Mindy Hargesheimer (00:00:00):
All right, Bill Nicks, welcome to the podcast. Thank
Bill Nicks (00:00:02):
You. Thanks for inviting me. And
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:00:04):
We thought we were so cute when we showed up together in our KC
Bill Nicks (00:00:07):
Cats. Oh, you got, you got the blue KC, I got the red KC. It's just a cool hat.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:00:11):
Really representing. Well, I, um, this is gonna be really fun. I went down a rabbit trail to find you. Um, actually it wasn't that difficult to find you because we're gonna get into what you do here, which you are widely accessible to many people. But you are a historian. You are a first person, uh, reenactor. Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:00:30):
Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:00:30):
And a tour operator here in KC.
Bill Nicks (00:00:32):
Yeah. Yeah. I've got five, five characters that I do. So I never eat alone. Uh -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:00:38):
Love
Bill Nicks (00:00:39):
That for you.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:00:39):
And I - Perks
Bill Nicks (00:00:40):
Of the job. Yeah. And, and I do, uh, tours, uh, here in Kansas City. In character, I, one of my characters is Octave Chanute -. Who, uh, built, uh, designed to build the first railroad bridge over the Missouri River, the Hannibal Bridge, uh, right by the Buck O'Neal Bridge. Mm-hmm. Okay. So I mean, you could
throw a rock and hit that old rusty bridge, uh, train bridge. And that was the first railroad bridge over the Missouri. Mm-hmm. And that made Kansas City the big city in the Missouri Valley because now all the trains had to come through Kansas City to cross that treacherous Missouri river. That's why the stockyard's located here because then the buyers from back east could come to the ranchers in the west and meet up and cook their deals. And so - Yeah. The bridge was important. And, and when I do my Kansas City tour, I do it as Octave Chanute.
Page 1 of 52
(00:01:34):
Yeah. And of course, in all humility, he says, "Welcome to my town." Yeah. Because he built a piece of infrastructure that, uh, caused Kansas City to be the big city. So
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:01:46):
He, his claim to fame is that he really kick started Kansas City.
Bill Nicks (00:01:50):
That is not his claim to fame. No? That is one. Oh,
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:01:54):
One?
Bill Nicks (00:01:54):
That is one of it. Yeah, but locally, yes. But 30 years later, that was 1869. Okay. 1869, right after the Civil War. 30 years later, because he always worried about airflow around his bridges, because you're going through a valley or you're going above a valley, you're worrying about airflow, got him interested in flight. Mm-hmm. 30 years later, he had become the world's expert in gliders and aerial navigation because he had such a good reputation as a bridge builder, as a civil engineer, as a railroader. Mm-hmm. He w - very good reputation. When he would hear about a glider experiment in Europe - . South America, he would write those people and say, "Hey, what are you doing over there?" You know, and, "Oh, we try..." And, and then he would offer his opinion because he would, he had contacts all over the world. Yeah. "Oh, we tried that last year.
(00:02:57):
You ought to try this." And so he became the narrow point in an hourglass or all this information came into him. . He would offer his opinion and send it back out. He wrote the book Progress on Flying Machines. You can get it at the Linda Hall Library. Okay. The best scientific library in the world. Amazing. Haven't been there. U- UMKC, they'll make you put on white gloves to look at his book. Really? Oh yeah. Fun facts. Yeah. And so, um, he become the world's expert a - gliders, aerial navigation, and Wilbur Wright - . Wrote him a letter in 1900 asking for advice. Mm. And so, uh, his book, Progress Flying Machines. And so he was their mentor. Yeah. You know, he died in 1910, but he was at Kitty Hawk in 01, 02, 03. Okay. Uh, not when they flew. He was an old man at that time, 71.
(00:03:49):
So he, and Kitty Hawk's right out there on the ocean. Yeah. Cold December. He went back to Chicago and - Okay. But their sister Catherine, who I think is the third right brother, um, Orville telegraphed their family. Mm-hmm. Back in Dayton, success, four flights. And their sister Catherine, college educated school teacher, wonderful, uh, like I said, without her, they would have quit in 1901. She wouldn't let them quit. She was just, come on guys. Biggest cheerleader. And she, she, uh, she telegraphed Chanute that night. So he knew they had flown on December 17th, 1903.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:04:31):
So
Bill Nicks (00:04:32):
Is that
Page 2 of 52
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:04:32):
Chanute the town named after him?
Bill Nicks (00:04:33):
Yes. I would assume. Kansas because of his railroading. And, and, um, there were four little towns down there in the Osho County vying for supremacy, Old Chicago, Chicago Junction, Alliance, Tioga. And they were vying for supremacy and two of them, Tioga and Alliance came to Chenute because by that time he'd been a, he was a railroad executive. And they asked him, uh, to build a depot. Okay. He said, no, no, you're, you need to have one town pull together, you know? Yeah. So they, they incorporated into a town 1870, 73, pardon me, 1873, and named it Chenute. Mm-hmm. Probably to curry favor with him - Yeah. So that he would ship more freight and run more passengers on the line. You see your name on the town, name on the depot. A lot of, a lot of towns are named for railroad executives. And I think that means that - Is that a regional
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:05:34):
Thing or a United States pattern, do you think?
Bill Nicks (00:05:37):
I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. I would guess it's everywhere. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:05:41):
Because -
Bill Nicks (00:05:42):
Back in the day
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:05:42):
It was easy to take those names and -
Bill Nicks (00:05:44):
Yeah. 'Cause Chnut was a bit of a land speculator. That's why he laid out the original town of Lenexa. Okay. Land Speculator divided it up. That, that's how I got interested in him. I lived and worked in Lenexa. Mm-hmm. And in my arrogance - . When I, when I discovered, that's a word just, I discovered Chenut, that he laid out Lenexa 1869, designed and built the Hannibal Bridge, McKenzie, and then helped the Wright brothers get off the ground. M - I said, oh my gosh, Bill doesn't know that.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:06:16):
There's so much here.
Bill Nicks (00:06:17):
Nobody knows it. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:06:19):
Well, I mean, to be honest with you, so, so many people appreciate history of all kinds, of course, right? Yeah. And so as I'm thinking, like, this podcast is all about Kansas City. Who, who can I get in touch with that has any kind of fun facts and knowledge about the history of Kansas City? Of course how I
Page 3 of 52
stumbled upon you. But, um, how did you. So that's how you got into it ultimately to be. Did you kind of study, start studying and become like a self-proclaimed historian or like -
Bill Nicks (00:06:46):
Self-proclaimed is an apt description. Absolutely. Yeah. I, I started studying him and doing overhead projector slideshows to historical societies and then, um - Back in
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:07:00):
The day when overhead projectors
Bill Nicks (00:07:02):
Were - Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:07:03):
The medium.
Bill Nicks (00:07:03):
Yeah. People, people are searching that term right now. What the heck is he talking about? But
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:07:08):
It
Bill Nicks (00:07:08):
Brings me back
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:07:08):
To elementary school.
Bill Nicks (00:07:09):
Yeah. Thank you.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:07:11):
Yeah. No, I'm there.
Bill Nicks (00:07:12):
Probably
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:07:12):
Middle school too.
Bill Nicks (00:07:13):
And, and, um, but historical societies all over the metro asked me to do it. And, uh, my Aunt Mary saw me do it one time.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:07:25):
Page 4 of 52
Mm-hmm.
Bill Nicks (00:07:25):
And she said, Billy, you need to do him as a first person. You got something. You know that material so well. Yeah. So I tried it. . And I'm such a ham. I love, I love doing it. Yeah. And, uh, and then Octave introduced me to Wilbur Wright.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:07:44):
.
Bill Nicks (00:07:45):
So I do him. Okay. And then five years later, just because I'm a huge KU Jayhawk fan - Rock
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:07:51):
Shock over here.
Bill Nicks (00:07:52):
Mm-hmm. I, I started doing Dr. James Nay Smith. Yep. And, and then because I was harangued into doing it and, uh, I started doing President Eisenhower. Okay. And President Eisenhower is my most popular that people ask me to come do. Wilbur, Wilbur's my f - I think it's because President - Yeah. Uh, D-Day - Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:08:18):
Uh,
Bill Nicks (00:08:19):
National international knowledge.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:08:23):
Mm-hmm.
Bill Nicks (00:08:24):
But, uh, it, my most, my favorite is Wilbur Wright, but Ike is my - The proud favorite. Is my, uh, Ike's the most popular that I'm asked to do. And I felt, uh, and one time, um, Great Bend, Great Bend, Kansas was going to honor World War II aviators. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:08:46):
And
Bill Nicks (00:08:46):
So they asked President, they asked President Ike to come out and we want you to do him as general World War II. I go, "Oh, well, I do him as president. I don't do him as general." And, and the guy goes, "Well, you've got six months to figure out a uniform." He's like,
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:09:04):
Page 5 of 52
"But
Bill Nicks (00:09:04):
You're
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:09:05):
Gonna do it, right?"
Bill Nicks (00:09:06):
Yeah. And so my wife Marcy got on eBay and found the patches - Did she. And the Ike jacket. And he, you know, he, he's popular. Uh, and then I do Pendergast, once again, harangued into doing him. Mm hmm. Didn't wanna do him because my other four characters are inspirational. Mm-hmm. Pendergast, not so much, not at all. Sure. Uh, but I do him as a warning.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:09:30):
Ooh, okay. Pay
Bill Nicks (00:09:32):
Attention to your town. Pay attention to who you let lead you. Pay, pay attention. You're, you're in charge. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:09:39):
Pay
Bill Nicks (00:09:40):
Attention. And so I do him as a warning. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:09:42):
But it's obvious like why so many people would want you to do him.
Bill Nicks (00:09:45):
Oh, gosh. Yeah, the corruption. I mean, that's such
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:09:47):
A crazy -
Bill Nicks (00:09:48):
The politics, the. Time that
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:09:49):
None of us lived, you know.
Bill Nicks (00:09:50):
The 20 businesses that he had his hand in. Yeah. You know, just the, the, uh, criminals, Johnny Lazia. Mm-hmm. You know, the Hoover, the. Oh, yeah. That, that's why. He even say that. Yeah. You know,
Page 6 of 52
I'm a warning, but I know why you're all here. Yeah. You're all here to hear about the corruption and the vote stealing and even here, hear about Harry Truman and yeah. Well, I think
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:10:14):
It's probably, it's probably aligned with why we all love the true crime, you know? We love listening to the podcast and the documentaries of trying to figure out all, what all the bad guys are doing, you know? Yeah. I don't know why that's in us, but it is. Yeah. So - Well - So when people are finding what you do - . Or I'm recommending someone or I find you, whether I live here or I'm coming into Kansas City and I go, "I'm looking for tours. I wanna learn more about Kansas City." Tell us why we should connect with you and what the different offerings are. You mentioned the five characters, so.
Bill Nicks (00:10:47):
Yeah. I do the five characters and I also do, um, uh, three tours. Okay. Uh, and, and they're really different emphasis. Um, the characters, I really get in deep to each - . Their, their biographies, probably 30 or 35 minutes and then question and answer. Okay. The tour, especially the Kansas City tour, it's a six hour tour with lunch at the city market. We usually start at 9:00, end at 3:00 or 3:30, and we go as far south as, uh, the wagon swales, uh, in Minor Park coming up out of the Blue River with, thank God for the Daughters of the American Revolution who in the early 1900s started saving our trail remnants with, with, uh, marking the trail. And then we go as far north as Call Point where Lewis and Clark camped and everything in between Disney - Okay. Yeah. And Satchel Page and e- everything.
(00:11:48):
Um, and I give people, uh, because we're driving and I'm riding backwards talking into a, a microphone. Yeah. Okay. So you have a tour driver. Yes. Yeah. And I give, uh, him or her where we're turning, you know, turn north or turn right and go, you know, and, and so that I know riding backwards where we are. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:12:12):
Okay.
Bill Nicks (00:12:13):
You
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:12:13):
Develop
Bill Nicks (00:12:14):
A skill
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:12:14):
For that.
Bill Nicks (00:12:15):
Yeah. And so I give people enough - . That if, if they're interested in swope - Yeah. Thomas Swope, then, uh, and how he died and how the doctor that was caring for him was charged with murder. Mm. And it, okay? Yeah. I give them enough that they can go home and pull on that thread. Yeah.
Page 7 of 52
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:12:36):
They can
Bill Nicks (00:12:36):
Individually
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:12:37):
Find what kind of like intrigues them.
Bill Nicks (00:12:39):
Yes. I don't give them 30 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. So, and, you know, the, when we're traveling state line, you know, the, the border war, how, how we were in it seven years before the Civil War. And, and why did Quantrell go over and burn Lawrence? Mm-hmm. And why was it so ferocious because of the collapsed building, which was at the location where T-Mobile Arena is when we go through. Oh. 'Cause the, the, the women were being, women were being, um, jailed there in that building. Okay. And because they had been hiding the bushwhackers. Mm-hmm. And, um, they were charged with that and it collapsed. Some of them died. Some of them were crippled. Mm-hmm. Uh, Bloody Bill Anderson's relatives were there. Cole Younger's relatives were there. Mm-hmm. So that added to the fer - that was just two weeks before Lawrence got burned by Quantrail. He'd been gathering up his 400 men - .
(00:13:40):
For a while, but that two weeks prior, it just added to the ferocity. It didn't - See, I didn't
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:13:45):
Even know that this happened in Lawrence, by the way. This is how I'm like, there's so much to learn, you know?
Bill Nicks (00:13:49):
There is. And you know, I heard a, I heard a tour guide in Leavenworth one time say, "Every town, every town has interesting history." Yeah. "Just boring historians." And so I, so I try not to be boring. Yeah. No, that's good. And I, I, I see it almost like I, I educate in an entertaining way. Yeah. I'm not an actor. You know, you'll hear my voice when I'm doing. I don't affect a French accent - Right. When I'm doing Octave Shinut, even though he was born in Paris, came here when he was six. . Not here, but came to Louisiana, but wound up here. So, uh, I don't consider myself an actor, just entertaining - Yeah. Edutainment. Uh, and -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:14:37):
Edutainment. Yeah. That's
Bill Nicks (00:14:38):
Perfect.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:14:38):
Why
Bill Nicks (00:14:39):
Page 8 of 52
Not? Yeah. It really, it is a good word. Yeah. I wish I'd have thought of it. I just - Yeah. Well - I just steal it. Yeah. Hey, no
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:14:45):
Problems here. Clear.
Bill Nicks (00:14:47):
Yeah. You know, and, and, and there are so many real historians. Sure.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:14:53):
Bill,
Bill Nicks (00:14:54):
Bill Worley and Diane Easton and Doug Workle and Jackson, you know, and, uh, Mark Horst and that, that we're all indebted to - Yeah. To, uh, read b - primarily books - . For me. But there's just a whole wealth of information out there that, like I say, you pull on that thread if it interests you. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:15:19):
Yeah. You
Bill Nicks (00:15:19):
Know? Absolutely.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:15:20):
And,
Bill Nicks (00:15:21):
And even before I got into finding Octave Chinute -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:15:26):
. I
Bill Nicks (00:15:27):
Had been very comfortable presenting programs to hundreds of groups because, uh, I had, in all modesty, the world's largest sunflower collection.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:15:43):
You did? I
Bill Nicks (00:15:44):
Did. And of course, my wife calls it the world's onliest sunflower collection. It's, it's 2,500 different items that have sunflowers in their design.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:15:53):
Interesting.
Page 9 of 52
Bill Nicks (00:15:54):
Flags, street signs, manhole covers, over 125 different lapel pins. So, so I had, I had been presenting my sunflower collection to groups all over Kansas City, primarily schools. Kansas Day Week, I was booked solid. So you would bring it
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:16:13):
With you? Not
Bill Nicks (00:16:14):
The whole thing, but enough. Yeah, I was gonna say that. Enough that when I would pick up a brick with sunflowers embedded in it, that I could talk about streets and how the trails ev - uh, streets evolved from the trails and towns and, and that would give me, and, you know, and, and pick up something, sunflower seed cans from the '60s. Yeah. You know, and talk about food and agriculture in Kansas. So just jumping off points - Yeah. Using sunflowers. And so, uh, I had been used to presenting when I discovered Octave
Chanute and that just flowed into that. Yeah. And my tours, I was used, I used to be, uh, my first profession, not that this is a profession, but, uh - Sure.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:17:00):
I mean,
Bill Nicks (00:17:01):
I -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:17:02):
A hobby, a passion project.That
Bill Nicks (00:17:04):
Turned into a pretty good side hustle. Yeah. Yeah. It really did. Um - Who doesn't
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:17:08):
Want that? But,
Bill Nicks (00:17:09):
Uh, and I think if we have time, I think everybody has got this in them. And I'll tell you why to come back to that. Well, we have time. Let's talk about all of it. Yeah. Yeah. But, uh, uh, uh, uh, it, I had been used to giving tours. I was park and rec director in Lenexa. Okay. Uh, their first one, 29 years. And I was used to giving the Chamber of Commerce bus tour -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:17:34):
.
Bill Nicks (00:17:35):
Of what's happening over there, what's this big park we're gonna be developing, uh, economic development and park combination. So I was used to doing bus tours kind of talking and - Yeah. That was already
Page 10 of 52
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:17:48):
In your wheelhouse natural -
Bill Nicks (00:17:50):
Interacting. Ability.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:17:51):
You
Bill Nicks (00:17:51):
Know, kind of thing. Mm-hmm. So, so this was just an, I think, a natural evolution. Sounds like
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:17:58):
It.
Bill Nicks (00:17:58):
When I, when I started doing the bus tours, I went to my friends in Shawnee, uh, Eric Ely and Tanya and Neil and said, "Hey, I got this idea." Yeah. "You know, why don't you offer it as a park and rec program? See if anybody salutes it." Yeah. And of course they did. And I said, "I don't even need to make money. I just need to be able to say I can offer this." Yeah. And it worked and they booked me and then other park and recs and historicals. The young matrons, uh, Bethel College came up and I stepped on. Manhattan
came in and I stepped on and - Yep. And we do it. Yeah. So- So
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:18:34):
How busy is this keeping you at this
Bill Nicks (00:18:37):
Point? I do, I'll do about 50 events in 2026. Okay. I just booked one last night.That's a
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:18:44):
Lot. And so
Bill Nicks (00:18:45):
About weekly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, primarily park and rec departments, libraries. Mm-hmm. Histo - I'll do s - I'll do Pendergast six times for the Mid-Continent Public Library. Okay. Uh, they have 32 libraries. Yeah. And I'll do six of their libraries. I've done Wilbur Forum six times and Ike six times for 'em the last two years. Yeah. And I
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:19:08):
Assume these are like open to the public events - Yes. Where for people who are interested in this particular subject or regulars at the library just love learning something new, right? They
Bill Nicks (00:19:18):
Could, they can check the library's website or if somebody just wants to email me, you know? Yeah. HistoryKC. I can't believe I have that email. We talked
Page 11 of 52
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:19:27):
About that in our initial conversation. It is true. Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:19:29):
Historykc@gmail. Okay. I mean, who, historykc@gmail.com, that's the greatest stuff. It couldn't be more perfect. But you have the, you have the second best - Oh, well, thank you. Title. Thank you. I got the best HistoryKC. You've got Kansas City Bucket List. Yeah. That just says it. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:19:48):
It
Bill Nicks (00:19:48):
Really does. Well, when I
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:19:49):
Chose it, I'm like, everybody knows what a bucket list concept means. Yeah. At some point you learn what it means. Yeah. I mean, I should assume everybody, but yeah, it was available, believe it or not.
Bill Nicks (00:19:57):
Unbelievable.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:19:58):
Yeah. It's - Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:19:59):
But it's the second best. Yeah,
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:20:01):
It is. I will take that. I will take that. Okay. So you've got, so you can do the tours where people, um, ride around.
Bill Nicks (00:20:09):
Mm-hmm.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:20:10):
And do they meet at City Market or do they originate somewhere?
Bill Nicks (00:20:14):
We originate wherever they want to, you know - Oh, they organize it. Okay. Yeah. The, they get the bus. Yep.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:20:20):
My
Bill Nicks (00:20:20):
Page 12 of 52
Wife, Marcy, won't let me buy a bus. Oh, come on, Marcy. Come on, get on. Y know. You want
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:20:25):
Available
Bill Nicks (00:20:26):
Out
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:20:26):
There for a good
Bill Nicks (00:20:26):
Price.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:20:26):
But,
Bill Nicks (00:20:27):
But we've, I've got two real good bus companies that I recommend if they don't have their own - Yeah. Transpar - And so, you know, we start, uh, start wherever they want. Mm-hmm. And so with that, I have to adjust, uh, adjust the route - Got it. To get to where I can pick it up and flow - Right. And then come back. Yeah. But, uh, the first half, and then we eat at City Market. Mm-hmm. And then the second half, we wind up at 3:00 or 3:30. And then my trip, another bus tour that I do is, uh, Lawrence - . With Dr. James Naysmith. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:21:01):
And I
Bill Nicks (00:21:01):
I feel like that
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:21:02):
Would be very popular for
Bill Nicks (00:21:03):
People
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:21:04):
Who are, you know, bleed, uh, Crimson. Crimson
Bill Nicks (00:21:07):
And Blue. Yeah. Well, I give his biography in character, you know, uh, on the way up to Lawrence. Yeah. 'Cause it usually st - and unless, you know, I've met, I've met Bethel College there in Lawrence and just stepped on. But, uh, you start here in Johnson County and you take the 30, 40 minutes up there. I do
Page 13 of 52
his biography. And then we go to all of his haunts, if you will, where he lived, where he died, his, um, his memorial, go to Fog Allen's Memorial. Yeah. Go to Allen Field House, see the rules.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:21:45):
Mm-hmm.
Bill Nicks (00:21:46):
Uh, see Allen Field. If they let you. They used to have a door open where you could stand in the, uh, or the mezzanine and look at Allen Field House. Yeah. They don't do that anymore. Oh, that's too bad. Uh, it is kind of bad. But you get to see the Hall of Fame. Yeah. Uh, I usually ask the student on, on duty, "Hey, can we stick our head in?" Sure. They let us, you know. Yeah. People take care of old guys. I love that.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:22:09):
You know?
Bill Nicks (00:22:10):
I hate to be that old lady someday too. They're, they're just polite. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:22:13):
Can,
Bill Nicks (00:22:13):
Hey, can we look in? Right, what's the
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:22:15):
Harm? We're learning about Naysmith. I mean, come on. Give us a
Bill Nicks (00:22:18):
Little
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:22:18):
Bit of a.
Bill Nicks (00:22:20):
One time, there were two of the assistant coaches, uh, come walking through and - Hey, how you doing, Dr. Naysmith here? You know, and they - Oh yeah,
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:22:30):
Because you're in character.
Bill Nicks (00:22:31):
Character. Yeah. Of course. They were good sports. They played along. "Hey, can we have our picture with you? "Yep. You know, and, and, uh, you know your rules are up here. "Oh yeah. I come to see the rules. Show all these people. Yeah, we're from, we're from Overland Park," and came up. Yeah. Yeah. And then it, and so then we eat lunch on Massachusetts Street and whoever has booked me, they, uh,
Page 14 of 52
some people say, "No, we want you all to eat at the same place." Mm-hmm. And they book a restaurant. If I have my druthers and they take my advice, say, "No, please yourself." Sure. "You want pizza, you want hamburger, you want Italian." Right. "And here's a list of restaurants. It's all on Massachusetts Street." Yeah. "And by the way, be at this corner at 1:15. You've all paid your mortgage for 30 years.
(00:23:18):
You've educated your children." "You can find the bus at 1:15." Okay. Have
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:23:23):
You ever lost anybody?
Bill Nicks (00:23:24):
Yes. Yes. I, because one
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:23:26):
Of my questions, well, we can get to you an hour later. I'm like, "Do you have any bloopers, any mishaps that have happened? Like any
Bill Nicks (00:23:32):
Funny
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:23:32):
Questions that you're like, what?" Oh,
Bill Nicks (00:23:34):
I'll tell you the greatest, the greatest thing, Marcy and I still laugh at this. We took, um, we took Eisenhower out to Manhattan for the, uh, Riley County Fire Department, Riley County Fire Department Banquet and Award Ceremony. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:23:57):
Okay?
Bill Nicks (00:23:58):
Mm-hmm. So Ike, and it's General Ike, okay? General Ike is sitting there, we're eating supper and, and the families are there and, and all the firefighters, everybody. Yeah. I mean, there's, you know, 200 people with, you know, and, and as soon as the meal's over, then Ike's gonna talk. Mm-hmm.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:24:19):
Mm-hmm.
Bill Nicks (00:24:20):
I get up there and all their radios go off at one time because they're the volunteer fire department for Riley County. Oh.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:24:29):
They
Page 15 of 52
Bill Nicks (00:24:30):
All leave. Oh no. And their families are stuck with Ike. I don't think they - What are we doing? I don't think they wanted to hear Ike. Yeah. I think that, you know, I didn't check to see if there really was a fire in, in Manhattan. Oh, that's hilarious. And Riley County, but the place just emptied and - Cleared out. .
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:24:48):
The
Bill Nicks (00:24:48):
Poor families are left, you know, with, with Ike. So did you have to go with it?
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:24:52):
Oh,
Bill Nicks (00:24:52):
Heavens, yes. Yeah. Oh yeah. What the heck? Why
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:24:55):
Not?
Bill Nicks (00:24:56):
Yeah. Yeah. The - That's so funny. Probably my most unique area or, uh, a lady hired me, um, to do Ike once again, President Ike, because her brother loved Eisenhower and he was visiting from California. "Hey, can you come like next Saturday? "You know? And, and I said," Sure, I'll come, you know, well, I can't book a restaurant this quick for the people I wanna invite. Can you just come to my house? "And I go," Yeah, but you know what? If it's a nice, if it's a nice day, it was in the fall, why don't we just do it outside on your driveway? You cater Joe's Kansas City and that's what she did. . Have everybody bring their lawn chairs, invite the neighborhood. We'll just do Ike out on your driveway. And there's p people that didn't get the memo. They were walking by, walking their - Walking their
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:25:49):
Dogs.
Bill Nicks (00:25:50):
Walking their dogs. What is going on? What did I miss?
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:25:53):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:25:53):
So it's, um, it's so much fun. Yeah. And just, just fell into it and lucked into it. Yeah. And have a blast with it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:26:01):
Page 16 of 52
What are people most interested in? So, I mean, I know you talked about Eisenhower as like one character really interested in, but when it comes to, is it, so it's Kansas City, but it sounds like a lot of Kansas as well. Mm-hmm. Do you get into a lot of Missouri as well? You mentioned that you went to St. Louis for an event there. Yeah. Is it just kind of like go across borders? Most
Bill Nicks (00:26:22):
Of it's Kansas City. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:26:24):
Uh,
Bill Nicks (00:26:25):
But Eisenhower is Kansas. Yeah. And of course, when I went to St. Louis, it was Wilbur Wright because it was for their spirit of St. Louis Air Show. Yes. Th's right. And so it, so is Wilbur. But people are mostly interested when I do the, uh, Chanoo bus tour. Mm-hmm. They're really interested in Pendergast. Uh, they really like
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:26:48):
Talk about that. I wanna hear, because I, he's such an interesting character. How, how did you go about finding what you were going to incorporate into your impersonation of - Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:26:58):
Well,
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:26:58):
Um,
Bill Nicks (00:27:01):
I read. There's three or four good books on him. Sure. And, and there's, um, I divided into, well, here's some stats -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:27:12):
.
Bill Nicks (00:27:12):
About him. What did he weigh? How tall was he? Where is he from? St. Joe, Missouri. You know, he had syphilis since 1916 been - . Uh, you know, uh, uh, eight brothers and sisters. All had passed away by the time he had gone to prison, thankfully, you know, three children, one child who they raised as a, as a, a, a sister to his wife, Carrie. But in reality, she was her daughter before the marriage. Okay. And, and so those kind of stats fill it. But then, um, I talk about big numbers associated with him. Big numbers in, uh, income. .
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:27:58):
Big
Bill Nicks (00:27:58):
Page 17 of 52
Numbers in his construction companies. Mm-hmm. And the hotel he owned and the liquor business and, and, uh, and big numbers in votes and vote fraud. Mm-hmm.
(00:28:12):
And how many people i- in the vote fraud trials of the mid - 30s, how many people were convicted. Like 250 people convic - and he continued to pay their salary - Wow. And pay their fines. And so, and, and then I have some quotes from newspaper and from, uh, people that were, um, his critics - . But then some people who were his supporters about him and, and the times that surround those quotes. Yeah. 'Cause he was an elected councilman for five years, but then he moved out of the ward. He represented the West Bottoms and the packing plants - . Just like his brother Jim had done. And he took over Jim's seat, uh, got elected, of course. But, uh, he moved out of it. But then he became head of the, uh, Jackson County Democratic Party. Okay. And that's where he consolidated his power in the county, uh, and primarily Kansas City, Missouri.
(00:29:14):
But then he also got into state politics and owned the governor, you know, and owned, uh, the, the representatives, um, got into national politics, supported Roosevelt. Um, uh, yeah. So people are interested in that kind of. And, and his association with Johnny Lazia, who was gunned down in front of his apartment complex and - Have you been
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:29:38):
To Lazia's yet? The restaurant? No.
Bill Nicks (00:29:40):
Oh, you
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:29:40):
Gotta go. Yeah?
Bill Nicks (00:29:41):
It's so amazing.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:29:42):
Is it? Okay.
Bill Nicks (00:29:43):
In the Crossroads
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:29:43):
Hotel. Okay.
Bill Nicks (00:29:44):
Do you know what I'm talking
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:29:45):
About? No.
Page 18 of 52
Bill Nicks (00:29:46):
Well, I know the ho - yeah. Yeah, it's in the
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:29:47):
Hotel.
Bill Nicks (00:29:48):
Amazing
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:29:48):
Italian. Yeah. Okay.
Bill Nicks (00:29:49):
It's like truly
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:29:50):
Authentic, but it's called Lazia's. Yeah. Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:29:52):
Lazia. Lazia.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:29:53):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:29:53):
Yeah. And, and, you know, Lazia got, he got to the point where he was hiring the, uh, police inK Kansas City, so of course he would hire bad guys and they would look the other way, uh, for crimes and gambling and prostitution and all. Yeah, but he got gunned down in front of his apartment complex there on Armor. Okay. Uh, yeah, and that was just a few months after, well, maybe 18 months after the, uh, Union Station Massacre. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Which, okay, now Kansas City's on the map. Yeah. We gotta, we gotta clean this place up. Geez. And there was a rabbi Mayerburg who, um, spoke out against Pendergast often. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, uh, there was an attempt on his life. And so that added credibility - . <affirmative>. To, uh, Mayor, uh, Rabbi Mayerburg's, uh, criti- criticism of him. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:30:48):
So is this in the, is this the 20s, 30s -
Bill Nicks (00:30:51):
Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:30:52):
Timeframe?
Bill Nicks (00:30:53):
Page 19 of 52
Yes.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:30:53):
Do you know what kind of reputation Kansas City had at that time for people outside of Kansas City? What did, what were we known for?
Bill Nicks (00:31:02):
Wide open town.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:31:03):
Wide open
Bill Nicks (00:31:03):
Town. Wide open town. There's a, I quote a New York newspaper - . <affirmative>. A columnist who says, "If you want, if you want action in Kansas, go to Kansas City and ask any policeman where it is, they'll point it out." Gambling, any games of chance, wine, women, song, the place never closes.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:31:28):
Interesting.
Bill Nicks (00:31:29):
Yeah, so New York - Paris
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:31:31):
Of the
Bill Nicks (00:31:31):
Planes, right? Is
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:31:32):
That also where that kind of comes in?
Bill Nicks (00:31:34):
Mm-hmm.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:31:34):
<affirmative>. Just a wild
Bill Nicks (00:31:35):
Town.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:31:36):
.
Bill Nicks (00:31:36):
Page 20 of 52
Wide open, wild town. Yeah. Yeah. And he went to pr - he went to prison for, uh, tax evasion. Okay. They get them all on tax evasion. Yeah. He was a bad gambler, but he loved to gamble. He had a horse in the Kentucky Derby. Okay. And, uh, loved the ponies. W- w- was a terrible gambler. One year he, he gambled 200 million, uh, not 200, two million dollars. Yeah. Two million dollars and he lost 600,000.m. But he plays bets of two million. But, uh, he had gotten $600,000 in, um, in a influence, please lobby the insurance commissioner to settle this lawsuit. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And he gave the insurance commissioner some of that 600,000, but, but some would call that just influence. Some would call it a bribe. The point is he did not declare the 600,000 -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:32:37):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:32:38):
As income. Funny that
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:32:40):
Happens still
Bill Nicks (00:32:40):
Today. And
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:32:40):
He,
Bill Nicks (00:32:41):
You know, you know, he spent, he, he took that 600,000 and, uh, paid off gambling debts.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:32:48):
Okay.
Bill Nicks (00:32:48):
And so his gambling really put him in, in prison. Yeah. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:32:52):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:32:53):
Leavenworth. Mm-hmm.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:32:54):
<affirmative>. Oh, which by the way, a couple weeks ago, um, I had a Leavenworth historian. I can't remember if I told you this when we talked the first time, but I had a former correctional officer come on to talk about the history of the Leavenworth Prison specifically. Oh, cool. Yeah. So that episode will be coming out. But again, I'm like, so many people are so intrigued with history and wanna know all the stories and, um, and especially there's some like unsolved crime there too. So anyway - Oh great. That'll
Page 21 of 52
be a fun one for you to hear as well. Super. Um, what about prohibition? How does that make its way into your conversations?
Bill Nicks (00:33:25):
Well - The tours. Uh, it, it's when prohibition was on its way in - . You could read the handwriting on the wall. In fact, Kansas was the first state to prohibit alcohol primarily because of Cary Nation. And it was, I don't know exactly, but it was a long time that it was prohibited in Kansas before it became national. Uh, prohibition. So we were the first or one of the first? Yes. <affirmative>. Uh, you could see it was coming. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so the body houses, the liquor, the Jefferson Hotel that Pendergast owned with a poker game on the top floor - <affirmative>. The body house in the basement, you know, that never closed, rent the room by the hour in between.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:34:16):
When you say body house, are you talking brothel? Uh - Or is
Bill Nicks (00:34:18):
That something
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:34:19):
That -
Bill Nicks (00:34:19):
Speakeasy. Speakeasy. Okay. Yeah. Pardon me. Yeah. But probably anything's available. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Uh, and, um, you see it's coming and he knew that he would lose a lot of money, that it would go out of business. And just real luckily this Kansas Missouri City Council found out that they needed to widen Sixth Street - . <affirmative>. Where his hotel was. So they had to take his hotel and pay him for it - Oh. To widen the street. Wasn't that a lucky break? Go figure. . Wasn't that a lucky break? Yeah. Yeah, that, that happened just right before Prohibition came in. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the kind of thing that's just, I think people enjoy it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I sure enjoy it and I only tell people things I enjoy. Well, right. And, and so that it interests me.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:35:11):
If it, if you enjoy it, you know other people are gonna enjoy it. It's the same thing like who I bring on the podcast. If I'm interested in it, I know other people are gonna be interested in it. You
Bill Nicks (00:35:18):
Know what, uh, William Buckley said, somebody asked him once, um, "What happens when you find somebody that's not interesting?" He goes, "Nah, 99 out of 100 people are interesting, so that's a good interview. And the one guy that's not interesting, he's interesting because he's not interesting. So it's a good interview." You know? We can
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:35:42):
Always find something to pull out of somebody, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. That's what I love to do. I, um, I've mentioned this before in episodes, but my sister and I in particular, we joke we have the same personality where we, it doesn't matter if we're with friends or strangers or family, we will just pull things out of people and we'll be like, "Tell me more. Tell me, you know, like ask this question." Like we can just find so many angles to pull out, so many
Page 22 of 52
Bill Nicks (00:36:04):
Stories. Well, good. Well, you are in the right spot there. I
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:36:07):
Know.
Bill Nicks (00:36:07):
You are -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:36:07):
We love the storytelling. Yes. I do for sure. What about the stockyards? I think that's a really interesting area. What do you talk about when it comes to that? Or what are some fun facts for us to know about that area?
Bill Nicks (00:36:18):
Uh, to tell you, put it the size, 200, round numbers, 200 acres. Yeah. That's the size of the parking lots - Okay. At Truman Sports Complex. Mm-hmm. Okay. So that's how big it is. 1871, uh, is when it started right after the 69 Hannibal Bridge.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:36:35):
Mm-hmm.
Bill Nicks (00:36:35):
Okay. Now the stockyards are locating here. In fact, our friend Octave Shanute - . Designed the stockyards because just because it was so chaotic. So chaotic - How so? Just - The, the, the trains would come in with the cattle and there was no organization of - Oh, I see. Loading docks or anything. So he designed it. Okay. Uh, Union Stockyards and it became the Kansas City Stockyards. Mm-hmm. He had designed the Chicago Stockyards. So he knew what he was doing. He's such a renaissance man. Uh, it, it shocks me. Can I back
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:37:13):
Up a second? Yeah. He came from Paris?
Bill Nicks (00:37:14):
He was born in Paris. He, he and his dad came over to Louisiana when he was six. Okay. His mom and dad didn't have a good marriage. His siblings and mother stayed in Europe. He came over - Oh, okay. Uh, and, and his dad was a professor at college there in, in Louisiana. Okay. It, it shocks me that we, Kansas City does not have something named for him. Well,
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:37:39):
I, that's why I ask. I'm like, I don't think I had heard his name - No.
Bill Nicks (00:37:43):
Until
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:37:43):
Page 23 of 52
I was researching my episode with you to get into the history. Why do you think that is? I mean, uh, you know, I have like two questions. Why do you think that is that he hasn't been given like the same significance maybe? And then how do you kind of sum up? Like you've talked a, a lot about different pieces for him, but like what do you, what would you like label him as in, in regards to what he did for Kansas City or Kansas?
Bill Nicks (00:38:06):
I'll tell you what, he made Kansas City because Leavenworth and St. Joe, they wanted the bridge. Okay. Because whoever got the bridge, that was gonna be the link over the Missouri River. Mm-hmm. And geography argued for Kansas City. Okay. Because if, if, if people know where, uh, the Buck O'Neill Bridge is - Yeah. The Broadway bridge - . The Hannibal is just to the east. Like I said, you throw a rock and hit it. Yeah. Well, just to the west is the Kansas River.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:38:34):
Mm-hmm.
Bill Nicks (00:38:35):
The call coming into the Missouri.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:38:38):
Mm-hmm.
Bill Nicks (00:38:38):
If you would've built it to cross the Missouri up at Leavenworth or up at St. Joe, you would've had to build another bridge over the Kansas River. Mm-hmm. Which the call, which same river, we just call it the call in the Kansas to confuse people. It's the same river. Okay. So that
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:38:55):
Could've really turned out differently.
Bill Nicks (00:38:57):
Yes. Yes. Very much
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:38:58):
So.
Bill Nicks (00:38:58):
Yeah, but geography argues for putting it where Kansas City and where Chanute designed it. Yeah. And, and put it. I, I would say just a, a, a genius in transportation - . Because of bridges, railroading, aviation. Aviation. Mm-hmm. When you go to the, uh, Washington DC next time, go to the Capitol, go to the rotunda. . There's a history lesson of Can - uh, of America, starts with Columbus, winds up with the Wright brothers. Mm-hmm. It was done in the 30s. Okay. And there's panels. The last panel has five men depicted in it. Mm-hmm. Orville and Wilbur Wright, Chanute - . Samuel Langley, Langley Air Force Bass, and Da Vinci.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:39:39):
Page 24 of 52
Interesting.
Bill Nicks (00:39:40):
That Da Vinci.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:39:41):
That Da
Bill Nicks (00:39:42):
Vinci. I mean, that's the, that's the crowd he is associated with. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:39:47):
That's so fascinating.
Bill Nicks (00:39:48):
And, and there's not a, there's not a room at the new airport, let alone the airport name for him.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:39:54):
Yeah,
Bill Nicks (00:39:54):
I know.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:39:55):
It sounds like we need to like rally or petition.
Bill Nicks (00:39:57):
Yes. For his legacy.
(00:39:59):
Start it here, Mandy, you know. Yeah. Uh, there's not a bridge. There's not a room in City Hall. Hmm. Uh, there's a building that he built in the, uh, late 1890s, 1900, early 1900s. He built a building at, uh, 8th, 8th and, uh, Broadway, more, a little bit west of that.m. Where the 8th Street Tunnel comes up out of the West Bottoms. Yeah. There's a little sitting park there now. It's in the Garment District. . He built a building there for the Fitz Dry Goods Company. And, uh, people call it the Chenute Building, but he, he built it to their specifications and, and then rented it to him, to them, pardon me. But that, that's, that's just a, um, local custom of calling it the Chinoot building's not there anymore. The facade is still there. Okay. But, uh, right there as the A Street Tunnel comes up - Yeah.
(00:40:59):
Right there by that, us old timers know the Folger's coffee smell. Oh yeah,
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:41:03):
Because they started here, right?
Bill Nicks (00:41:05):
Page 25 of 52
8th and Broadway. I don't know if it started here, but it sure smelled good. I swear I heard that one time.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:41:09):
They're not here now obviously. Yeah. But yes, I, there, I knew there was an association with Folgers.That's really
Bill Nicks (00:41:14):
Interesting. Oh, it smells so good at 8th and Broadway. And then you get that Kansas City barbecue smell.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:41:18):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:41:19):
You know, oh, two of the great smells in the world. Yeah. Coffee. And barbecue.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:41:23):
So
Bill Nicks (00:41:23):
Do you
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:41:23):
Also do, um, do you do any fun facts about the history of barbecue?
Bill Nicks (00:41:29):
Oh my gosh. I do.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:41:30):
The
Bill Nicks (00:41:30):
Garment district? I do, uh, they're connected.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:41:34):
Yeah?
Bill Nicks (00:41:34):
I do a PowerPoint. I didn't tell you about my PowerPoint.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:41:38):
No,
Bill Nicks (00:41:38):
Page 26 of 52
You're gonna have to send it to me. We
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:41:39):
Could've put it up here.
Bill Nicks (00:41:41):
I, I do Kansas City is the barbecue capital of the world. Mm-hmm. PowerPoint. 50 slides. Wow. And, uh, of, of really amounts to the history of barbecue. And, uh, it, it start. The godfather of Kansas City Barbecue is Henry Perry. And he started his, he's from Memphis. Oh, interesting. Uh, came up when he was, uh, came up when he was, you know, in his 20s. But, uh, barbecued all his life, uh, up to that time on steamboats up and down the Mississippi River and helped his family with barbecues in the neighborhood and in the city. And, um, he started selling barbecue off of a pushcart at 8th and Anne, which is the garment dish. Anne is about a block west - . Of Broadway. Yeah. Okay. Off of a pushcart. Then he opened a restaurant at, um, 18th and Highland, which is a block south of 18th and Vine.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:42:42):
Okay.
Bill Nicks (00:42:42):
And he sold it, sold barbecue out of a streetcar barn. Mm-hmm. And he taught, um, George Gates, who is Ollie Gates's dad. Okay. And, uh, which is Gates and Sons, and now Gates and Sons and Grandsons and Granddaughters. It should be. Yeah. Uh, Gates and son. But he taught, uh, taught the Gates, he taught Gates', uh, pit boss, Arthur Pinkard, how to barbecue. Okay. And that was part of the old Kentucky barbecue. And when George Gates bought the old Kentucky Barbecue, well, the pitmaster came with it. . He also taught Charlie, um, Bryant.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:43:21):
Okay.
Bill Nicks (00:43:23):
Brother of Arthur Bryant. . And when Arthur Bryant came up after he graduated college from Texas Prairie View A&M to visit his brother Charlie, who was working for Henry Perry - . Um, Arthur stayed.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:43:39):
Okay.
Bill Nicks (00:43:41):
And when Perry died, Charlie took over the restaurant. And then when Charlie retired, Arthur took over the restaurant. Mm-hmm. So, um - And that
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:43:54):
Dates back to when, roughly,
Bill Nicks (00:43:55):
Page 27 of 52
You think? Oh, the, um, Arthur Bryant's restaurant, that's the 50s, the 40s - Okay. The 50s. Yeah. But, um, Perry was long - Before. Well, well before that. Yeah.
(00:44:12):
Um, and so the Kansas City Athletics Baseball Municipal Stadium is at 22nd and Brooklyn. Mm-hmm. And Bryant's is down the hill at 18th in Brooklyn, four blocks away. But there were other, uh, and so you would smell the smoke and it, it would come into the, uh, broadcasters, uh, booth and they would talk about the good barbecue smell. . And there were other barbecuers on the sidewalk outside of the stadium, so you'd smell it. So people all over the Midwest listening to the Kansas City A's, they would associate Kansas City with barbecue. . Okay. And, uh, and then Calvin Trillan, who was a writer for the New Yorker, grew up in Kansas City, said that Arthur Bryant's restaurant is the best damn restaurant in the world. Wow.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:45:09):
You heard it here. He didn't say the b -
Bill Nicks (00:45:11):
He didn't say the best damn barbecue restaurant. He said the best damn restaurant. In
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:45:15):
The
Bill Nicks (00:45:15):
World. And so - With
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:45:16):
The New
Bill Nicks (00:45:16):
Yorker. Movie stars, travelers, presidents who read the New Yorker, they associated it with Kansas City. So those are some of the reasons Kansas City became, uh, uh, uh, late 80s, 90s, it really be - got the moniker of Barbecue Capital of the World. It's on the Starbucks mug.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:45:40):
It is?
Bill Nicks (00:45:40):
So there is no higher authority -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:45:43):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:45:43):
Than a Starbucks mug on if it says Barbecue Capital of the World -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:45:48):
Page 28 of 52
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:45:48):
On the mug.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:45:49):
Okay. Well, and also, if we were ever close to losing that, which I'm sure we weren't, because it's always gonna be up for debate, but after the World Cup, I'm sure you saw all the foot traffic that Joe's got.
Bill Nicks (00:45:59):
Yes.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:45:59):
So that just gave a whole new spotlight to Kansas City
Bill Nicks (00:46:03):
Barbecue - I know.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:46:04):
With their incredible visitors that
Bill Nicks (00:46:05):
Came in, so. And, and you know what?
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:46:07):
And the others did too, I'm sure no doubt, but that seemed to what made it
Bill Nicks (00:46:09):
Through. You know the Dutch, the - Social media. The orange team. Yeah. Okay? So one of their TV stations came out the weekend of the Lenexa Barbecue -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:46:18):
.
Bill Nicks (00:46:19):
Contest. No
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:46:20):
Way.
Bill Nicks (00:46:20):
And, and did an awful lot of interviews with team, because there's two hu - there's 200 teams. Mindy Hargesheimer (00:46:26):
Page 29 of 52
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:46:27):
There's 200 teams, uh, competing - . In Lenexa and, oh, and they're speaking, what do they speak, Dutch? Yeah. I don't know.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:46:35):
Sure.
Bill Nicks (00:46:35):
Yeah. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:46:36):
Sounds right.
Bill Nicks (00:46:36):
And they're speaking that, you know, with English captions underneath eventually. But, so yeah, the World Cup.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:46:43):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:46:44):
What a great experience. Um -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:46:46):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:46:47):
We went down the one day to the, uh, to the Fan Fest.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:46:50):
Did you?
Bill Nicks (00:46:51):
Just a hoot.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:46:52):
They did an incredible job. I'm actually working, I'm talking to, um, I don't know if you're familiar with Populace, but they're -
Bill Nicks (00:46:58):
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:46:59):
Page 30 of 52
The firm.
Bill Nicks (00:46:59):
Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:47:00):
And they were part of the team that designed the Heart. Where
Bill Nicks (00:47:03):
Are they gonna put it?
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:47:04):
I don't know, but I'm talking to Populist about coming on to talk all things about Fan Fest, what, what, how the heart came to be, where it's gonna go. I mean, we'll probably hear where it's gonna go before they make, you know, before the episode comes out. But - Yeah. I just thought they did such an incredible job. We went a couple different times. We took our daughters who are nine and 12. Um, our good friends are from Brazil. We went to go watch Brazil compete one afternoon. It was hot. Good for you. Um, but it was like, it was so much fun. Um, the first time I went, Argentina was playing. And so it was like the perfect night, beautiful, such great crowd. It was just incredible. Like the energy. I'm sure the game, you couldn't match what it was like actually at the match at Arrowhead Kansas City Stadium.
(00:47:43):
But anyway, Fan Fest, such a good experience. We were so - I'm glad you went.
Bill Nicks (00:47:46):
We were so, I don't, I wanna say lucky because that sports commission that Kansas City has - . They do unbelievable job - Yeah. Of getting sporting events and, uh, and, and so I won't say lucky. Sure. But we're just so fortunate that we have that group - . That can put together proposals and then rally. You know, the big thing I always though was transportation. How are we gonna do transportation? You know? Yeah. And man, they figured it out. They figured
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:48:14):
It out. Yeah. And even when there were, you know, hiccups, like they seemed to pivot very quickly, right? Some of the wait times or parking and things like that, they got it all figured out. So yeah. But you know
Bill Nicks (00:48:23):
What? I think the crowds were forgiving.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:48:26):
I think so too.
Bill Nicks (00:48:27):
Yeah. Y know, it was just such a - I didn't hear anything otherwise. Celebration for six weeks. I Mindy Hargesheimer (00:48:31):
Page 31 of 52
Know.
Bill Nicks (00:48:31):
You know, just unbelievable celebration. Yeah. Yeah. I can see how, how popular the world takes soccer just for this six weeks that we had it. We've, we all talk soccer now. Pitch. No,
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:48:49):
Literally.
Bill Nicks (00:48:50):
We,
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:48:50):
I think it opened everybody's eyes because we, you know, again, going back to our neighbors who are from Brazil, they've been here for 10 years. Their license plate is the name of the Brazilian soccer team. I mean, they live and breathe, um, soccer, right?
(00:49:05):
. And that was kind of a learning lesson for us to be like, "Gosh, this is like a huge sport everywhere but here." Even though it is big here, you know, it's bigger, I think across the world. Yeah. Now, I think it has transformed, to your point. Yeah. I think everybody's like, "What? This is so fun." I know. Sporting Casey current. Yeah. You know, amazing experiences to be able to go to that. So. Yeah. Um, I, speaking of barbecue though, I wanna go back to, I though it was fun when we were emailing back and forth. You listened to the Q39 episode - Yeah. And you got to learn about Rob McGee and his title, Lenexa. Yeah. I though that was pretty cool.
Bill Nicks (00:49:36):
Yeah. You know, um, that, I didn't know that the first contest he entered was Lenexa. Sure. And, you know, Joe's won Lenexa - . In the 90s. I mean, Joe's won everything there for a while. Yeah. Um, and those, those restaurants that come out of the competition, uh, discipline - . They have learned how to translate feeding six judges - . To feeding a whole restaurant. And I see Cure 39's opening another restaurant, uh, in Lee Summit - Le Summit. In August and - They're
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:50:18):
Killing it.
Bill Nicks (00:50:19):
Didn't they just do one in -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:50:20):
Lawrence.
Bill Nicks (00:50:21):
See, and I just - . I'm, uh, fearful and, uh, that don't lose your focus, you know? Yeah. Don't lose your focus because you guys, I, uh, I pick them as number one. People ask me -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:50:36):
Page 32 of 52
We love it.
Bill Nicks (00:50:36):
What's your f - Our family loves it. When I do the, the PowerPoint -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:50:40):
.
Bill Nicks (00:50:41):
It, that's always a question. What are your top three restaurants? Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:50:46):
You know? Yeah. Well, and it's so hard if you think about it. I mean, I don't know. Somebody said one time there might be like 120, 110 barbecue restaurants in Kansas City. Yeah. Like so many ways you can do it, right? Yeah. And some just have like a larger, you know, brand or reputation or whatever. And I totally see what you're saying. I love Q39. We just absolutely love it. We've never had a bad experience there,
Bill Nicks (00:51:07):
So - Never. Never. Can vouch for
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:51:08):
That.
Bill Nicks (00:51:09):
Yeah. It's, I mean, Marcy and I had our 50th wedding anniversary and that's what we had.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:51:14):
Perfect.
Bill Nicks (00:51:15):
You know, and - Yeah. Yeah. Q39, you gotta celebrate.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:51:18):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:51:19):
And I
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:51:19):
Shout out to Kelly who took over when Rob passed away because she was great. She's a powerhouse. Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:51:24):
She's a,
Page 33 of 52
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:51:24):
She's a visionary,
Bill Nicks (00:51:25):
So. Yeah. His, uh, they are, uh, you know, Kansas City Barbecue from Henry Perry, Low and Slow. Mm hmm. Well, they s- sped up the process. Yeah. And, and still just tremendous. Yep. Tremendous barbecue. Yeah. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:51:41):
What about, are there any, um, are there any myths about Kansas City that you have to debunk from people for any random reason that you're like, "No, that's not true."
Bill Nicks (00:51:52):
Well, I think the bullet holes, the bullet holes at Union Station - Mm. Are, are a myth.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:52:07):
Yeah?
Bill Nicks (00:52:07):
Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:52:08):
Okay. Well, what is the current, what is the story?
Bill Nicks (00:52:11):
Well, they, from the, from the -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:52:13):
Is that like a mafia thing?
Bill Nicks (00:52:15):
Well, the Union Station Massacre. When- When
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:52:19):
Was that?
Bill Nicks (00:52:20):
That was in the '30s.
(00:52:21):
Okay. Yeah. When the - I don't know a lot about that. Uh, Frank Jelly Nash escaped from Leavenworth, recaptured in Arkansas, came up on the train to Kansas City, gonna be transferred to automobiles and then taken back to Leavenworth. And then s - here's another myth. Some people think Pretty Boy Floyd was involved in his escape, tried to escape well. Okay. Uh, federal agents were killed. Police officers were killed. Frank Jelly Nash was killed. Mm-hmm. It just fell apart. And, um - Okay. Um, and of course,
Page 34 of 52
you know - Yeah. The, the bullet holes in, uh, even the sign there, I think uses words like legend or I don't think it says these are.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:53:13):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:53:13):
And, but -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:53:14):
Legend has it.
Bill Nicks (00:53:15):
But I, I can see how through, um, family stories and conversations, you know, that it morphs into these are bullet holes from the - Sure. You know, ju - yeah, I, I think that's the value of, of family stories told by Uncle Joe - Yeah. That Jesse James slept here kind of thing. Yeah. Well, that gives you a starting point to really go back and say, well, where was Jesse James July 4th and, you know -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:53:48):
Sure.
Bill Nicks (00:53:49):
You know, in the, in the '60s, 1860, you know, and start pulling, once again, pull on that thread - Yeah. And see if Uncle Joe really -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:53:57):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:53:57):
Had it, you know.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:53:57):
The legend and lore, right, of so many different places. Yeah. So speaking of Union Station, so I used to sit on the board of a group called Fashion Group International, which is headquartered in New York, but they have chapters around, um, different cities. And when I sat on the board for a year, that's where I learned actually a lot more about the Garment District and the history of it. And that's a really cool, um, that's another great segment of Kansas City that if you're into fashion or if you're an artist or if you're into history, like the Garment District has some, um, really cool stories to it. I think if there's still a little museum on the corner of Broadway, I can't remember the name of it right now, but I did go in there. I did a feature on it on Bucket List, but they do have some of the original apparel that were made there.
(00:54:41):
They've got these old photos of, you know, what the Garment District looked like back in the day. And I was also told that Union Station, I think, has some massive collection like in the basement from the Garment District. Like they have so many artifacts that they can't even like put them out different places. I don't know, that's maybe a legend, um, as well, but I'd be curious to know what else is in the basement of Union Station with the history of KC. So - I,
Page 35 of 52
Bill Nicks (00:55:07):
I, I had not heard that. Yeah. You know, of course Nelly Dawn is -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:55:10):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:55:11):
Just famous in Kansas City. Mm-hmm. And we touch on that in, in the tours. Do you? And her, her and her chauffeur were kidnapped and, uh, come brought back in two days because a word went out through Pendergast and Lazia, bring her back. Yeah. You know, who, whoever took her didn't check with the boss. Yeah. 'Cause that was a good industry during the Depression.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:55:34):
Right.
Bill Nicks (00:55:35):
You know, kidnap and get a ransom. Sure. You know, good job.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:55:39):
Let's
Bill Nicks (00:55:39):
Just not
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:55:39):
Bring that back today.
Bill Nicks (00:55:41):
No kidding.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:55:42):
What, do you ever get into like any haunted ghost stories, haunted places, or is that for a different tour?
Bill Nicks (00:55:47):
No, that, and, and there's good tour down in the West Bottoms - Yeah. With the, uh, with the Haunted Kansas City and the gangster tour coming out of Union Station. My parents have
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:55:57):
Done that one.
Bill Nicks (00:55:57):
Yeah.That's a good tour also. Yeah. You know, and -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:56:00):
Page 36 of 52
That's a good
Bill Nicks (00:56:00):
Reminder. Yeah. Now those, I think those, those, uh, people that do that, uh, tend to be more what I would call actors. Yeah. They af - they affect the mob talk and, you know, and everything. Uh, but it, but it's interesting. I think that adds to it. Sure. And they're really, really knowledgeable. Yeah. And if you, if you're really into, uh, the mobs and crime of Kansas City - . Take that tour. Yeah. Take that tour. It's wonderful. People are.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:56:29):
Yeah. I mean,
Bill Nicks (00:56:30):
It's just
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:56:30):
Intriguing. And honestly, I kinda feel like the world that we live in today, and I'm a big person of, like, as I already said, talking to people, learning something new. And I think people sometimes underestimate, like, go, go get out of your comfort zone and go do a history tour and you'll be surprised how much you learn, enjoyed it, you're gonna tell your friends to go, you know? Um, it's something to get off your couch, go with your family, take your kids - Yeah. Take your grandparents, whatever the case may be.
Bill Nicks (00:56:55):
I've had a family hire me - Yeah. To do a, to do a tour. Yeah. Okay. Around Kansas City. And the Kansas City's Convention Visual Bureau, Bureau hired me to, they were, there were, uh, visiting a group from Japan. . Of course, we needed an interpreter, and so that really -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:57:16):
Sure.
Bill Nicks (00:57:16):
But what the heck, you know? Little bit of an
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:57:18):
Obstacle.
Bill Nicks (00:57:18):
Yeah. Yeah. Do you
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:57:19):
Get into jazz, arts, anything like that?
Bill Nicks (00:57:23):
Uh, just - 18th
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:57:24):
Page 37 of 52
And Vine, that district
Bill Nicks (00:57:25):
Sounds like - 18th and Vine is come through and Charlie Parker, who, uh, you know, the wonderful, uh, statue - Oh, it's incredible. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:57:34):
So
Bill Nicks (00:57:34):
Beautiful. And, you know, just, uh, uh, born in Kansas City, Kansas, dropped out of high school, and, uh, you know, almost like the Beatles and, and, uh, Bill Gates - . Where you have to spend, I don't know what the number is, 10,000 hours - Yes. 5,000 hours to be an outlier.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:57:55):
It's like the
Bill Nicks (00:57:55):
Malcolm
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:57:56):
Gladwell. Yeah.
Bill Nicks (00:57:57):
Yeah. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:57:58):
Mm-hmm.
Bill Nicks (00:57:59):
Charlie Parker was down in the, uh, I'll say the Ozarks. Mm-hmm. And he had jobs at clubs of the nice, but because of segregation, had to spend his day really alone, and that's where he practiced. Mm-hmm. And developed a lot of his, uh, developed his talent and skill and, and became the genius, you know, that, that he became. Uh, and, you know, a club in, uh, New York, Paris, got the, got the nickname, you know, Yardbird, because, you know, guys always give friends nicknames. Yeah. You can't give yourself a nickname. But, um - Could never
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:58:39):
Possibly just go by your name. No.
Bill Nicks (00:58:41):
That wouldn't be any
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:58:42):
Fun.
Page 38 of 52
Bill Nicks (00:58:43):
You know, they're, they're on a, they're on a tour, if you will, and the bus pulls into this rooming house and they run over a chicken. And he gathers it up and gives it to the cook at the place and she cooks it up for him and it becomes Yardbird - Yeah. Shortened a bird. Yeah. Yeah. So tho- those kind of things, I can tell that quick enough - Yeah. As we go through and, and get back on Paseo and - Yeah. Go back. Uh, because Barb - uh, I talk on the tour talk about barbecue - . In that area too because of, of Bryant's and Henry Perry just a block that way. So -
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:59:21):
Which, speaking of which, I am trying to get, I wanna get anyone from Arthur's and Gates on the podcast so they can come talk about their family legacy as well. I think that'd be really fun to get the family members in.
Bill Nicks (00:59:33):
I, um, I'm trying to think of the, the woman's name.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:59:40):
Got a connection? Uh, I wanna say
Bill Nicks (00:59:43):
Arzalia or something like that. Yeah. She's, she knows Gates. Okay, good. She
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:59:48):
Knows Gates.
Bill Nicks (00:59:49):
We'll have to connect on that. Try to, try to find her. Yeah. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:59:52):
Okay,
Bill Nicks (00:59:53):
Good. Yeah. I know it starts with an A. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:59:55):
Uh,
Bill Nicks (00:59:55):
Pardon me.
Mindy Hargesheimer (00:59:56):
No, you're good. You're good. We can connect after this. Um, what about the plaza? Do you do anything with like the architecture of the plaza and - Well,
Bill Nicks (01:00:02):
Page 39 of 52
Not the architecture, but - The building of it. Nichols gathered that acreage up over a 10 year span, Brush Creek was just a weedy creek. JC Nichols had the highest grade point average up to that time, ever graduated from KU. Hmm. And that's before grade inflation, so it was a real GPA.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:00:25):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:00:26):
Okay. And everybody, and then he got a scholarship to Harvard. Everybody thought he would study law - Yeah. At Harvard. Well, he, he did his thesis on increasing land value through development.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:00:37):
Mm-hmm.
Bill Nicks (01:00:37):
<affirmative>. And then he went and lived it. Yeah. And, and of course, uh, and, and that's where you, you get a chance to talk about the Churchill statue there on the corner and how that, that came about and, and his friendship with, uh, Hallmark, um, Joyce Hall and also the lights and, and, um, the fountains that just started as - Yeah, we haven't even touched on the fountains. You just started as from the humane society so that horses and dogs and birds can get a drink of water.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:01:13):
Oh,
Bill Nicks (01:01:13):
Really? 60,000 horses.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:01:15):
That's how it started.
Bill Nicks (01:01:16):
Yes. Good to know. And then once you take care of that utilitarian, uh, function, well, my, why not make them appealing? Sure. And beautiful, you know? Beatify the city. Yeah. We've taken care of the horses, let's make it beautiful. Yeah. And so, uh, that's where the fountains started. And then you've got Community Christian Church, which is Frank Lloyd Wright right there on the corner with the, the lights. And then you go around the corner to the Nelson - . <affirmative>. Um, art gallery and just, just ama - Yeah. And who, tell them who Atkins, you know, Nelson Atkins, you know, Atkins was a school teacher who - . <affirmative>. Married well, if you will. Sure. And then donated their fortune - Yeah. To help build it, you know? So - Yeah. Those are, and once again, just enough to pull on the thread.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:02:03):
Mm-hmm.
Bill Nicks (01:02:04):
Page 40 of 52
<affirmative>. You know, because we're driving backwards for - Yeah. You know, 40 miles an hour. .
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:02:08):
Driving backwards. It's like being on a train somewhere, but facing the wrong way. Yeah. Um, do you have any like memorable reactions from people over time of the tours that are just like brought such joy or were shocked by something or just, you know, like what, what, what have you had?
Bill Nicks (01:02:26):
My, one of my favorite memories, because always, you know, when I take, when I take Ike out to Abilene - Yeah. Like coast to Newcastle, okay, I'm always afraid. There's a guy in the back row that, yeah, that's not true. . You know, I, I knew the - Always a critic or a skeptic. I knew the Eisenhower family. I wa - always worried about that. Yeah. But, um, we were on the bus one time and, and you know, everybody's got Google and everything. And so - Fact checking you. . So no, no, but I always worry about that. Yeah. I don't worry about it because everybody, you know, I could - Yeah, yeah. I could show you my footnotes. But we're, we're on the bus and there's road construction, okay? <affirmative>. There's road construction and the, of course the driver goes, "Well, how do we get around that? How do we get..." Well, I'm going, "I don't know." You know, I just took - Yeah.
(01:03:23):
And, and the little, uh, sh- she had to be a young teenager, middle age, middle school student. That's, that was about her size on there with her mother or father, somebody. Yeah. And she punches it up. She goes, "Turn right and then turn right, turn left and then turn right and then turn right again and we'll be back on the tour." The
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:03:47):
Youngest person.
Bill Nicks (01:03:48):
Yeah, she pulled up, "Here's how
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:03:49):
To avoid the traffic instruction."
Bill Nicks (01:03:51):
She pulled it up. So I just, I just cracked up that. Yeah. Here I am worried about people fact checking, but - Right. She saved our life
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:03:59):
With that. Literally. Yeah. Yeah. Got you out of that mess. Yeah. Um, and then I wanted to ask you, because I don't know if you said this, how did you, and maybe it was your wife or, or your Aunt Mary who was, um, the one who inspired you. How did you decide to impersonate rather than simply speaking to these individuals? Do you have a background of entertaining? Do you have a background of wanting to get into something where you're acting, you know? Or how did that come to be?
Bill Nicks (01:04:27):
Page 41 of 52
No. Well, I always think I'm the funniest guy in the room. I love that. So yeah, you know? Yeah. But my son really is. But, uh, so, and I come from a big family. Okay. There's eight of us. Eight kids, so there's 10 of us. Yeah. And so there's always loud conversation.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:04:45):
Where do you fall in line?
Bill Nicks (01:04:46):
I'm third. The oldest boy, third. Two older sisters, so I don't - Okay. Yeah. I wore a lot of hand-me-down dresses. But, um, uh, I, I just took. When Aunt Mary said you should do it as a first person - Uh huh. I got with my friend, Judy, who's a theater teacher at Shawnee Mission Northwest. "What do you think, Judy? ""Oh, yeah." So she outfitted me early on and we got bad mustache. You, you, I've got good mustaches and whiskers now for octave and for - Amazing. Uh, Naysmith. And she said, "Yeah, Bill, just, you know, just what's the worst that happens?" Yeah. You know, try it. If you wanna try it. And I just loved it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:05:31):
Have some fun with
Bill Nicks (01:05:32):
It. I just loved it. Yeah. And you
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:05:33):
Really love it still.
Bill Nicks (01:05:34):
Yeah. Although, uh, my friend Eric, who does the, um, African American tours on the, on the subway or on the streetcar - . We've, we've been talking about doing Pendergast and Felix Payne. Okay. Who I'll, I'll, I'll describe as the, uh, black Tom Pendergast - Got it. Of the era. Mm-hmm. Um, and so there might be that kind of conversation - Yeah. Between the two and we're able to tell the story of the times. Mm-hmm. I've also toyed with the idea of having Eric, um, you know, do Charlie Parker with Pendergast. I'm thinking that might be - Add a new element. Even more interesting and saleable. Mm-hmm. Sure. Um, so yeah, we'll see.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:06:30):
Well, and I can tell you too, I might have mentioned this before, but, um, I had Dan Beats who is behind Thank You Walt Disney. Yeah. He's one of the, um, board members for the nonprofit. Mm-hmm. And he was on the podcast. I put the episode out. Um, and with all of my episodes, I basically chop up the episode into, uh, shorts clips because that's what people really consume the most. Mm-hmm. And there were just a number of clips that people just ate up the information about Walt Disney in Kansas City. So if you, I know you mentioned Disney before, but that's another thing that you can incorporate even more of beca- because people were just so intrigued - Yeah. With the idea that they're like, they, a lot of people know, but they don't know the extent - Yeah. Of Walt Disney and his upbringing here and what he developed here before moving to California.
(01:07:17):
And I though, um, that was really - . That was eye opening for me.
Page 42 of 52
Bill Nicks (01:07:21):
Yeah, you know, Hemingway was here, but that reminds me because, um, Disney applied for cartoonish job at the Star, no, so he got into animation. Yeah. Hemingway was a reporter for The Star. Yeah, I didn't even know about that. Hemingway. Yeah, we go by his house where he, well, he lived in various couple
places in Kansas City, but go by really a cool house where he - Yeah. Lived, uh, on the tour. Yeah. But yet, you know, Disney, uh, people want me to do Disney and I just -
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:07:52):
As a character.
Bill Nicks (01:07:53):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe I'll get with, uh -
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:07:56):
Get with Dan. Yeah. Yeah, you should. Yeah. I mean, man, he should do it. He, well, he's a lawyer by trade, so I don't know if he wants to act, but, or, you know, impersonate, but man, he knows it all.
Bill Nicks (01:08:06):
Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:08:06):
Such a wealth of knowledge, so yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:08:08):
Yeah. I think I will look him up. It wouldn't be too bold. And
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:08:11):
They're trying to still raise money to, to save the Laugh-A-Gram studio. Yeah. Right there. That's a big thing that they're trying to do too - Yeah. Because Disney is not giving them any money to do it. It's all based on fundraising, so.
Bill Nicks (01:08:22):
But they're not standing in their way.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:08:23):
No, not at
Bill Nicks (01:08:24):
All. Yeah. Okay. He said
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:08:24):
They have total rights to it. Yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:08:26):
Yeah. Well, good.
Page 43 of 52
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:08:27):
Which is
Bill Nicks (01:08:27):
Good. Yeah. For years you drive by and there's cartoons on the plywood that are blocked out the window. I don't even think I've been by.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:08:33):
I need to go by. I'm surprised I haven't been yet after we did the episode, so.
Bill Nicks (01:08:36):
Well, when you're there, just go another block east and a block south on Paseo and Linwood where that wonderful art deco traffic signal is. Oh, yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:08:48):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:08:48):
Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. Disney's right there around the corner.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:08:52):
Yeah. So speaking of that, one other question I had for you is, do you personally have any favorite landmarks, architecture that you love about Kansas City or that you love to point out to people as part of our, our world, our city, who we are?
Bill Nicks (01:09:06):
I'll tell you my favorite. I've got a couple. Yeah. Uh, uh, Call Point because Lewis and Clark camp there, just wonderful.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:09:14):
I haven't been there, I don't think. And it always comes up as like one of the be - like best views or places you must go to in KC.
Bill Nicks (01:09:22):
You see the river. So I'm gonna have to
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:09:23):
Go after this.
Bill Nicks (01:09:24):
You see the river. Uh, the Missouri's fast.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:09:27):
Yeah.
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Bill Nicks (01:09:27):
River. The call kinda lazy and you can see the ri - the call trying to get in. Mm-hmm. The rivelets there, uh, into the Missouri. And then the skyline -
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:09:39):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:09:39):
In the background. It's just a wonderful - Yeah. View.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:09:41):
It's pretty great.
Bill Nicks (01:09:42):
I love that. I love the story of Lewis and Clark being here in Kansas City and then Case Park up on the hill where the wonderful statue is.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:09:50):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:09:51):
Um, but I really love the story of the 8th Street Tunnel. Okay. Which is under our feet and, you know, from the West Bottoms came up and dropped out at 8th and Broadway where that little sitting park is. Yeah. It was dug in 88 and it was a cable car. And then just a few years later, uh, converted into electricity - . Because cable cars, you use 60% of your energy just moving cable before you move the first passenger. Go
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:10:25):
Figure.
Bill Nicks (01:10:26):
And so, because the cable's so heavy. So that, and, and it was good. It was air conditioning when you're going through the tunnel. So the, the operator would go slow through the tunnel, you know. To get as much
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:10:39):
AC.
Bill Nicks (01:10:39):
Up, up from the, the bottoms up to the, the di - the business - Yeah. District. And yeah, I, I like the A Street Tunnel. Love that. And it's still there. Yeah. It's still there. My friend, uh, Carla Deal and I, um, were able to give tours there - . For one year. Now, now the, uh, the people who own it don't do that anymore. But I did the tour as Octave Chanute. Okay. You know, because, uh, I, I made Kansas City the big city. I designed the stockyards down here in the bottoms and you come up - Yeah. And here I am. So, uh, yeah, that was, that was a fun year when we did those tours. Oh, I bet. Of the 8th Street Tunnel.
Page 45 of 52
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:11:24):
Yeah. I bet. Um, you mentioned the Missouri River moving really quickly. Yeah. Um, I learned when I had, uh, Danny Wilniak, who's a VP of communications for the Kansas City Current women's soccer team, that that's how they came up with the name Current. Oh. 'Cause the rapid nature - Yes. Of the Current, um, of the river, hence translating to the women on the field being -
Bill Nicks (01:11:46):
That's cool.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:11:47):
So fast at what they do and being so, um, they're kinda like the undercurrent is what they are.
Bill Nicks (01:11:51):
That's really a nice connection. Mm-hmm. It, the, and part of the, besides the Civil War slowing down, building the bridge over the Missouri, it's just a dangerous river to try to bridge -
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:12:05):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:12:05):
Because of the Current.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:12:07):
It's wild.
Bill Nicks (01:12:07):
Uh, yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:12:08):
And, uh - It's just one of those things that you're like, "I never even though about why they're called The Current." And then here comes me asking all the questions and I'm like - Yeah. "Oh, okay." That makes sense. So, yeah. Um, well, good. Is there anything else we haven't covered? Obviously, the call to action for everybody is to book a tour with you or to book you for -
Bill Nicks (01:12:27):
Yeah, just find me at his. A presentation. Historykc@gmail.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:12:31):
Yeah.com.
Bill Nicks (01:12:32):
I mean, I've been to St. Louis, to Dodge City, to Burlington, Iowa, to Coffeeville, you know? Yeah. It, it's in the Midwest, but, uh, uh, in airp - because of Wilbur Airports and aviation museums and I just love going to Ab - I'll be out in Abilene with Ike again in October - Okay. For his birthday. I was there the week of, uh, D-Day celebration. Yeah. Yeah. Not celebrate, but remembrance. Right. Remembrance. Uh,
Page 46 of 52
you know, and, uh, just, it's just such a, a happy accident. Mm-hmm. Serendipity that I fell into it, get to do it. And when people ask me questions I don't know the answer to, I go find out and, and if it's something I can add to the, the talk - Yeah. I do. Moving forward. You know? Yeah. Yeah, just b- b - I don't know. I just grin.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:13:31):
You were gonna say something about getting back to, um, everybody should do something.
Bill Nicks (01:13:37):
Yes. What
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:13:37):
Was that? Wha did you
Bill Nicks (01:13:38):
Wanna say? Let me tell you. As the Lenexa Parks and Recreation Director, I had the 20 minute rotary talk. Mm-hmm. Here's the barbecue contest. It's gonna kick off this week. The spinach festival in September. We got the 80 acres we're gonna develop, okay? And everybody, everybody has the 20 minute rotary talk, whether you're selling securities or you're a park director or a police chief or a podcaster. I, you've got the, your job. Right. Well, I had five characters and PowerPoints that I could also go to community groups in the Sunflower Club with. And, and they, the groups I'm talking to, they got to know Lenexa. Yeah.
(01:14:39):
In, in a non-threatening way. Mm-hmm. Just a good time way. And those positive vibes, I think, accrued to, because I always gave a, you know, I'm Bill from Park and Rec department, but I'm not here to talk about Park and Rec. I'm here to talk about our friend Octave Chnut - . Who laid out the original town. Yeah. Okay. So you get a little ad. Yeah. And I'm not here to talk about the water slides and the - . The barbecue contest and all that. And I think, I genuinely think everybody has a hobby. They have a hobby.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:15:15):
Yes.
Bill Nicks (01:15:16):
And whether it's marathoning or coins or stance or coaching little league, marathon, I don't know. You have a hobby. Mm-hmm. And if you develop a 20 minute, a 20 minute rotary talk - . That you can take everywhere, then whatever your company is, if it's Kiewit Construction - Yeah. Or if it's Burns & McDonald Construction or if it's TWA or Sprint or anybody - . Then they have positive PR -
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:15:46):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:15:47):
Flowing from that. And frankly, the, the corporation should encourage employees, "Hey, use, hey, you, use the PowerPoint, Bill." Yeah. "Use the PowerPoint to put together your marathoning 20 minute talk." Mm-hmm. And because that's gonna accrue to us positive PR.
Page 47 of 52
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:16:09):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:16:11):
And in my case, people kept trying to give me honorariums - Mm. For the Sunflower Collection. And when they would, I would turn it over to the, uh, Spinach Festival - Yeah. Or historic, uh, thing, you know, because I shouldn't be taking a two hour lunch - . To, and, and putting 50 bucks in my pocket, you know, so here's a spinach festival, you know? Yeah. That kind of thing. And, and I really do. If, if it really bites you and, and, and you're really good at it, people will - . And, and you know, if it's, if it's the company and your hobby is a garage band - . Then the company should tell the spinach festival in Santa Caligon Days that, "Hey, we will sponsor some entertainment at Santa Caligon Days or Old Settler's Day or Old Lenexa Days." 100%. You know, that kind of thing. Yeah. I, it's positive PR for the company.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:17:09):
Yep.
Bill Nicks (01:17:10):
You feel your, your love and passion of your hobby.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:17:16):
Yep.
Bill Nicks (01:17:17):
And it's just a win-win all around.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:17:19):
I can't agree more. I think, like, and a lot of this comes from talking to people. I just had coffee with a friend the other day. She is a immigration attorney for, you know, company here. And she found a hobby that she is now making basically these dried pressed flowers and she's making them into art and she's framing them and she's selling them. It's completely unrelated to what she does, but it is her therapy, she said. It's,
Bill Nicks (01:17:45):
It's
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:17:45):
Like such great therapy for her. She does it in her free time. And we talked about this and I said, "Everybody should have a hobby." I mean, think about how many people are working in jobs that are, they're just like clock in, clock out. I know. I'm so bored. I'm so burnt out. I hate it. Find something to do in your free time and then it could eventually turn into - See. You can monetize it, right? I
Bill Nicks (01:18:07):
Think even -
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:18:07):
Page 48 of 52
Whether it's content creation, creating flower art, becoming a tour guide. Yeah. She could
Bill Nicks (01:18:11):
Even take that to the rotary club and the historical society and, and do the history of flower art or - Sure. I don't know, you know, gardening, whatever. There's endless possibilities.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:18:22):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:18:22):
Yeah. And the co - her, her immigration law practice should encourage that.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:18:28):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:18:29):
Yeah. You know? And she's got the 20 minutes. Yeah. He's how you, how, here's how you're a immigration attorney. Yeah. You've got that.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:18:35):
Yep.
Bill Nicks (01:18:35):
Exactly. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:18:37):
So - Um,
Bill Nicks (01:18:37):
Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:18:38):
So any other fun facts that we haven't covered yet that we should?
Bill Nicks (01:18:41):
If we talk long enough, I'll remember some. Yeah. I know.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:18:44):
It was the same with Disney. We were like, "There's so much that we could talk about. We could
Bill Nicks (01:18:47):
Just keep going."
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:18:48):
Page 49 of 52
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:18:48):
And I just love that where Marcy and I get to go. I love Western Kansas. Mm-hmm. I grew up in Shawnee. She grew up in Buckland, which is near Dodge. Okay. And, uh, when we get west of Salina, I love it more than she does. Okay. I just love going out to Colby and Hayes and Dodge and - Yeah. Salina and, you know - Breath of
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:19:08):
Fresh air.
Bill Nicks (01:19:09):
Beautiful. The, the wind is different. Mm-hmm. The heat is different. The pace is slower. Yeah. Uh, it, I just love that out there. I completely
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:19:16):
Appreciate that.
Bill Nicks (01:19:17):
Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:19:18):
Yeah. Or like the Flint Hills are really fun to drive through.
Bill Nicks (01:19:20):
Aren't they beautiful? Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:19:23):
Um, Tomstown, if you haven't been to Tomstown -
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:19:26):
Distilling, that'd be another great place for you guys to check out.
Bill Nicks (01:19:29):
Sure.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:19:29):
Um, we talked about Lazia's. And then what are, what are some of your favorite, what's an ideal day in Kansas City for you when you're not touring, when you're, you, where do you, where do you guys like
Bill Nicks (01:19:40):
Page 50 of 52
To go? Arabia is just - Okay. It's, it's always changing and - Yeah. Uh, really. Uh - Yeah. And, and the, um, Cascones restaurants -
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:19:53):
.
Bill Nicks (01:19:53):
Love those. Uh, City Market. Yep. Just love them. I was just there on Sunday. Yeah. Just the, uh -
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:20:02):
I love the international flair to it. I love the colors, the energy. Yeah. The downtown skyline. Yeah. The cuisine. Everything.
Bill Nicks (01:20:10):
The, the skyline. It's amazing. Yeah. Is really cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, we, we like going to T-Mobile for concerts. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. You gotta get to
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:20:22):
Morton Amphitheater now, the new venue.
Bill Nicks (01:20:24):
I haven't been there and I - You'll like it. I just discovered it this -
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:20:28):
Yeah.
Bill Nicks (01:20:29):
Well, it
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:20:29):
Just opened. Did it just open? It just opened. Oh, well, good. In June. Good. Good. Or May, late May. So - Yeah. You're not behind, don't worry. Okay. Good. Um, well, good. I think we talked about where to find you, so, and I'll make sure when the episode comes out that I'll link to all the places and make sure that people can get in touch with you.
Bill Nicks (01:20:44):
Good. Thank you very much. But thank you so much. This is so fun to talk to you. I, I love your podcast. I - Thank you. I hope I've told you that, uh, not only are they interesting, but you draw out the interest - Oh, thank you. Uh, from the people, you know - Well, that
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:20:59):
Is the
Bill Nicks (01:21:00):
Ultimate
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:21:00):
Compliment for me because
Bill Nicks (01:21:01):
That's
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:21:01):
My goal, so. Yeah. Well,
Bill Nicks (01:21:03):
Good. Thank you very much.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:21:04):
All right. Thank you. All
Bill Nicks (01:21:05):
Right.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:21:07):
Thank you so much for tuning in and finding inspiration in these incredible stories. If you love what you hear, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Leave a rating and share the show to help these Kansas City voices reach even more listeners.