Sister City Association of Kansas City

Morelia is the capital of the state of Michoacán in Mexico. The city is located at 19°42'00?N, 101°11'00?W in the region of the Guayangareo valley, surrounded by the Punhuato and Quinceo hills. In 2003 the estimated population was 568,700 people.

The city's Historic Downtown Area is a UN designated World Heritage Site, and houses many beautiful colonial buildings and churches.

Features

The Historic Downtown Area encompasses 150 city blocks at the city center, roughly corresponding to the urban area of the city at the end of the XVIII century. The Centro Historico is a treat to the eyes containing over 1,000 historical buildings and sites. It is wonderfully clean and has many attractions for tourists. One of the main attractions for tourists is the Catedral de Morelia. Also interesting is the Casa del Arte where you can find a large variety of high quality artisanal works. The monumental aqueduct, built in colonial days to bring water into town, was functional through 1910. The inner city is built of reddish sandstone, lending the city a unique character among Mexico's many noteworthy colonial cities and giving origing to the name "Ciudad de las Canteras Rosas" that is sometimes used in referrence to Morelia.

At the southern edge of the city is the beautiful mountain range called Santa Maria, which houses some of the best (and most expensive) residential districts, private sector schools and universities. The main university is the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, founded in 1551 under the name of Colegio de San Nicolás by Vasco de Quiroga, first bishop of Michoacán, and is one of the oldest universities in America, and one of the most importants public universities of Mexico.

Links to Morelia

The City of Morelia Official Site

Join the Sister Cities Association of Kansas City!

Gloria Bessenbacher / Joe Bessenbacher

Recent Events

August 2007: Joe Bessenbacher receives "Thanks" from Police Chief Corwin for his involvement in the Police emergence program with Morelia Mexico

See additional photos of their visit in Morelia!

Read the letter from Chief Corwin!

--------------------------

Latin American Cinema Festival
September, 2007

--------------------------

"Noche Mexicana"
September 15, 2006
Celebrate the 196th Anniversary of Mexico's Independence!
Formal Attire Only
Download Invitation
Download RSVP

January 2005
Congratulatory letter on behalf of the committee was sent to the new Mayor of Morelia, Lic. Salvador López Orduña.

On the first week of January 2005, Gloria Bessenbacher and Joe Bessenbacher visited Morelia to convey the committee’s greetings to the newly elected Mayor of Morelia. Unfortunately, due to the many engagements the mayor had in that his first week in office, we could not see him.

By the end of January, Joe Bessenbacher had the opportunity to go back to Morelia and this time his trip proved quite fruitful. He had a nice meeting with the Mayor whereby he (the mayor) recognized our continued commitment to Sister Cities and pledged his support to continue nurturing this relationship.

Joe had other meetings quite successful with the following city and state officials who wanted to exchange viewpoints and information about our city’s infrastructure:

*Dr. Rogelio Díaz, Technical Secretary to the City of Morelia and Chairman of the Sister Cities International (US/Mexico). The issue of Kansas City joining this organization was brought up once again.
*Secretary of Economic Development of the City of Morelia
*Director of Economic Development of the City of Morelia
*Secretary of Economic Development of the State of Michoacán
*Director of Economic Development of the State of Michoacán

During this visit, Joe was invited to the blessing of a church in La Candelaria, a suburb of Morelia, where he had the opportunity to meet and exchange niceties with Michoacán’s Archbishop Ramírez.

Also, met with the La Salle University of Morelia Chancellor, Lic. Jesús Vázquez E. who has very fond memories of Kansas City and sent his regards to all at Sister Cities (Those who attended the SC Gala in 2003 may recall the Estudiantina of La Salle. That fine musical group of young students and professors that helped us celebrate that special occasion)

With the new year and new government in Morelia there is renewed interest in the sister cities activities; hopefully some of them will materialize.

June 2004...
We worked in several capacities with the city and the Mexico Business Office in K.C. during the NAITCP & Summing of Mayors the days of May 19 through the 22, 2004. Regarding the donation of the fire truck toMorelia, we are still working on this. Presently, there are no important developments to report.

March 2004...
A presentation to the Board of Directors by Lou Steele & Sherrill Mulhern of City Market at the March Board meeting detailed plans for a "2004 Holiday Market" to be held in conjunction with the Bridge / Downtown lighting in 2004. It was suggested Al Kohler would make an excellent Chair as a liaison for such a project and the project could run through several of the City Committees working in conjunction. These Committees include the Hannover, Metz, Guadalajara, San Nicolas, and Morelia Committees. To view a copy of the proposal please click HERE!

February 2004...
Gloria Bessenbacher reported the Morelia Committee is looking into the possibility of donating a fire truck to the Morelia Fire Dept. The Committee has had preliminary discussions with some key people and we'll report the developments of this project as they come available.