Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri (KC or KCMO) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by population and area. Most of the city lies within Jackson County, with portions spilling into Clay, Platte, and Cass counties. It is the central city of the Kansas City metropolitan area, which straddles the Missouri–Kansas state line and has a population of 2,392,035. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090, making it the 37th most-populous city in the United States, as well as the sixth-most populous city in the Midwest. Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a port on the Missouri River at its confluence with the Kansas River from the west. On June 1, 1850, the town of Kansas was incorporated; shortly after came the establishment of the Kansas Territory. Confusion between the two ensued, and the name Kansas City was assigned to distinguish them soon after. Sitting on Missouri's western boundary with Kansas, with Downtown near the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, the city encompasses about 319.03 square miles (826.3 km2), making it the 25th largest city by total area in the United States. It serves as one of the two county seats of Jackson County, along with the major satellite city of Independence. Other major suburbs include the Missouri cities of Blue Springs, Lee's Summit, Raytown, and Liberty; on the Kansas side of the metro area, major suburbs include the cities of Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa, and Kansas City, Kansas. The city is composed of several neighborhoods, including the River Market District in the north, the 18th and Vine District in the east, and the Country Club Plaza in the south. Celebrated cultural traditions include Kansas City jazz; theater, as a center of the Vaudevillian Orpheum circuit in the 1920s; the many fountains throughout the city that it was nicknamed the "City of Fountains"; the Chiefs and Royals sports franchises; and cuisine such as Kansas City–style barbecue and strip steak.

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