The northwest corner of Westport Road and Main Street is a crucial Midtown intersection. As such, businesses and institutions have always seen the benefit of locating there, at the intersection of two major streets and in the heart of residential neighborhoods. That has meant that the corner has seen a lot of changes over the […]
Businesses Replaced Homes on Westport and Main Streets Read More »
The Roanoke neighborhood, developed from around 1900 to 1920, has always made a solid effort to keep its single-family homes. While other neighborhoods in Midtown often saw their homes divided as rooming houses and later into multiple apartments, Roanoke’s residents were vigilant in preventing that from happening within their boundaries. 1909-1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance map shows
Roanoke Fought Boarding Houses Read More »
It’s a Jiffy Lube today, but the building at the corner of Linwood and Gillham Plaza once housed Sight Brothers Motor Company, Kansas City’s oldest Chevrolet dealer. Next door to the south, when this photo was taken in 1940, many people attended funerals at the Stine & McClure Chapel, and next door on the west
Business Flourished at Corner of Linwood and Gillham Plaza Read More »
A February 1944 newspaper clipping shows Kansas City Life Insurance Company President Walter Bixby exchanging a $6.5 million check for the Einstein’s Theory of Relativity manuscript. As scientists and science geeks across the world celebrate the centennial anniversary of Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, a Midtown Kansas City company plays an interesting role in the
Kansas City Life’s link to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity Read More »
The Kansas City Athenaeum Club said it had sold its 101-year-old building at Linwood and Campbell to the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority DEED Foundation. Both groups describe the transfer of the historic building as a perfect fit for the site , which has a century of history and now has a past and a future involving important women’s
Historic Athenaeum Building Changes Hands Read More »
The 3700 block of Troost and Forest today plays an important role in Kansas City life, as the site of the DeLaSalle Education Center. The same block holds other important history: it was once the home of a man who made his fortune by believing in Kansas City’s future, and later the home of a Catholic
From a Deer Park to A School in Manheim Park Read More »
When the holidays roll around in Kansas City, many people head to Pryde’s in Westport, the “hardware store for cooks.” If they look closely among the spatulas, saucepans, and dish towels, shoppers will notice several framed photos of young women in ballet and other dance costumes. They were all students of Miss Helen Thomes, a
Pryde’s Building Was Miss Thome’s Dance Studio Read More »
The Roanoke at 813 W. 39th Street was one of Midtown’s early neighborhood theaters. It also drew large crowds after 1946, when it started showing Mexican movies. The theater, which no longer exists, was just off the corner of 39th and Summit, where Missie B’s operates today. It is part of the block we’re featuring
Theater at 39th and Summit Showed Mexican Movies? Read More »
The site today. Many in Kansas City have memories of an imposing five-story building at the southwest corner of Troost and 31st Street. The corner is a vacant lot and a busy bus stop today, but from 1917 to 1997, it was the site of the Wirthman Building, which housed a drug store, street-level shops,
Troost Corner Served the Neighborhood Read More »
One of Midtown’s most historical corners is the intersection of Linwood and Troost, where a distinctive terra cotta structure, open on the street level, stands on the northeast corner. The area was once part of a very exclusive section of Kansas City known as Millionaires Row, where families tired of living in the crowded city moved
Changes at Linwood and Troost Read More »