About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges of expanding Kansas City in the mid-1800s and the efforts of Father Bernard Donnelly and Irish immigrants to carve streets from limestone.

Bluffs up to 120 feet tall once hugged the Missouri River by Kansas City — making it difficult to traverse the landscape and expand the growing town. So in the mid-1800s, a Catholic priest named Father Bernard Donnelly recruited hundreds of Irish immigrants for a dangerous but critical task: sculpting the city's streets from mountains of rock and mud. KCUR's Jacob Smollen reports.

People in this episode

Host: Jacob Smollen

Topics covered

• Kansas City history
• Irish immigrants
• urban development
• limestone quarrying
• 19th century

Keywords

• Kansas City
• Father Bernard Donnelly
• Irish immigrants
• limestone
• urban expansion
• Missouri River
• 19th century

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Kansas City, Missouri River, Irish

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