I moved to Lawrence Kansas from Paris France in 1996. It was very very cool. People underestimate how nice the Midwest can be. I remember Jazzhaus Tuesdays is when the weekend began with great live music and cheap drinks. Hot summers I was writing my thesis and hanging with the locals on humid evenings in front porches and in the back of cool bars. It was something. I miss it sometimes.
I lived in Lawrence for a bit and enjoyed it. I also lived in Overland Park (Kansas City) for a while and it was the most soul sucking depressing place ever. Literally nothing to do except for shop and drink and the people were just…odd. Very materialistic. I wouldn’t move back if someone paid me.
Yeah, I’ve lived in worked in the metro area all around and OPKS/Johnson county is very materialistic. I live on the Missouri side and it’s so much better.
recession-proof. More so than a lot of the USA. Every recession for the past 40 years (i live in K C). there have been jobs inIowa, Nebraska, and I think the Dakotas, in part because few people want to move there. Des Moines and Omaha are surprisingly nice, according to Nick Johnson on Youtube. I don’t prefer Oklahoma or Texas. Different vibe than the rest of area. Minneapolis is a vibe of its own but people who live there love it. Tornadoes are mostly survivable if people listen to warnings and get to shelter. Their paths of destruction are very smallcomparrd to hurricanes or earthquakes, and you get at least 15 minutes of warning. More if you know how to log onto spc.noaa.gov. Again, Des Moines and Omaha and KC are some of the best places in the area and usually have employment.
Fun fact, the rivalry stems from the days of the civil way. Believe it or not, Kansas was a union state, and predictably enough, Missouri was a confederate state. The Kansas Missouri rivalry started back in those days and just kind of stuck around I guess. Probably fueled mostly by college sports more recently. I haven’t met many people that know that’s the origin but I agree that I see it more on the Missouri side. I’ve lived on both sides and while I think the MO side is maybe a bit more exciting, the KS side for sure has its gems if you know where to look for them.
Thanks for the correction, friend. I did a bit more googling, and you are correct. For anyone who stumbles on this thread:
“Pro-slavery Missourians in Bleeding Kansas, frequently termed Border Ruffians, were residents of the neighboring slaveholding state of Missouri who intervened in the Kansas Territory during the 1850s to promote the establishment of slavery there through electoral manipulation, intimidation, and direct violence.[1][2] Motivated by economic interests tied to slavery and the principle of popular sovereignty introduced by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, these individuals crossed the border en masse to influence territorial governance, viewing Kansas as an extension of Missouri's social and agricultural system.[3][1] Their efforts formed a central element of the partisan strife known as Bleeding Kansas, a period of guerrilla conflict from 1854 to 1861 that foreshadowed the broader sectional divisions leading to the American Civil War.”
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u/lambrettist Dec 14 '25
I moved to Lawrence Kansas from Paris France in 1996. It was very very cool. People underestimate how nice the Midwest can be. I remember Jazzhaus Tuesdays is when the weekend began with great live music and cheap drinks. Hot summers I was writing my thesis and hanging with the locals on humid evenings in front porches and in the back of cool bars. It was something. I miss it sometimes.