For nearly a century, the brick building at 1750 Belleview Ave. has served as a gathering place for Kansas City’s Black community.
As Greenwood Missionary Baptist Church, generations filled its pews for Sunday worship, choir performances, weddings and funerals. Today, audiences gather beneath the same vaulted ceiling for concerts, plays, dance performances, film screenings and community events at Greenwood Social Hall.
As current director Calvin Arsenia works to purchase the building and preserve it as an artist-led cultural venue, he has also begun uncovering the stories of the people who built it. His research has revealed a history that extends beyond one church to include Black architects, physicians, Freemasons and civic leaders whose contributions helped shape Kansas City…