How does this block of Hyde Park come to have several formerly luxurious old homes mixed in with a 1950s, post-war apartment building? The answer lies in the changing housing trends that influenced Midtown Kansas City’s development and redevelopment. On this block, from Armour to E. 36th between Charlotte and Holmes, the earliest residents sought space […]
Hyde Park Block Responded to Changing Residential Trends Read More »
I’m finding it hard to describe all the changes on this Old Hyde Park block in one overarching headline. The block is between Main Street and Grand Avenue, from 31st Terrace to 32nd Street, a little north of Costco. Just after 1900, the block was dominated by the home of prominent doctor D.W. Hunter, who was so
Old Hyde Park Block Has Seen Many Changes Since Dr. Hunter’s Time Read More »
Kansas City architect E.O. Brostrom – designer of the Newbern Hotel, several churches and an advocate in the 1930s of tiny houses – was just one of the noted early residents of a Roanoke neighborhood block. The homes in the area from W. 37th to W. 38th between Jarboe and Valentine were built between 1900 and 1930, when the
Noted Architect Lived on This Roanoke Block of Well-off Families Read More »
I can feel the pain of anyone who has to say goodbye to a long-loved home, so I understand how Judge A.M. Allen might have felt in 1912. He and his son had driven their buggy over to the northwest corner of 51st and Wornall to take a last look at Allen’s home of 45 years.
One of Kansas City’s Finest Homes Razed in 1912; Replaced by Sunset Hill School Read More »
Most of the homes we now occupy in Midtown were built in a relatively short period – from 1900 to about 1920. While some of Kansas City’s wealthiest families had moved south in the 1880s, the majority of homes were constructed to meet a rapidly-growing population after the turn of the century. For example, the
Volker Homes Built Around 1910 To Meet The Needs of Immigrants Read More »
(This post originally ran on April 23, 2017) When Barbara Bescher bought a lot at the corner of 39th and Main in 1901, the home she built for herself was practically the only thing on the block. But just two decades later, in 1924, the savvy businesswoman sold the property for more than 20 times what
The NE Corner of 39th and Main Holds Layers of History Read More »
As Thanksgiving approached in 1927, it’s a pretty good bet that Effie Kauffman of Central Hyde Park was working on her holiday planning. Mrs. Kauffman’s prize-winning Thanksgiving menu was shared in the Nov. 22 Kansas City Star that year. It included a grapefruit cocktail, turkey with oyster dressing, peas in cream, leaf lettuce with Thousand
How Central Hyde Park Prepared for Thanksgiving Read More »
As Kansas City neighborhoods filled up with residents after the turn of the 20th century, this block, like many others in Midtown, became home to many immigrants. In 1910, the residents of the area from Summit to Jefferson between 34th to 35th Streets came from Russia, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Canada, mixing in with other families who
In 1910, a Block of Immigrant Families in Valentine Read More »
J.C. Nichols, certainly one of the most important residential developers in Kansas City, started developing this block of the Country Club Plaza in 1922. Nichols had been building residential neighborhoods to the south of Brush Creek since 1907, and he saw the need for an area to provide goods and services for the new residents
In 1923, Work Began on First Block of Country Club Plaza Read More »
The building at the corner of 31st and Main is one of Midtown’s most distinctive, known as the Jeserich or the Tower Building. Around 1900, the corner housed a drug store, and in the 1940 photo above, it was the factory and salesroom of the Kaufman Window Shade Company. It is part of the block
A Historic Building at Thirty-First and Main Read More »