Exploring The Kansas City Castle

I’ve been to Kansas many times and I don’t know why I didn’t know about this castle. There were a few people hanging around when I drove up in my rental car. A couple of teenagers were smoking, a couple who looked like they were on a first date or something and two people having a photoshoot. Pretty much everything I would assume people would do there.

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bust out my 35mm point-and-shoot and snap the photos when I found the Kansas City Workhouse Castle.

The Kansas City Workhouse Castle was built in 1897 and was used as a city jail. The jail closed in 1924 and since then the castle has been used for more than a dozen different things, from a city storage facility to a Marine training camp.

Most castles I’ve visited seem to be about half an hour to a couple of hours away from the city. I was really surprised that this one was only a few minutes away from the downtown area. It was a bit funny to see the castle next to a high-end apartment complex. You can look at photos on the internet all day but, once you see it with your own eyes, you really start to appreciate the building a lot more. The back is completely open and you can go inside the castle with no problem. I was really hoping to get to the top of the castle which was four floors but the roof has fallen so it looks like one huge room. I saw the spiral stairs, but they were impossible to actually walk on. Plus, I went alone and, if I were to fall, I would definitely hurt my bad back even more, haha! I can’t take those risks anymore but, either way, it was a lot of fun to explore and photograph this castle.

TravelMartha ReynaComment