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Southmoreland, Kansas City — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Southmoreland is the museum quarter of Kansas City, a grid of large houses and gallery lawns between Main Street and Gillham Road.
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Where to stay in Southmoreland
How the choice of base plays out on the ground.
Hotel rooms cluster along Main Street rather than inside Southmoreland's own blocks of houses. That edge works: the streetcar extension runs the length of Main Street between Union Station and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, putting the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art a few blocks off the line. Gillham Road holds the quieter edge.
Term time at the Kansas City Art Institute keeps the northern streets awake.
Find hotels in Southmoreland
Direct booking searches for these neighbourhoods.
Main Street
The streetcar line runs the length of it, with the Kansas City Art Institute a short block east.Find hotels in Main Streetquiet mornings on the Nelson-Atkins sculpture lawnRockhill
Stone-and-brick streets on the Gillham Road side, facing the Nelson-Atkins lawn from the east. Beds are limited here, so book early.Find hotels in Rockhillwalkers heading north to the Benton studio39th Street
The northern boundary, the closest edge to the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site. Beds are limited here, so book early.Find hotels in 39th StreetHotel links are affiliate links: booking through them may earn us a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects how places are ranked. How this works
Things to do in and around Kansas City
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
2- The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
- Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Churches & Religious Sites
3- Westminster Congregational Church Heritage
- Pilgrim Lutheran Church for the Deaf of Greater Kansas City and Parsonage Heritage
- First Swedish Baptist Church Heritage
Nature & Outdoors
1- World War II Memorial (Jackson County)
Stadiums & Sports
1- Gordon and Koppel Field
Landmarks & Notable Places
8- Bernard Corrigan House Heritage
- Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site Heritage
- Mineral Hall Heritage
- House at 5011 Sunset Drive Heritage
- House at 54 E. 53rd Terrace Heritage
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- Reverend Nathan Scarritt Home Heritage
- William D. Repp House Heritage
- William Francis Shelley House Heritage
worth knowingacross 5 categories in and around Kansas City
About Southmoreland
What are the main landmarks in Southmoreland?
Southmoreland's museums stand within a few blocks. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art holds the largest ground, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art sits beside the Kansas City Art Institute, and the National Toy and Miniature Museum keeps a smaller collection a short walk south. Mineral Hall, the Epperson House, and Community Christian Church carry the built history.
The Bernard Corrigan House stands among the mansions that set these streets' scale, and the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site sits just off the northern edge.
What is the history of Southmoreland?
The neighborhood grew as a set of large lots, and the houses that filled them still carry their owners' names: the August Meyer House, the Bernard Corrigan House, the Judge Louis Gates House, the Reverend Nathan Scarritt Home. The First Swedish Baptist Church followed them. Westminster Congregational Church served the same blocks, and the arrival of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art pulled a residential quarter into the cultural center of Kansas City.
Thomas Hart Benton kept a studio at the northern edge.
Where is Southmoreland?
Southmoreland runs from 39th Street south to Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard, with Main Street closing the west side and Gillham Road and Rockhill the east.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Southmoreland?
Main Street: riding up from Union Station and walking to the galleries. Rockhill: quiet mornings on the Nelson-Atkins sculpture lawn. 39th Street: walkers heading north to the Benton studio.
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Updated October 2026