The block of Midtown that is today’s focus has always been a mystery to one of our readers. “On the NW corner of 35th Terrace and Genessee is a nice, solid red brick four-unit apartment building,” Diane Capps wrote. “Near the top, on the front of the building is a limestone slab that is engraved with W.P. CHERRY BLOCK. I’ve always wondered about that!”
It is a short block with only a handful of buildings, lying between State Line Road and Roanoke Park. In addition to the red apartment building, the block holds a row of four bungalows on Genessee and a single small home facing Bell 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.
This week, we tackled the block between Genessee and Bell and between 35th Street and 35th Terrace (previously known as Christine Street).
Who Was W.P. Cherry and Why Was this his Block?
A 1907 Tuttle & Pike map shows the undeveloped block. To the south and east, new subdivisions were being laid out around Roanoke Park, which the city began acquiring in 1901. This block and the one to the west of it were as yet unsubdivided and were owned by W.P. Cherry.
The best evidence for why the apartment bore the name W.P. Cherry lies in the block’s ownership records. Sometime before 1907, a prominent businessman named William Prather Cherry came to own the entire block and the one just to the west.
Cherry, who lived from 1854 to 1921, came to Kansas City from Carthage, Illinois, with his wife, the former Emma Grigsby. Associated first with the Lombard Investment Company, W.P. became the owner of the Foster-Cherry Live Stock Commission, selling cattle and hogs in Kansas City’s booming stockyards. Cherry later formed a new company called Cherry-Tilden Live Stock in 1903, when the Kansas City Star called both Tilden and Cherry “men of means, ability, and influence.” When Cherry died, he was secretary of the Pioneer Trust Company.
There are no records showing the Cherry family, which included Emma and two daughters, ever living at the 35th and Genessee location. They appear to have lived at 29th and Prospect in 1907 and on Benton in 1910. Cherry and his wife, however, were active in real estate, buying and selling a number of properties in Kansas City between the mid-1850s and 1895.
This 1909-1950 Sanborn map shows the block after the apartments and small homes had been built.
Newspapers of the day give us little insight into the people who moved into W.P. Cherry’s block after it was developed. However, there is one tidbit of history: at 3504 Genessee in 1930, 27 different breeds of pigeon—both “fancies and utilities”—were for sale. The photos below show the other homes on the block as they looked in 1940.
Historic photos courtesy Kansas City Public Library/Missouri Valley Special Collections.
I remember this apartment building as I lived at 3506 Genessee in 1967-1968 and in the Roanoke/Valentine area most of my time in K.C. The owners at the time had a daughter my sister’s age (her friend) so I saw her first floor southside apartment and I loved it, as I remember it had stain glass windows I believe were in the dining room and beautiful woodwork throughout. The house we lived in has recently been updated and I’m so glad the neighborhood (39th St. area) and houses are being restored and taken care of.
Thank you! I have tried to use the tax photo site that the library has to no avail. Maybe it just doesn’t like my iPad. Anyway, I grew up on East 31st Street Terrace between Charlotte and Campbell. I have heard it was originally called Glenairy Place. Any history you have would be great to read.
Dale:
I wrote about Glen Airy Place in June. Here’s the link:
http://midtownkcpost.com/glen-airy-place-tucked-away-in-north-hyde-park/
Mary Jo
Mary Jo, thank you so much! I grew up at 811 in the small house on the right. When we lived there there was no rail across the front porch roof, and some previous owner had tacked on a 2 story addition on the back, which was beginning to sagg when we bought it. The new owners have done a wonderful job of rehabbing it!