This most residential community in the northeast corner of the county was named after John Roe, an Irish immigrant who settled on 267 acres here in 1883. Before that, the 1.64 square miles that became Roeland Park were part of the 2,000 acres attached to the Shawnee Indian Methodist Mission (53rd and Mission Road) that is now a historic site and museum.
The town extends from 47th Street (County Line Road) south to 53rd Street and west from Mission Road to Nall Avenue with Roe Avenue running north/south through its center.
Because of its good access to I-35 via Roe Avenue, Roeland Park has attracted a number of thriving businesses, large and small, on the Roe corridor south from the Interstate.
A highlight of its central business district (south of I-35 on Roe Avenue) is the new Bella Roe Plaza, 212,000 square feet of retail development that is already home to several restaurants, a bank, a new grocery store and a new home improvement center.
The city's neighborhoods were mostly created in the years of rapid growth after World War II. Its shady, curving streets are lined with homes of great appeal. Because it is 99 percent built out, available homes show up on the resale market - usually at very attractive prices.
A tradition of affordability (in 2006, its average home sale price of $152,281 was among the county's lowest ) makes the town especially attractive to first-time buyers who prize its casual friendliness, closeness to shopping and the I-35 connections with Downtown Kansas City and employment centers in south and west Johnson County.
Roeland Park has five churches, a city park and four pocket parks, a new skate park, a Johnson County library branch and a community center with a domed aquatics facility (50-meter pool, lap lanes, zero depth, vortex pool and slides) operated jointly with Johnson County. On the first Saturday in October Roeland Park residents celebrate Roefest with a day of arts and crafts, entertainment, games and good. Art displays at City Hall change monthly.
A "Tree City USA" for 13 years and named a "Sterling City" by the Arbor Day Foundation for its trees, Roeland Park employs its own urban forester who works with residlents to help maintain the town's lovely canopy of trees (it is No. 1 in Kansas in tree foliage coverage).
This is a community of sidewalks and neighborhood gatherings, a place where volunteerism is a given and newcomers are always welcome.
