The home at 5510 Crestwood Drive in 1922.
Clara and Valerie Chapman in 1922.
A reader named James Brumwell recently sent us this photo of his aunt and her husband in front of their Crestwood home in 1922.
Valerie and Clare Chapman, seen here in another 1922 photo, lived at 5510 Crestwood Drive when the neighborhood young.
Crestwood has a unique history as a Midtown neighborhood; it was intended to be a high-class “garden district” when J.C. Nichols created it as part of his Country Club District.
As a 1930-era map of the district shows, the neighborhood was near the St. Teresa Academy, the developing University of Kansas City (later UMKC) and the Bryant School.
By 1940, as a second photo of the home at 5510 Crestwood Drive shows, the home looked much the same although the trees had matured.
The slideshow below shows all of the homes on the block as they looked in 1940.
Country Club District map circa 1903. Courtesy Kansas City Public Library – Missouri Valley Special Collections.
As part of our Uncovering History Project, the Midtown KC Post is taking a look at the 1940 tax assessment photos of each block in Midtown. This week we’re focusing on the block from 55th to 56th, from Holmes along Crestwood Drive. . (Many people seem confused by the tax assessment photos, which all include a man holding a sign. Here’s the story behind them).
Do you remember this block? What special memories do you have of this section of Crestwood? What questions do you have about it? Let us know and we’ll share your history and help to preserve it on our website as part of our Uncovering History project.
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
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I attended UMKC in the 1970’s and Crestwood was beautiful then. Recently visited KC and was so pleased to see that it is as gorgeous as ever. I’ve lived in several cities sonce college and now live in Atlanta. As beautiful as Atlanta is, its residential areas don’t begin to approach the beauty of KC, Missouri’s neighborhoods.