As we celebrate another biracial vice president, it’s worth remembering that history doesn’t just get made — it also gets rewritten and reclaimed.
In 1859, the first bridge to cross the Blue River at current-day Red Bridge Rd. was commissioned. Not only did this bridge change traffic along the Trails, but it was built by an infamous man in American history.
“Many of these persons, especially the jobless, would have no Christmas, I knew, unless the mayor made one possible for them.” – George M. Shelley, Mayor of Kansas City 1878-79
The fight to save this slice of our area’s past began in 1890 when Wyandot descendants were split in two. One courageous woman named Lyda Conley refused to be silenced.
In 1934, a middle-aged beauty shop manager vanished from sight after attending a labor meeting at 14th and Woodland in Kansas City. She was found dazed and confused hundreds of miles away, but the incident remains mysterious.