Historical Background -
where it all started.The 49/63
Neighborhood Coalition was founded by a small but determined band of
concerned Kansas City residents in the fall of 1971. The group
came together during a time when property values were steadily declining
in the areas surrounding Kansas City's two universities - the University
of Missouri/Kansas City and Rockhurst College, now Rockhurst University.
The area was a mixture of single-family dwellings, businesses, and
multi-family dwellings - many of which were converted from what were
once single-family houses. The founders saw a need to help
stabilize their community by preventing further decline in property
values. They saw racial, cultural and economic diversity as
positive benefits of the area and wanted to maintain these core values
for future generations.
The only way to turn the tide, they realized,
was to organize.
With the help of dedicated Kansas City leaders,
the Coalition spearheaded the enactment of a city ordinance
rezoning the area bounded by 49th Street to the north, 63rd Street to
the south, the Paseo to the east and Oak Street to the west. This
zoning change to R1b mandated that any future usage of houses would be
for single-family dwelling use only. Those structures already
housing more than one family were allowed to maintain that multi-family
status via a grandfathering clause.
Papers of the 49/63 Neighborhood Coalition
are archived at the
Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of
Missouri/Columbia. Papers can be requested at the Kansas City
office of the WHMC, located on the campus of UMKC; ask for 49/63
Neighborhood Coalition Records (KC 061)
49/63 was the subject of a
December, 2006 article by Jeffrey Spivak of the Kansas City Star;
you can read the article here
in pdf format.
