Is the Crossroads named so because...

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 3:56 pm

Southwest Blvd. messes up the grid streets and creates weirdo angular intersections. Specifically, it creates intersections of both north-south and east-west streets on its length. I swear, when I was walking and even driving down there I got all turned about.

Post by **bahua** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 3:57 pm

I don't know, but it needs a better name.

scooterj · Post by **scooterj** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 4:41 pm

I've always wondered that too. I once read it descriped as ''where the roads all cross paths'' but other than Southwest Blvd it's just the normal grid pattern. There are other places in KC where one road runs at an angle and they get no special name due to that fact.

Post by **dangerboy** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 5:20 pm

The name came from a "name that neighborhood" contest held by the Star a few years ago. This was back when the area was just beginning to see the first redevelopment, and the Star wanted a unique name for it separate from the other parts of downtown.

scooterj · Post by **scooterj** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 5:24 pm

dangerboy wrote:The name came from a "name that neighborhood" contest held by the Star a few years ago. This was back when the area was just beginning to see the first redevelopment, and the Star wanted a unique name for it separate from the other parts of downtown.

Well, it's better than the name I knew it by not too many years ago: "That Scary Empty Area of Abandoned Brick Buildings Between Crown Center and Downtown".

tat2kc · Post by **tat2kc** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 6:31 pm

Nothing at all wrong with the name Crossroads.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 7:00 pm

I thought it got it's name from all the rail lines that shot through there..

kcmajik · Post by **kcmajik** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 11:01 pm

it just always makes me think of Britney Spears! oh well, that's not a bad thing at all...lol. anyway it could also be called crossroads because all those streets were the way people would get to downtown back in the day when going to downtown was better than going to oak park for all those moms and pops that are in their 80's by now. my grandma told me that when she was a little girl, if you didn't ride the train you always came into downtown via Paseo or Southwest- so maybe this is like the meeting of those old roads or something. if it is, it took a hell of a long time to come up with a name.

Post by **chrizow** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 11:06 pm

since we're talking about the crossroads area, does anyone know if there is are "official" boundaries that define the area? if not, what do we think they are? and are they expanding?

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 11:22 pm

I think the boundaries of the Crossroads district of the KC downtown go from the south end of the loop to the tracks that run north of Union Station. East west boundaries would probably be I-35 and US71

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 3:17 am

KC is the closest to being right.

As early as 1928, Kansas City was being referred to by that name. An article was published in The New Republic magazine on May 16, 1928, entitled "Kansas City: Crossroads of the Continent" that was written by Shaemus O'Sheel.

The name caught on primarily because Kansas City was the second largest rail center, and near the geographic center of the country. During both world wars, most military personnel heading overseas traveled by train and came through Kansas City. In the days when trains were primary mode of traveling large distances, most people crossing the country from east to west and vice versa had to come through Union Station to continue on to where they were going. It was a major transfer point. That is why the railroads built such a large train station here. Only Grand Central and Penn Station in New York were larger.

As train travel declined, the city retained that designation because two primary interstate highways (I-70, I-35) going north and south, and east and west met up here. In two different eras, the train tracks and Union Station on the south, and the crossing interstates on the north defined the Crossroads District, so that was certainly an appropriate name to give it.

I found The New Republic article reference in the bibliography section of the KC Star Books "Union Station Kansas City" by Jeffrey Spivak.