Kansas City University (KCU) is a private osteopathic medical university on Independence Avenue in the Historic Northeast of Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1916 as the Kansas City College of Osteopathy and Surgery, it is the oldest medical school in Kansas City and, by its own account, the largest medical school in Missouri. It has carried five names in a century, moved four times within the city, and since 2017 has operated a second campus in Joplin, Missouri.

History

Founding (1916)

KCU was founded in 1916 by George J. Conley, DO, as the Kansas City College of Osteopathy and Surgery (KCCOS).1 The first class met on September 11, 1916, on the fourth floor of the Cutino Building at 7th and Wyandotte.2

Names

The institution has been renamed four times:1

  • 1916 — Kansas City College of Osteopathy and Surgery
  • 1970 — Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine
  • 1980 — University of Health Sciences
  • 2004 — Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences
  • 2020 — Kansas City University

It is unrelated to the defunct Kansas City University (1896–1933), a Methodist institution in Kansas City, Kansas whose Mather Hall still stands.3 The two share a name and nothing else.

Moving to Independence Avenue

The college moved from 7th and Wyandotte to the New Center Building at 15th and Troost in 1917, then in 1920 bought the Marty residence at Independence Avenue and Garfield for $21,000, using the barn behind it for laboratories and the house for offices, classrooms, and clinic space.2

A purpose-built campus at 2105 Independence Avenue was formally dedicated September 29, 1933, to designs by architect Edward M. Fuller, with a clock tower and a group of named buildings: the Administration Building facing Independence Avenue, Still Hall (library), Kaiser Hall (auditorium), and Conley Hospital facing Garfield.2 Johnston Hall followed in 1940, named for Mamie Johnston, DO, the college’s first graduate; Davis Hall (clinic) in 1958, Peach Hall (student union and dormitory) in 1965, and Mazzacano Hall in 1968.2

The Administration Building

The present Administration Building at 1750 Independence Avenue was originally the first Children’s Mercy Hospital building.1 It was acquired for the college by its alumni association and converted to administrative use, and a 2015 renovation retained the original skylights from the hospital’s surgery room.1 The building’s construction date and the exact year of the alumni transfer are not confirmed by the sources retrieved here. See childrens-mercy-hospital.

Campus and colleges

The Kansas City campus occupies roughly 23 acres in the Pendleton Heights neighborhood of the Historic Northeast.4 (Pendleton Heights, not Scarritt Renaissance, is the neighborhood of record; the two adjoin within the Northeast and are often conflated.5)

KCU operates three colleges:6

  • College of Osteopathic Medicine — the DO program, on both campuses
  • College of Biosciences — master’s-level programs
  • College of Dental Medicine — opened 2023 at the Harry M. Cornell Center on the Joplin campus1

A doctoral program in clinical psychology is also offered.4 The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and the American Osteopathic Association’s Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.4

Joplin

KCU opened its Joplin campus in 2017 on roughly 40 acres — described as the first medical school to open in Missouri in nearly 50 years.14

Enrollment

The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine reports College of Osteopathic Medicine enrollment for the 2024–25 academic year of 1,104 students in Kansas City and 642 in Joplin, with 424 first-year matriculants in Kansas City.7 Total university enrollment across all programs is reported at roughly 1,571 by Wikipedia and about 2,109 by third-party IPEDS aggregators for 2024; the figures are not reconciled and neither is a dated institutional statement.4 A published headcount from KCU itself would settle it.

KCU describes itself as “the largest medical school in Missouri” and the oldest medical school in Kansas City.61 This is an institutional self-description; no independent ranking of Missouri medical schools by enrollment was located to confirm it.

Role in the Historic Northeast

KCU is the largest institutional employer and landholder on the Independence Avenue corridor east of downtown, and one of the few century-scale institutions in the historic-northeast that never left when the neighborhood’s fortunes turned. Its continued campus investment is a material factor in the corridor’s condition. Documentation of that relationship — enrollment-driven housing demand, clinic services to Northeast residents, land acquisition history — remains thin here.

Sources

See also

Footnotes

  1. Kansas City University — “KCU History.” — asserts: founded 1916 by George J. Conley, DO, as the Kansas City College of Osteopathy and Surgery; renamings in 1970, 1980, 2004 and 2020; campus addresses 7th and Wyandotte (1916), 15th and Troost (1917), 2105 Independence Avenue (1921), 1750 Independence Avenue (1979 onward); the current Administration Building was the original Children’s Mercy Hospital and a 2015 renovation kept the surgery-room skylights; Joplin campus opened 2017 as the first medical school to open in Missouri in nearly 50 years; College of Dental Medicine opened in Joplin in 2023 at the Harry M. Cornell Center; “the largest medical school in Missouri.” ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  2. Kansas City University Libraries — “Campuses Past,” D’Angelo Library Historical Archives — asserts: first classes September 11, 1916 on the fourth floor of the Cutino Building at 7th and Wyandotte; 1917 move to the New Center Building at 15th and Troost; 1920 purchase of the Marty residence at Independence Avenue and Garfield for $21,000 with the rear barn used for laboratories; 2105 Independence Avenue campus by architect Edward M. Fuller dedicated September 29, 1933 with Administration Building, Still Hall, Kaiser Hall and Conley Hospital; Johnston Hall 1940 named for Mamie Johnston, DO, the college’s first graduate; Davis Hall 1958, Peach Hall 1965, Mazzacano Hall 1968. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Wikipedia — “Kansas City University (1896–1933).” — asserts: a private Methodist university in Kansas City, Kansas operating 1896–1933; successor to Campbell College and Lane University; main academic building Mather Hall survives; explicitly distinguished from the present-day Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. ↩

  4. Wikipedia — “Kansas City University.” — asserts: 23-acre main campus in the Pendleton Heights neighborhood, Kansas City, Missouri; Joplin campus established 2017 on approx. 40 acres; colleges of osteopathic medicine, biosciences and dental medicine plus a clinical psychology doctoral program; accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission and the AOA Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation; approximately 1,571 students. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  5. Wikipedia — “Pendleton Heights, Kansas City.” — asserts: Pendleton Heights is a historic Kansas City neighborhood, the second oldest specifically residentially-designed neighborhood after Quality Hill and the city’s first developed suburb, platted in the late nineteenth century. ↩

  6. Kansas City University — About KCU — asserts: two campuses (Kansas City and Joplin); College of Osteopathic Medicine, College of Biosciences, and College of Dental Medicine (opened 2023 in Joplin); self-description as “the largest medical school in Missouri” and “the oldest medical school in Kansas City.” ↩ ↩2

  7. American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine — “Kansas City University College of Osteopathic Medicine.” — asserts: founded 1916; Kansas City and Joplin locations; 2024–25 enrollment of 1,104 (Kansas City) and 642 (Joplin); 424 first-year matriculants in Kansas City, of whom 60 in-state and 364 out-of-state. ↩

See also

Categories
  • Entity
  • Building
  • Cultural Institution
  • Pendleton Heights

On the record — ks.city/wiki/buildings/kansas-city-university · last revised 2026-08-13