Paseo West

Neighborhood Association Meeting - Fourth Wednesday of each month (except Nov & Dec), 9:30am at Hope Faith (705 Virginia Ave)

Paseo West is a small, historic neighborhood just east of downtown Kansas City, shaped by early commerce, industry, and close-in residential blocks. It sits between The Paseo on the east and I-70/I-35 on the west, with Independence Avenue and Belvedere Park along its north edge and 12th Street to the south. Longtime landmarks and gathering points include places like Calvary Baptist Church, the First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Margaret Kemp Park, which looks toward the downtown skyline.

The neighborhood’s story is inseparable from The Paseo, one of Kansas City’s signature boulevards, completed through this area by 1899 and designed with landscaped park spaces, gardens, and notable features like the pergola and sunken garden elements. Near Independence Avenue and The Paseo, the low-lying area once known as Belvidere Hollow developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s as one of Kansas City’s earliest Black neighborhoods, before later clearance, public housing development, and highway infrastructure reshaped the landscape. In recent decades, reinvestment efforts have focused on restoring housing and reconnecting the urban fabric, including major affordable-housing rehabilitation along The Paseo.