What resulted is a 4-mile urban hike weaving throughout River Market, downtown, Quality Hill and the Crossroads neighborhoods. Hikers learned how the city was developed, historic bridges in Kansas City, the rise, fall and return of the streetcar system, bike advocacy efforts in the region and who helped build and shape the city.
In March, Urban Hikes KC offered the first Kansas City Transportation History Hike to a sold-out group, with WAY TO GO offering a discount to WAY TO GO app users. The two organizations offered another partnered hike in June, and today, Urban Hikes KC continues to offer the transportation hike monthly to the public. We caught up with Lisa Peña, the founder and owner of Urban Hikes KC, to learn more about the partnership.
What made you interested in adding a transportation history hike to one of your offerings and partnering with WAY TO GO?
I am a fan of public transportation and appreciate how it provides non-car options to get around. I knew that there was a deep public transportation history in Kansas City, but I didn’t know the specifics of it. I figured that if I didn’t know the details of our transportation history, many others don’t know it either, which makes it a great topic for an urban hike. Our Urban Hikes KC guide, Brittany Rees, was interested in working together to do the research and lead the hike, so I was all for it.
I was interested in partnering with WAY TO GO because I love what they do. Their mission to promote public transportation and ridesharing in a car-focused city is so important.
What was your favorite transportation history factoid you learned through developing the hike?
I love the story about Michael Tuite, aka Old Wide Awake. He was an important flagman who worked at 9th and Main, where the Vaughn Diamond Building was. This was a very busy intersection and they used “flagmen” as monitors to keep people safe. One flag man was Old Wide Awake. Old Wide Awake used his cane as an extension to keep people safe and in line. There is a story that he once saved Harry S. Truman’s mother’s life by keeping her from stepping in front of the streetcar.
What’s one lesson you think we can learn from our transportation past to apply to our future?
The Hannibal Bridge was the first bridge in the nation to cross the Missouri River. After it was built, there was tremendous growth in our city, which still impacts us today. However, the people who built the bridge were mostly immigrant and Black workers and their wages were so poor that many lived in a shanty area known as Hell’s Half Acre in the West Bottoms with filthy and unsafe living conditions.
The lesson that I hope we can take away from this is to truly value and recognize every person and provide employment opportunities with fair wages. Our city grew so much economically from this bridge, but the people who built the bridge were neglected in their wages. (Learn more about Hell’s Half Acre here.)
What are your dreams for the future of transportation in the region?
I hope that in the future, we’ll have 20 and 30 miles of streetcar connecting exterior communities to downtown. I hope to see a greenline trail built so that cyclists can use that to get from one part of the city to another or just use it for a leisure ride. I also hope to continue to see more protected bike lanes, a decrease in cyclists getting hit by cars and safer streets for all people to get around in the region.
To sign up for future History of Transportation History Hikes, visit Urban Hike KC’s website.
