3820 Baltimore in 1940
In 1918, Mrs. Pensa Davis died in her home at 3820 Baltimore, in the neighborhood now known as Old Hyde Park. Mrs. Davis was the widow of Francis Napoleon Davis, an early Kansas City resident who bought a large tract of land. The Davis farm later became the Rockhill area. According to her obituary in 1918, Pensa Davis was one of Kansas City’s first teachers. “She came to Westport soon after the war to teach school at a time when school teachers were almost unknown in the county.”
As part of our Uncovering History Project, the Midtown KC Post is examining each block in Midtown. A set of 1940 tax assessment photos is available for many blocks.
A reader who owns the Visage Apartments at 3817-23 Baltimore asked us what we knew about that building and her block and why the lot at 3821-23 is empty today. That lot is listed for sale in 1946 for $3950 as a building with four five-room apartments.
As the Sanborn Fire Insurance map from 1909-1950 shows, the east side of the block was a mixture of small brick apartments with a few scattered homes. The west side of the block had one large apartment at 3800 and several large homes on spacious lots.
In addition to Mrs. Davis, insurance and real estate man Frank Grove lived in a large house at 3838 Baltimore. At his death in 1940, he was described as active in civic and social life in Kansas City, a member of the Kansas City Club and the university club, and a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School.
One other notable piece of history happened in the 3816 Baltimore home of Mr. and Mrs. Riley. In 1940, Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, stayed with them while in town campaigning. Harding became President of the United States in 1921.
The photos below show the rest of the homes on the block as they looked in 1940.
Photos courtesy Kansas City Public Library, Missouri Valley Special Collections.
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