The Ambassador Hotel was designed by Nelle Peters. Photo courtesy Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Missouri. This week in history is an excellent time to look back at the architecture of Nelle Peters, a prolific Kansas City architect who did much to shape the way Midtown looks today. Peters designed almost 1000 […]
Architect Nelle Peters Left her Mark on Midtown Read More »
Midtown’s role in Charlie Parker’s life was a missed note until a new biography recorded it. Parker biographer Chuck Haddix. Chuck Haddix, director of the Marr Sound Archives at UMKC, put it in his book, Bird, the Life and Times of Charlie Parker. It turns out that Parker lived in two Midtown apartments as a
Charlie Parker’s Midtown Roots Read More »
By Joe Lambe On Thanksgiving day in 1927, a huge ballroom that opened in Midtown marked a high point in the jazz age in a city known for jazz, booze and overall sin. The Kansas City Public Library on its web site this week tells the story of the Pla-Mor Ballroom that was at 3142
Fab Ballroom a Part of Midtown’s Rich Past Read More »
Midtown’s Norman School is one of 12 sites nominated for the National Register of Historic Places by the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation this month. The application document offers a glimpse of the history of Kansas City and the relationship between its schools and neighborhoods around the turn of the century. The nomination prepared
Norman School Historical Nomination Highlights Role in Community Read More »
For a little bit of Halloween trivia, we enjoyed an article about Union Cemetery, Missouri’s oldest public burial place. Union Cemetery sits on 27 acres of land at 227 E. 28th Terrace. The parks department tells us it got many of its permanent residents in the 1850s following a cholera epidemic that filled up cemeteries
Union Cemetery’s Roots Read More »
(The Midtown KC Post is profiling the buildings on the Historic Kansas City Foundation’s Most Endangered List for 2013. ) By Joe Lambe When Victor Beutner built his house in the Squire Park neighborhood in 1912, it was in a prosperous suburb. His architect was Louis Curtiss, a master at his craft who wore all white,
Endangered House Designed by Important KC Architect Read More »
Update: Despite efforts by neighborhood residents such as Chris Jordan, the second Knickerbocker was demolished after a fire in 2020. (The Midtown KC Post is profiling the buildings on the Historic Kansas City Foundation’s Most Endangered List for 2013.) The Knickerbocker Apartments, the half of them that remain, were once part of the largest and
Knickerbocker Apartments, Once Lavish, Now Endangered Read More »
Why is Valentine Road so curvy? Why are houses in Midtown so close together? Bill Worley, history instructor with Metropolitan Community Colleges, answered those questions and more on a Sunday walking tour of the Valentine Neighborhood. The Kansas City Museum sponsored the tour, which is one of a series. Worley said that City Beautiful Movement
Historian Calls Valentine a Neighborhood of Interesting Houses, Interesting People Read More »
Glenn Stewart asked the Westport Post Office staff if she could start a small garden in front of the building a few years ago because she lived in an apartment and missed digging in the dirt. Each year, her “Magic Garden” expands to offer fresh herbs to neighbors and bring a smile to those who
“Miss Glenn’s Magic Garden” Offers Up Fresh Herbs at Westport Post Office Read More »
Excerpted from the April 2013 Hyde Parker To survive after a quarter century in gumball machine vending, Alan Bitterman realized in 1980 that he needed a new business model, one focused outside Kansas City. Yet even as Bitterman Family Confections began to change, the company never left North Hyde Park. Today, with three buildings, 40,000
Bitterman’s: 160 years of History in Hyde Park Read More »