The Country Club Plaza is turning 100 years old, but its 'terribly racist' creator still looms...

Almost from the time of its improbable creation at the site of a swampy creek bed a century ago, the Country Club Plaza has been Kansas City’s signature destination.

While its Spanish-style architecture and shopping and dining opportunities have made it a draw for tourists, its significance for locals is more complex. The Plaza is where Kansas Citians go to celebrate and remember good times, but also to protest injustices and to deal with hard realities.

Foremost among those realities: Kansas City’s cherished shopping district is the centerpiece of a racist real estate empire that its creator, J.C. Nichols, began in Kansas City and whose practices were copied nationwide.