Kansas City, Kansas in the context of "Recovering from Religion"

The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its fourteen counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (nine counties) and Kansas (five counties). The 8,472 square miles (21,940 km) 2024 estimated census calculated a population of more than 2.2 million people, it is the second-largest metropolitan area centered in Missouri (after Greater St. Louis) and is the largest metropolitan area in Kansas, though Wichita is the largest metropolitan area centered in Kansas. Alongside Kansas City, Missouri, these are the suburbs with populations above 100,000: Overland Park, Kansas; Kansas City, Kansas; Olathe, Kansas; Independence, Missouri; and Lee's Summit, Missouri.

Cultural attractions include the American Jazz Museum, the Kansas City Symphony, Kansas City Union Station, the National World War I Museum, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Arabia Steamboat Museum, Uptown Theater, Midland Theatre, the Kansas City Zoo, Swope Park (featuring Starlight Theater), Sandstone Amphitheater, the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, Worlds of Fun, Oceans of Fun, the College Basketball Experience, the NWSL’s Kansas City Current, and several casinos. Major league sports franchises include the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, the MLB's Kansas City Royals, and the MLS's Sporting Kansas City. The Kansas Speedway is owned by NASCAR.

Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by population and area. It is located on the Missouri River at its confluence with the Kansas River, within Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties. It is the 38th-most populous city in the United States and sixth-most populous city in the Midwest, with a population of 508,090 at the 2020 census. The Kansas City metropolitan area, which straddles the Missouri–Kansas state line, is the 31st-most populous metropolitan area in the nation, at 2.25 million residents.

Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a port on the Missouri and Kansas rivers. On June 1, 1850, the town of Kansas was incorporated; soon afterwards, a region designated as the Kansas Territory was established. Confusion between the city and the territory of Kansas ensued, so the name Kansas City was assigned to distinguish the city from the territory. Sited on Missouri's western border with Kansas and with downtown near the rivers' confluence, Kansas City, Missouri encompasses about 319.03 square miles (826.3 km), making it the 25th-largest city by total area in the United States. It is one of Jackson County's two seats along with the major satellite city of Independence; and Kansas City's other major Missouri suburbs include Blue Springs, Lee's Summit, Raytown, and Liberty. Kansas City Missouri's major Kansas suburbs include Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa, and Kansas City, Kansas.

Sandstone Amphitheater, currently known as Azura Amphitheater, is an open-air amphitheater located in Bonner Springs, Kansas, United States. It is owned by the unified government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, shares its grounds with the Kansas City Renaissance Festival and National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame and is located adjacent to the Wyandotte County Park.

Sporting Kansas City is an American professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The administrative offices are located in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and the team clubhouse and practice facilities are located in Kansas City, Kansas. The team has played its home matches at Sporting Park since 2011.

Sporting Kansas City began play in 1996 as a charter team in the league, then named Kansas City Wiz. The team was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1995. Starting in 1997, the franchise was named Kansas City Wizards. The team rebranded in November 2010, coinciding with its move to its new home stadium, Sporting Park. Since moving across the state line, they have been the only major professional sports league franchise to play their home games in Kansas. The franchise has won the MLS Cup in 2000 and 2013, the Supporters' Shield in 2000, and the U.S. Open Cup in 2004, 2012, 2015, and 2017.

Kansas Speedway (formerly known as Kansas International Speedway in initial planning and construction stages) is a 1.500 mi (2.414 km) tri-oval intermediate speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. The track, since its inaugural season of racing in 2001, has hosted a variety of racing series, including NASCAR, IndyCar, and the IMSA SportsCar Championship. The track has a 48,000-seat capacity as of 2019. Within oval exists an infield road course that is used with the oval to make a "roval". The Speedway is adjacent to the Hollywood Casino, which opened in 2012 and is a joint venture by Penn Entertainment and the track. The venue is currently owned by NASCAR and is led by track president Patrick Warren.

As part of the construction boom of oval tracks in the 1990s, the International Speedway Corporation (ISC) sought to build a track in the Midwest. In 1997, ISC announced plans to build a track in the Kansas City metropolitan area, eventually building it in Wyandotte County, Kansas. Although the track was scheduled to open in 2000, the track faced multiple lawsuits by homeowners who lived in the area, pushing its construction back by months and delaying its opening to 2001. Since 2001, the track has remained in some form within the NASCAR calendar.

The United States District Court for the District of Kansas (in case citations, D. Kan.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Kansas. The Court operates out of the Robert J. Dole United States Courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas, the Frank Carlson Federal Building in Topeka, and the United States Courthouse in Wichita. The District of Kansas was created in 1861, replacing the territorial court that preceded it, and President Abraham Lincoln appointed Archibald Williams as the Court's first judge.

Appeals from the District of Kansas are made to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

Venture Stores, Inc., was a chain of retail stores aimed at the discount department-store market. John Geisse, formerly of Target Stores, and May Department Stores' executive vice president, Dave Babcock, founded the chain in 1968. Venture Stores expanded to operate over 70 stores with major market share in St. Louis, Chicago, and Kansas City, and expanded across various areas in the United States over a period of nearly 30 years, becoming the largest discount chain in Chicago. In January 1998, Venture Stores entered a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed within six months.