Quindaro Townsite Visioning
Kansas City, Kansas
In 1856, the Quindaro Townsite was established along the Kansas River as part of the movement to stop the westward spread of slavery. The town grew quickly with a large influx of migrants from the Eastern U.S., and many helped escaped slaves from Missouri as a ‘station’ on the Underground Railroad. Quindaro Townsite stood as a force for freedom, and then it was almost lost to history.
After years of population growth and decline, the town was absorbed into Kansas City, Kansas and the lower commercial townsite was eventually abandoned. An archaeological survey in the early 1980s uncovered significant artifacts from the original townsite. When an act of Congress designated the Quindaro Townsite National Commemorative Site in 2019, the National Park service started providing technical and financial assistance for both preservation and education.
Today, Vireo is working with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) to envision ways to preserve and share the history of the site. Visioning workshops, outreach efforts and site planning efforts are underway to examine how the site could be preserved and turned into an education destination with an interpretive center and trails on the property dotted with interpretive signage that tells the story.
