Midtown morphed from quiet streetcar suburbs to bustling commercial areas to boarding houses and then reblossomed.
Valentine Road between Broadway and Southwest Trafficway has been home to Kansas City pioneers, wealthy widows, churches, and modest apartment dwellers. It may also have been home to the first plus-size clothing shop in Kansas City in 1925. The street was originally called W. 35th Street and was part of the regular Kansas City grid […]
Valentine Road History: Mansions, Churches – and a Plus-sized Dress Shop Read More »
This post from our archives (originally posted in March of 2016) features homes on the 3900 block of Central in the Heart of Westport neighborhood. Central Street is just one block east of Broadway. Reader Janet Pickett says she grew up on it. “I watched the city tear down 8 or 10 houses and build
Resident Watched Homes Disappear in Westport Read More »
When Barbara Bescher bought a lot at the corner of 39th and Main in 1901, the home she built for herself was practically the only thing on the block. But just two decades later, in 1924, the savvy businesswoman sold the property for more than 20 times what she paid for it. The property she purchased
The NE Corner of 39th and Main Holds Layers of History Read More »
When Midtown began to develop in the late 1800s, it was a posh residential area where well-to-do Kansas Citians built mansions to escape the crowded downtown. They settled along streets such as Broadway, Troost, and Main. However, by the 1920s, rapid development in the area and the streetcar lines along those major streets caused a rapid
Midtown Mansion Converted to Business, Moved to Main Street 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 »
Kansas City changed a lot in the early 1900s. For example, in 1910, the block of Old Hyde Park between 36th and 37th, from Central to Wyandotte, was home to well-off families. Still, by 1940, some of the older homes on the block had been replaced by apartment buildings, and many of the homes had
Transition from Large Homes to Boarding Houses Read More »
Around 1905, major development of Midtown Kansas City started moving for the first time south of Brush Creek, to an area that became known as the Country Club District. One of the earliest homes built in the area was on the block we’re focusing on in this post, from 52nd to 54th, between Oak and Brookside
The Beginnings of the Country Club District Read More »
Today’s historical post looks at the block from Armour to 36th Street, from Main to Walnut, a block that undertook a radical transformation in a few brief decades. From an exclusive enclave of wealthy families like the Armours in the early 1900s, the block became a center of culture around the Conservatory of Music in the
Mansions at Armour and Main gradually repurposed, replaced Read More »
This block between 30th and 31st from Cherry to Holmes is in an area that is returning to life. Home to the Maker Village, the new Cherry Pit Collective, and the Superior Linen Company, it was once mainly residential but is almost completely commercial today. This week, the block from 30th to 31st and from
31st and Cherry Morphed from Residential to Commercial Read More »
Although many of their homes don’t survive, the turn-of-the-century residents of Armour Boulevard included many civic and business leaders of the early 1900s. It was news in 1902 when E.H.L. Thompson took out a permit to build a home on the northeast corner of Armour and Kenwood, seen here as it had been designed. The house
Large Homes Once Stood on Armour Read More »