Parkview Drugstores Started on this Manheim Park Block

David Smolinsky and his sons opened their first Parkview Pharmacy at 46th and Virginia in 1910. The pharmacy was named for its view of Electric Park, a popular amusement park just to the west. Parkview Pharmacy became a popular gathering place ...

On the Edge of Midtown, A Home for Orphan Girls

Where the BMA Tower (One Park Place)  stands today, on a hill at 31st and Southwest Trafficway, Catholic nuns once ran a home for orphans. The St. Joseph Orphan Girls’ Home operated from 1880 until 1960, one of several charitable institutions ...

Levy Meat Company Family Lived on this Volker Block

  Among the earliest homes on this Volker block (36th to 37th, Genessee to Wyoming)  was that of pioneer butcher Isaac Levy. He and his family lived at 3615 Genessee in 1910, when there were only six homes on the block. In the 1920s, developers ...

Hyde Park Block Responded to Changing Residential Trends

  The Alexander Hamilton Apartments, seen in this 1949 Kansas City Star drawing,  were built during the post-war housing crisis. The 70 apartments offered much needed homes in an era where Kansas City residents were being urged to share ...

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

In 1912, Judge A.M. Allen, an early Westport resident who gave him name to the Allen School and the Allen library, had to say goodbye to his much-loved home. “The Old Allen home,” known as the finest in Kansas City, had stood at the northwest ...

Volker Homes Built Around 1910 To Meet The Needs of Immigrants

  Irish immigrant Cornelius Flaherty, his wife Mary and brother-in-law Patrick Fitzgerald lived in this Volker home from around 1920 through the 1940s. Cornelius worked as a foreman at the stockyards and Patrick repaired cars for the Rock ...

Uncovering History: Have Much of Midtown Has Been Uncovered?

This is the low-tech map I use to keep track of the Uncovering History posts developed for the Midtown KC Post. So far, the project has detailed the histories of more than 150 blocks of Midtown. A very important part of the project is the participation ...

New site focuses on Porter Farm area around 27th and Troost

Mansions once lined Troost Avenue north of 31st Street in the Porter Farm Historic Preservation District. A new website celebrates its history and invites new residents to share their stories. While luxury homes, redeveloped commercial buildings, ...

How Central Hyde Park Prepared for Thanksgiving

This buildings on this block of Campbell between Manheim and E. 39th Streets look much the same as they did when they were built after the turn of the 20th century. As Thanksgiving approached in 1927, it’s a pretty good bet that Effie Kauffman ...

In 1910, a block of immigrant families in Valentine

The store at the corner of 34th and Pennsylvania as it looked in 1940. Russian immigrant Morris Greenman ran the store in 1910, selling food and other goods to new residents recently arrived from other countries. This recent Google map photo ...