Fall Porch Pumpkin Displays in Overland Park, KS

Overland Park hasn't been anyone's sleepy suburb in a long time. With nearly 200,000 residents, over 80 parks, a food scene that stretches from world-class barbecue to the best dim sum in the Midwest, and a downtown packed with nearly 300 locally owned businesses, OP (as locals call it) is very much its own thing.

It's also the hometown of Jason Sudeikis, Paul Rudd, and Rob Riggle — all of whom grew up here, attended local schools, and still come back every year to host Big Slick, a celebrity charity weekend that raises millions for Children's Mercy Hospital. Big enough to produce Hollywood talent, rooted enough to keep pulling them home.

The city traces its roots to 1905, when railroad entrepreneur William B. Strang Jr. envisioned a "park-like" community connected to downtown KC by an interurban trolley — the Strang Line. Today, OP spans 75 square miles in Johnson County, bordering Leawood to the east and Lenexa to the west. Come see what more than a century of that vision has built.