Seen from above today, this block of Kansas City – Linwood Boulevard to 31st Street – from Campbell to Harrison is fairly deserted. But a hundred years ago, the block was home to a grand hotel, an essential women’s club and a row of businesses along 31st Street. Our historic tour of the block begins with the […]
Linwood Boulevard Had a Grand Hotel and More Read More »
The businesses that once lined the southeast corner of Armour and Troost are mostly gone now, with the remaining ones boarded up. But in earlier days, the block from Armour south to 36th Street, from Troost to Forest, was a lively part of Armour Boulevard’s apartment hotel district. And the corner of Armour and Forest
A Shootout on Armour Boulevard Read More »
Instead of drinking away their paychecks, developer S.H. Taylor advised working citizens of Kansas City to invest in real estate. In an 1887 advertisement in the Kansas City Star, Taylor listed multiple reasons that buying a home in his Bunker Hill neighborhood was better than frittering money away on cocktails or cigars. According to Taylor,
Developer Said Don’t Waste Money on Cigars – Buy a Home Instead Read More »
It is history day at the Midtown KC Post, and we’ve got a new map that shows how Troost Avenue changed between 1880 and 1920, transforming from millionaire’s row into Kansas City’s premier shopping street. The best way to see the transition is by studying old maps of 29th to 32nd Streets and Troost. The map
When Troost Was Millionaire’s Row Read More »
The Rockhill neighborhood is known for its significant historic homes, which are built on spacious lots and are close to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Art Institute, and UMKC. Once renowned for its stone walls and crimson rambler roses, Rockhill began when William Rockhill Nelson built his mansion, Oak Hall, in the south part of
The Neighborhood Around the Nelson-Atkins Museum Read More »
A home on the 3100 block of Summit in 1940. Before Penn Valley Community College was built, several hundred homes filled in the area between 31st and 33rd Streets, from Broadway to Southwest Trafficway. In the late 1960s, communities across the United States formed community college districts fueled by changes in society that seemed to
Video: Lost Homes of the Valentine Neighborhood Read More »
In 1940, the O’Reilly family lived at 3100 Broadway, today the site of a commercial office building. Today, the 3100 block of Broadway is comprised of office towers and commercial, office, medical, and community college buildings. But as recently as 1940, the block looked utterly different. It was then dotted with large family homes, like
North Broadway Once Had More Homes Read More »
3820 Baltimore in 1940 In 1918, Mrs. Pensa Davis died in her home at 3820 Baltimore, in the neighborhood now known as Old Hyde Park. Mrs. Davis was the widow of Francis Napoleon Davis, an early Kansas City resident who bought a large tract of land. The Davis farm later became the Rockhill area. According
Block Held Mixture of Apartments and Homes Read More »
Homes in the Center City neighborhood at 33rd and Troost around 1900. In the early 1900s, developers such as the Cowherd Brothers were building “modern” middle-class homes across what is now Midtown. One area where development was occurring was today’s Center City neighborhood, from 31st to Armour Boulevard and Troost to the Paseo. Center City’s strategic
Jewish Immigrants Settled Around Synagogue Read More »
We’ve already featured the north side of West 39th Street between State Line and Bell, but a reader whose grandfather used to own some buildings there asked us what we knew about the south side of the block, where Jimmy’s Jigger sits today. Records were sketchy before the 1950s, but the establishment was called Bigger
Business Boomed on West 39th Street Read More »