A popular fairground that lasted for only five years left a lasting mark on the development of Midtown. In the 1800s, fairs that showcased agriculture techniques and equipment and offered wildly popular horse races were held all over the United States. From 1882 to 1887, the Kansas City Inter-State Fairgrounds operated on land stretching from […]
Map Shows Fairground Racetrack That Became Curve of Valentine Road Read More »
Like many neighborhoods in Kansas City, the large homes on this North Hyde Park block (from Charlotte to Campbell between 33rd and 34th) suited the extended families, servants, and boarders who lived there at the turn of the 20th century. Over the next few decades, families often moved on to smaller homes or the modern new residential
North Hyde Park Block Was Home to Early Kansas City Police Officer Read More »
Small corner stores with living quarters above are a feature of many neighborhood corners in Midtown, including the southeast corner of 39th and Bell in the Volker neighborhood. This corner shop housed several different drugstores in the early 20th century and has also been used as a neighborhood tavern. These businesses have shared the block between
Corner Drugstore at 39th and Genessee Served the Neighborhood Read More »
A well-known spiritualist, a pioneering druggist, and a grocer were among the early residents of the 4100 block of Oak Street in the Southmoreland neighborhood. Records indicate the home at 4120 Oak was for rent as early as 1894 by the Whipple Loan and Trust Company. By the 1900 census, grocer William Crute and his
On Southmoreland’s Oak Street, Grocers, Railroadmen, and Salesmen Raised their Families Read More »
Railroad engineers, carpenters, and schoolteachers made up the middle-class neighborhood along the east side of the 4100 block of McGee in the early 1900s. Most of the block’s families had been born in the United States, although a handful had recently come from Ireland, Sweden, or Germany. Children attended the nearby Rollins school. One house
Middle-class Families Settled in Southmoreland on Hyde Park Avenue (McGee Street) Read More »
Waverly Way – once a street lined with residences and apartment buildings in a thriving Midtown – has now disappeared. Even its name is gone. The street is now called W. 34th Terrace, sandwiched in between the vacant MGE Building at 34th and Broadway and the Metropolitan Community College Health Sciences Institute just to the south.
Valentine’s Waverly Way Has Disappeared Read More »
On a North Hyde Park block where a large steel tank once drew patients to a groundbreaking sanitarium, captains of the Kansas City industry built their homes in the waning years of the 1800s. New homes, both rental and owner-occupied, filled the block during the early 1900s. The large homes housed extended families and their
North Hyde Park Block Drew Early Prominent Families Read More »
By Mary Jo Draper I recently stumbled upon a vintage postcard that showed a huge metal structure called “the tank” at 3310 Harrison. A little research turned up a fascinating story about the tank and the reaction of the neighbors in the North Hyde Park neighborhood when it was in place in the 1920s. The
Why Was There a Huge Steel Tank at 33rd and Harrison in the 1920s? Read More »
A recent historical survey of Westport suggested that the Our Lady of Good Counsel Church on this block of the Valentine neighborhood might be a candidate for the historic register. The church and the rest of the block help tell the story of how churches followed their congregations as residential development moved from downtown to the
A Block Dominated by Churches in Old Westport Read More »
originally published April 6, 2015 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 location made it attractive to people looking
Do You Know the History of the Center City Neighborhood? Read More »