(This post originally ran on April 23, 2017)
When Barbara Bescher bought a lot at the corner of 39th and Main in 1901, the home she built for herself was practically the only thing on the block. But just two decades later, in 1924, the savvy businesswoman sold the property for more than 20 times what she paid for it. The property she purchased for $3000 sold for $70,000 – a sign of how important Thirty-Ninth and Main had become as a commercial corner.
As part of our Uncovering History Project, the Midtown KC Post is examining each block in Midtown. A set of 1940 tax assessment photos is available for many blocks.
This week, we begin to document what is known about the block between 38th and 39th, from Main to Baltimore. The rest of the block will be featured in upcoming posts. Today, the northeast corner of 39th and Main.
Still undeveloped in 1907
This 1907 Tuttle and Pike map shows the growing Hyde Park area, with Bescher’s home (circled in red) standing in what would prove to be a strategic location at 39th and Main.
Although much of the area known as Hyde Park or the South Side had been developed in the prior two decades, the northeast corner of 39thand Main held one house in 1907, and the entire block only had two homes.
The entire block had once been part of the “Mastin tract,” a large holding belonging to the Mastin family, who had extensive holdings in this area before development began. In 1901, the Mastins sold the property to Mrs. Barbara Bescher, an Austrian immigrant with a keen sense of real estate.
Bescher had gone from rags to riches after her divorce in 1896 left her responsible for the support of seven children. Bescher opened a stall at the city market and later bought land at Linwood and Baltimore and built Drexel Hall.
Main Street Homes Give Way to Commercial Business
By 1924, Bescher’s instincts about the property had paid off. C.H. Price, president of the Linwood State Bank and the owner of a chain of confectionary stores in Kansas City and several other cities, offered her $70,000 for the corner. One of Price’s candy stores was on the same block of Main Street, and he built a two-story building on the corner after Bescher’s home was razed in 1925.
The building has seen several uses over the years, with ground-floor retail and second-story office spaces. In the 1980s, the well-known Foolkiller bought the building and offered open mics, concerts, and discussion groups.
I must be mistaken, but that shot looks like the southeast corner (not the northeast corner)…Eddie Jacobson’s was there for years, then it was National Shirt Shop, all on the southeast corner…I believe Harry Truman and his pal Pendergast were owners (or part owners).
Anyone else remember?
Eddie Jacobson and Harry Truman were co-owners of a Haberdashery on 12th. St. just west of main at one time. By the time Jacobson had opened his shop just west of 39th and main Harry Truman had become U.S. Senator and, of course, President in 1945.
In the late 40’s and into the early 50’s I was just a kid roaming the streets in and around 39th. and main. Of course, just south of there was a large Katz Drug store with a soda fountain upstairs and a pet shop downstairs.
Catty cornered across Main on the east side was the Warwick Theater where I watched John Wayne defeat the Japanese in the movie “Sands of Iwo Jima “! Back in those days you would get to see one or two features, a cartoon and a newsreel…15 cents for a child’s ticket.
Thanks Wes, don’t remember the Warwick Theater, but I sure remember the Katz store, and the pet store in the basement. They even sold monkeys there, and one of them was so mean, you could hardly walk past him without him going nuts.
Is the President Shirt Shop building shown in the picture really the N/E corner of 39th and Main or possibly the S/E corner?
The last 2 pictures are of the NW corner of 39th and Main. The title says NE corner, but most of the article is about the NW corner.
Thanks to everyone who caught my mistake. It is, indeed, the northwest corner and has been corrected. Thanks for politely pointing out the error.