![A neighborhood store at the southeast corner of Tracy and E. 43rd Street once served residents of Manheim Park. The store is no longer standing, but this is how in looked in 1940. Courtesy Kansas City Public Library - Missouri Valley Special Collections.](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/4301-Tracy.jpg)
On the corner of 43rd Street and Tracy, the renovated Bancroft School is bringing new life to the Manheim Park neighborhood. With plans for new infill housing in the area and residents rehabbing older homes, people are rediscovering Manheim, a neighborhood with a lot of history.
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/bancroft-rehabbed.jpg)
The Bancroft School has been converted into apartments.
The photos below show the rest of the homes on the block as they looked in 1940.
It begins with the 4300 block of Virginia, along E. 44th, then takes you up the east side of 4300 block of Tracy, down the west side of that block, across E 44th, and ends up on the 4300 block of Forest. More than half of the homes shown in these photos no longer exist.
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.
Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation renovated the school in 2013. BNIM Architects built additional housing units on the southeast corner of Forest, and there are other plans for new housing in the neighborhood.
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Bnacroft-School-300x172.jpg)
Bancroft School in 1940.
A look back at the area in 1940 shows a well-kept neighborhood with small homes, short white fences and lots of kids playing outside in the neighborhood.
But there is very little history of the area written down or preserved in libraries, and we’d like to change that. That’s where our readers come in.
![](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/4300-block-of-Tracy-today-300x178.jpg)
The 4300 block of Tracy today.
Do you remember this block? What special memories do you have of this section of Manheim Park? What questions do you have about it? Let us know and we’ll share your history and help to preserve it on our website.
![Te 1909-1950 Sanborn Fire Insuance map of the area.](https://midtownkcpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/44th-and-tracy.jpg)
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