On Sept. 27, 1918, Kansas City, Missouri reported its first influenza outbreak cases at two army motor corps schools and nearly 1,000 student soldiers in the two corps now had the disease.  Simultaneously, three young civilian women living at the Girls’ Club showed symptoms of the disease after having visited one of the motor corps several days prior.

In the end, Kansas City had experienced a long and hard influenza epidemic. From its start in late-September 1918 through early-spring 1919, over 11,000 cases and over 2,300 deaths occurred as a result of the epidemic.