Spring is bringing more than flowers and greenery to Platte County.
A new construction season is underway, and already on the roads south of Missouri 92 it’s starting to feel like one big city.
Drive the big highways and you pass by Houston Lake, Platte Woods, Parkville, Platte City, and of course Kansas City. But it’s all starting to feel like one big metro area.
Graham
Driving by new developments under construction along I-29 near the airport I find myself thinking about Jay Dillingham. Born in Platte City in 1910, grandson of the only Platte County sheriff ever killed in the line of duty in 1900, he left giant footprints in the county. Dillingham was president of the Kansas City Stockyards from 1948 to 1975, once one of the nation’s largest. He married the daughter of the founder of the American Royal and later did much to make the Royal nationally prominent. Jay and family once lived just across the county line on a farm in Clay County. He played poker with former president Harry Truman and other Kansas City heavy hitters down at the stockyards. On both sides of the state line, in his era he was one of the most influential people in the region in business and politics.
Dillingham, who died in 2007 at the age of 97, liked development projects, especially roads and bridges. He was highly influential in making Kansas City International Airport come to Platte County. It might have gone instead to the site of the former Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base south of KC. Smithville Lake was one of his pet projects. He liked to remind folks there was an intake there for the Kansas City Water Department they could tap if needed. He knew the ins and outs of projects and favored politicians who could “bring home the bacon.”
Highways were a favorite of his. He served on the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission from 1978 to 1983. His old farm was at the intersection of U.S. 169 and I-435.
Once I remarked to him, that so much of his work was aimed toward development in the Northland, on land that was still being farmed in Clay and Platte Counties.
“Yes sir,” he said sharply, “I want to build a big damn city.”
His goals are certainly coming true. A few weeks ago, I drove south out of Platte City onto Route J headed for the Grass Pad to buy a few things for spring planting. Still open countryside that way. But there are also plenty of new houses scattered here and there. Not too long ago the Grass Pad sat alone on Barry Road out in the country. Now, there’s a school across the road and subdivisions beyond to the south. Northeast of the business, the land this spring is scraped to bare dirt and a very large subdivision is being laid out.
Change is speeding up. We went from a tad over 58,000 residents in the county in 1990 to more than 108,000 in 2020, an 86.3 percent increase according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Platte City and Parkville have had major growth spurts with more planned. Housing and business continually grew within the Kansas City city limits, and now the city has laid major water and sewer lines which can trigger explosive housing growth.
The commercial growth around the airport is proceeding, something development promoters have long sought.
Not everyone is thrilled. Many people moved to Platte County to get away from the city. Now it engulfs them or creeps ever farther northward toward them. Services like law enforcement and road maintenance get strained. Stoplights make delays at what were once open roads. Green space gets whittled away. Investment money usually talks louder than environmental and aesthetic concerns.
America has a divide between leaders who want sustainable communities with modest growth or redevelopment of truly blighted older neighborhoods, and those who want any growth that they can get. The movers and shakers of this era will need a more refined view of progress than the post World War II generation of leaders held, or quality of life will fade.
Bill Graham is a long-time commentator on Platte County and its history. He lives in the Platte City area and can be reached at editor@plattecountycitizen.com.