Before Penn Valley Park was created and before the Valentine, Roanoke, Coleman Highlands, and Old Hyde Park neighborhoods were built, the northwest part of Midtown had a vast public park known as Feld Park. Dr. Joseph Feld, a native of Germany, was one of the earliest settlers in Kansas City and a significant landowner in […]
The Park the Came Before Penn Valley Read More »
Our story and slide show yesterday about the area around Westport Road and Broadway raised a reader’s question. He asked if we knew anything about a livery stable that had once stood in the 300 block of Westport, just east of Broadway, near where Dave’s Stage Coach Inn stands today. Since it was a slow
Westport Had Several Livery Stables Read More »
Today, we look at residences and businesses in Westport, in today’s Heart of Westport neighborhood and the Westport entertainment district. It is a small block, but you may well recognize a few businesses that have not changed that much over the years. The photos below show the rest of the homes and businesses on the
Westport Businesses in 1940 Read More »
Today, we examine residences in the Manheim Park neighborhood, from 39th Street south to 40th Street and Forest Avenue east to Tracy Avenue. Photos courtesy Kansas City Public Library, Missouri Valley Special Collections.
Manheim Park Block in 1940 Read More »
As part of our Uncovering History Project, the Midtown KC Post is taking a look at the 1940 tax assessment photos of each block in Midtown. Today, we look at residences, businesses, and apartment buildings that were once considered part of the Valentine neighborhood but have since been demolished to make room for Penn Valley Community College. This
Homes Where Penn Valley Community College Now Stands Read More »
Today, we look at residences, businesses, and apartment buildings in the Volker neighborhood, from 38th Street south to 39th Street and State Line Road east to Bell Street. Johnson Hardware, at 1800 West 39th, and Rainbow Grocery Company, at 1802 West 39th, are among the buildings pictured. But we would like your help. Do you remember this block in 1940 or in the years since? What special memories do you
West 39th Street Business Served Volker Neighborhood Read More »
For many years, the Ragan farm at what is now the corner of Armour and Locust was a well-known landmark. But like many things in today’s Midtown Kansas City, things were about to change forever when this photo was taken in 1886. Family and friends had gathered to say goodbye to the old homestead where
Life on the Farm at Armour and Locust Before 1880 Read More »
In what is today the Old Hyde Park neighborhood, a group of French nuns once cared for Kansas City’s oldest residents, and folks flocked to running tracks, baseball, and athletic fields. It all took place around Locust Street from 31st to 33rd, in an area later called the “Chinese puzzle” because its confusing dead-end streets
Old Hyde Park’s “Chinese Puzzle” Read More »
Before it became a major city park, Penn Valley was a deep ravine with 300 homes scattered across its hillsides, as seen in this photo from 1890. Photo courtesy of the Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners, as seen in the new book “Kansas City’s Parks and Boulevards.” Midtown would be a completely different place
Book Details Lessons from Park and Boulevard History Read More »
Like other commercial corridors in Midtown today, Broadway started as a residential area. But in the 1920s, it evolved into the commercial corridor it is today, with businesses and apartments taking the place of stately homes that had once stood along it. The photo above shows Broadway in 1917, right where the Kansas City Life Insurance
Former Mansion on Broadway Boulevard Read More »