In the early 1900s, Armour Boulevard and its surrounding blocks were the center of life for many wealthy Kansas Citians, who built large mansions and lived comfortable lives attended by their servants. That’s true of the block between Armour and 36th Street from Walnut to Warwick. But by 1940, Armour’s elite residents had moved on, […]
The Heyday of a Block of Armour Read More »
Like many blocks of Midtown in 1940, this section of Manheim Park from Troost to Forest between 42nd and 43rd was a mixture of homes and commercial establishments that served the families there. Along Troost, a typical commercial streetcar corridor, business names changed frequently, including automobile sales, chicken sales and supplies, grocery stores, and drug
Troost Block Served Manheim Park Residents Read More »
This block of Midtown, from Armour to 34th between Cherry and Kenwood, is perhaps best known as the home of the Longan School (now Academie Lafayette) and the Trinity United Methodist Church. However, the block was not completely dominated by these institutions. It also offered three homes along Kenwood, four on Cherry, and a luxury
Church, School, Homes Share a Block Read More »
A 1930s snapshot of one Midtown block highlights its transformation from a neighborhood of working-class families to a commercial corridor along a major traffic route. Although those photos are NOT available for this block, other historical records offer a glimpse of how the block has changed from the 1930s to today. A 1909-1950 Sanburn map of
Southwest Trafficway Used to Be Summit Street Read More »
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
Neighborhood Builder Helped Working People Buy Homes Read More »
The block of Paseo to Virginia, from 36th to 37th Streets, was a lively neighborhood from 1910 to 1940, home to families that made homes in its solid single-family dwellings as well as its high-end apartment building. This 1909-1950 Sanborn Map shows the block, just north of the Faxon School, filled in with a mixture
Paseo Homes and High-End Apartments Read More »
Gillham Plaza, between Gillham Road and Oak Street, was coming to life in 1928, soon after it was paved. A newspaper that year rounded up business life on the block, including the El Torreon Ballroom, the Martha Washington Candle Company, the new Luzier cosmetics laboratory, and the Stine-McClure Undertaking Company. A few years later, in 1933,
Gillham Plaza Came to Life in 1928 Read More »
This block of Midtown once thrived as a commercial center, with businesses such as pharmacies, restaurants and beauty shops serving the surrounding neighborhoods. Although a recent satellite image shows only a large parking lot at the corner of Thirty-first and Holmes, that location was bustling in earlier days. From the 1920s to the 1940s, 31st
31st Street Was Home to Neighborhood Businesses Read More »
In 1929, Mrs. Maud Wilson, the wife of the proprietor of a coffee shop at 31st and Holmes, was catapulted to the front page of the newspapers, where she held a firm spot for several weeks. By all accounts, the hard-working women struggling with her husband and daughter, Iris, to earn a living at the coffee
Woman Smashed Liquor Shop with Ax Read More »
Near the site where a Whole Foods store will soon stand at 51st and Oak Streets, a Kansas City grain executive named Edwin Shields once lived with his wife in a celebrated house called Oaklawn. Shields occupied a large tract of land along with neighbor Herbert Hall, which was surrounded by residential development by the
Grain Magnate Predicted Future of 51st and Oak Read More »