The story of the Steptoe neighborhood will be told in an exhibit featuring the history, growth, and stories of the now-demolished African American neighborhood.

Although most of the buildings in Midtown Kansas City’s former African American Steptoe neighborhood have been demolished, a group of former residents and other stakeholders called Steptoe Lives has been working to commemorate the community, which included more than 100 homes, two churches, and the Penn School, the oldest school for African American students west of the Mississippi.  The Steptoe neighborhood centered around 43^rd Street Terrace and Pennsylvania Avenue just south of Westport. After the Civil War, it became a unique place in Kansas City where formerly enslaved people could live and buy property. (The Westport Presbyterian Church is one of the founding members of Steptoe Lives).

The exhibit features photos gathered from archives and former residents that trace the beginning of the neighborhood, the memories of former residents, and plans that are underway for a park to celebrate the neighborhood and the Penn School. It includes never-before-seen photos of Penn school students, neighborhood families and newspaper clipping about the neighborhood. The exhibit also spotlights many of the homes that made up Steptoe and the families that lived in them.

“People in Kansas City are just starting to learn about the important history of Steptoe and what made the neighborhood so special,” Leah Russell Suttington, a former resident and a member of the musical group, said. “We want to keep the memories alive and make sure they get passed down to the next generation. The reception will be a mix of music from each period of history and stories about the time.”