Neighborhoods

Midtown has more than two dozen unique neighborhoods and several commercial and cultural districts. No two are alike. They are all interesting.

NE Corner of 39th Street and Summit Once Housed Local Shops, Apartments

1 Comment / Big Changes, Neighborhoods / By

One of the major transformations in Midtown in the mid-1900s was the construction of Southwest Trafficway, a traffic artery meant to carry downtown business people and shoppers to their homes in the suburbs. Although less congested routes were clearly needed at the time, an unintended consequence was the transformation of Summit from a local business […]

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Roanoke Property Owners Took a Stand Against Apartments in 1920s

1 Comment / Big Changes, Neighborhoods / By

In the 1920s, the owners of single-family homes in the Roanoke neighborhood took a stand against the growing number of apartment buildings being erected across the city. Their concern about the development of multifamily housing has been a constant theme throughout Midtown’s history.  Today, the block bounded by Valentine and W. 37th, Summit (Southwest Trafficway),

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Corner of 39th and Pennsylvania Was Home to Westport Pioneer Family

3 Comments / Neighborhoods, People / By

Among the earliest homes in what is now Midtown were those of wealthy Westport settlers built in the mid-1800s. Those homes, such as the lavish Bernard mansion in what is now the Valentine neighborhood, were often replaced to make room for “modern” homes in the early 1900s. Because they sometimes occupied key intersections, many of

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Plaza Homes Replaced by “Modern” Apartments as Plaza Developed

1 Comment / Big Changes, Lost and Endangered, Neighborhoods / By

This block just north of the Plaza started out as a residential area, but as the Plaza developed over the early decades of the 1900s, several of its homes were replaced by “modern” apartments. At least one of the homes may have been moved to make way for multi-family structures, but both single-family residences and

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Swedish Families Settled and Stayed for Decades on This Volker Block

4 Comments / Cultural Melthing Pot, Neighborhoods / By

It is common to find families moving in and out of Midtown neighborhood blocks in the early 1900s, but this Volker area, with many Swedish immigrants, was much more stable. Census records from 1910 to 1940 show several families that stayed on the block the entire time, while others moved in and stayed for two

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Westport’s Oldest Settlers Fiddled and Danced at Little’s Hall

2 Comments / Neighborhoods / By

A careful observer of things in Midtown, Diane Capps, noticed the lettering on a window at 313 Westport Road and noticed the name “Little’s Hall” was embedded in the leaded glass. The first floor of the building is now used as an antique store, and the sign for a long-term tenant, the Broadway Hardware Company,

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Valentine Road History: Mansions, Churches – and a Plus-sized Dress Shop

1 Comment / Big Changes, Great Streets, Neighborhoods / By

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

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Long-Forgotten L.A. Allen Home Stood at Valentine and Broadway

2 Comments / Lost and Endangered, Neighborhoods / By

Midtown Kansas City has several important corners, often where major streets and streetcar lines intersect, including the intersection of Broadway Boulevard and Valentine Road. The southwest corner is well-known now as the site of the Uptown Theater. But before the Uptown was built in the late 1920s, an important—and widely forgotten—home belonging to L.A. Allen

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This Volker Block Was Home to Hard-Working Laborers

Leave a Comment / Cultural Melthing Pot, Neighborhoods / By

Laborers, most of them immigrants or the children of immigrants, were the first residents to occupy the block of the Volker neighborhood between Holly and Mercier from W. 40th to W. 41st. Some worked at the stockyards, but most were employed in Kansas City’s thriving railroad industry. Reader Andrew Findlay, who lives on the block,

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