West 39th Street Business Served Volker Neighborhood

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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 […]

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Book Details Lessons from Park and Boulevard History

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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

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Former Mansion on Broadway Boulevard

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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

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Nelson’s Country Mansion Became Site of Nelson-Atkins Museum

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William Rockhill Nelson is best remembered as the founder of the Kansas City Star, but Nelson once said he enjoyed nothing more than building houses. Nelson the journalist was also an avid real estate developer and planner. He was among the first of the Kansas City elite to move south – helping start the movement

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Edgar Snow’s Midtown Roots Form Lifelong Kansas City-Chinese Bond

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This week, a delegation from China will tour Midtown sites in the Volker, Valentine, and Hyde Park neighborhoods. This is all part of an ongoing relationship between China and Kansas City created by journalist Edgar Snow. The Chinese dignitaries will be in Kansas City for the annual Edgar Snow Symposium. Kansas Citians Mary Clark and E.

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