Development patterns, zoning laws, park and boulevard creation, and other ways the Midtown grid came about.
In the early 1800s, the graves of a riverboat gambler, a rugged Indian agent, and prominent early settlers shared space in a small plot of land now in the middle of the Westport Entertainment District. According to the Kansas City Times of May 30, 1970, “The Westport cemetery was established in 1835, when Edgar Price, […]
A Memorial Day Look Back at the Westport Cemetery Read More »
Anyone who knows Midtown Kansas City will encounter some pretty familiar places and things with slight twists when reading the book Of Stones and Feathers. There’s the barely-disguised Nelson Museum of Art with its shuttlecocks and sheep sculptures; Gillham Road and Penn Valley Park; Martini Row with its Never-Sleeping, Three-Headed Velvet Dog-Jaws of Death; the
Coleman’s book invites rediscovery of Midtown – and reimagining of Kansas City Read More »
There was a day in Kansas City when almost every kid could walk to an ice cream parlor like this one at 4338 Troost. That memory is preserved in a series of 1940 photographs showing every home and commercial business on the 4300 blocks of Troost and Harrison that year. This area of South Hyde Park developed in
South Hyde Park Became a “Streetcar Suburb” Read More »
Before Penn Valley Park was created and before the Valentine, Roanoke, Coleman Highlands, and Old Hyde Park neighborhoods were built, the northwest part of Midtown had a vast public park known as Feld Park. Dr. Joseph Feld, a native of Germany, was one of the earliest settlers in Kansas City and a significant landowner in
The Park the Came Before Penn Valley Read More »
The earliest residents of Kansas City’s Southmoreland neighborhood were wealthy businessmen looking to escape the hustle and bustle of downtown. Even though many of the mansions they built in the late 1880s have not survived, their confidence in the area set the stage for the neighborhood as it stands today. Historians credit the move of
History in Stone Walls Read More »