View source for Prospect Avenue (Kansas City, Missouri)

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Short description|Major street in Kansas City, Missouri, United States}}
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| caption                 = A north view of Prospect Avenue from 48th Street in 1947. During the mid-20th century, Prospect was a booming commercial center for the [[East Side, Kansas City|Kansas City East Side]].<ref name=bloom>{{cite news|last= Knox|first= Rom|date= 2017-05-02|title= Can Kansas City Come Together?|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-02/kansas-city-s-tax-initiative-targets-east-side-blight |work= Bloomberg News|location= New York, NY|access-date= August 13, 2023}}</ref>
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| north                   = E Reservoir Drive
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| known_for               = [[Racism in the United States|Racist dividing line]], [[King assassination riots]]<ref name=riots>{{Cite web |url=https://kclibrary.org/signature-events/strife-streets-kansas-city-remembers-1968 |title=Strife in the Streets: Kansas City Remembers 1968 |access-date=August 13, 2023|website=Kansas City Public Library|date=2018-03-26}}</ref>
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'''Prospect Avenue''' is one of the major north-south streets in [[Kansas City, Missouri]] and the [[Kansas City metropolitan area]]. It begins in the north at E Reservoir Drive in the [[Pendleton Heights, Kansas City|Pendleton Heights]] neighborhood of the Historic Northeast and stretches south for 10.5 miles to its southern terminus at Blue River Road. It runs closely parallel to [[U.S. Route 71]] from Swope Parkway to 75th Street.
==History==
Segregation, [[Jim Crow laws]], and [[redlining]] kept Black Kansas Citians east of [[Troost Avenue]] for much of the mid-20th century. Prospect became one of the main commercial thoroughfares of the East Side during the 1950s and 1960s, providing the entertainment that the African-American community was barred from in locations such as [[Westport, Kansas City, Missouri|Westport]], the River Quay, and the [[Country Club Plaza]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.kclibrary.org/event/joelouis-mattox-when-prospect-avenue-was-main-street |title=Joelouis Mattox - When Prospect Avenue Was Main Street |access-date=August 13, 2023|website=Kansas City Public Library|date=2012-07-30}}</ref> Decades of municipal disinvestment caught up in the late 20th century, leading the one-time hub of neighborhood businesses and commercial activity to become a corridor of blight and decay.<ref name="bloom"/><ref name=5008p>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bhcsmo.org/pdf/5008ProjectBrief.pdf |title=5008 Prospect |access-date=July 12, 2023 |archive-date=May 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513011526/http://www.bhcsmo.org/pdf/5008ProjectBrief.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Similar to revitalization projects across the East Side (such as those on Troost Avenue and [[The Paseo (Kansas City)|The Paseo]], grassroots organizations have championed efforts since the 2010s to make the Prospect Corridor safer and attract investment to boost development.<ref name="bloom"/><ref name="5008p"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Montgomery |first= Rick|date= 2014-04-25|title=Effort begins to make Kansas City's Prospect Avenue corridor safer |url=https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article19492962.html |work= The Kansas City Star|location= Kansas City, MO |access-date=August 13, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Hardy |first= Kevin|date= November 18, 2019|title='We're booming.' How $150M from Kansas City has boosted development on Prospect Ave. |url= https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/development/article237254784.html|work= The Kansas City Star|location= Kansas City, MO|access-date=August 13, 2023}}</ref>
Prospect Avenue played a pivotal role in [[1968 Kansas City, Missouri, riot|Kansas City's response]] to the [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.|assassination]] of [[Civil rights movement|civil rights]] activist [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] in April 1968. As a result, a three-block area of Prospect Avenue near E 31st Street was burned down.<ref>{{cite news | title=1968 Kansas city Race Riots: Then & Now | work= KSHB41 | first=Wall | last= Dia | date= April 4, 2018 | url=https://www.kshb.com/longform/1968-kansas-city-race-riots-then-now | access-date=August 14, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite report |author=Mayor's Commission on Civil Disorders |date=1968-08-15|title=Final Report |url=https://mediaassets.kshb.com/pdf/Final%20Report%20Mayor's%20Commission%20on%20Civil%20Disorde.pdf |publisher= City of Kansas City, MO|access-date= August 14, 2023}}</ref><ref> {{cite news |last= |first= |date=1968-04-10 |title=Rioting in City Takes Five Lives |url=http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/files/Riots_page1.jpg |url-status=dead|work=The Kansas City Star |location= Kansas City, MO|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111220103012/http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/files/Riots_page1.jpg|access-date=August 13, 2023|archive-date= December 20, 2011}}</ref>
As part of the 50-year transition to the South Midtown Freeway, US Route 71 was moved [[Concurrency (roads)|concurrent]] to Prospect Avenue in 1968, between [[Interstate 70]] and 77th Street.<ref name=MSHC68>{{cite map |author = Missouri State Highway Commission|title = Missouri 1968 Official Highway Map |year = 1968 |url = https://www.modot.org/sites/default/files/documents/1968_back%5B1%5D.pdf|series = Missouri Highway Map|inset =Kansas City Area |location = Jefferson City, MO|format = PDF|access-date = August 13, 2023 }}</ref> Route 71 was then slowly built onto the Freeway, with Prospect Avenue slowly losing the designation from the south through the Freeway's completion in 2001.<ref>{{cite news | title=Highway 71 And The Road To Compromise | work= KCUR - Kansas City news and NPR | first=Suzanne | last= Hogan | date= June 3, 2014 | url=https://www.kcur.org/community/2014-06-03/highway-71-and-the-road-to-compromise | access-date=August 13, 2023}}</ref><ref name=MSHC01>{{cite map |author = Missouri Department of Transportation|author-link=Missouri Department of Transportation|title = Missouri Official Highway Map 2001-2002|year = 2001|url = https://www.modot.org/sites/default/files/documents/2001_2002_front%5B1%5D.pdf|series = Missouri Highway Map|inset =Kansas City Area |location = Jefferson City, MO|format = PDF|access-date = August 13, 2023 }}</ref>
==Points of interest==
* Kessler Park, located at Prospect Avenue's northern terminus
* The historic [[18th and Vine]] neighborhood, located along Prospect avenue between E Truman Road and E 18th Street
* [[KIPP (organization)|KIPP: KC Endeavor Academy]] is located at E 18th Street and Prospect Avenue
* [[Kansas City Police Department|Kansas City Police Department - East Patrol]], headquartered at 2640 Prospect Avenue
* [[Kansas City Public Library|Lucile H. Bluford Library]], located at 3050 Prospect
* [[Brush Creek (Missouri River)|Brush Creek]], located along Prospect Avenue between [[Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard]] and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
* [[Research Medical Center]], located at 2316 Meyer Boulevard, facing Prospect Avenue between E 63rd Street and E Meyer Boulevard
* [[Blue River (Missouri River tributary)|Blue River]], located at Prospect Avenue's southern terminus
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
* [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=KC&p_theme=kc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAF43686183272F&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Cardboard buildings, concrete dreams Residents along Prospect Avenue erect a sprawling model of the ideal neighborhood | The Kansas City Star.]
* [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=KC&p_theme=kc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=102AD62A8A318DB0&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Prospect Avenue corridor effort begins | The Kansas City Star.]
[[Category:Streets in Kansas City, Missouri]]
[[Category:Transportation in Kansas City, Missouri]]