Second Saturday Sessions - Grinter Place
History of Railroads in Wyandotte County with Dr. Curtis Smith, Retired History Professor from Kansas City Kansas Community College.
Dr. Curtis V. Smith, worked for the Union Pacific Railroad in Kansas City, Kansas, as a switchmen, brakeman, conductor, and yardmaster from 1972-1992. His father also worked for the Union Pacific as a switchman and yardmaster from 1945-1992. Smith’s career with the railroad spawned his interest in the history of the railroad in Wyandotte County. The Union Pacific paid for his first two degrees - a bachelor’s degree in biology, and a master’s in microbiology both from the University of Missouri Kansas City. Smith later obtained a master’s degree in the history of science from the University of Kansas, then a Ph.D. in urban leadership and policy studies in higher education from the University of Missouri Kansas City. After taking a buy out from the railroad due to the elimination of the cabooses in 1992, Smith taught microbiology at Kansas City Kansas Community College for 28 years. He retired from there in 2020.
Smith published 13 articles in the “KCKCC Ejournal” about the history of science and contributed a chapter to a book on the same topic. His published “Microbiology Lab Work Manual” was used at Kansas City Kansas Community College for 30 years. Smith published an article in the “Journal of the History of WyCo” about the history of the Kansas City Kansas Community College mascot, the Blue Devils, and about the first three railroads in Wyandotte County. He was the history chair for the Kansas City Kansas Community College Centennial Digital Mural Project. The mural is displayed on four walls on the upper level of the Jewell Building on the Kansas City Kansas Community College campus. The mural shows the entire history of Wyandotte County and Kansas City Kansas Community College. Smith recently contributed to the Unified Government/Visit KCK Project involving the European and Modern Immigrant History of Wyandotte County for the KCK Legacy Trails Project. He is researching the history of jazz in Kansas City, Kansas from 1885-1926. Smith has been coordinator and treasurer for the WyCo Ethnic Festival for 14 years.
Second Saturdays are free to the public. Refreshments from the Grinter Place Cookbook will be served and the Grinter Place Cookbooks will be for sale.
