Kansas City
A Great Place to Live
When my wife and I were first married we moved to Kansas City. We chose Kansas City because then, as now, there were plenty of jobs and opportunities to do whatever we wanted to do.
We both got jobs and went to work building a life. Within three years I had started my photography business. We lived in Wyandotte County near Indian Springs Mall, but with so many of my customers located on the southern part of the city, we decided that Johnson County would be a better base of operations with its great business environment. This was in 1974 and we have now lived in Johnson County for 50 years.
We have since traveled all over the United States and some other countries. Wherever we go, we always ask ourselves the question, “Could we live here?” The answer is almost yes, but we like Overland Park, Kansas better.
First, it is great to live in a city and county that is willing to invest in the welfare of the public in terms of quality schools, parks, good streets, plus quality police and fire protection. We forget how spoiled we are until we visit some other places. Out-of-town visitors often comment about how clean and well maintained everything is. It is also good to live in a place with access to first-class medical facilities, and plenty of entertainment venues and great restaurants. These things contribute greatly to quality of life that includes not only our immediate area but Greater Kansas City as well.
But the one thing that is often overlooked is the weather. Kansas has zero chance of hurricanes, zero chance of forest fires, and near zero chance of earthquakes. In spite of what we may have learned from “The Wizard of OZ,” tornadoes are extremely rare. Even though tornadoes can be extremely dangerous, most Kansans have never seen or been close to a tornado. Kansas barely makes the top ten list of states with the most tornadoes, well below Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, or Arkansas. Tornado Alley has literally moved South.
The temperature in Eastern Kansas seldom gets above 100 degrees in the summer or below zero in the winter. When it does hit those extremes, it seldom lasts more than a few days. We are nowhere near as hot as southern states such as Florida, Texas, or Arizona, or as cold as northern states such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, or any of the New England states. In national terms, the temperatures are moderate and snow fall is light and melts quickly.
Johnson County Kansas ranks in the top 3 or 4 of the 3,000 or so counties in the United States in terms of standard of living. National surveys rank Overland Park as the second happiest city in the United States which reminds us of all the wonderful people who live here. (WalletHub List)
As we have visited almost every state and major cities in the country, we are regularly reminded of the good choice we made almost exactly fifty years ago this month when we moved to Overland Park.
Curating Old Photos
I will be speaking at the Johnson County Genealogical Society Saturday, June 22, at 10:00 at the Johnson County Library Central Resource Center, 9875 W 87th, Overland Park, KS. Admission is free. The subject will be “Curating Old Photos - Scan - Sort - Share” I would like to see you there.