Get to know Kansas City Midtown neighborhoods
Valentine
- Neighborhood association information
- Boundaries: 31st to 40th, Southwest Trafficway (Summit) to Broadway
- Meetings: No set day; watch website and newsletters for announcements of meeting
- Trash Day: Monday
- History
- Architecture
- Upcoming meetings and events
- Reader’s comments and photos
Profile: Valentine Neighborhood (posted Feb. 14, 2013)
Ever wonder where the Valentine neighborhood got its name?
Valentine Road with its wide elegant curves winds through the middle of Valentine.
The street follows the lines of a former horse race track that occupied Midtown before the Valentine and Roanoke neighborhoods were platted. At the turn of the century, it became an exclusive address with large homes build by the city’s well-to-do.
It’s true that Valentine’s Day is a big event in the Valentine neighborhood. There’s always a Valentine’s party where its annual Love Award is bestowed, and the neighborhood in recent years has served its signature cocktail – the Valentini – at the get-together.
But don’t let that fool you into thinking Valentine is named for the romantic holiday.
In fact, the neighborhood takes its name from P.A. Valentine, a real estate developer who owned a lot of Midtown property at the turn of the century, but who never actually lived within the neighborhood boundaries.
Today, Valentine is a small neighborhood tucked in between Broadway and Southwest Trafficway, from 31st Street to 40th. It’s a mixture of urban pioneers who bought cheap in the 1970s and 1980s and new, younger families with children.
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