Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri Facts for Kids

This page is about the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. For the mayor of the city in Kansas, see Mayor of Kansas City, Kansas.

Quick facts for kids Mayor of Kansas City
Flag of Kansas City, Missouri
Incumbent Quinton Lucas since August 1, 2019
Style	His Honor
Residence	Private residence
Term length	Four years
Inaugural holder	William S. Gregory
Formation	19th century
Website	Office of the Mayor

Number of mayors of Kansas City by party affiliation
Party	Mayors
Democratic	37
Republican	20
Whig	1

The mayor of Kansas City, Missouri is the top leader in the city's government. This person is the highest official in the Kansas City, Missouri Municipal Government.

Since the 1920s, Kansas City has used a special way of governing. It's called a "council-manager government." In this system, a city manager handles most of the daily tasks of running the city.

Kansas City has a "weak-mayor" system. This means that most of the official power belongs to the city council. However, the mayor is still very important. They help create and guide new ideas for the city. The mayor also leads all city council meetings and gets to vote on decisions. Because of these roles, the mayor actually has a lot of real power in the city government.

Since 1946, the people of Kansas City have voted for their mayors. Mayors serve for four years. They can only serve two terms in total. Before 1890, mayors served for just one year. Then, they served for two years. City elections are "non-partisan." This means that the mayor and city council members run for office without saying which political party they belong to. The mayor of Kansas City works from an office on the 29th floor of the Kansas City City Hall. This is the highest floor in the building. Many past mayors are buried in Elmwood Cemetery. The current mayor of Kansas City is Quinton Lucas. He was elected in 2019.

Past Mayors

The Mayor of Kansas City has his office on the 29th floor of the Kansas City City Hall, which is the highest floor in the building.

Many former mayors, including James A. Reed, George M. Shelley, and Darius A. Brown, attended the funeral of Webster Davis in 1923.

Charles B. Wheeler Jr. served as mayor from 1971 to 1979.

Richard L. Berkley was mayor from 1979 to 1991.

Emanuel Cleaver served as mayor from 1991 to 1999.

Mark Funkhouser was mayor from 2007 to 2011.

Sly James served as mayor from 2011 to 2019.

Here is a list of the people who have served as mayor of Kansas City:

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party	Terms
1	William S. Gregory	April 18, 1853	February 1854	Whig	5⁄6
2	Johnston Lykins	February 1854	April 1855	Democratic	1 1⁄6
3	John Johnson	April 1855	1855	Democratic	1⁄2
4	Milton J. Payne	1855	1860	Democratic	41⁄2
5	George M.B. Maughs	1860	1861	Democratic	1
6	Robert T. Van Horn	1861	1862	Republican	1
4	Milton J. Payne	1862	1863	Democratic	1
7	William Bonnifield	1863	1863	Democratic	1⁄2
6	Robert T. Van Horn	1863	1865	Republican	11⁄2
8	Patrick Shannon	1865	1866	Democratic	1
9	Alexander L. Harris	1866	1867	Democratic	1
10	Edward H. Allen	1867	1868	Republican	1
9	Alexander L. Harris	1868	1869	Democratic	1
11	Francis R. Long	1869	1870	Republican	1
12	Elijah M. McGee	1870	1871	Democratic	1
13	William Warner	1871	1872	Republican	1
14	Robert H. Hunt	1872	1873	Republican	1
15	Edward Lowe Martin	1873	1874	Democratic	1
16	Smith D. Woods	1874	1875	Democratic	1
17	Turner A. Gill	1875	1877	Democratic	2
18	James W. L. Slavens	1877	1878	Republican	1
19	George M. Shelley	1878	1880	Democratic	2
20	Charles A. Chace	1880	1881	Republican	1
21	Daniel A. Frink	1881	1882	Republican	1
22	Thomas B. Bullene	1882	1883	Republican	1
23	James Gibson	1883	1884	Democratic	1
24	Leander J. Talbott	1884	1885	Democratic	1
25	John W. Moore	1885	1886	Democratic	1
26	Henry C. Kumpf	1886	1889	Republican	3
27	Joseph J. Davenport	1889	1890	Republican	1
28	Benjamin Holmes	1890	1892	Democratic	1
29	William S. Cowherd	1892	1894	Democratic	1
30	Webster Davis	1894	1896	Republican	1
31	James M. Jones	1896	1900	Republican	2
32	James A. Reed	1900	1904	Democratic	2
33	Jay H. Neff	1904	1906	Republican	1
34	Henry M. Beardsley	1906	1908	Republican	2
35	Thomas T. Crittenden Jr.	1908	1910	Democratic	1
36	Darius A. Brown	1910	1912	Republican	1
37	Henry L. Jost	1912	1916	Democratic	2
38	George H. Edwards	1916	1918	Republican	1
39	James Cowgill	1918	1922	Democratic	11⁄2
40	Sam B. Strother	1922	1922	Democratic	1⁄2
41	Frank H. Cromwell	1922	1924	Democratic	1
42	Albert I. Beach	1924	1930	Republican	3
43	Bryce B. Smith	1930	January 5, 1940	Democratic	41⁄2
44	Charles S. Keith	1940	1940	Democratic	1⁄2
45	John B. Gage	1940	1946	Democratic	3
46	William E. Kemp	1946	1955	Democratic	3
47	H. Roe Bartle	1955	1963	Democratic	2
48	Ilus W. Davis	1963	1971	Democratic	2
49	Charles B. Wheeler Jr.	1971	1979	Democratic	2
50	Richard L. Berkley	1979	1991	Republican	3
51	Emanuel Cleaver	1991	1999	Democratic	2
52	Kay Barnes	1999	2007	Democratic	2
53	Mark Funkhouser	2007	2011	Democratic	1
54	Sly James	2011	2019	Democratic	2
55	Quinton Lucas	2019	Current	Democratic

Other Important Roles Held

Some mayors of Kansas City have also held other big jobs in government. This table shows some of those roles, like being a governor or a member of the U.S. Congress. All the representatives and senators listed here served the state of Missouri.

Name	Mayoral term	Other offices held
William Carr Lane	1823–1829 1837–1840	Governor of New Mexico Territory
John Fletcher Darby	1835–1837 1840–1841	U.S. Representative

Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri facts for kids

Past Mayors

Other Important Roles Held

See also