Author: midtownkcposter
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Builder Helped Working People Buy Homes
The history of Midtown Kansas City is full of tales of fortunes made and lost in real estate, but the Plaza Westport neighborhood’s past tells a different kind of story. A real estate developer and builder there, Will Corbin, is remembered for finding a way to help working-class people in Kansas City afford the modern…
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Grain magnate predicted the future of 51st and Oak
Near the site where a Whole Foods store now stands at 51st and Oak Streets, a Kansas City grain executive named Edwin Shields once lived with his wife in a celebrated house known as Oaklawn. Shields occupied a large tract of land along with neighbor Herbert Hall that, by the time this map was made…
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More Steptoe Homes Lost, Erasing More of Kansas City’s Black History
It’s been a while since the Midtown KC Post shared any new stories, but here today is a new one. This block history was inspired by the fact that three buildings on the block – part of the historic but increasingly endangered – Steptoe neighborhood have been demolished. Steptoe is one of the most important places…
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Homes Once Lined 39th Street West of Trafficway
When you turn west on 39th Street from Southwest Trafficway these days, you pass a small shopping center and commercial buildings on your right as you drive toward State Line Road. One hundred years ago, that stretch of 39th Street from Summit to Roanoke looked much different. It had recently been developed as the Hamilton Hill…
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Newly-renovated Scottish Rite Temple Anchors Historic Linwood and Paseo Block
The Kansas City Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Temple is a massive structure that has fascinated those driving along Linwood and the Paseo for years. The Scottish Rite, the largest branch of Freemasonry, still uses the building for meetings and administration. Faced with the ever-soaring cost of maintenance, however, the group hopes a 2019 renovation will…
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A 1920s Block Filled with Streetcar Workers
In the early 1900s, the residents of a rapidly expanding Midtown worked at various jobs: they were salesmen, teachers, real estate developers, packing house employees, bookkeepers, and business owners. However, on one block, 47th to 48th between Charlotte and Campbell, one type of work predominated – local streetcar jobs. “Street railway” workers made up the majority…
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Middle, Upper Class Families Were First Residents of Crestwood Block
Like the rest of the J.C. Nichols-developed subdivision, this block of the Crestwood neighborhood (E. 54th to E. 55th from Cherry to Holmes) attracted middle- and upper-middle-class residents after development began in 1919. According to the National Register of Historic Places nomination, the homes reflect various historically based revival styles popular in America after World…
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Plaza’s Nordstrom Block Has Seen Changes Before
Change is happening on this Plaza block from 47th to 48th between Jefferson and Summit, the site of a new Nordstrom store. And it isn’t the first time the block has been transformed. At the beginning of the 20th century, small homes populated by working-class families lined the west side of Summit Street. Later, as…
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Family Once Owned This South Plaza Block
Some blocks of Midtown Kansas City offer more insights into history than others. That is true of the block from 50th to 51st between Main and Walnut Streets. Two weeks ago, we offered the story of one house where prohibition agents discovered “one of the finest equipped distilleries ever found in Kansas City.” This week,…
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Prohibition Raid Found ‘One of Finest Distilleries’ in South Plaza
One of the greatest troves of Midtown history comes from the crime logs, which hold fascinating newspaper accounts of car wrecks, runaway wives, domestic robberies, suicides, murders, and other events. They sometimes offer the best window into a past that was not intentionally preserved. That is true of the South Plaza block from 51st Street…