History

Rowing is among the oldest athletic activities. References to it can be found in ancient Greek and Roman writings where great battleships were powered by legions of slaves. More recently, rowing became a more benign competition among watermen competing to see who could haul goods on their "barges" the fastest.

Formal competitive rowing can be traced to 1715, when the Doggetts Coat and Badge race was first held among watermen on the Thames River in England. Today, two of the oldest and most celebrated rowing events are held on the Thames: The Boat Race, between Oxford and Cambridge universities; and The Royal Henley Regatta. The Henley is not only the top level competition but also a premier international social event.

Rowing in the USA
In the United States, Philadelphia and Boston were the sites of the early history of rowing. The first intercollegiate sports competition in America was the Harvard-Yale race in 1852. In the 19th century, rowing was a flourishing spectator sport, popular with the newly urbanized masses and gamblers. Unfortunately, the interference of self-serving gamblers sullied the early reputation of the sport. Rowing entered the Olympics as an exhibition sport in 1904. It became an official Olympic sport for men in 1908 and for women in 1976.

Rowing in the Midwest
Rowing arrived in the Midwest with the 1882 Bismarck Fair held in Lawrence, Kansas. The event was part of a larger seasonal fair and was billed as the first regatta west of the Mississippi. A crowd of 8,000 mobbed the banks of the Kansas River in Lawrence to enjoy the competition among rowers from St. Louis, Missouri, Hillsdale, Michigan, Burlington, Iowa and the Pawtuckett, Rhode Island, crew captained by the 1882 US single scull champion, Frank Holmes. At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri, an exhibition rowing event was held on Lake Crevecour.

Kansas City Rowing Club
A cooperative of community professionals and philanthropists founded the Kansas City Rowing Club as a non-profit Kansas Corporation in 1992. The KCRC founders included Fred Braun, Joe Colosimo, Phil Donnellan, Dr. Greg Hornig, National Farms Inc., John Segale and Utilicorp United Inc. For a number of years, KCRC made its home along the banks of the Kansas River in Kansas City's historic West Bottoms.

In 2006, the Club moved to its present location on Wyandotte County Lake in Kansas City, Kansas. The Club is a member of the United States Rowing Association.