view of north end

The North End is oft called “Kansas City’s Melting Pot,” an historically working-class neighborhood adjacent to the meat-packing, stockyard and railroad crux that was the burly West Bottoms. An area of continuously-changing (as well as ever-intertwined) culture, the years have seen an influx of Vietnamese, African-Americans, Irish, Cuban, German and Italian immigrants, just to name a few. For thirty years, the North End was nicknamed “Little Italy” due to its heavy Italian population, mafia ties and flourishing Red Light District, courtesy of City Boss Tom Pendergast. Simultaneously, the North End was home to Kansas City’s first and only Jewish community until the 1930s. A more unfortunate nickname for the neighborhood? The “Dingy North End.” Today, the North End is better known as Columbus Park and evolving into a district of the artistic and creative-minded.