Dates

• Existence: 1933 - 1963
• Usage: 1933 - 1963

Parallel Names

• University of Missouri--Kansas City

Biography

The University of Kansas City movement began when business leaders, civic leaders, and philanthropists secured a charter for the university in 1929. The movement's leaders began a fundraising campaign that year. This university movement merged with the Lincoln and Lee University movement in 1930 to combine efforts to open a private four-year university in Kansas City.

The university was built on a 40-acre plot southeast of the William Rockhill Nelson mansion, near Country Club Plaza and south of Brush Creek. William Volker purchased and donated the land for the university. Volker subsequently purchased the Walter S. Dickey property after Dickey's death in 1931, and donated the land to the university. The Dickey mansion became the university's first campus building.

The University of Kansas City opened in October 1933 with a faculty of 17 and a student enrollment of 264. The university grew to merge professional schools and colleges such as the Kansas City School of Law in 1938, the Kansas City-Western Dental College in 1941, and the Kansas City College of Pharmacy in 1943. It also acquired the Kansas City Conservatory of Music in 1959. The university opened the School of Administration in 1953, the School of Education in 1954, and the Division for Continuing Educaiton in 1958.

The university became part of the University of Missouri System on July 25, 1963. By this time, the University of Kansas City had 3,300 students and 175 full-time faculty. Its name changed to the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Information from the University of Missouri--Kansas City website.

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