This story began over one hundred years ago, when Senator Tom Benton was travelling along the Missouri by steam boat. Reaching a bend where there was already a small village on the high bluff, he couldn't help but exclaim to his companions "There, gentlemen, where the rocky bluff meets and turns aside the sweeping current of this mighty river; here, where the Missouri, after pursuing her southward course for nearly 2,000 miles, turns eastward to meet the Mississippi, a large commercial and manufacturing community will congregate, and less than a generation will see a great city on these hills." Tonight we celebrate the truth of this prophecy, the dream that came true. It's the story of Kansas City, the story of the city that is at the crossroads of America, which at the time of this recording, was celebrating its centennial.