Schools, churches, dance halls, saloons, and other places where Midtown people mixed outside their homes.
The photos we have posted below show the structures that existed that year. A Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the Troostwood area developed after the turn of the century. Today, we look at residences and businesses in Troostwood, from 49th Street south to 49th Terrace and 51st Street, from Troost Avenue east to Forest and […]
A Corner Store on Troost Read More »
Today, we look at residences, businesses, and apartment buildings in the Volker neighborhood, from 38th Street south to 39th Street and State Line Road east to Bell Street. Johnson Hardware, at 1800 West 39th, and Rainbow Grocery Company, at 1802 West 39th, are among the buildings pictured. But we would like your help. Do you remember this block in 1940 or in the years since? What special memories do you
West 39th Street Business Served Volker Neighborhood Read More »
Before it became a major city park, Penn Valley was a deep ravine with 300 homes scattered across its hillsides, as seen in this photo from 1890. Photo courtesy of the Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners, as seen in the new book “Kansas City’s Parks and Boulevards.” Midtown would be a completely different place
Book Details Lessons from Park and Boulevard History Read More »
On a day this hot a century ago, Midtowners would have hopped on the streetcar and headed south to 46th and the Paseo, where the popular Electric Park with its beach, roller coasters, and dancing awaited them. At the turn of the century, the first Electric Park, a popular destination for Kansas Citians, was located
Electric Park Was Midtown’s Coney’s Island Read More »
The building is gone, and the name has been changed, but Midtown once had a school at the corner of 33rd and McGee known as the Hyde Park School. Originally, the land was a cornfield, part of the 60-acre Jacob Ragan farm at Armour Boulevard and Gillham Road. But in the late 1800s, the eight-room
Hyde Park School Served a Growing Population in 1899 Read More »
by Joe Montanari (reprinted from the West Plaza neighborhood newsletter) Traveling east or west on 39th Street, on the southwest corner of 39th and Roanoke Road, one notices a handsome old building known as “The Loretto.” It’s a little tricky to see out the car window as you drive by, but if you approach from
Loretto School Faced Desegration Fight in 1947 Read More »
By Joe Lambe On Thanksgiving day in 1927, a huge ballroom that opened in Midtown marked a high point in the jazz age in a city known for jazz, booze and overall sin. The Kansas City Public Library on its web site this week tells the story of the Pla-Mor Ballroom that was at 3142
Fab Ballroom a Part of Midtown’s Rich Past Read More »
Midtown’s Norman School is one of 12 sites nominated for the National Register of Historic Places by the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation this month. The application document offers a glimpse of the history of Kansas City and the relationship between its schools and neighborhoods around the turn of the century. The nomination prepared
Norman School Historical Nomination Highlights Role in Community Read More »
For a little bit of Halloween trivia, we enjoyed an article about Union Cemetery, Missouri’s oldest public burial place. Union Cemetery sits on 27 acres of land at 227 E. 28th Terrace. The parks department tells us it got many of its permanent residents in the 1850s following a cholera epidemic that filled up cemeteries
Union Cemetery’s Roots Read More »
A new book celebrating the 100-year history of the Redemptorist Church at 3333 Broadway notes the church was once the “center of the Catholic universe in Midtown.” It chronicles the relationships between the church and the neighborhoods around it as Kansas City grew and changed. Among the milestones the book records: The Book Redemptorist Church: Our
Midtown Bookshelf: Redemptorist Church Celebrates 100 Years Read More »