Category: Streets
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Mansions at Armour and Main gradually repurposed, replaced
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…
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Block of Boulevards Shifts from Residential in 1920s
If location is all-important in real estate, location along two boulevards must be even better. The intersection of Linwood Boulevard and The Paseo (now called Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard) historically attracted elite families, who moved into substantial homes before the turn of the 20th century. But the location also made the block a target…
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Newly-renovated Scottish Rite Temple Anchors Historic Linwood and Paseo Block
The Kansas City Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Temple is a massive structure that has fascinated those driving along Linwood and the Paseo for years. Last week, the Temple was opened for a public tour to show off renovations. The Scottish Rite, the largest branch of Freemasonry, still uses the building for meetings and administration. Faced…
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Do you remember the northeast corner of Main and Thirty-first?
The building at the corner of 31st and Main is one of Midtown’s most distinctive, known as the Jeserich or the Tower Building. Around 1900 the corner housed a drug store, and in the 1940 photo above, it was the factory and salesroom of the Kaufman Window Shade Company. It is part of the block…
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Scores of schoolchildren, judges and bishops visited this Southmoreland home
If old houses hold the memories of those who have lived in and visited them, this home at 3959 Warwick would have had more stories to tell than most. The home – now replaced by an apartment building – was the long-time residence of lawyer and prominent philanthropist Sanford Ladd, and in his waning years, was the…
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NE Corner of 39th Street and Summit Once Housed Local Shops, Apartments
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 consequences was the transformation of Summit from a local…
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Valentine Road history: mansions, churches – and a plus-sized dress shop
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, a part of the regular Kansas City grid, until…
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Long-forgotten L.A. Allen home stood at Valentine and Broadway
Midtown Kansas City has a number of important corners, often where major streets and streetcar lines came together, and one of those is 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…
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Do you remember E. 31st between Charlotte and Campbell?
Residents began moving into the block around E. 31st Street from Charlotte to Campbell in the late 1800s, and as the population grew, 31st Street (formerly known as Springfield Avenue) became a commercial street that offered such services as cleaning, furniture making, and a grocery store. As part of our Uncovering History Project, the Midtown…
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The residences on the block from 38th to 39th between Main and Baltimore
The block between 38th and 39th between Main and Baltimore was a key location, in part because of Main Street’s importance as a commercial corridor and also because of the easy access to streetcar lines on both Main and 39th. Development began in 1901, when savvy businesswoman Barbara Bescher bought a lot at the corner…