, Illinois, Hemingway pounded the streets as a cub reporter at the newspaper for six and a half months, from October 1917 to April 1918. With World War I in progress, he then joined the Red Cross ambulance service, headed for the front in Italy, was seriously wounded, fell in and out of love, and willed himself into becoming a literary giant.
To learn more, visit: www.kcstar.com/hemingway/, Question 9: Where was Mickey Mouse’s first home? Answer: Did you know that Kansas City is the original home of Mickey Mouse? He lived at the Laugh-O-Gram Studio, a film company that, started by Walt Disney, that was located on the second floor of the McConahay Building at 1127 East 31st. Diseny launched the venture in 1922 with $15,000 and got an $11,000 contract to produce six cartoons for Pictorial Clubs, Inc. But Laugh-O-Gram Studio had problems making ends meet and by the end of 1922, Walt Disney was living in his office and taking baths once a week at the local train station. Disney told interviewers later that he was inspired to draw Mickey by a tame mouse that lived on his desk at the Kansas City studio.
To learn more, visit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laugh-O-Gram_Studio
Question 10: What did Jesse James do "at the fair?" Answer: During the heyday of Jesse James’s career as an outlaw, he and his gang staged a notorious raid on the Kansas City Fairgrounds located just south of 12th Street between Campbell and Tracy Streets. James also resided in Kansas City for a time with his wife, under an alias, in a home near 10th and Troost Street. Jesse James was killed in St. Joseph, Missouri, on April 3, 1882, by a young member of his own band seeking reward money.
To learn more, visit: Question 11: What career transition did Harry Truman make before he became President of the United States? Answer: In 1919’s downtown Kansas City, MO, Harry Truman and Eddie Jacobson opened a haberdashery – a clothing store where men could buy “Van Heusen” collars and other accessories. They rented their 18 by 48 foot store, one of five store fronts on the ground floor of the newly renovated Glennon Hotel, for $350 a month. Truman and Jacobson, whose business was probably never very strong, failed after about three years during the economic downturn of 1921.
To learn more, visit: Question 12: Where is the nation’s first suburban shopping district? Answer: Located in Kansas City, The Country Club Plaza is an outdoor museum of romantic Spanish architecture and European art that was designed in 1922 as the nation's first suburban shopping district. Since then, its open-air public art gallery has continuously added to its collection, with fountains, sculptures, and murals that bring to the heart of Kansas City the best of the Old World and new. The Country Club Plaza’s popularity and reputation has been recognized around the country. The entire 15-block district, with more than 150 shops and dozens of fine restaurants, makes The Country Club Plaza Kansas City’s premier retail, dining, and entertainment destination.
To learn more, visit: Question 13: What do Rome and Kansas City have in common? Answer: Kansas City’s striking landscape includes wide boulevards, beautiful parks, some fantastic architecture and more than 200 fountains – second only to Rome!
To learn more, visit: www.kcfountains.org
Question 14: Where can you see a NASCAR race and enjoy great food and outlets at the same time? Answer: In neighboring Kansas City, Kansas, you’ll find the Village West retail and entertainment area, located next to Kansas Speedway. The Legends at Village West, which is an outdoor entertainment center, offers specialty stores and unique retail, entertainment, and dining venues. Peak into the Great Wolf Lodge and Chateau Avalon for unique lodging experiences.
To learn more, visit: Question 15: Where can you touch history at Union Station? Answer: Curiosity drives many people to search for the notorious Union Station bullet holes, more than 70 years after the crime that created them. Found right outside the east entrance, the bullet holes were the result of a 1933 shoot-out between outlaws who were attempting to free convicted murderer Frank Nash, and the police who had Nash in their custody. At the time – June 17, 1933 – much of the nation was enamored with the bandits who roamed the Midwest, robbing banks and staging daring jail breaks. Often the media glamorized these gangsters' exploits. That all changed on that sunny spring morning in Kansas City when a hail of bullets killed four law officers, as well as Nash. The indiscriminate shooting in such a bustling place outraged the public and J. Edgar Hoover, the leader of a then relatively small federal agency, used the "Union Station Massacre" as a catalyst to build what would become the modern FBI.
To learn more go to:
|