Historic Kansas City Foundation offers a variety of walking tours
featuring Kansas City’s diverse architecture. The guided tours
are designed to enhance the public’s awareness and appreciation
of Kansas City’s historic and architectural legacy. Tour leaders
are trained volunteers and the tours last from 1 to 1 1/2 hours. To
enjoy your tour it is suggested that you wear comfortable shoes and
dress for the weather. Some of the tours are adaptable for van or bus
tours and specialized tours can be arranged. A contribution for each
group supports our Outreach Program. To schedule a group tour, call
816-931-8448 or email Tours.
Art Deco Downtown
The
popularity of this modern style coincided with Kansas City’s
building boom from 1925-1933. You’ll see a wealth of buildings in
the Art Deco style unique to Kansas City.
Civic Center
See Kansas
City’s Art Deco city hall and county courthouse, built when Harry
Truman was county administrative judge. Other historic public buildings
such as the old library, St. Patrick’s Catholic and St.
Mary’s Episcopal churches are included in this tour of the
downtown’s east side.
Country Club Plaza
Walk among the
fountains and art that showcase this exclusive shopping district.
Designed by Edward Buehler Delk as the first planned shopping center in
the United States, the Plaza reflects the architecture of the
Mediterranean region.
18th & Vine
Walk through the
home of Kansas City jazz and the Negro Baseball Leagues. The tour
includes the sites of clubs where Charlie Parker and Count Basie played.
See the Mutual Musicians Foundation, the city’s only National
Landmark, where jazz and blues musicians still gather for daily jam
sessions.
Garment District/Ninth Street
A burgeoning commercial area since the 1870s, this district boasts nearly
unaltered streetscapes, monumentally proportional commercial and
industrial buildings, elegant late 1880s hotels and banking houses.
Today it is a popular spot for urban dwellers and a thriving
nightlife.
Northeast/Kansas City Museum
Neighborhood
Gracious homes along Gladstone and Benton
boulevards date from 1880-1911. A show place in this exclusive
neighborhood is the mansion of lumber baron, A.R. Long.
Quality Hill
Explore Kansas
City’s first exclusive neighborhood of homes dating from 1865 and
hotels of the 1890s. The walk through this National Register district
focuses on the adaptive reuse of many historic buildings.
River Market
From the original
Town of Kansas to today’s City Market and loft apartments,
we’ll show you where it all began and where the action is
today.
Union Cemetery/Dutch Hill
Located
near the Crown Center complex, Union Cemetery is the last resting place
for many of Kansas City’s founders, Civil War casualties and
veterans of the Revolutionary War. The adjacent urban neighborhood
reflects the heritage of German immigrants who built homes here in the
1890s. “Dutch Hill”s features a variety of structures from
Queen Anne Victorian to various interpretations of the Kansas City
“shirtwaist” style.
Westport
Founded in the 1830s,
the town of Westport was one of the major gateways to the trails west.
You will see homes and commercial buildings dating from 1850 and learn
of the early days of this unique shopping and entertainment district.
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Programs 
