Do you remember the northeast corner of Linwood and Troost?

The Firestone Building at the corner of Linwood and Troost in 1984, when the Linwood Police Station was next door.

The Firestone Building at the corner of Linwood and Troost in 1984, when the Linwood Police Station was next door.

1896-1907One of Midtown’s most historical corners is the intersection of Linwood and Troost, where a distinctive terra cotta structure, open on the street level, stands on the northeast corner.

The area was once part of a very exclusive section of Kansas City known as Millionaires Row, where families tired of living in the crowded city moved to get away from the hustle and bustle.

As this 1896-1907 Sanborn Fire Insurance map, only a handful of homes dotted Troost in those early days. The Webster Withers family lived just north at the corner of 31st and Troost. The A.G. Sunderland family lived on the corner of Linwood where the former Firestone building above stands today.

“The Sutherland residence on this tract is a great brownstone home, the first of a chain of mansions built in this country by the late Lamore V. Harkness, multi-millionaire, who made his home in Kansas City from 1888 to 1891 and whose father was a business associate of John D. Rockefeller. The home cost $115,000, the contract for the interior woodwork alone amounting to $30,000,” the Kansas City Star reported in 1920.

Opening of the Firestone Building at Linwood and Troost, 1930.

Opening of the Firestone Building at Linwood and Troost, 1930.

A fire destroyed the Sutherland’s two-story barn in 1908. The city water department explained that the district was in the highest part of the city in terms of elevation, so there had always been weak water pressure in the area.

The Sutherland home was briefly used as a hotel before it was torn down.

After the turn of the century, Troost transformed into a major commercial corridor, spurred by the popular Troost Avenue streetcar line. The mansions were razed and replaced by large commercial buildings several stories tall that housed an ever-changing array of local businesses and services.

And in 1930, these gentlemen gathered at the opening of the Firestone Building at the corner of Linwood and Troost.

This photo shows a crowd gathered as a fire burns at the Firestone Building. Date unknown.

This photo shows a crowd gathered as a fire burns at the Firestone Building. Date unknown.

Do you have memories or more details about this corner? Please share them with our readers.

Would you like us to focus on your block next week? Send us an email.

 Our new book, Kansas City’s Historic Midtown Neighborhoods, is available now. Let us know if you want us to come to your neighborhood association or organization’s meeting to share what we’ve learned about Midtown neighborhood history and tell your members how they can help preserve Midtown history. Order the book 

Historic photos courtesy Kansas City Public Library – Missouri Valley Special Collections.

A 1909-1950 map of the block.

A 1909-1950 map of the block. The bottom edge of the map is Linwood Boulevard.

7 Comments

  1. dee dee watson says:

    what was the name of the hotel on the cornor of lindwood and troosts kc mo

  2. F. Wallace says:

    the hotel was west of Linwood and Troost Ave. next to Katz Drug Store; the name of the hotel was the Berkshire Hotel; my mother worked there as a waitress in the hotel coffee shop called the “Home Plate”…it was named that due to the fact the rival teams American League Baseball stayed there when playing the KC Athletics; there was baseball memorabilia in display cases in the hotel lobby close to the coffee shop; it was not uncommon to see var. members of the A’s and opposing teams, i.e. NY Yankees in the hotel lobby and coffee shop. My first job that paid a real pay check..was making pies in the hotel kitchen; remember it well.

  3. Sue Moreno says:

    What is the history of the Bohme building located at 28th and Cherry street?

  4. Connie Mayta says:

    Do you have a photo of the Berkshire Hotel? Is it still there? My parents lived in an Apartment there in 1949 for a month after they got married.

  5. Wesley Hill says:

    As I recall, from the late 1940’s to early 1950’s, Troost from 31st. to Linwood, was a bustling commercial retail shopper’s venue. My mother and I would go there to shop @ J.C. Pennys on the east side of Troost midway in the block. As a kid I was fascinated by the plastic tubes that were employed to suck a cylinder containing money to some mysterious place where the transaction was recorded and a receipt and change was sent back to the clerk who was actually a human initiating the sale. I never questioned the efficacy of that J.C. Penny program then but I do now.
    Later in time, J.C.Pennys moved to the N.E. corner of 31st. and Troost and replaced the grand Greco/Roman architecture that was a church of Christ Scientist or something close to that. Now that building is occupied by two Catholic Sisters who are so loving and kind that they are helping destitute mothers with daily child care. At least that’s the way it was in the 1990’s when I was a construction contractor and a kind Kansas City Business man hired my company to construct a playground for those little kids!

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