Midtown has more than two dozen unique neighborhoods and several commercial and cultural districts. No two are alike. They are all interesting.
William Rockhill Nelson is best remembered as the founder of the Kansas City Star, but Nelson once said he enjoyed nothing more than building houses. Nelson the journalist was also an avid real estate developer and planner. He was among the first of the Kansas City elite to move south – helping start the movement […]
Nelson’s Country Mansion Became Site of Nelson-Atkins Museum Read More »
This week, a delegation from China will tour Midtown sites in the Volker, Valentine, and Hyde Park neighborhoods. This is all part of an ongoing relationship between China and Kansas City created by journalist Edgar Snow. The Chinese dignitaries will be in Kansas City for the annual Edgar Snow Symposium. Kansas Citians Mary Clark and E.
Edgar Snow’s Midtown Roots Form Lifelong Kansas City-Chinese Bond Read More »
By Joe Lambe To step into a certain Hyde Park stone home is to walk into history, some of it recent. Past owners range from brewery president George Muehlebach Jr. in the 1920s to current Mayor Sly James. The 1908 house at 743 Manheim Road is in this year’s Hyde Park Homes Tour, which is
Historic Hyde Park Home Housed a Brewer, a Mayor and Musicians Read More »
The North Hyde neighborhood in Midtown is one of the oldest parts of town, and today we’re taking a look back at one if its homes in 1940. This 1940 photo was taken as part of a Works Administration Program that year. Using manpower from the Jackson County Tax Assessors Office and other agencies, a
Snapshot in time: North Hyde Park home in 1940 Read More »
The fine old mansions of Midtown’s Roanoke neighborhood stand seemingly unchanged by time. Roanoke, just west of Southwest Trafficway between 36th and 38th, was one of the first residential suburbs to be developed. Allen B.H. once owned this section of Kansas City. McGee was an early pioneer and Westport settler. McGee’s home was in the
Roanoke Neighborhood Undisturbed by Time Read More »
Some step into history easily, often people who lived much of it and paid attention. Among them is Merrill William “Bill” Day of the Volker neighborhood. Day, 67, worked as a bus driver and a milkman and saw streetscapes change before his eyes. His grandfather was a streetcar driver, and his father was a mechanic,
History Buff Tracks the Past from Volker Read More »
This block of row houses is a one-of-a-kind in Midtown. There are several reasons for that. First, it predates much of the architecture in this part of the city, built in the early days of the southward development. And its style – Queen Anne with some Eastlake elements – is also uncommon in Midtown. The
Row Houses Are Unique Midtown Architecture Read More »
Among Midtown’s historic neighborhoods, Coleman Highlands may be the most unique because it lacks anything other than houses. Since it was platted in 1907, Coleman has been exclusively a neighborhood of homes, tucked away from residential businesses and heavy traffic—the kind of oasis its developers pictured. The 80-acre parcel that eventually became Coleman Highlands changed hands
Coleman Highlands: “Like a Trip to a Park” 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 »
The year is 1897, and the Kansas City Star told the story of the hundreds of apple trees that drew a large crowd to 40th and Warwick, not far from today’s Westport High School. In 1867, Lowell Alonzo Goodman built a red brick home there and added an orchard on the surrounding 53 acres, from
Apple Trees Drew Crowds in the Spring Read More »