Architects, developers, dreamers, artists and musicians. All sorts of people have had an impact.
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 […]
Corner of 39th and Pennsylvania Was Home to Westport Pioneer Family Read More »
Midtown households in the 1930s were predominantly made up of typical nuclear families: a working father, stay-at-home mother, and several children. But a glimpse at the 1930 makeup of the Valentine neighborhood block from Pennsylvania to Jefferson between 37th and Valentine shows other trends: a proportionally large number of households headed by widows, families that
Valentine Block Was Home of School Board President Read More »
A few of the homes on the block between 51st and Rockhurst from Forest to Tracy, including one where an early crusader for the blind lived, have been replaced by buildings associated with Rockhurst University. However, most of the bungalows and other single-family residences stand as they have since the early 1920s, a decade after Rockhurst was established. This
Early Advocate for the Blind Lived on this Block near Rockhurst Read More »
An important homestead once stood where the south edge of the Valentine neighborhood touches Westport, near what is now the parking lot of the Sunfresh grocery store. The home of Westport pioneer George Schaefer proudly occupied the corner of Pennsylvania and Schaefer Street (now known as West 39th Street Terrace). The family built the home
Valentine Mansion Once Housed Pioneer Family, Children of Working Mothers Read More »
As one of the oldest parts of Kansas City, the block of Westport from Pennsylvania to Mill between 40th and Westport Road has seen several distinct stages of development. The area first came to life in the mid-1800s, when historic churches, courtrooms, wagon-making, and grocery shops mingled with small frame homes. Despite efforts to preserve
On Westport Block, Frontier History Meets 20th Century Read More »
If they hadn’t left behind their name on Armour Boulevard and several neighborhoods south of the Plaza, the Armour family’s brief prominence in Kansas City might easily be forgotten. Best known as part of the Chicago-based meatpacking dynasty, the Armours who ran the Kansas City branch of the company were a major influence on social
Armour Family Left Name, Legacy in Midtown Read More »
The history of Midtown Kansas City is full of tales of fortunes made and lost in real estate, but the Plaza Westport neighborhood’s past tells a different kind of story. A real estate developer and builder there, Will Corbin, is remembered for finding a way to help working-class people in Kansas City afford the modern
Neighborhood Builder Helped Working People Buy Homes Read More »
In 1929, Mrs. Maud Wilson, the wife of the proprietor of a coffee shop at 31st and Holmes, was catapulted to the front page of the newspapers, where she held a firm spot for several weeks. By all accounts, the hard-working women struggling with her husband and daughter, Iris, to earn a living at the coffee
Woman Smashed Liquor Shop with Ax Read More »
Presidents, vice presidents, and company owners – that’s who lived on this block of Sunset Hill in 1940. Sunset Drive, 51st Street and 52nd Street bound the block. The large homes set on big wooded lots were intended by their developer to attract those who could afford the most exclusive addresses in Kansas City, and J.C.
Captains of Industry Settled in Sunset Hill Read More »
Today’s historical post looks at the block from Armour to 36th Street, from Main to Walnut, a block that undertook a radical transformation in a few brief decades. From an exclusive enclave of wealthy families like the Armours in the early 1900s, the block became a center of culture around the Conservatory of Music in the
Mansions at Armour and Main gradually repurposed, replaced Read More »