When J.C. Nichols developed the Crestwood neighborhood in 1919, it was advertised as a “garden home” district. The neighborhood offered large lots that took advantage of the natural topography and attracted wealthy residents who moved south as the older, more mature parts of Midtown became crowded.
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.
These two blocks of Crestwood are a good example of the development that occurred at the end of the Midtown’s early development. They also offer a glimpse of how the neighborhood changed as UMKC grew and spread out from its original site at 51st and Holmes.
In 1904, two-grain company heads, H.F. Hall and E.W. Shields, bought 38½ acres from Fifty-first to Fifth-fifth between Oak and Holmes. The previous owners had included August Meyer, president of the first Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners, who helped create the park and boulevard system. Meyer’s own mansion stood at 44th and Warwick on 8½ acres of land.
When Meyers sold the 38-acre site to Hall and Shields, the Kansas City Star called the area Southwood Park and described it as “beautifully wooded, high and slightly and approached by the new extension of Rockhill Road.” The two buyers said they planned to build homes for themselves on ten acres and subdivide the rest into five-acre tracts.
Hall built a large Georgian-style home in 1910. It was one of the few homes in the city at the time to be built using fireproof construction. It had 14 rooms, including four bathrooms, and the first floor was finished in oak and mahogany.
Herbert and Linda Hall left a $6 million endowment to establish a free public library on the grounds of their estate. After they had died in 1941, a board of trustees decided to create a science and technology library, which opened in 1946 as the Linda Hall Library.
A Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from 1930 – 1941.
Landscape architects Hare and Hare created Crestwood’s original design. They broke with the traditional grid pattern to take advantage of the natural contours and trees, laying out curved roads and creating parklets with statuary or decorative touches where the roads intersected.
Many homes in Crestwood incorporate stone quarried at 55th and Oak Streets into their foundations. The architecture followed the post-World War I Eclectic movement in design, with most homes built in the Colonial Revival or Tudor Revival styles. Although Crestwood offered some smaller bungalows for young couples, many homes are larger. The uniformity of size, scale, and materials makes the neighborhood distinctive. Frontage was often 45 to 60 feet, and lots were 100 to 120 feet deep.
Classes began at the University of Kansas City, seen in the upper right corner of the map, in 1933. As the university expanded to the south, these blocks that once had been residential took on more institutional use. For example, Mr. and Mrs. James Burke donated two tracts of land and a residence at 5300 Holmes to the university in 1972. The 5300 block of Holmes today is also home to the
education building.
The 1940s photos below show well-maintained lots and neatly-clipped hedges.
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This article only focused on the area that was historically called “Lower Crestwood” because of the topography of the subdivision. “Upper Crestwood is the part of the subdivision south of 55th to 56th where Kenwood becomes Crestwood Drive. In recent years, many residents of “Lower Crestwood” haven’t liked that historical name and now call it “Crestwood North” and “Crestwood South” for the areas divided by 55th Street. There is also a path historically called “The Bunny Trail” on Crestwood Drive, just a few houses north of 56th that leads to 55th Street and lower Crestwood.
John: That’s great information. Thanks for sharing it.
In the late ’70s/early ’80s I took my guitar lessons in a stone building belonging to UMKC and the conservatory department before things shifted more to the Rep. building and it was in that area, but unfortunately I’m pretty sure that it was razed for some UMKC development. I was a kid and didn’t drive there, so I’m a bit fuzzy on the exact intersections, but it was a really neat castle-like building. Definitely predated the rest of the University around it.