On a North Hyde Park block where a large steel tank once drew patients to a groundbreaking sanitarium, captains of the Kansas City industry built their homes in the waning years of the 1800s. New homes, both rental and owner-occupied, filled the block during the early 1900s. The large homes housed extended families and their […]
North Hyde Park Block Drew Early Prominent Families Read More »
By Mary Jo Draper I recently stumbled upon a vintage postcard that showed a huge metal structure called “the tank” at 3310 Harrison. A little research turned up a fascinating story about the tank and the reaction of the neighbors in the North Hyde Park neighborhood when it was in place in the 1920s. The
Why Was There a Huge Steel Tank at 33rd and Harrison in the 1920s? Read More »
A recent historical survey of Westport suggested that the Our Lady of Good Counsel Church on this block of the Valentine neighborhood might be a candidate for the historic register. The church and the rest of the block help tell the story of how churches followed their congregations as residential development moved from downtown to the
A Block Dominated by Churches in Old Westport Read More »
originally published April 6, 2015 In the early 1900s, developers such as the Cowherd Brothers were building “modern” middle-class homes across what is now Midtown. One area where development was occurring was today’s Center City neighborhood, from 31st to Armour Boulevard and Troost to the Paseo. Center City’s strategic location made it attractive to people looking
Do You Know the History of the Center City Neighborhood? Read More »
It was unusual for black and white families to live on the same block as Midtown Kansas City developed, but that’s just what happened on a few Plaza Westport neighborhood blocks. For example, the block from W. 43rd to W. 43rd Street Terrace (or Steptoe Street) had almost two dozen homes in 1940; about half
A Glimpse of a Racially-Mixed Block of Westport in Early 1900s Read More »
Many of the homes on this Westwood Park block, between Liberty and Terrace from W. 48th to W. 49th, were new in the early 1930s. They offered all the comforts many Midtown families sought, including newspaper ads to rent or sell modest bungalows that boasted fireplaces, garages, and recreation rooms. Today, the block bounded by
Westwood Park Homes Offered Fireplaces, Garages, and Rec Rooms Read More »
Many parts of what is now Midtown Kansas City are called “streetcar suburbs,” and this block of the Squier Park neighborhood from Forest to Tracy between 36th and 37th demonstrates the impact the transit system had upon development. In the late 1800s, today’s Midtown was a mixture of family farms and new subdivisions that had
Streetcar Expansion Spurred Development of This Squier Park Block Read More »
One of the major transformations in Midtown in the mid-1900s was the construction of Southwest Trafficway, a traffic artery meant to carry downtown business people and shoppers to their homes in the suburbs. Although less congested routes were clearly needed at the time, an unintended consequence was the transformation of Summit from a local business
NE Corner of 39th Street and Summit Once Housed Local Shops, Apartments Read More »
In the 1920s, the owners of single-family homes in the Roanoke neighborhood took a stand against the growing number of apartment buildings being erected across the city. Their concern about the development of multifamily housing has been a constant theme throughout Midtown’s history. Today, the block bounded by Valentine and W. 37th, Summit (Southwest Trafficway),
Roanoke Property Owners Took a Stand Against Apartments in 1920s Read More »
Among the earliest homes in what is now Midtown were those of wealthy Westport settlers built in the mid-1800s. Those homes, such as the lavish Bernard mansion in what is now the Valentine neighborhood, were often replaced to make room for “modern” homes in the early 1900s. Because they sometimes occupied key intersections, many of
Corner of 39th and Pennsylvania Was Home to Westport Pioneer Family Read More »