![The LaSalle Hotel at the corner of inward and arisen in 1929. Courtesy Kansas City Public Library - Missouri Valley Special Collections.](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/lasalle-1929.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/the-block-today-176x300.jpg)
Seen from above today, this block of Kansas City – Linwood Boulevard to 31st Street – from Campbell to Harrison is fairly deserted. But a hundred years ago, the block was home to a grand hotel, an essential women’s club and a row of businesses along 31st Street.
As part of our Uncovering History Project, the Midtown KC Post is examining each block in Midtown. A set of 1940 tax assessment photos is available for many blocks.
Our historic tour of the block begins with the north side of Linwood Boulevard. The remaining building on the block is the Kansas City Athenaeum Building built in 1914. The Athenaeum was organized in 1894 when several women’s groups joined together. Here’s what happened, according to the Athenaeum’s website.
“The group’s focus evolved from a study society to a literary and philanthropic organization. The new club became a dynamic advocate for educational, community and civic concerns. The women of the Athenaeum took on causes that began more than a century of service, education and positive social change in Kansas City.”
Among the club’s important civic contributions were promoting kindergartens and “Mother’s Unions” in public schools, pushing the city to hire a milk inspector, and helping to “sweep out” corruption of city government in the 1930s.
Next door was an apartment hotel, no longer standing. And on the corner of Linwood and Harrison stood the LaSalle Hotel, built in 1928. The site is now a gas station. One block to the north, several businesses lined the block of 31st Street between Harrison and Campbell, with only two of the buildings remaining today.
Here’s what the block looked like in 1940:
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/11-131-18.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/5-336-1.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/campbell-baking-company-1923.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/happy-hour.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/cambell-baking-1923.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/11-131-14.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/11-131-17.jpg)
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![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/11-131-15.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/11-131-8.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/11-131-7.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/11-131-4.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/11-131-3.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/11-131-2.jpg)
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/3758-washington.jpg)
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