Columbus Park | Kansas City, MO

[BigKidD]

A few photos of a sleepy Columbus Park and the nearby River Market area in KCMO. Enjoy!

[Centropolis]

while i dont think columbus park should be like soulard, it could use some infill and corner commercial vitality, and really pick up a bit of foot traffic...its got the bones. nice shots.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Ha. I was just in the River Market area yesterday and took a bunch of pics. I'll post them within a few days.

[SLO]

Good stuff. I really enjoyed KC when I was there. Great downtown and awesome old neighborhoods.

[BigKidD]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

while i dont think columbus park should be like soulard, it could use some infill and corner commercial vitality, and really pick up a bit of foot traffic...its got the bones. nice shots.

Thanks. It's receiving some infill in the form of apartments and townhouses being constructed, but I didn't post a photo of it. Yet, that just adds more residents and very little retail is being built with it. I think more commercial spaces will continue to pop up, especially with the River Market down the street that is receiving a lot of construction. I wish KC had the corner commercial stores like St. Louis and in particular Soulard.

Ha. I was just in the River Market area yesterday and took a bunch of pics. I'll post them within a few days.

I would be interested in seeing them. I didn't set out to do an all encompassing photo tour, so there is plenty more I didn't capture. Hopefully you weren't out there when it was hot and humid like me.

Good stuff. I really enjoyed KC when I was there. Great downtown and awesome old neighborhoods.

Thanks. I'm optimistic about KC. It has good bones and it's finally being revitalized in areas that haven't seen much investment in the last few decades. I'm really looking forward to a streetcar extension down Main St. that will change a lot of the Midtown landscape for the better.

[Murphy de la Sucre]

How is the neighborhood? Is it safe? Were you on Sunday cuz I didn't see a single human being in any of your photos...spooky.

[hammersklavier]

Columbus Park does look sleepy!

Do you know anything about the history of the neighborhood? I could swear I spotted some rowhomes -- a very rare housing type in KC ...

[BigKidD]

How is the neighborhood? Is it safe? Were you on Sunday cuz I didn't see a single human being in any of your photos...spooky.

I'm sure the neighborhood hit a low point at some point in the past, but is steadily bringing in people with higher socioeconomic backgrounds. Columbus Park was in many ways the center of the Sicilian community of KC and was very much known as Little Italy. Over the years, much of that community moved to other places in the Metro, but Columbus Park received new immigrants in the form of people from Vietnam and other countries. It didn't feel unsafe and I believe very little crime occurs in the area since it's off the beaten path to say the least. It was a hot and humid afternoon on a Friday, so I'm sure only a few people were out. On the other hand, across downtown First Fridays was occurring, which had a lot of people...

Columbus Park does look sleepy!

Do you know anything about the history of the neighborhood? I could swear I spotted some rowhomes -- a very rare housing type in KC ...

Sleepy, but cool. Yes, rowhomes aren't too common in KC anymore. The ones that did exist are mostly gone now. I came across the following link regarding the establishment of a historic district there. If you download the link and head to page 14, it discusses the history of the neighborhood. I would post it here, but it's quite long.

http://dnr.mo.gov/shpo/nps-nr/07000007.pdf

[Wheelingman04]

Great set of photos! I love KC.