Instead of drinking away their paychecks, developer S.H. Taylor advised working citizens of Kansas City to invest in real estate.
In an 1887 advertisement in the Kansas City Star, Taylor listed multiple reasons that buying a home in his Bunker Hill neighborhood was better than frittering money away on cocktails or cigars. According to Taylor, owning a home might keep a man out of prison and “place your family on equal standing with our best citizens.”
Taylor sold 20 lots in Bunker Hill in 1887, in the area we now call the Plaza Westport neighborhood. He advertised it as close to streetcar lines and surrounded by elegant homes, churches, and schools.
Much of Kansas City’s well-known history tells the stories of its wealthiest citizens, but Midtown as we know it today was also built by blue-collar workers. Because of the high-quality materials used in construction from the late 1880s to the 1920s, many of these working-class homes are still attractive places to live.
This map shows the Plaza Westport area around 1907, with the featured block highlighted in yellow. Note that the Corbin Park area was just to the east, and the Steptoe section, a region settled by formerly enslaved people, was just a few blocks north when Bunker Hill was being developed.
The photos below show the rest of the homes on the block as they looked in 1940.
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.
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