On Finding the West Bottoms
FEBRUARY 9, 2024
Crossing the Kansas river from the West I arrived at the Central Avenue bridge. Originally build in 1918, this bridge was rebuilt with a second level in 1984. It's currently closed, the bottom level — and steel portion — permanently. The steel and concrete trusses are tattooed with graffiti from travelers and artists, each marking their own visions of the world for remembrance. A hat and travel cameras were previous left here as an offering to the gods of bridges and art.
East of here is the norther portion of the West Bottoms.
An early campsite of the Lewis and Clark expedition, at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers. The original railroads ran through this land to carry manufactured goods and livestock into and out from the heart of America as an artery. Trains still run here as the Union Pacific continues their travels across the land, but the buildings have changed. Once a nexus of manufacturing and cattle trade, the West Bottoms now houses artists and creatives.
A great flood in 1903, the worst experienced by the Kansas City region, caused significant damage to the West Bottoms. Flood water rose up to twelve feet in this district and submerged the livestock and manufacturing facilities. Rail cars carrying "slack lime" (or "quicklime"), a common name for the chemical Calcium Oxide —used for construction and agricultural purposes— caught fire in a devastating exothermic reaction with the flood waters. These fires continued unabated as firefighters could not reach the locations due to the tremendous flooding. More than 23,000 homes were destroyed including the homes of the workers of the West Bottoms.
These workers were primarily immigrants from Eastern Europe, and with little means after the floods, packed what lumber they could carry and walked up the strawberry-covered hills to the West of the Kansas River and rebuilt their lives. Due to limited resources of land and materials, the district that developed was populated with very small and tightly packed homes and businesses. They named this area Strawberry Hill. Today it still stands overlooking Kansas City from the West with views of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, the West Bottoms, the Lewis and Clark expedition campsite, and Interstate 70.