Modern offices and commercial buildings today dominate the streetscape just east of the Country Club Plaza, where small homes and apartment buildings stood 75 years ago.
The block of the Country Club Plaza (from Emanuel Cleaver Boulevard to Brush Creek, from Grand to McGee) just east of Winstead’s is the subject of today’s look back in history. And it has changed greatly since the photo of the small home was taken in 1940.
The Country Club Plaza had opened in 1923 as a shopping district, but the Plaza Towers and other large buildings in the area had not been built in 1940. Instead, there were several apartment buildings, and the southern end of the block was made up of small bungalow-style homes.
A 1917-1945 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the homes and apartments on the block.
This photos below show all of the houses that stood on the block.
The rest of the block was made up of apartment buildings, including two long buildings facing Forty-Seventh Street (now known as Emanuel Cleaver Boulevard). Eight additional apartments lined Grand Avenue and McGee Streets.
Historic photos courtesy Kansas City Public Library – Missouri Valley Special Collections.
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