midtownkcposter

Newly-renovated Scottish Rite Temple Anchors Historic Linwood and Paseo Block

8 Comments / Buildings and Architecture, Gathering Places / By

May 13, 2019 The Kansas City Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Temple is a massive structure that has fascinated those driving along Linwood and the Paseo for years. Last week, the Temple was opened for a public tour to showcase its renovations. The Scottish Rite, the largest branch of Freemasonry, still uses the building for meetings […]

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Parkview Drugstores Started on this Manheim Park Block

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In the early 1900s, this block from Brush Creek Boulevard to Cleaver Boulevard between Tracy and Virginia was best known as the home of the original Parkview Pharmacy. Located just east of the popular Electric Park, in those days, the block was a mixture of commercial buildings, apartments (even one designed by Nelle Peters), and

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Troostwood Block Offered Shade, Bungalows, and Two-Car Garages

4 Comments / Neighborhoods / By

Some blocks of Midtown Kansas City were built to house Kansas City elites, and others were created as working-class enclaves. Today’s block, in the Troostwood neighborhood from 49th to 49th Terrace and Tracy to Troostwood, was developed in the early 1920s for middle-class families who wanted a shady neighborhood away from the hustle and bustle of

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On the Edge of Midtown, A Home for Orphan Girls

15 Comments / Cultural Melthing Pot, Great Streets / By

A home for orphans that took in hundreds of children between 1880 and 1960 was a well-known part of the Midtown landscape. The St. Joseph Orphan Girls’ home took up the entire block between SouthweTrafficway (then called Summit) and Pennsylvania north of 31st Street (Karnes). Although it was called the Orphan Girls’ Home, the institution did

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Hyde Park Block Responded to Changing Residential Trends

1 Comment / Big Changes, Neighborhoods / By

How does this block of Hyde Park come to have several formerly luxurious old homes mixed in with a 1950s, post-war apartment building? The answer lies in the changing housing trends that influenced Midtown Kansas City’s development and redevelopment. On this block, from Armour to E. 36th between Charlotte and Holmes, the earliest residents sought space

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Old Hyde Park Block Has Seen Many Changes Since Dr. Hunter’s Time

2 Comments / Big Changes, Neighborhoods / By

I’m finding it hard to describe all the changes on this Old Hyde Park block in one overarching headline. The block is between Main Street and Grand Avenue, from 31st Terrace to 32nd Street, a little north of Costco. Just after 1900, the block was dominated by the home of prominent doctor D.W. Hunter, who was so

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Noted Architect Lived on This Roanoke Block of Well-off Families

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Kansas City architect E.O. Brostrom – designer of the Newbern Hotel, several churches and an advocate in the 1930s of tiny houses – was just one of the noted early residents of a Roanoke neighborhood block.  The homes in the area from W. 37th to W. 38th between Jarboe and Valentine were built between 1900 and 1930, when the

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One of Kansas City’s Finest Homes Razed in 1912; Replaced by Sunset Hill School

2 Comments / Gathering Places, Lost and Endangered / By

I can feel the pain of anyone who has to say goodbye to a long-loved home, so I understand how Judge A.M. Allen might have felt in 1912. He and his son had driven their buggy over to the northwest corner of 51st and Wornall to take a last look at Allen’s home of 45 years.

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Volker Homes Built Around 1910 To Meet The Needs of Immigrants

1 Comment / Cultural Melthing Pot, Neighborhoods / By

Most of the homes we now occupy in Midtown were built in a relatively short period – from 1900 to about 1920. While some of Kansas City’s wealthiest families had moved south in the 1880s, the majority of homes were constructed to meet a rapidly-growing population after the turn of the century. For example, the

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