Kansas City’s Little Italy Neighborhood: How the North End Became Columbus Park

Name: Kansas City’s Little Italy Neighborhood: How the North End Became Columbus Park
Start: 2025-11-09T14:00:00-06:00
Location: Kansas City Public Library - Central Library

Schedule

Sun, 09 Nov, 2025 at 02:00 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

Kansas City Public Library - Central Library | Kansas City, KS

Series: Missouri Valley Sundays
Presented By
Jon Trozzolo & Jody Valet
Starting in the 1880s, Italian and Sicilian immigrants established a vibrant community in Kansas City’s North End neighborhood. This area stretched from 8th Street to the Missouri River and from Main Street to Woodland Avenue. Renamed Columbus Park in 1967, the neighborhood has experienced many changes and challenges, including the construction of trafficways and bridges that have isolated it from surrounding communities.
Director Jon Trozzolo and producer Jody Valet discuss their documentary-in-progress titled The Neighborhood: The North End Becomes Columbus Park, exploring the history of Kansas City’s “Little Italy,” and highlighting some of the hardworking and devout Italian immigrants who settled there and prospered.
The film will feature Columbus Park residents, past and present, who describe their experiences growing up in a vibrant and close-knit Italian American community and how it's changed over the years.
The Neighborhood: The North End Becomes Columbus Park is produced in partnership with the Kansas City Chapter of UNICO, the Crossroads Media Group, and Kansas City Italians. Proceeds from the film will help fund a monument honoring Kansas City’s prominent Italian immigrants, which will be placed in Columbus Park.
******Tickets are free, but you must RSVP. ******