From this apartment at the corner of Paseo and 36th Street, the sounds of piano students practicing and performing filled the air in the 1920s and 30s. Popular piano teacher Miss Lewise McCoy taught many young musicians from her apartment, and they held regular recitals here. Once a year, Miss McCoy went to Chicago, where she continued her own studies with M. Boguslawski, a well-known Russian piano prodigy who was director of piano at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music before moving on to Chicago.
A 1909-1950 map of the block.
The block of Paseo to Virginia, from 36th to 37th Streets, was a lively neighborhood from 1910 to 1940, home to families that made homes in its solid single-family dwellings as well as its high-end apartment building. This 1909-1950 Sanborn Map shows the block, just north of the Faxon School, filled in with a mixture larger homes on more spacious lots along the Paseo, with more tightly-packed lots on Virginia. Along the corners of 36th and 37th, apartment buildings filled up after 1920.
As part of our Uncovering History Project, the Midtown KC Post is taking a look at each block in Midtown, including a set of 1940 tax assessment photos which is available for many blocks. (Many people seem confused by the tax assessment photos, which all include a man holding a sign. Here’s the story behind them). Today the block of Virginia to the Paseo, 36th to 37th.
Changes over the decades
Even before it was added to the Park and Boulevard system in 1906, Paseo Boulevard was lined with sturdy single-family homes as far back as the turn of the century. In 1910, according to the census for that year, the block of Paseo included:
- 3628 Joseph Preston, a millinery merchant, and his wife Malvena.
- 3632 William A. Curry, Jr., a newspaper reporter, with his wife Susan, two daughters and mother-in-law.
- 3640 Joseph H. Stone, a building contractor, with his wife Viola.
- 3644 Insurance company owner John Bryant, with his wife, son, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and two nieces.
That same year, the census records show several tailors making their homes on Virginia Avenue around the corner from the Paseo. A few of the households still had servants. The residents of the tailor-heavy block included:
- 3601 Louis Gray, a tailor, his wife Nellie and mother-in-law.
- 3603 Harry Burk, the secretary of an ice company, with his wife Beatrice, two daughters, and mother-in-law.
- 3605 George Esterle, a clothing salesman, with his wife Nora, son Howard, sister-in-law, and a white servant named Sabina Bummings.
- 3607 Leon Gary, a loose leaf company secretary, with his wife Nellie, daughter, and three sons.
- 3609 Louis Ehrlich, a cigar company clerk, with his wife Suzanne, son Louis and white servant Frances Lamison.
- 3615 John Powers, a liquor house compounder, with his sister Mary.
- 3617 Frederick Koyskell, an advertising apprentice, his wife Estelle and son Richard.
- 3619 William P. Tutt, the manager of a crockery store, with his wife Jane, two daughters and a son.
- 3621 Thomas G. Butler, a tailor born in Michigan, with his wife Jennie, two daughters, mother-in-law and father-in-law.
- 3625 William French Stone, a cashier in an insurance company and his wife Myrtle, along with his mother Kate and son Robert.
- 3627 Arnold Lux, a widowed tailor from Germany, with two sons and two daughters aged 19-25.
- 3633 Rebecca Slater, a 69-year-old widow, and two grandsons.
- 3635 Frank Bayerl, another German tailor, along with his wife Eliza and son Earl.
- 3637 Dewitt Curtin, a 65-year old cigar merchant, along with his wife Carrie, sister-in-law Jennie Croft and a black servant named Hazel Davis.
Here’s a look at how the block changed over the next several decades, as families came and went. Notice that extended families continued to share the large homes, but as the housing market tightened, the 1940 census shows more families on the block taking in boarders.
1920 Census
Virginia
- 3601 Joseph Wilcoxen, 56, listed as not employed, with his wife Eva, nephews Gordon and Francis, and mother-in-law Hannah Hale.
- 3603 Ella Deery, a single woman, and her single sister Florence.
- 3607 Charles Hayden, a civil engineer, with his wife Eugenia, two daughters and a son.
- 3609 Charles E. George, the manager of a sandwich lunch company, with his wife Anna, a daughter and a son.
- 3617 John Callahan, a purchasing agent for the stockyards, with his wife Mary, and a border, Amelia Young.
- 3619 William P. Tutt, listed now as a crockery and furniture manager, with his wife Jane and daughter Vivian.
- 3621 Morris Kemp, retired, with his wife, Clara, two sons and a daughter. Morris was an engineer on the Union Pacific Railroad for 31 years and his son became the vice-president of Butler Manufacturing.
- 3625 Curtis Patterson, a chemist, with his wife Mary, a son, a daughter, and a white servant named Elsie Eckhoff.
- 3627 Arnold Lux, a tailor, lived here, with his family.
- 3629 Ellen Whaling, a widow, lived here with her daughter, a teacher, and two sisters.
- 3633 Mattie Deckman, a widow, with her mother, sister and nephew.
- 3635 Charles B. Woods, a coppersmith, with his wife Lillian and her two brothers.
- 3637 Hiram Copple, a freight handler, with his wife Myra, sister-in-law and three daughters.
Apartments on East 37th
- tenants of these apartments included stenographer, a traffic manager for an oil company, a grocery broker, a baker, and a buyer for a broom and corn company.
The Paseo
- The Preston family lived at 3628 Paseo as early as 1910. John Preston was a millinery merchant. They shared the home with another family in the 1920s. By 1930, John had passed away, but wife Malvena still lived there with her granddaughter and a lodger. Several other families rented sections of the house that year.3608 Hotel bookkeeper Samuel Calvin with his wife Isabelle, son, two sister-in-law, and a nephew.
- Joseph Brady, listed as a public library engineer, with his wife Linnie, two sons and a daughter.
- 3616 Retired German immigrant Louis Meyerhardt with his wife, Birdie, shared the home with Benjamin Tyler, a grain and hay commission merchant, his wife Alice and two sons.
- 3620 Real estate man John Tilthof and his wife Lizzie.
- 3622 George P. Truitt, a secretary in a paper house, with his wife Bessie, son and daughter.
- 3628 Joseph and Melvene Preston still lived in the home, along with Cecil Williams and his wife Lutie and Clara Oppenheimer and her mother.
- 3632 William Curry, still a newspaper reporter, and his family.
- 3636 Mortgage company salesman Isadore Groskins lived here with three black servants, Patsy McFaddin, Hazel and Charles Cox.
- 3640 Life insurance agent John Denberry and his sister, Mary.
- 3644 John A Bryant, a forester for the city park department, with his wife Elizabeth, a son, sister-in-law, and two nieces.
1930
Virginia
- 3601 Joseph Wilcoxen still lived here with his wife Bertha.
- 3603 Flora Deery owned the home, also occupied by printing ink salesman William Blackburn and his wife Edna.
- 3607 Civil engineer George Hayden with his wife Eugenia, a daughter and a son.
- 3609 Insurance salesman Joseph Findley with his wife Montie, daughter, son, father, and two borders.
- 3615 John Powers, listed as a clerk in an oil company, with his sister Mary.
- 3617 John E. Kallahan, a real estate salesman, with his wife Mary and a lodger named George Roberts.
- 3619 Aaron Seibatrik, a Russian immigrant who was a groceryman, with his wife and three sons.
- 3621 Widow Clara Kemp with two daughters and a son.
- 3625 George Dougherty with his wife May, three daughters, a two sons.
- 3629 Butcher Eugene Damon and his wife Augusta, four sons, a daughter-in-law, two daughters and his mother-in-law.
- 3633 George Settle, an oil company clerk, with his wife Veraleigh and daughter Veraleigh. General merchandise salesman James Enlow also lived in the home with his wife Ethelyn.
- 3635 Nathan Rappaport, a Russian immigrant who worked in a packing house, with his wife and three sons.
- 3637 Philip Milkin, a building contractor, with his wife Ester, two sons and a daughter.
The Paseo
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The Ansaldo at 3624-26 Paseo opened in 1922, advertised as “an apartment for rent in the newest and most exclusive apartment house in the city; completely furnished for housekeeping; beautiful overstuffed furniture; extra good carpets and curtains; nice china; aluminum cooking ware, and every conceivable convenience.”
3600-3606 Several families lived in these apartment buildings, including a weather observer for the weather bureau, a buyer for a grain company, and an apartment building janitor.
- 3608 general hospital surgeon Owen Krueger with wife Melia and two granddaughters.
- 3612 Linnie Brady, retired, with two sons, a daughter, and a white servant named Anna Wallace.
- 3616 Wholesale grocery Meyer Freidman, a Russian immigrant, with his wife Louise and daughter Shirley. Another family headed by Alice Tyler, including a son and lodger, shared the home.
- 3620 Emma Watson lived here alone.
- 3622 Building and loan manager Robert McConnell with his wife, Orah, and son James.
- 3624 Various families lived in this apartment building.
- 3628 Malvena Preston still lived here with her granddaughter Charlene and a lodger. Eliza Mortenson and daughter Francis rented part of the house, as did Abraham Achtenberg, his wife Hanna and daughter Mollie.
- 3630 Board of trade margin clerk Leroy Pennebaker with wife Callie, niece Janette Hickman, Martin and Helen Housten, and five lodgers.
- 3632 Ada Bood and her sister Anna and Thomas Veretta and his wife Mary.
- 3640 Harry Nearing, a salesman for a salt company, his wife Josafine, a daughter, two sons and his mother.
- 3644 Several families rented this home.
1940
Virginia
- 3635 Nathan Rappapart still lived here with wife Clara and two sons.
- 3633 George Brown, a barber, with wife Eleanor, a son and his mother-in-law.
- 3629 Augusta Damon still lived here with two sons and a daughter, as well as two male lodgers.
- 3621 Clara Kemp still lived here with her son, daughter and now a lodger.
- 3625 Margaret Dougherty, a nurse, lived here with two brothers and two sisters.
- 3617 Mary E. Callahan lived in this house she owned and shared with three lodgers.
- 3615 John L. Powers, liquor wholesale business, and his sister Mary still lived here.
- 3609 Several families lived in this home
- 3607 George Hayden with his daughter and granddaughter.
- 3603 Florence Deery lived here with her maid.
- 3601 Myrtle Wilcoxen still lived here, along with four lodgers.
The Paseo
- 3644 Gene McFarland, an interior decorator, lived here with wife Juliet, a nephew and one lodger.
- 3640 John Ellis, his wife Daisy, a daughter and a son.
- 3624-26 Various families lived in these apartments.
- 3828 Phillip Levitt, the owner of a grocery store, with his wife Minnie, a son, a two daughters. Also in the home were the Kessler family including hardware salesman Essat, wife Vera, and grandson Fred.
- 3620 Several families lived in this home.
- 3616 Widow Alice Tyler lived here with her son.
- 3612 Oscar Williams with his wife Alice, two daughters, a son and two grandsons.
- 3600-3606 Various families lived in these apartments.
The slideshow below shows the rest of the homes and apartments on the block as they looked in 1940.
Historic photos courtesy Kansas City Public Library/Missouri Valley Special Collections.
Do you have memories or more details about this area of Midtown? Please share them with our readers. Would you like us to focus on your block next week? Send us an email.
Our book, Kansas City’s Historic Midtown Neighborhoods, is available now. Let us know if you want us to come to your neighborhood association or organization’s meeting to share what we’ve learned about Midtown neighborhood history and tell your members how they can help preserve Midtown history. If you’d like to order the book, email Mary Jo Draper at mjdraper@midtownkcpost.com.
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