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# Midtown KC Post

Exploring MIdtown History, One Block at a Time

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## Posts

- [Archives](https://midtownkcpost.com/history-posts/)
- [W. 39th Street: A Unique Mix of Business and Residential Buildings](https://midtownkcpost.com/w-39th-street-a-unique-mix-of-business-and-residential-buildings/) - This section of 39th Street, like many Midtown blocks, was a quiet residential area in the early 1900s. The rising popularity of automobiles and the development of residential housing led to a major transformation in the 1920s as W. 39th Street became a commercial corridor. The story of the block from 39th to Valentine Road between Wyoming and
- [Morley Family, Midtown Builders and Architects: Tales of Passion and Tragedy (Part 2)](https://midtownkcpost.com/morley-family-midtown-builders-and-architects-tales-of-passion-and-tragedy-part-2/) - In Part 1 of this post, we met the athletic and successful Morley family. Father P.J. Morley built a number of houses in Midtown. His son, Washington Irving Morley, became a popular architect, designing 15 homes in the Valentine neighborhood. But things would turn bad for Irv Morley. What went wrong, according to Morley’s own
- [Morley Family, Midtown Builders and Architects: Tales of Passion and Tragedy (Part 1)](https://midtownkcpost.com/morley-family-midtown-builders-and-architects-tales-of-passion-and-tragedy-part-1/) - (Part 1) People searching for the history of their homes hope to find a good story, and here’s a great, if rather tragic, one for the folks in Midtown. It’s the story of Washington Irving Morley, an architect who designed a number of homes in Midtown in the early 1900s. In the Valentine neighborhood, for example, Morley’s
- [Repeated Building Designs: The Tudor 12-plex](https://midtownkcpost.com/repeated-building-designs-the-tudor-12-plex/) - Do you ever get that deja vu feeling while traveling around Kansas City? If you've ever stopped for a double-take after after thinking, "I've seen this before," you might recognize one distinctive building type either tucked away along quiet, park-side boulevards. Those who remember the now lost neighborhoods of Midtown might also recall the Tudor 12-plex building
- [Repeated Building Designs: The Prolific Six-Plex](https://midtownkcpost.com/repeated-building-designs-the-prolific-six-plex/) - Do you ever get that deja vu feeling while traveling around Kansas City? If a familiar-looking apartment building prompts you to stop and do a double-take, there's a decent chance it's an example of what we call the "prolific six-plex." Even as constituent neighborhoods of the urban core are defined by their diversity, similarities abound among much
- [Repeated Building Designs: Colonnaded Apartments](https://midtownkcpost.com/repeated-building-designs-colonnaded-apartments/) - Do you ever get that deja vu feeling while traveling around Kansas City? Even as constituent neighborhoods of the urban core are defined by their diversity, similarities abound among much of the city’s residential architecture. Without discounting the variation in building styles and patterns over a century of development, an informed observer knows that familiar
- [WHY IS OLD HYDE PARK SOMETIMES CALLED HANOVER PLACE?](https://midtownkcpost.com/why-is-old-hyde-park-sometimes-called-hanover-place/) - How come Old Hyde Park gets listed on maps and in news stories as Hanover Place?
- [Mary Whiteside, Citizen Entrepeneur](https://midtownkcpost.com/mary-whiteside-citizen-entrepeneur/) - Anyone who has combed through reams of Jackson County property records knows that many of Kansas City’s early subdivisions bear the family name of prior owners–often those who, before the advent of development pressures from an expanding city center, had occupied the land themselves. One can all too easily assume, looking in the rearview from
- [Name Restored to West Plaza, Nelle Peters-Designed Building](https://midtownkcpost.com/name-restored-to-west-plaza-nelle-peters-designed-building/) - A new placard has been installed on a 48th St. building located just west of the Country Club Plaza. How might a new sign, simply denoting “708 W 48th St / COTTESBROOK APARTMENTS,” amount to a newsworthy story? The sign, situated on a (comparatively) sleepy cut-through between the commercial district and Roanoke Parkway, is significant
- [Volker Developer Fred Bonfils Lived a Colorful Life](https://midtownkcpost.com/volker-developer-fred-bonfils-lived-a-colorful-life/) - This photo shows 4118 Mercier in 1940. When the developer of Bonfils Place in the Volker neighborhood died, the Kansas City Journal called him “one of the most colorful survivors of the Old West.” Fred Bonfils, who gave the subdivision his name, started a lottery in Kansas to buy property in Kansas City and helped
- [The Emil Rohrer Home: A Landmark of Concrete Construction](https://midtownkcpost.com/the-emil-rohrer-home-a-landmark-of-concrete-construction/) - 4425 Terrace today, viewed from the west. Captured March 2025. Like most American cities, Kansas City suffered a lull of private home-building throughout the decade of the 1930s. Outside of the impressive public construction projects associated with the Ten-Year Plan, a scant few neighborhoods saw extensive development during this period, and many commercial and industrial
- [Conversations with Scott Burnett](https://midtownkcpost.com/conversations-with-scott-burnett/) - Scott Burnett, a longtime resident of the Roanoke neighborhood, is conducting audio interviews with interesting people in Kansas City. So far, he's talked to the owners of Fric and Frac, a Volker gathering place, and Kerry Browne and John McClain, owners of Browne's Irish Market, the oldest Irish business outside of Ireland. Follow the conversations here.
- [New Demolitions Proposed in Valentine Neighborhood](https://midtownkcpost.com/new-demolitions-proposed-in-valentine-neighborhood/) - Kansas City Life Insurance has recently requested demolition permits for four buildings in the Valentine neighborhood. These are in addition to the 23 buildings they tore down and are in the two blocks south of where the previous demolitions occurred. On Feb. 28, the Historic Preservation Commission will hold a hearing on new demolition permits
- [Valentine Demolitions Continue](https://midtownkcpost.com/valentine-demolitions-continue/) - Updated Dec. 20, 2024 Demolitions continue in the Valentine neighborhood between 33rd and 35th from Pennsylvania to Southwest Trafficway. The Valentine Neighborhood says 23 homes and other structures are being demolished without a plan for what will replace them. According to a recent historical survey of the area, all of these structures would have qualified
- [Valentine Demolitions Part of Discussion on Vacant Land Tax](https://midtownkcpost.com/valentine-demolitions-part-of-discussion-on-vacant-land-tax/) - As demolitions of homes in Valentine continue, the mayor is stepping up talk about reducing the burden of privately owned vacant lots on neighborhoods. One idea - taxing vacant lots and buildings to encourage their use. The Kansas City Star reported on the issue on Nov. 25, 2024. "Something like a vacant land tax could
- [Demolitions in Valentine in 2024](https://midtownkcpost.com/demolitions-in-valentine-in-2024/) - Photo courtesy KCTV5. The Midtown KC Post is helping to document the loss of 23 homes and other structures between 33rd and 35th Streets from Summit to Pennsylvania that Kansas City Life Insurance is demolishing. On Oct. 28, residents of Valentine and others held a memorial service for the homes that are being lost. The Kansas
- [Art Deco fans get a tour of some cool buildings in Midtown](https://midtownkcpost.com/art-deco-fans-get-a-tour-of-some-cool-buildings-in-midtown/) - posted by Joe Lambe Fans of great architecture don't need to leave the 'hood to see some fine Art Deco buildings. In fact, two Art Deco tours hosted by the Historic Kansas City Foundation sold out last month. The tours came on the heels of two popular lectures by Architect Richard Farnan at the Kansas City Public Library.
- [Westwood Park Neighborhood Life Revolves around Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/westwood-park-neighborhood-life-revolves-around-parkland/) - The heart of the Westwood Park neighborhood is the 9.3-acre park on the edge of its border. The neighborhood, tucked into the area behind Pembroke Hill School on Ward Parkway, is home to 300 families. They range from retired folks to families with young children and live in a variety of homes, from single-family bungalows
- [Bitterman's:  160 years of History in Hyde Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/a-160-year-history-in-missouri-bittermans-a-family-business-saga/) - 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
- [Historian Calls Valentine a Neighborhood of Interesting Houses, Interesting People](https://midtownkcpost.com/historian-calls-valentine-a-neighborhood-of-interesting-houses-interesting-people/) - 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
- [Union Cemetery's Roots](https://midtownkcpost.com/halloween-history-union-cemeterys-roots/) - 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
- [Norman School Historical Nomination Highlights Role in Community](https://midtownkcpost.com/norman-school-historical-nomination-highlights-role-in-community/) - 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
- [Fab Ballroom a Part of Midtown’s Rich Past](https://midtownkcpost.com/fab-ballroom-a-part-of-midtowns-rich-past/) - 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
- [Charlie Parker’s Midtown Roots](https://midtownkcpost.com/haddix-book-details-charlie-parkers-midtown-roots/) - 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
- [Architect Nelle Peters Left her Mark on Midtown](https://midtownkcpost.com/architect-nelle-peters-left-her-mark-on-midtown/) - 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
- [Loretto School Faced Desegration Fight in 1947](https://midtownkcpost.com/loretto-39th-boarding-day-school/) - by Joe Montanari (reprinted from the West Plaza neighborhood newsletter) Traveling east or west on 39th Street, on the southwest corner of 39th and Roanoke Road, one notices a handsome old building known as “The Loretto.” It’s a little tricky to see out the car window as you drive by, but if you approach from
- [Back in Time: Armour and Troost](https://midtownkcpost.com/back-time-armour-troost/) - It's a slow news day, so we thought it was an excellent opportunity to check out some Kansas City history through the Kansas City Public Library’s collection of historic photos. Here’s one of the Armour Boulevard and Troost Avenue intersection showing the Armour Hotel, Advanced Launderers and Cleaners, and Crown Drugstore.
- [Local St. Pat’s Day Parade Almost Ended](https://midtownkcpost.com/local-st-pats-day-parade-history-almost-disappeared-history/) - The Kansas City St. Patrick’s Day parade – said today to be the 6th largest in the country – started out strong in 1873, but by 1891, anti-Catholic sentiment drove it to a close. It wasn’t until 1973 that a conversation in a cocktail lounge brought it back to life. And for a while, after
- [One of Kansas City’s Tallest Buildings in 1914](https://midtownkcpost.com/kansas-citys-tallest-building-1914/) - The address the Kansas City Star called “the most conspicuous building on the skyline” in 1914 doesn’t stand out that much today. But the St. Regis Hotel, which has stood solidly at the northeast corner of Linwood and The Paseo for 100 years, was once the tallest building outside of downtown and one of the
- [Apple Trees Drew Crowds in the Spring](https://midtownkcpost.com/spring-apple-trees-drew-crowds-40th-warwick/) - The year is 1897, and the Kansas City Star told the story of the hundreds of apple trees that drew a large crowd to 40th and Warwick, not far from today’s Westport High School. In 1867, Lowell Alonzo Goodman built a red brick home there and added an orchard on the surrounding 53 acres, from
- [Electric Park Was Midtown’s Coney’s Island](https://midtownkcpost.com/electric-city-midtowns-coneys-island/) - On a day this hot a century ago, Midtowners would have hopped on the streetcar and headed south to 46th and the Paseo, where the popular Electric Park with its beach, roller coasters, and dancing awaited them. At the turn of the century, the first Electric Park, a popular destination for Kansas Citians, was located
- [Coleman Highlands: “Like a Trip to a Park”](https://midtownkcpost.com/coleman-highlands-like-trip-park/) - Among Midtown’s historic neighborhoods, Coleman Highlands may be the most unique because it lacks anything other than houses. Since it was platted in 1907, Coleman has been exclusively a neighborhood of homes, tucked away from residential businesses and heavy traffic—the kind of oasis its developers pictured. The 80-acre parcel that eventually became Coleman Highlands changed hands
- [Row Houses Are Unique Midtown Architecture](https://midtownkcpost.com/recognize-unique-midtown-block/) - This block of row houses is a one-of-a-kind in Midtown. There are several reasons for that. First, it predates much of the architecture in this part of the city, built in the early days of the southward development. And its style – Queen Anne with some Eastlake elements – is also uncommon in Midtown. The
- [History Buff Tracks the Past from Volker](https://midtownkcpost.com/history-buff-tracks-past-volker/) - Some step into history easily, often people who lived much of it and paid attention. Among them is Merrill William “Bill” Day of the Volker neighborhood. Day, 67, worked as a bus driver and a milkman and saw streetscapes change before his eyes. His grandfather was a streetcar driver, and his father was a mechanic,
- [History in Stone Walls](https://midtownkcpost.com/southmoreland/) - The earliest residents of Kansas City’s Southmoreland neighborhood were wealthy businessmen looking to escape the hustle and bustle of downtown. Even though many of the mansions they built in the late 1880s have not survived, their confidence in the area set the stage for the neighborhood as it stands today. Historians credit the move of
- [Midtown Millionaire’s Row  at 31st and Troost](https://midtownkcpost.com/midtown-millionaires-row-31st-troost/) - When Kansas City pioneer Webster Withers moved his family to this block in 1883, he said he’d decided to move to “the country.” He built his mansion on forty acres of ground on a spot few would recognize today – 31st Street and Troost Avenue. “We were tired of town life,” Withers' wife told the Kansas
- [Armour Boulevard Was the Place to Beat the Heat](https://midtownkcpost.com/early-1900s-armour-boulevard-place-beat-heat/) - A century ago, Kansas Citians often headed outside on hot summer nights like these. And one popular spot was always Armour Boulevard, a place where people from all walks of life were likely to show up. The Kansas City Star in 1905 described the scene. “The boulevards are the most popular breathing spots at night
- [Snapshot in time: North Hyde Park home in 1940](https://midtownkcpost.com/snapshot-time-north-hyde-park-home-1940/) - The North Hyde neighborhood in Midtown is one of the oldest parts of town, and today we’re taking a look back at one if its homes in 1940. This 1940 photo was taken as part of a Works Administration Program that year. Using manpower from the Jackson County Tax Assessors Office and other agencies, a
- [When Teddy Roosevelt Came to Kansas City](https://midtownkcpost.com/teddy-roosevelt-came-kansas-city/) - As the PBS series on the Roosevelts continues this week, few in Kansas City remember the time when President Theodore Roosevelt visited Kansas City. But on May 1, 1903, crowds filled the streets to see him. “For nearly three hours this forenoon President Roosevelt rode between solid banks of cheering people that lined miles and
- [Historic Hyde Park Home Housed a Brewer, a Mayor and Musicians](https://midtownkcpost.com/mayors-former-house-hyde-park-homes-tour/) - By Joe Lambe To step into a certain Hyde Park stone home is to walk into history, some of it recent. Past owners range from brewery president George Muehlebach Jr. in the 1920s to current Mayor Sly James. The 1908 house at 743 Manheim Road is in this year’s Hyde Park Homes Tour, which is
- [Edgar Snow’s Midtown Roots Form Lifelong Kansas City-Chinese Bond](https://midtownkcpost.com/edgar-snows-midtown-roots-former-lifelong-kansas-city-chinese-bond/) - 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.
- [Nelson’s Country Mansion Became Site of Nelson-Atkins Museum](https://midtownkcpost.com/nelsons-country-mansion-became-site-nelson-atkins-museum/) - 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
- [Former Mansion on Broadway Boulevard](https://midtownkcpost.com/recognize-midtown-street-1920/) - 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
- [Life on the Farm at Armour and Locust Before 1880](https://midtownkcpost.com/life-farm-armour-locust-circa-1880/) - For many years, the Ragan farm at what is now the corner of Armour and Locust was a well-known landmark. But like many things in today’s Midtown Kansas City, things were about to change forever when this photo was taken in 1886. Family and friends had gathered to say goodbye to the old homestead where
- [West 39th Street Business Served Volker Neighborhood](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-volker-west-39th-street-block/) - 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
- [Homes Where Penn Valley Community College Now Stands](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-former-valentine-block/) - As part of our Uncovering History Project, the Midtown KC Post is taking a look at the 1940 tax assessment photos of each block in Midtown. Today, we look at residences, businesses, and apartment buildings that were once considered part of the Valentine neighborhood but have since been demolished to make room for Penn Valley Community College. This
- [Manheim Park Block in 1940](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-manheim-block/) - Today, we examine residences in the Manheim Park neighborhood, from 39th Street south to 40th Street and Forest Avenue east to Tracy Avenue. Photos courtesy Kansas City Public Library, Missouri Valley Special Collections.
- [Westport Businesses in 1940](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-heart-westport-block/) - Today, we look at residences and businesses in Westport, in today’s Heart of Westport neighborhood and the Westport entertainment district. It is a small block, but you may well recognize a few businesses that have not changed that much over the years. The photos below show the rest of the homes and businesses on the
- [Westport Had Several Livery Stables](https://midtownkcpost.com/asked-livery-stable-westport/) - Our story and slide show yesterday about the area around Westport Road and Broadway raised a reader's question. He asked if we knew anything about a livery stable that had once stood in the 300 block of Westport, just east of Broadway, near where Dave's Stage Coach Inn stands today. Since it was a slow
- [The Park the Came Before Penn Valley](https://midtownkcpost.com/among-fathers-midtown-dr-joseph-feld/) - Before Penn Valley Park was created and before the Valentine, Roanoke, Coleman Highlands, and Old Hyde Park neighborhoods were built, the northwest part of Midtown had a vast public park known as Feld Park. Dr. Joseph Feld, a native of Germany, was one of the earliest settlers in Kansas City and a significant landowner in
- [A Corner Store on Troost](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-troostwood-block/) - The photos we have posted below show the structures that existed that year. A Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the Troostwood area developed after the turn of the century. Today, we look at residences and businesses in Troostwood, from 49th Street south to 49th Terrace and 51st Street, from Troost Avenue east to Forest and
- [Midtown Once Had Many Corner Stores](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-west-plaza-block/) - Today, we look at residences and businesses in the West Plaza neighborhood, from 45th Street south to 46th Street, from Bell to State Line. The block included several businesses, including Phillips Market and Wright’s Lunch on 45th, and several small residences. Photos courtesy Kansas City Public Library, Missouri Valley Special Collections.
- [Midtown Changed by Automobiles](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-south-hyde-park-block/) - Today, we look at residences and businesses in the South Hyde Park neighborhood, from 45th Street south to Brush Creek, from Gillham/Harrison to Troost. As you can see from the photos below and in this Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Troost Avenue was dominated by auto-related businesses in 1940. The block included the Fire Department Hose Company
- [Armour and Troost Offered Neighborhood Businesses](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-squier-park-block/) - Today, we examine residences and businesses in the Squier Park neighborhood, from Armour Boulevard south to 36th and Troost east to Forest. As you can see from the photos in the gallery below, Troost was packed with small local businesses that served the neighborhood, including the Lee Yun Laundry at 3535 Troost. Squier Park also
- [Little Known About This Hyde Park Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-north-hyde-park-block-2/) - Armour Boulevard looking east from Campbell, 1905. Last week, Susan Hawks asked what we knew about the 3500 block of Campbell, and unfortunately, the answer is not very much. While the Kansas City Public Library has the 1940 photos of most blocks in Kansas City, this block is yet to be made available. So we’re
- [Old Hyde Park Block's Fancy Apartment Hotel](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-old-hyde-park-block/) - Today’s slideshow features the 3400 block of Broadway and Central and the blocks of Armour Boulevard and 34th Streets between Broadway and Central. The Ellison Apartment Hotel at 300 West Armour in 1940. The area includes the historic Ellison Apartment Hotel at 300 West Armour and Warwick Cleaners at 3421 Broadway. In these 1940s photos,
- [Broadway Block Changed from Residential to Commercial](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-valentine-neighborhood-block/) - A reader named Natalia asked us about her 3500 block of Pennsylvania. Since that’s right down the street from Midtown KC Post headquarters, and we are currently working on a book on Valentine neighborhood history, we’re happy to oblige. Today’s slideshow photos feature 35th Street south to Valentine Road and Jefferson Street east to Pennsylvania
- [Main Street Drug Store Served the Neighborhood](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-southmoreland-neighborhood/) - The Karnopp Building at 43rd and Main in 1930. Today's block includes residences and apartment buildings in the Southmoreland neighborhood, from 43rd Street south to 44th Street and Main Street east to Walnut Street. The Karnopp Building, at 43rd and Main, is pictured. The building still stands on the corner. In 1930, it housed Paul
- [A Neighborhood Dispute Over a Cow](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-southmoreland-neighborhood-block/) - Warwick Boulevard 1894. Looking north from 41st Street. Last week, our Uncovering History story featured a block of the Southmoreland neighborhood around 43rd and Main. That prompted a reader to ask what history might be available on the 4100 block of Warwick. I'd like to tell you more about that shortly, but first the story
- [How One Westport Block Has Changed](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-heart-westport-neighborhood-block/) - Today, we feature the 3900 block of Central in the Heart of Westport neighborhood. Central Street is just one block east of Broadway. Here’s what we know about the block so far. Reader Janet Pickett says she grew up on the block. “I watched the city tear down 8 or 10 houses and build the
- [J.C. Nichols Helped Sell Westwood Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-westwood-park-neighborhood-block/) - Today, we look at some homes in Westwood Park, a Kansas City neighborhood just across the state line from Westwood, Kansas. Developed beginning in 1913, J.C. Nichols stepped in in 1921 to help sell lots and boasted he sold 25 percent of the home sites in the first week. This Sanborn Fire Insurance map (above)
- [Countryside Historic District Began as a Farm](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-countryside-neighborhood-block/) - A reader asked us to feature the Countryside neighborhood, so today we look at some of the homes in that neighborhood south of the Brush Creek that started out as a farm. When Countryside was platted in 1908 as the Country Side District, it became a prime location for development. That year, the Country Club
- [Business Boomed on West 39th Street](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-volker-neighborhoodwest-39th-street-block/) - We’ve already featured the north side of West 39th Street between State Line and Bell, but a reader whose grandfather used to own some buildings there asked us what we knew about the south side of the block, where Jimmy’s Jigger sits today. Records were sketchy before the 1950s, but the establishment was called Bigger
- [Jewish Immigrants Settled Around Synagogue](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-center-city-neighborhood/) - Homes in the Center City neighborhood at 33rd and Troost around 1900. 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
- [Block Held Mixture of Apartments and Homes](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-3800-block-baltimore/) - 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
- [North Broadway Once Had More Homes](https://midtownkcpost.com/know-history-3100-block-broadway/) - In 1940, the O'Reilly family lived at 3100 Broadway, today the site of a commercial office building. Today, the 3100 block of Broadway is comprised of office towers and commercial, office, medical, and community college buildings. But as recently as 1940, the block looked utterly different. It was then dotted with large family homes, like
- [Video: Lost Homes of the Valentine Neighborhood](https://midtownkcpost.com/lost-homes-valentine-neighborhood/) - A home on the 3100 block of Summit in 1940. Before Penn Valley Community College was built, several hundred homes filled in the area between 31st and 33rd Streets, from Broadway to Southwest Trafficway. In the late 1960s, communities across the United States formed community college districts fueled by changes in society that seemed to
- [The Neighborhood Around the Nelson-Atkins Museum](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-know-the-history-of-this-block-of-the-rockhill-neighborhood/) - The Rockhill neighborhood is known for its significant historic homes, which are built on spacious lots and are close to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Art Institute, and UMKC. Once renowned for its stone walls and crimson rambler roses, Rockhill began when William Rockhill Nelson built his mansion, Oak Hall, in the south part of
- [When Troost Was Millionaire's Row](https://midtownkcpost.com/how-troost-changed-from-millionaires-row-to-shoppers-paradise/) - It is history day at the Midtown KC Post, and we've got a new map that shows how Troost Avenue changed between 1880 and 1920, transforming from millionaire's row into Kansas City's premier shopping street. The best way to see the transition is by studying old maps of 29th to 32nd Streets and Troost. The map
- [A Shootout on Armour Boulevard](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-know-the-history-of-this-armour-boulevard-block/) - The businesses that once lined the southeast corner of Armour and Troost are mostly gone now, with the remaining ones boarded up. But in earlier days, the block from Armour south to 36th Street, from Troost to Forest, was a lively part of Armour Boulevard’s apartment hotel district. And the corner of Armour and Forest
- [Linwood Boulevard Had a Grand Hotel and More](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-know-the-history-of-this-linwood-boulevard-31st-street-block/) - Seen from above today, this block of Kansas City ­– Linwood Boulevard to 31st Street – from Campbell to Harrison is fairly deserted. But a hundred years ago, the block was home to a grand hotel, an essential women’s club and a row of businesses along 31st Street. Our historic tour of the block begins with the
- [Apartments Replaced Homes in The Plaza](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-know-the-history-of-this-plaza-block-47th-to-48th-and-summit/) - As we reported last week, demolition threatens a row of three iconic apartment buildings at the back of the Bloch Cancer Survivors Park on the Plaza. So we’re looking back at the two blocks around the apartments, from W. 47th to W. 48th Streets, from Roanoke Parkway to Jefferson, to get a sense of their
- [Book Details History of  Country Club District](https://midtownkcpost.com/book-details-the-history-of-the-country-club-district/) - As time passes, people in Armour Hills and Mission Hills forget what links them to so many other neighborhoods. “After 110 years of existence, the identity of the Country Club District is starting to fade,” said LaDene Morton. She spoke at the Kansas City library at the Plaza last week about her new book, The Country
- [Car Dealers Dominated 30th and Gillham](https://midtownkcpost.com/car-dealers-once-dominated-all-the-corners-of-30th-and-gilliam/) - The area between 29th and 30th Streets along Gillham Road is popular today, with refurbished apartment buildings, coffee shops, and new construction projects in the works. A resident who lives near the Filling Station – a coffee shop in the triangle between Gillham, 30th, and McGee Street Trafficway – asked what we knew about the area, specifically
- [Bancroft School Area Full of Memories](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-blocks-around-the-bancroft-school-at-4300-tracy/) - On the corner of 43rd Street and Tracy, the renovated Bancroft School is bringing new life to the Manheim Park neighborhood. With plans for new infill housing in the area and residents rehabbing older homes, people are rediscovering Manheim, a neighborhood with a lot of history. The Bancroft School has been converted into apartments. It
- [Coleman’s book invites rediscovery of Midtown – and reimagining of Kansas City](https://midtownkcpost.com/colemans-book-invites-rediscovery-of-midtown-and-reimagining-of-kansas-city/) - Anyone who knows Midtown Kansas City will encounter some pretty familiar places and things with slight twists when reading the book Of Stones and Feathers. There’s the barely-disguised Nelson Museum of Art with its shuttlecocks and sheep sculptures; Gillham Road and Penn Valley Park; Martini Row with its Never-Sleeping, Three-Headed Velvet Dog-Jaws of Death; the
- [Developer Said Don't Waste Money on Cigars – Buy a Home Instead](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-know-the-history-of-this-plaza-westport-neighborhood-block/) - Instead of drinking away their paychecks, developer S.H. Taylor advised working citizens of Kansas City to invest in real estate. In an 1887 advertisement in the Kansas City Star, Taylor listed multiple reasons that buying a home in his Bunker Hill neighborhood was better than frittering money away on cocktails or cigars. According to Taylor,
- [From a Deer Park to A School in Manheim Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-3700-block-of-troost-and-forest/) - The 3700 block of Troost and Forest today plays an important role in Kansas City life, as the site of the DeLaSalle Education Center. The same block holds other important history: it was once the home of a man who made his fortune by believing in Kansas City’s future, and later the home of a Catholic
- [A Glimpse of a Racially-Mixed Block of Westport in Early 1900s](https://midtownkcpost.com/a-glimpse-of-a-racially-mixed-block-of-westport-in-early-1900s/) - 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
- [More Steptoe Homes Lost, Erasing More of Kansas City’s Black History](https://midtownkcpost.com/homes-once-lined-39th-street-west-of-trafficway-2/) - It’s been a while since the Midtown KC Post shared any new stories, but here today is a new one. This block history was inspired by the fact that three buildings on the block – part of the historic but increasingly endangered – Steptoe neighborhood have been demolished. Steptoe is one of the most important places
- [Crestwood Homes Became Part of UMKC](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-the-crestwood-neighborhood-south-of-umkc/) - When J.C. Nichols developed the Crestwood neighborhood in 1919, it was advertised as a “garden home” district. The neighborhood offered large lots that took advantage of the natural topography and attracted wealthy residents who moved south as the older, more mature parts of Midtown became crowded. These two blocks of Crestwood are a good example
- [Broadway Saw Major Changes Over the Decades](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-3400-block-of-broadway-in-valentine/) - Last week, the 3400 block of Broadway was in the news as the city council took action to advance a proposed project on the MGE site at 34th Street. That area has undergone significant changes over the years. Like other major Midtown thoroughfares such as Main Street and Troost Avenue, Broadway began as a residential street
- [Martini Corner Has Always Been a Neighborhood Business Center](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-corner-of-31st-and-oak/) - Today, we call the area around 31st and Oak Street “Martini Corner” in honor of the bars and restaurants that fill it. A look back to the 1940s shows that the buildings in this area have housed a constantly changing array of local businesses that serve Midtown since they were originally built. While not much
- [Early Days in Brookside](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-52nd-and-brookside-south-of-the-plaza/) - Around 52nd and Brookside, the area was known for its rustic pedestrian bridges that people used to cross a brook to catch the streetcar. It was also the home of Visitation Parish – and the site of the second home that its developer, J.C. Nichols, built for his own family. Visitation Church around 1920. Indeed, the Visitation
- [The Heyday of Warwick Boulevard](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-4500-block-of-warwick-near-the-kansas-city-art-institute/) - The heyday of the 4500 block of Warwick Boulevard lasted from the early 1900s to the 1940s, when the “old timers” moved on south to newer parts of Kansas City. For that period, however, this block was home to captains of industry and their socialite wives. Even after they left, the street retained an air
- [South Hyde Park Became a "Streetcar Suburb"](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-4300-blocks-of-troost-and-harrison-in-south-hyde-park/) - There was a day in Kansas City when almost every kid could walk to an ice cream parlor like this one at 4338 Troost. That memory is preserved in a series of 1940 photographs showing every home and commercial business on the 4300 blocks of Troost and Harrison that year. This area of South Hyde Park developed in
- [A Dairy Farm Became Notre Dame de Sion](https://midtownkcpost.com/39th-and-gillham-once-home-to-dairy-farm-on-westport-to-independence-road/) - In 1910, as the desire for new “modern” homes in Midtown Kansas City continued, an “old fashioned, two-story” frame home at 39th and Gillham was being prepared to be moved. The Kansas City Times published this sketch and told the story on Feb. 4 of that year: An Old House Being Moved: Henry C. Flower
- [Crestwood Has Remained The Same Over the Decades](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-the-crestwood-neighborhood-around-55th-holmes-and-crestwood-drive/) - A reader named James Brumwell recently sent us this photo of his aunt and her husband in front of their Crestwood home in 1922. Valerie and Clare Chapman, seen here in another 1922 photo, lived at 5510 Crestwood Drive when the neighborhood young. Crestwood has a unique history as a Midtown neighborhood; it was intended
- [An "Up to the Second" Apartment in 1909](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-gilliam-and-33rd-street/) - When the Raleigh Arms apartments at 3346-50 Gillham first opened in 1909, the owners described the building as modern; in fact, they called it “up to the second.” In a 1909 advertisement in the Kansas City Star, they touted the address in the fashionable Hyde Park district, close to Westport High School and the Hyde
- [Remembering George Southwell of Main Street, the King of Band Music](https://midtownkcpost.com/remembering-george-southwell-of-main-street-the-king-of-band-music/) - The Southwell Building, an art deco masterpiece at 3941 Main and home to Harlings, takes its name from a family that made its mark on Midtown – and across the country. Little remembered today, George Southwell was a composer of band music who played in bandstands in small towns across the country. The Kansas City
- [Neighborhood Grocery Stores Were Everywhere](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-neighborhood-grocery-stores-in-midtown/) - Decades ago, Midtown Kansas City had a grocery store in almost every neighborhood. Before the advent of large chain "supermarkets," grocery stores were often literally mom-and-pop businesses. They grew up along streetcar lines and within walking distance of Midtown residential areas. This map shows all the groceries within Midtown boundaries in 1949, based on a
- [President Theodore Roosevelt, Race Relations and the Kirkwood Home](https://midtownkcpost.com/president-theodore-roosevelt-race-relations-and-the-kirkwood-home/) - (The latest Rockhill Neighborhood Association newsletter contained two articles with some interesting neighborhood history; they’ve given us permission to reprint them. Yesterday, Rockhill resident Todi Hughes profiled Laura Nelson Kirkwood. Today, UMKC Professor Emeritus Robert M. Farnsworth shares a story at the home of I.H. Kirkwood, later the Rockhill Tennis Club, which came to his
- [Houses Once Filled in Winstead's Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-area-east-of-winsteads-on-cleaver-boulevard/) - Modern offices and commercial buildings today dominate the streetscape just east of the Country Club Plaza, where small homes and apartment buildings stood 75 years ago. The block of the Country Club Plaza (from Emanuel Cleaver Boulevard to Brush Creek, from Grand to McGee) just east of Winstead’s is the subject of today’s look back
- [Changes on the East Side of Broadway](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-block-where-walgreens-and-the-blarney-stone-now-stand-on-broadway/) - The east side of the 3800 block of Broadway is dominated by Walgreens and a couple of popular local bars, the Blarney Stone and Chez Charlie, that we wrote about last week. But there’s a sweet, sad story about the history of the block – once the home of a Kansas City mother who lost her
- [Changes at Linwood and Troost](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-northeast-corner-of-linwood-and-troost/) - One of Midtown’s most historical corners is the intersection of Linwood and Troost, where a distinctive terra cotta structure, open on the street level, stands on the northeast corner. The area was once part of a very exclusive section of Kansas City known as Millionaires Row, where families tired of living in the crowded city moved
- [Troost Corner Served the Neighborhood](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-wirthman-building-and-the-isis-theater/) - The site today. Many in Kansas City have memories of an imposing five-story building at the southwest corner of Troost and 31st Street. The corner is a vacant lot and a busy bus stop today, but from 1917 to 1997, it was the site of the Wirthman Building, which housed a drug store, street-level shops,
- [Theater at 39th and Summit Showed Mexican Movies?](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-corner-of-39th-and-summit-and-a-theater-that-showed-mexican-movies/) - The Roanoke at 813 W. 39th Street was one of Midtown’s early neighborhood theaters. It also drew large crowds after 1946, when it started showing Mexican movies. The theater, which no longer exists, was just off the corner of 39th and Summit, where Missie B’s operates today. It is part of the block we’re featuring
- [Pryde’s Building Was Miss Thome’s Dance Studio](https://midtownkcpost.com/prydes-building-in-westport-was-miss-thomes-dance-studio/) - When the holidays roll around in Kansas City, many people head to Pryde’s in Westport, the “hardware store for cooks.” If they look closely among the spatulas, saucepans, and dish towels, shoppers will notice several framed photos of young women in ballet and other dance costumes. They were all students of Miss Helen Thomes, a
- [Historic Athenaeum Building Changes Hands](https://midtownkcpost.com/historic-athenaeum-building-changes-hands-but-remains-a-womens-organization/) - The Kansas City Athenaeum Club said it had sold its 101-year-old building at Linwood and Campbell to the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority DEED Foundation. Both groups describe the transfer of the historic building as a perfect fit for the site , which has a century of history and now has a past and a future involving important women's
- [Kansas City Life's link to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity](https://midtownkcpost.com/kansas-city-lifes-link-to-einsteins-theory-of-relativity/) - A February 1944 newspaper clipping shows Kansas City Life Insurance Company President Walter Bixby exchanging a $6.5 million check for the Einstein's Theory of Relativity manuscript. As scientists and science geeks across the world celebrate the centennial anniversary of Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, a Midtown Kansas City company plays an interesting role in the
- [Business Flourished at Corner of Linwood and Gillham Plaza](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-block-at-the-corner-of-linwood-and-gillham-plaza/) - It’s a Jiffy Lube today, but the building at the corner of Linwood and Gillham Plaza once housed Sight Brothers Motor Company, Kansas City’s oldest Chevrolet dealer. Next door to the south, when this photo was taken in 1940, many people attended funerals at the Stine & McClure Chapel, and next door on the west
- [Roanoke Fought Boarding Houses](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-the-roanoke-neighborhood/) - The Roanoke neighborhood, developed from around 1900 to 1920, has always made a solid effort to keep its single-family homes. While other neighborhoods in Midtown often saw their homes divided as rooming houses and later into multiple apartments, Roanoke’s residents were vigilant in preventing that from happening within their boundaries. 1909-1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance map shows
- [Businesses Replaced Homes on Westport and Main Streets](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-corner-of-westport-road-and-main-street/) - The northwest corner of Westport Road and Main Street is a crucial Midtown intersection. As such, businesses and institutions have always seen the benefit of locating there, at the intersection of two major streets and in the heart of residential neighborhoods. That has meant that the corner has seen a lot of changes over the
- [Nutterville Stands Out in Westport](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-nutterville-block-in-westport/) - The block between Archibald and 41st Street and between Central and Baltimore today is part of Nutterville, an area of brightly-painted and carefully landscaped homes that have been converted to business spaces by the James B. Nutter company. Homes that once stood on the block along the west side of Baltimore Street are gone, for the
- [A Quiet Block in Coleman Highlands](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-quiet-residential-block-in-coleman-highlands/) - This area of Coleman Highlands at W. 34th Street and Karnes Boulevard looks much as it did when it was developed in the early 20th century. The Coleman Highlands block, the focus of this week’s look back in history, is a peaceful residential area, part of a historic district developed in the early 20th century.
- [Swedish Immigrants Settle in Volker](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-4200-blocks-of-wyoming-and-terrace-in-the-volker-neighborhood/) - The Swedish Evangelical Mission Church in the Volker neighborhood was once a center of Swedish life in Midtown. In 1940, the church still stood at the corner of 42nd and Terrace Streets. The history of the surrounding block shows the diverse cultures that settled the area, with Swedish and other immigrants moving into the homes
- [Drexel Hall Built by Shrewd Businesswoman](https://midtownkcpost.com/drexel-hall-built-by-shrewd-businesswoman-has-seen-a-century-of-history/) - It would be easy to drive past Drexel Hall at the corner of Linwood and Baltimore daily without knowing the layers of history within its walls. Beginning with its unusual beginnings as a spur-of-the-moment purchase by a shrewd businesswoman, to its early days of concerts, dances, and suffrage association meetings, to the fiery union rallies
- [A Grand Home on Armour Boulevard](https://midtownkcpost.com/armour-boulevard-between-mcgee-and-gillham-has-changed-over-the-years/) - Every block of Midtown Kansas City has a unique history, and the block between Armour and 36th, McGee and Gillham is steeped in Catholic history and the transformation of Armour Boulevard from a boulevard of mansions to a busy street lined with luxury residential hotels. Sanburn map from 1909-1950 showing the block and surrounding areas
- [A Midtown Hospital for Hemorrhoids](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-belmont-hotel-and-the-block-of-linwood-between-campbell-and-harrison/) - A hulking white building at 911 E. Linwood was in the news this week, with a developer successfully requesting assistance to overhaul it. The building – formerly a hotel, a nursing home and a government headquarters – is now slated to reopen as market-rate apartments in 2017. According to the Kansas City Star, developer Ted Sleder
- [Warwick Boulevard Home to Prominent City Leaders](https://midtownkcpost.com/block-of-southmoreland-was-home-to-prominent-city-figures/) - Midtown has several distinctive streets: some characterized by their commercial importance, some for their grand residential apartment hotels, and some for their classical turn-of-the-century architecture. Warwick Boulevard, clearly one of Midtown’s most important thoroughfares, played a unique role in Midtown’s development. Few other streets attracted several wealthy and well-known citizens. As they hired prominent architects
- [Swedish Families Settled in West Plaza](https://midtownkcpost.com/who-lived-on-this-midtown-block-in-1940/) - Working-class families from Sweden, Missouri, and Kansas lived on this West Plaza block in 1940. Residents had a variety of jobs: salesman, flour mill hand, marble cutter, machinist in a canning factory, upholsterer, piano tuner, landscaper, bookkeeper, radio serviceman, railroad freight clerk, and barber. The area developed around 1907 when newspaper ads hawked lots in
- [Architect Saw Value in Southmoreland](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-warwick-and-walnut-from-43rd-to-44th-streets/) - A recent Google Maps view of the 4300 block of Walnut. One important name stands out in the history of a block of the Southmoreland neighborhood from Warwick Boulevard west to Walnut and from 43rd to 44th, that of architect Albert Turney. Perhaps best known for the design of Kansas City Fire Department Building #2 in 1905, Turney
- [Manheim Park Called Ideal and Artistic](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-manheim-park-block-from-39th-to-40th-between-troost-and-forest/) - Their original developer described the 3900 blocks of Troost and Forest as an “ideal residence park where all homes are complete, well-designed, original and artistic.” Most of the homes were built around 1909-1910, and since then, the neighborhood has had its ups and downs, but current residents say Manheim is making a comeback. The block
- [Armour Boulevard and Main Street, Then and Now](https://midtownkcpost.com/armour-boulevard-and-main-street-then-and-now/) - Many blocks of Midtown look much the same today as they did 100 years ago, but this corner of Armour and Main is wholly changed. In the early 1900s it was a peaceful street lined with new mansions built for wealthy Kansas Citians who were moving south. Today, the mansions on the block are gone,
- [Some of Armour Blvd.'s Mansions Remain](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-north-side-of-armour-between-campbell-and-charlotte/) - Much has changed along Armour Boulevard since the early 1900s, but one block, the north side of Armour to 34th Street from Campbell to Charlotte, remains much the same. One of the Armour mansions is no longer there, but the remaining homes of the block look pretty much the same as when they were built.
- [Mansions at Paseo and Armour have been lost](https://midtownkcpost.com/mansions-at-paseo-and-armour-have-been-lost-2/) - While many blocks of Midtown have barely changed since the early 1900s, this block of Armour at the Paseo looks like a different place today. The heyday of the block began just after the turn of the 20th century, when wealthy and successful captains of industry began building along the Paseo. But the prestige of
- [The Legacy of Laura Nelson Kirkwood](https://midtownkcpost.com/the-legacy-of-early-rockhill-neighborhood-resident-laura-nelson-kirkwood/) - (The latest Rockhill Neighborhood Association newsletter contained two articles with some interesting neighborhood history, and they’ve given us permission to reprint them. Today, Rockhill resident Todi Hughes profiles Laura Nelson Kirkwood. Tomorrow, the link between President Theodore Roosevelt, race relations and the Kirkwood house in Rockhill.) Reprinted with permission from the Rockhill Neighborhood newsletter by
- [Old Hyde Park’s “Chinese Puzzle”](https://midtownkcpost.com/headline/) - In what is today the Old Hyde Park neighborhood, a group of French nuns once cared for Kansas City’s oldest residents, and folks flocked to running tracks, baseball, and athletic fields. It all took place around Locust Street from 31st to 33rd, in an area later called the “Chinese puzzle” because its confusing dead-end streets
- [Book Details Lessons from Park and Boulevard History](https://midtownkcpost.com/new-book-details-lessons-parks-boulevard-history/) - 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
- [Postcards of The Paseo](https://midtownkcpost.com/uncovering-history-postcards-paseo/) - Postcards from around 1900 offer a glimpse of how proud Kansas City was of its new grand boulevard, the Paseo. The Paseo takes its name from the “Paseo de la Reforma” in Mexico City. Kansas City Parks and Boulevards designer George Kessler meant for Kansas City’s Paseo to be a great street. He envisioned it
- [Roanoke Neighborhood Undisturbed by Time](https://midtownkcpost.com/roanoke-neighborhood-nearly-undisturbed-time/) - The fine old mansions of Midtown’s Roanoke neighborhood stand seemingly unchanged by time. Roanoke, just west of Southwest Trafficway between 36th and 38th, was one of the first residential suburbs to be developed. Allen B.H. once owned this section of Kansas City. McGee was an early pioneer and Westport settler. McGee’s home was in the
- [The Armour Family's Short Stay on Armour Boulevard](https://midtownkcpost.com/recognize-boulevard-huge-mansions/) - Today, this peaceful, tree-lined street doesn’t look much like it did when this scene was created around the turn of the 20th century. But it was one of the most celebrated streets in town, proudly featured in numerous postcards showing Kansas City’s new boulevard system. The street is Armour Boulevard, back before it became a
- [Hyde Park School Served a Growing Population in 1899](https://midtownkcpost.com/hyde-park-school-served-growing-population-1899/) - The building is gone, and the name has been changed, but Midtown once had a school at the corner of 33rd and McGee known as the Hyde Park School. Originally, the land was a cornfield, part of the 60-acre Jacob Ragan farm at Armour Boulevard and Gillham Road. But in the late 1800s, the eight-room
- [Early Orphan Boys Home Story Has a Tragic Twist](https://midtownkcpost.com/early-orphan-boys-home-story-tragic-twist/) - The Orphan Boy's home in the 1960s. Before the current shopping center was built in the 1960s, the corner of Westport Road and 43rd Street was home to the Kansas City Orphan Boys Home. An old map shows the Orphan Boy's home between Westport Road, Southwest Trafficway, and 43rd Streets. Image courtesy Kansas City Public
- [Gillham Building Produced 100,000 Gallons of Milk a Day](https://midtownkcpost.com/gillham-building-produced-100000-gallons-milk-day/) - Many Midtowners drive past a building at 31st and Gillham without realizing it was once heralded as the “dairy of tomorrow.” The Aines Farm Dairy Building at 3110-30 Gillham is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was once where pasteurized milk, ice cream, butter, cottage cheese, and condensed milk were produced for Kansas
- [Endangered House Designed by Important KC Architect](https://midtownkcpost.com/endangered-house-built-by-important-kc-architect/) - (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,
- [Knickerbocker Apartments, Once Lavish, Now Endangered](https://midtownkcpost.com/knickerbocker-apartments-once-lavish-now-endangered/) - 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
- [“Miss Glenn’s Magic Garden” Offers Up Fresh Herbs at Westport Post Office](https://midtownkcpost.com/miss-glenns-magic-garden-offers-up-fresh-herbs-at-westport-post-office/) - 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
- [How Did Valentine Get its Name?](https://midtownkcpost.com/ever-wonder-where-the-valentine-neighborhood-got-its-name/) - Valentine's Day is a big deal in the Valentine neighborhood. But don’t let that fool you into thinking Valentine is named for the romantic holiday. The neighborhood takes its name from P.A. Valentine, a real estate developer who owned a lot of Midtown property at the turn of the century but who never actually lived
- [Lillis Family Legacy on Armour Boulevard](https://midtownkcpost.com/history-the-lillis-family-legacy-on-armour-boulevard/) - Republished from the Feb. 2013 Hyde Parker newsletter The large home at 301 East Armour Boulevard was demolished in 1967, but the legacy of the Lillis family who lived there remains an important part of Kansas City history. Irish immigrant and homeowner James Lillis built the first streetcars in Kansas City as a railroad contractor,
- [In Squier Park Neighborhood, “We Do Our Best to Get to Know Each Other”](https://midtownkcpost.com/in-squier-park-neighborhood-we-do-our-best-to-get-to-know-each-other/) - While folks in the suburbs sometimes complain about feeling isolated from neighbors, those who live in urban neighborhoods like Midtown’s Squier Park often feel they are truly living in an urban village. Squier Park Neighborhood Association President John Pajor said, “We do our best to get to know each other.” Pajor says he, his wife,
- [“No one knows Squier Park,” but Homes Tour May Raise Profile](https://midtownkcpost.com/no-one-knows-squier-park-but-homes-tour-may-raise-profile/) - This home at 3640 Tracy is one of five featured on this year’s Squier Park Homes Tour this Saturday. Squier Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April, making it only the second residential district east of Troost to be so honored. Photos courtesy Squier Park Neighborhood Association. According to the
- [Midtown bookshelf: new book chronicles history of Hyde Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/666/) - Review by Mark Dillon excerpted from the Hyde Parker newsletter One gets a sense of the passion that KCMO baby boomers had back in the early 1970s in the final chapter of Kansas City's Historic Hyde Park. First time authors Pat Alley and Don Boley recount the birth of the modern Hyde Park Neighborhood Association,
- [Midtown Bookshelf: Redemptorist Church Celebrates 100 Years](https://midtownkcpost.com/midtown-bookshelf-redemptorist-church-celebrates-100-years/) - A new book celebrating the 100-year history of the Redemptorist Church at 3333 Broadway notes the church was once the “center of the Catholic universe in Midtown.” It chronicles the relationships between the church and the neighborhoods around it as Kansas City grew and changed. Among the milestones the book records: Redemptorist priests and brothers
- [South Hyde Park Came Alive After 1900](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-3800-blocks-of-troost-and-harrison/) - Like much of Midtown Kansas City, this block of Hyde Park from 38th to 39th from Troost to Harrison became populated in the first decade of the 20th century as the growing population of Kansas City moved south. An earlier map of the block from 1891 shows lots had been divided and laid out in
- [Luxury Hotels Dominated Armour Boulevard](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-newbern-hotel-at-armour-and-cherry/) - One of the former apartment hotels on Armour Boulevard, the Newbern, celebrated its grand reopening last week. The Newbern's history tells a tale of the glory days of Armour Boulevard, its decline, and its new role as Midtown’s major apartment corridor. MAC Properties, a developer who has renovated. ts on Armour, spent more than a
- [Pioneer Family Owned this Valentine Block  ](https://midtownkcpost.com/a-pioneer-family-once-owned-this-valentine-block/) - Early maps of this Valentine neighborhood street show that most of it was once owned by Nellie G. Nelson, the daughter of Kansas City pioneer A.B.H. McGee. In 1890, Nellie married William W. Nelson, the son of a prominent family, in one of the most celebrated weddings in Kansas City history of a pioneer fa.
- [A Corner Store Served the Neighbourhood](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-the-west-plaza-neighborhood/) - In the 1930s and 40s, this West Plaza neighborhood block had a corner grocery store and was home to young working-class families who moved in and out. A reader turned our attention to the block bounded by Mercier and Holly between 47th and 48th Streets, where, she wrote, she had heard a respected sculptor had once
- [Pioneer George Sedgewick and his Block of Armour and Virginia](https://midtownkcpost.com/memorial-tribute-pioneer-george-sedgewick-and-his-block-of-armour-and-virginia/) - A Midtown Memorial Day tribute goes to George Sedgewick, a Kansas City pioneer who lived at Armour and Virginia before his 20 acres were platted as Sedgewick Place. Like many pioneers, Sedgewick wasn’t born here but was attracted to the growing railroad hub and potential for Kansas City’s growth. When Sedgewick, born in 1823, was
- [Valentine Was Home to First Female Livestock Exchange Member](https://midtownkcpost.com/3700-block-of-washington-was-home-to-first-female-livestock-exchange-member/) - Census records from the 3700 block of Washington Street in the Valentine neighborhood show a pattern repeated across Kansas City. In the early 1900s, the owners shared these large homes with extended family members and servants. But by 1930, almost every family had given up its servants and had taken in one or several lodgers.
- [Large Homes Once Stood on Armour](https://midtownkcpost.com/large-homes-once-stood-on-north-side-of-armour-between-kenwood-and-holmes/) - Although many of their homes don’t survive, the turn-of-the-century residents of Armour Boulevard included many civic and business leaders of the early 1900s. It was news in 1902 when E.H.L. Thompson took out a permit to build a home on the northeast corner of Armour and Kenwood, seen here as it had been designed. The house
- [31st and Cherry Morphed from Residential to Commercial](https://midtownkcpost.com/31st-and-cherry-area-morphed-from-residential-to-commercial-in-early-1900s/) - This block between 30th and 31st from Cherry to Holmes is in an area that is returning to life. Home to the Maker Village, the new Cherry Pit Collective, and the Superior Linen Company, it was once mainly residential but is almost completely commercial today. This week, the block from 30th to 31st and from
- [Mansions at Paseo and Armour Have Been Lost](https://midtownkcpost.com/mansions-at-paseo-and-armour-have-been-lost/) - While many blocks of Midtown have barely changed since the early 1900s, this block of Armour at the Paseo looks like a different place today. The heyday of the block began just after the turn of the 20th century when wealthy and successful captains of the industry started building along the Paseo. However, the prestige
- [Armour Boulevard Apartments, Workingmen’s Cottages, Now Gone](https://midtownkcpost.com/1905-armour-boulevard-apartments-and-workingmens-cottages-now-gone/) - Although his apartment building and small homes along Armour Boulevard no longer stand, W.H. Collins is remembered as a pioneer who left his mark on Midtown Kansas City. Collins’ structures once dominated the block from Armour Boulevard to 36th Street, from Central to Wyandotte, although neither his groundbreaking apartment building or workingmen’s cottages remain today.
- [Union Cemetery Receives National Designation](https://midtownkcpost.com/union-cemetery-receives-national-designation/) - Union Cemetery, the final resting place for many of Kansas City, Westport, and Midtown’s pioneers, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Union Cemetery Historical Society maintains Kansas City’s oldest public cemetery, which is in the historic Union Hill neighborhood, established in 1857, and one of the oldest neighborhoods in Midtown.
- [Once Exclusive Mansions Became Part of UMKC](https://midtownkcpost.com/once-exclusive-mansions-later-became-part-of-umkc/) - As Midtown became home to many of Kansas City’s wealthiest families in the early 1900s, they built mansions to house their families. Many of these families later moved on as new districts developed to the south, but they left behind large homes built to last decades, and a number of those homes were repurposed by
- [Mansions at Armour and Main gradually repurposed, replaced](https://midtownkcpost.com/mansions-at-armour-and-main-gradually-repurposed-replaced/) - Today’s historical post looks at the block from Armour to 36th Street, from Main to Walnut, a block that undertook a radical transformation in a few brief decades. From an exclusive enclave of wealthy families like the Armours in the early 1900s, the block became a center of culture around the Conservatory of Music in the
- [The Beginnings of the Country Club District](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-oak-street-between-52nd-and-54th/) - Around 1905, major development of Midtown Kansas City started moving for the first time south of Brush Creek, to an area that became known as the Country Club District. One of the earliest homes built in the area was on the block we’re focusing on in this post, from 52nd to 54th, between Oak and Brookside
- [Almost Every Neighborhood Had a Grocery Store](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-neighborhood-grocery-stores-in-midtown-2/) - Decades ago, Midtown Kansas City had a grocery store in almost every neighborhood. Before the advent of large chain "supermarkets," grocery stores were often literally mom-and-pop businesses. They grew up along streetcar lines and within walking distance of Midtown residential areas. This map shows all the groceries within Midtown boundaries in 1949, based on a
- [Bungalows in South Hyde Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-south-hyde-park/) - Midtown's South Hyde Park area developed rapidly after 1905, spurred by new city water service and the expansion of streetcar lines to newly built middle-class homes. Today’s focus block, from 42nd to 43rd, from Holmes to Charlotte, is composed of modest homes that still look much like they did when built more than 100 years
- [Captains of Industry Settled in Sunset Hill](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-sunset-hill/) - Presidents, vice presidents, and company owners – that’s who lived on this block of Sunset Hill in 1940. Sunset Drive, 51st Street and 52nd Street bound the block. The large homes set on big wooded lots were intended by their developer to attract those who could afford the most exclusive addresses in Kansas City, and J.C.
- [Transition from Large Homes to Boarding Houses](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-wyandotte-and-central-in-old-hyde-park/) - Kansas City changed a lot in the early 1900s. For example, in 1910, the block of Old Hyde Park between 36th and 37th, from Central to Wyandotte, was home to well-off families. Still, by 1940, some of the older homes on the block had been replaced by apartment buildings, and many of the homes had
- [Grain Magnate Predicted  Future of 51st and Oak](https://midtownkcpost.com/grain-magnate-predicted-the-future-of-51st-and-oak/) - Near the site where a Whole Foods store will soon stand at 51st and Oak Streets, a Kansas City grain executive named Edwin Shields once lived with his wife in a celebrated house called Oaklawn. Shields occupied a large tract of land along with neighbor Herbert Hall, which was surrounded by residential development by the
- [Woman Smashed Liquor Shop with Ax](https://midtownkcpost.com/woman-smashed-liquor-shop-with-ax-at-31st-and-holmes/) - In 1929, Mrs. Maud Wilson, the wife of the proprietor of a coffee shop at 31st and Holmes, was catapulted to the front page of the newspapers, where she held a firm spot for several weeks. By all accounts, the hard-working women struggling with her husband and daughter, Iris, to earn a living at the coffee
- [31st Street Was Home to Neighborhood Businesses](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-from-31st-to-linwood-gillham-to-holmes/) - This block of Midtown once thrived as a commercial center, with businesses such as pharmacies, restaurants and beauty shops serving the surrounding neighborhoods. Although a recent satellite image shows only a large parking lot at the corner of Thirty-first and Holmes, that location was bustling in earlier days. From the 1920s to the 1940s, 31st
- [Gillham Plaza Came to Life in 1928](https://midtownkcpost.com/gillham-plaza-came-to-life-in-1928/) - Gillham Plaza, between Gillham Road and Oak Street, was coming to life in 1928, soon after it was paved. A newspaper that year rounded up business life on the block, including the El Torreon Ballroom, the Martha Washington Candle Company, the new Luzier cosmetics laboratory, and the Stine-McClure Undertaking Company. A few years later, in 1933,
- [Paseo Homes and High-End Apartments](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-virginia-and-paseo-from-36th-to-37th/) - The block of Paseo to Virginia, from 36th to 37th Streets, was a lively neighborhood from 1910 to 1940, home to families that made homes in its solid single-family dwellings as well as its high-end apartment building. This 1909-1950 Sanborn Map shows the block, just north of the Faxon School, filled in with a mixture
- [Neighborhood Builder Helped Working People Buy Homes](https://midtownkcpost.com/early-plaza-westport-neighborhood-builder-helped-working-people-buy-homes-2/) - The history of Midtown Kansas City is full of tales of fortunes made and lost in real estate, but the Plaza Westport neighborhood’s past tells a different kind of story. A real estate developer and builder there, Will Corbin, is remembered for finding a way to help working-class people in Kansas City afford the modern
- [Southwest Trafficway Used to Be Summit Street](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-along-southwest-trafficway-from-44th-to-45th/) - A 1930s snapshot of one Midtown block highlights its transformation from a neighborhood of working-class families to a commercial corridor along a major traffic route. Although those photos are NOT available for this block, other historical records offer a glimpse of how the block has changed from the 1930s to today. A 1909-1950 Sanburn map of
- [Church, School, Homes Share a Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-blocks-of-cherry-and-kenwood-bounded-by-armour-and-34th/) - This block of Midtown, from Armour to 34th between Cherry and Kenwood, is perhaps best known as the home of the Longan School (now Academie Lafayette) and the Trinity United Methodist Church. However, the block was not completely dominated by these institutions. It also offered three homes along Kenwood, four on Cherry, and a luxury
- [Troost Block Served Manheim Park Residents](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-block-from-troost-to-forest-from-42nd-to-43rd/) - Like many blocks of Midtown in 1940, this section of Manheim Park from Troost to Forest between 42nd and 43rd was a mixture of homes and commercial establishments that served the families there. Along Troost, a typical commercial streetcar corridor, business names changed frequently, including automobile sales, chicken sales and supplies, grocery stores, and drug
- [The Heyday of a Block of Armour](https://midtownkcpost.com/the-heyday-of-the-block-of-armour-south-to-36th-from-walnut-to-warwick/) - In the early 1900s, Armour Boulevard and its surrounding blocks were the center of life for many wealthy Kansas Citians, who built large mansions and lived comfortable lives attended by their servants. That’s true of the block between Armour and 36th Street from Walnut to Warwick. But by 1940, Armour’s elite residents had moved on,
- [Armour Family Left Name, Legacy in Midtown](https://midtownkcpost.com/armour-family-left-behind-their-name-legacy-in-midtown/) - If they hadn’t left behind their name on Armour Boulevard and several neighborhoods south of the Plaza, the Armour family’s brief prominence in Kansas City might easily be forgotten. Best known as part of the Chicago-based meatpacking dynasty, the Armours who ran the Kansas City branch of the company were a major influence on social
- [Do You Remember this Block of Westport Road from Broadway to Central?](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-westport-road-from-broadway-to-central/) - Although Westport is best known for its role as a frontier trading outpost, few remnants of that pioneer past remain standing. The Westport we know today, including this block from Westport Road to Archibald and from Broadway to Central, was mostly built in the early years of the 20th century, with Westport Road making the
- [On Westport Block, Frontier History Meets  20th Century](https://midtownkcpost.com/on-westport-block-frontier-history-meets-early-20th-century-streetscape/) - As one of the oldest parts of Kansas City, the block of Westport from Pennsylvania to Mill between 40th and Westport Road has seen several distinct stages of development. The area first came to life in the mid-1800s, when historic churches, courtrooms, wagon-making, and grocery shops mingled with small frame homes. Despite efforts to preserve
- [Black, White Families, Church, Businesses shared Westport block in Early 1900s](https://midtownkcpost.com/black-white-families-church-businesses-shared-westport-block-in-early-1900s/) - On one block of Westport around 1900, black families lived next to white families, and a church founded by a former slave and his brother stood just down the block from a grocery store in one of the oldest buildings in Kansas City. The block of Westport from Pennsylvania to Mill between 40th and Westport Road has seen
- [Small Bungalows Lined Belleview, Jarboe in 1940](https://midtownkcpost.com/small-bungalows-lined-belleview-jarboe-in-1940/) - The West Plaza neighborhood is one of Midtown's historic areas where working-class families owned and rented homes in these photos. This block of Belleview and Jarboe between 45th and 46th is a great example. Residents in these 1940s photos included streetcar and meatpacking workers, a movie theater projectionist, and the owner of a watch repair business.
- [Current Home Depot Site Was Once Warner Plaza “Apartment City”](https://midtownkcpost.com/current-home-depot-site-was-once-warner-plaza-apartment-city/) - An “apartment city” that once stood where Home Depot is located today was billed as “an innovative approach to multi-use residential development.” Built in 1926, the Warner Plaza development included two seven-story buildings on Main Street near Thirty-third Street and a roadway also called Warner Plaza with a long row of apartment buildings on either
- [Coleman Highlands from the 1920s to 1940s](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-these-blocks-of-coleman-highlands/) - Census records from 1920-1940 show a two-block area of Coleman Highlands as a thriving section of the Midtown’s Redemptorist Parish – its well-built homes packed with large Catholic families. A reader asked for more information about W. 33rd Street Terrace in Coleman Highlands, so today’s look back at history includes the area from the south side
- [Home at 30th and Troost Housed Millionaires and Musicians](https://midtownkcpost.com/home-at-30th-and-troost-housed-millionaires-and-musicians/) - Despite being known as perhaps the grandest home in Kansas City at the turn of the 20th century, the mansion at 3000 Troost was razed in 1938 to make way for commerce and apartment buildings. Mrs. Samuel B. Sebree (formerly Alice Smith) remembered the days between around 1900 and 1920 when she lived in the home
- [A Business Block at 31st and Main](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-between-main-and-wyandotte-from-31st-to-31st-terrace/) - The block between Main Street and Wyandotte, from 31st Street to 31st Terrace, never contained many homes but had several businesses that served Midtown residents. The block featured auto repair shops, an ice company, and a popular softball park. A recent aerial photo of the block. Main Street Storerooms, Signs, and Ambulances From the earliest
- [Mastin Mansion Once Dominated the Block at Armour and Main](https://midtownkcpost.com/mastin-mansion-once-dominated-the-block-at-armour-and-main/) - A bank building now sits at the southwest corner of Armour Boulevard and Main Street, offering no hint of the important mansion that once occupied the site. But from the time it was built in 1888 until it was razed in 1927, the Thomas H. Mastin home was one of the best known mansions in
- [Midtown Mansion Converted to Business, Moved to Main Street](https://midtownkcpost.com/midtown-mansion-converted-to-business-moved-to-main-street/) - When Midtown began to develop in the late 1800s, it was a posh residential area where well-to-do Kansas Citians built mansions to escape the crowded downtown. They settled along streets such as Broadway, Troost, and Main. However, by the 1920s, rapid development in the area and the streetcar lines along those major streets caused a rapid
- [The W.P. Cherry Block of Volker](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-this-block-of-the-volker-neighborhood-at-35th-and-genessee/) - The block of Midtown that is today’s focus has always been a mystery to one of our readers. “On the NW corner of 35th Terrace and Genessee is a nice, solid red brick four-unit apartment building," Diane Capps wrote. "Near the top, on the front of the building is a limestone slab that is engraved with W.P.
- [The NE Corner of 39th and Main Holds Layers of History](https://midtownkcpost.com/the-ne-corner-of-39th-and-main-holds-layers-of-history/) - 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 she paid for it. The property she purchased
- [West Side of 3800 Block of Main Thrived in Developing Midtown](https://midtownkcpost.com/west-side-of-3800-block-of-main-thrived-in-developing-midtown/) - In the 1930s, while most of their 3800 Main Street block was being saturated with storefronts—the Madrid Theater and a garage that would become the Unicorn Theater—it was still the long-time home of the Dunn family. And they heard a suggestion that they were “losing money in their front yard.” The Dunn's home at 3820 Main
- [Resident Watched Homes Disappear in Westport](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-know-the-history-of-this-heart-of-westport-neighborhood-block/) - This post from our archives (originally posted in March of 2016) features homes on the 3900 block of Central in the Heart of Westport neighborhood. Central Street is just one block east of Broadway. Reader Janet Pickett says she grew up on it. “I watched the city tear down 8 or 10 houses and build
- [A President Spent the Night on this Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/the-residences-on-the-block-from-38th-to-39th-between-main-and-baltimore/) - The block between 38th and 39th between Main and Baltimore was a key location, in part because of Main Street’s importance as a commercial corridor and also because of the easy access to streetcar lines on both Main and 39th. Development began in 1901, when savvy businesswoman Barbara Bescher bought a lot at the corner
- [Famous “Bachelor Retreat” Once Stood at 36th and Main](https://midtownkcpost.com/famous-bachelor-retreat-once-stood-at-36th-and-main/) - The block between Main and Walnut from 36th to 37th Streets has seen many changes since it attracted its first residents in the late 1800s. Its history reflects the movement of people from the north to the new “south side” around the turn of the century, which brought new homes, businesses, and a church to
- [A Memorial Day Look Back at the Westport Cemetery](https://midtownkcpost.com/a-memorial-day-look-back-at-the-westport-cemetery/) - In the early 1800s, the graves of a riverboat gambler, a rugged Indian agent, and prominent early settlers shared space in a small plot of land now in the middle of the Westport Entertainment District. According to the Kansas City Times of May 30, 1970, “The Westport cemetery was established in 1835, when Edgar Price,
- [Valentine Mansion Once Housed Pioneer Family, Children of Working Mothers](https://midtownkcpost.com/valentine-mansion-once-housed-pioneer-family-children-of-working-mothers/) - An important homestead once stood where the south edge of the Valentine neighborhood touches Westport, near what is now the parking lot of the Sunfresh grocery store. The home of Westport pioneer George Schaefer proudly occupied the corner of Pennsylvania and Schaefer Street (now known as West 39th Street Terrace). The family built the home
- [Glen Airy Place Tucked Away in North Hyde Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/glen-airy-place-tucked-away-in-north-hyde-park/) - Fewer than a dozen homes lined what was once known as Glen Airy Place in the North Hyde Park neighborhood, but the street still retains a tucked-away quality that sets it apart from other streets around it. Reader Dale Ealey recently asked what history is known about this unique block. The Kansas City Star noted
- [Most Modern Poultry House in the City](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-e-31st-between-charlotte-and-campbell/) - Residents began moving into the block around E. 31st Street from Charlotte to Campbell in the late 1800s, and as the population grew, 31st Street (formerly known as Springfield Avenue) became a commercial street offering services such as cleaning, furniture making, and a grocery store. Recently, we explored the history of on E. 31st Street
- [Early Advocate for the Blind Lived on this Block near Rockhurst](https://midtownkcpost.com/early-advocate-for-the-blind-lived-on-this-block-near-rockhurst/) - A few of the homes on the block between 51st and Rockhurst from Forest to Tracy, including one where an early crusader for the blind lived, have been replaced by buildings associated with Rockhurst University. However, most of the bungalows and other single-family residences stand as they have since the early 1920s, a decade after Rockhurst was established. This
- [Walnuts Apartments Replaced Famous Mansion of the Same Name](https://midtownkcpost.com/walnuts-apartments-replaced-famous-mansion-of-the-same-name/) - Before the Walnuts, among Kansas City’s most high-end apartments, were erected in 1929, a large home stood on the same site at Fifty-first and Wornall. The mansion—also known as the Walnuts ­ —became a famous venue for entertaining well-to-do city residents until a developer saw the site’s potential as a luxury residential hotel. Today, block between
- [Small Bungalows, Apartments Made Up South Hyde Park Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/small-bungalows-apartments-made-up-south-hyde-park-block/) - Like most of Midtown, people moved in and out of this South Hyde Park neighborhood from the time its small homes and apartments were built in the early 1900s. Owners and their families occupied some of the small bungalows; others were rented from real estate companies. Today, the block bounded by Holmes, Gillham and 43rd
- [South Hyde Park Block Once Had a Grocery Store](https://midtownkcpost.com/south-hyde-park-block-once-had-a-grocery-store/) - The block of South Hyde Park, bounded by Holmes, Kenwood, 41st, and 42nd, is now mostly single-family bungalows. However, from the 1920s to the 1940s, it also held a grocery store and was home to the Meiners grocery family. Census records illustrate how the block began to fill in during the early 1900s with families
- [Valentine Block Was Home of School Board President](https://midtownkcpost.com/valentine-block-was-home-of-school-board-president/) - Midtown households in the 1930s were predominantly made up of typical nuclear families: a working father, stay-at-home mother, and several children. But a glimpse at the 1930 makeup of the Valentine neighborhood block from Pennsylvania to Jefferson between 37th and Valentine shows other trends: a proportionally large number of households headed by widows, families that
- [Families Moved In and Out of this Midtown block](https://midtownkcpost.com/families-moved-in-and-out-of-this-midtown-block/) - Contrary to how some folks perceive the past, Midtown families did not always stay in one place for many decades. It was more typical for people to move in and out of homes, whether rented or owned, as family members died, married, or moved to another neighborhood. This was true of the block bounded by
- [This Volker Block Was Home to Hard-Working Laborers](https://midtownkcpost.com/this-volker-block-was-home-to-hard-working-laborers/) - Laborers, most of them immigrants or the children of immigrants, were the first residents to occupy the block of the Volker neighborhood between Holly and Mercier from W. 40th to W. 41st. Some worked at the stockyards, but most were employed in Kansas City’s thriving railroad industry. Reader Andrew Findlay, who lives on the block,
- [Long-Forgotten L.A. Allen Home Stood at Valentine and Broadway](https://midtownkcpost.com/long-forgotten-l-a-allen-home-stood-at-valentine-and-broadway/) - Midtown Kansas City has several important corners, often where major streets and streetcar lines intersect, including the intersection of Broadway Boulevard and Valentine Road. The southwest corner is well-known now as the site of the Uptown Theater. But before the Uptown was built in the late 1920s, an important—and widely forgotten—home belonging to L.A. Allen
- [Valentine Road History: Mansions, Churches – and a Plus-sized Dress Shop](https://midtownkcpost.com/valentine-road-history-mansions-churches-and-a-plus-sized-dress-shop/) - Valentine Road between Broadway and Southwest Trafficway has been home to Kansas City pioneers, wealthy widows, churches, and modest apartment dwellers. It may also have been home to the first plus-size clothing shop in Kansas City in 1925. The street was originally called W. 35th Street and was part of the regular Kansas City grid
- [Westport’s Oldest Settlers Fiddled and Danced at Little’s Hall](https://midtownkcpost.com/westports-oldest-settlers-fiddled-and-danced-at-littles-hall/) - A careful observer of things in Midtown, Diane Capps, noticed the lettering on a window at 313 Westport Road and noticed the name “Little’s Hall” was embedded in the leaded glass. The first floor of the building is now used as an antique store, and the sign for a long-term tenant, the Broadway Hardware Company,
- [Swedish Families Settled and Stayed for Decades on This Volker Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/swedish-families-settled-and-stayed-for-decades-on-this-volker-block/) - It is common to find families moving in and out of Midtown neighborhood blocks in the early 1900s, but this Volker area, with many Swedish immigrants, was much more stable. Census records from 1910 to 1940 show several families that stayed on the block the entire time, while others moved in and stayed for two
- [Plaza Homes Replaced by “Modern” Apartments as Plaza Developed](https://midtownkcpost.com/west-plaza-homes-replaced-by-modern-apartments-as-plaza-developed/) - This block just north of the Plaza started out as a residential area, but as the Plaza developed over the early decades of the 1900s, several of its homes were replaced by “modern” apartments. At least one of the homes may have been moved to make way for multi-family structures, but both single-family residences and
- [1932 Arson Destroyed Fine Old Broadway Residential Hotel](https://midtownkcpost.com/1932-arson-destroyed-fine-old-broadway-residential-hotel/) - On a block of Broadway known today as the home of the Uptown Theater, the history of a home-turned-posh residential hotel has nearly faded. The Rochambeau, once the home of Valentine and Roanoke neighborhood “father” A.B.H. McGee, was called one of Kansas City’s finest luxury hotels. However, a fire in the 1930s erased it from
- [Corner of 39th and Pennsylvania Was Home to Westport Pioneer Family](https://midtownkcpost.com/corner-of-39th-and-pennsylvania-was-home-to-westport-pioneer-family/) - 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
- [Roanoke Property Owners Took a Stand Against Apartments in 1920s](https://midtownkcpost.com/roanoke-property-owners-took-a-stand-against-apartments-in-1920s/) - 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),
- [NE Corner of 39th Street and Summit Once Housed Local Shops, Apartments](https://midtownkcpost.com/ne-corner-of-39th-street-and-summit-once-housed-local-shops-apartments/) - 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
- [Streetcar Expansion Spurred Development of This Squier Park Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/streetcar-expansion-spurred-development-of-this-squier-park-block/) - 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
- [Westwood Park Homes Offered Fireplaces, Garages, and Rec Rooms](https://midtownkcpost.com/westwood-park-homes-offered-fireplaces-garages-and-rec-rooms/) - 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
- [Do You Know the History of the Center City Neighborhood?](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-know-the-history-of-the-center-city-neighborhood/) - 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
- [A Block Dominated by Churches in Old Westport](https://midtownkcpost.com/a-block-dominated-by-churches-in-old-westport/) - 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
- [Why Was There a Huge Steel Tank at 33rd and Harrison in the 1920s?](https://midtownkcpost.com/why-was-there-a-huge-steel-tank-at-33rd-and-harrison-in-the-1920s/) - 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
- [North Hyde Park Block Drew Early Prominent Families](https://midtownkcpost.com/north-hyde-park-block-drew-early-prominent-families/) - 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
- [Valentine’s Waverly Way Has Disappeared](https://midtownkcpost.com/valentines-waverly-way-has-disappeared/) - Waverly Way – once a street lined with residences and apartment buildings in a thriving Midtown – has now disappeared. Even its name is gone. The street is now called W. 34th Terrace, sandwiched in between the vacant MGE Building at 34th and Broadway and the Metropolitan Community College Health Sciences Institute just to the south.
- [Middle-class Families Settled in Southmoreland on Hyde Park Avenue (McGee Street)](https://midtownkcpost.com/middle-class-families-settled-in-southmoreland-on-hyde-park-avenue-mcgee-street/) - Railroad engineers, carpenters, and schoolteachers made up the middle-class neighborhood along the east side of the 4100 block of McGee in the early 1900s. Most of the block’s families had been born in the United States, although a handful had recently come from Ireland, Sweden, or Germany. Children attended the nearby Rollins school. One house
- [On Southmoreland’s Oak Street, Grocers, Railroadmen, and Salesmen Raised their Families](https://midtownkcpost.com/on-southmorelands-oak-street-grocers-railroad-men-salesmen-raised-their-families/) - A well-known spiritualist, a pioneering druggist, and a grocer were among the early residents of the 4100 block of Oak Street in the Southmoreland neighborhood. Records indicate the home at 4120 Oak was for rent as early as 1894 by the Whipple Loan and Trust Company. By the 1900 census, grocer William Crute and his
- [Corner Drugstore at 39th and Genessee Served the Neighborhood](https://midtownkcpost.com/corner-drugstore-at-39th-and-genessee-served-the-neighborhood/) - Small corner stores with living quarters above are a feature of many neighborhood corners in Midtown, including the southeast corner of 39th and Bell in the Volker neighborhood. This corner shop housed several different drugstores in the early 20th century and has also been used as a neighborhood tavern. These businesses have shared the block between
- [North Hyde Park Block Was Home to Early Kansas City Police Officer](https://midtownkcpost.com/north-hyde-park-block-was-home-to-early-kansas-city-police-officer/) - Like many neighborhoods in Kansas City, the large homes on this North Hyde Park block (from Charlotte to Campbell between 33rd and 34th) suited the extended families, servants, and boarders who lived there at the turn of the 20th century. Over the next few decades, families often moved on to smaller homes or the modern new residential
- [Map Shows Fairground Racetrack That Became Curve of Valentine Road](https://midtownkcpost.com/map-shows-fairground-racetrack-that-became-curve-of-valentine-road/) - A popular fairground that lasted for only five years left a lasting mark on the development of Midtown. In the 1800s, fairs that showcased agriculture techniques and equipment and offered wildly popular horse races were held all over the United States. From 1882 to 1887, the Kansas City Inter-State Fairgrounds operated on land stretching from
- [A Westport Wine Garden at 39th and Roanoke](https://midtownkcpost.com/a-westport-wine-garden-at-39th-and-roanoke/) - In the late 1800s, a popular entertainment site at Thirty-Ninth and Roanoke was called one of the most beautiful spots in Kansas City. For many years, German immigrant Frederick Esslinger’s house, vineyards, and wine garden were popular destinations for many Westport and Kansas City residents. After the wine garden was closed around 1900 and the house
- [Scores of Schoolchildren, Judges and Bishops Visited this Southmoreland Home](https://midtownkcpost.com/scores-of-schoolchildren-judges-and-bishops-visited-this-southmoreland-home/) - If old houses hold the memories of those who have lived in and visited them, this home at 3959 Warwick would have had more stories to tell than most. The home—now replaced by an apartment building—was the long-time residence of lawyer and prominent philanthropist Sanford Ladd, and in his waning years, it was the frequent
- [Dinner for 100 on this Southermoreland Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/dinner-for-100-on-this-southermoreland-block/) - The Southmoreland block between Warwick and McGee from 39th to 40th Streets has seen a lot of history – huge social events packed into its fine homes, a flu epidemic that impacted a funeral, and the ups and downs of pioneer families. Like many areas of Midtown, the block's heyday came in the early 1900s, when expansion south
- [Pioneering Photographer Was First Owner of This Roanoke Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/pioneering-photographer-was-first-owner-on-this-roanoke-block/) - It must have been quiet on this Summit Street block when D.P. and Sophia Thomson moved in around 1900. Although the Roanoke subdivision had been platted and laid out, it had been slow to develop. When the Thomsons moved in, theirs was the only home on the block that is today’s focus: Summit Street (now
- [UMKC Block Includes Historic Carriage House Slated for Demolition Sept. 24](https://midtownkcpost.com/umkc-block-includes-historic-carriage-house-slated-for-demolition-sept-24/) - Before the establishment of what would become UMKC, the block bounded by 51st and 52nd between Rockhill and Holmes was home to one of Kansas City’s most splendid mansions. Walter Dickey, a prominent businessman, chose the site for his 25-room home on the crest of a wooded hill. The Dickey mansion, now used by UMKC as Scofield
- [A Historic Building at Thirty-First and Main](https://midtownkcpost.com/do-you-remember-the-northeast-corner-of-main-and-thirty-first/) - 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
- [In 1923, Work Began on First Block of Country Club Plaza](https://midtownkcpost.com/in-1923-work-began-on-first-block-of-country-club-plaza/) - 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 1910, a Block of Immigrant Families in Valentine](https://midtownkcpost.com/in-1910-a-block-of-immigrant-families-in-valentine/) - 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
- [How Central Hyde Park Prepared for Thanksgiving](https://midtownkcpost.com/how-central-hyde-park-prepared-for-thanksgiving/) - 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
- [The NE Corner of 39th and Main Holds Layers of History](https://midtownkcpost.com/the-ne-corner-of-39th-and-main-holds-layers-of-history-2/) - (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
- [Volker Homes Built Around 1910 To Meet The Needs of Immigrants](https://midtownkcpost.com/volker-homes-built-around-1910-to-meet-the-needs-of-immigrants/) - 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
- [One of Kansas City’s Finest Homes Razed in 1912; Replaced by Sunset Hill School](https://midtownkcpost.com/one-of-kansas-citys-finest-homes-razed-in-1912-replaced-by-sunset-hill-school/) - 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.
- [Noted Architect Lived on This Roanoke Block of Well-off Families](https://midtownkcpost.com/noted-architect-lived-on-this-roanoke-block-of-well-off-families/) - 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
- [Old Hyde Park Block Has Seen Many Changes Since Dr. Hunter’s Time](https://midtownkcpost.com/old-hyde-park-block-has-seen-many-changes-since-dr-hunters-time/) - 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
- [Levy Meat Company Family Lived on this Volker Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/levy-meat-company-family-lived-on-this-volker-block/) - Isaac Levy and his family were among the earliest residents of this Volker block from 36th to 37th between Genessee and Wyoming. Levy was a pioneer Kansas City butcher and appears to be the first homeowner on the block. This Tuttle & Pike map from 1907 shows the Levy home in blue, just above a street called
- [Hyde Park Block Responded to Changing Residential Trends](https://midtownkcpost.com/hyde-park-block-responded-to-changing-residential-trends/) - 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
- [On the Edge of Midtown, A Home for Orphan Girls](https://midtownkcpost.com/on-the-edge-of-midtown-a-home-for-orphan-girls/) - A home for orphans that took in hundreds of children between 1880 and 1960 was a well-known part of the Midtown landscape. The St. Joseph Orphan Girls’ home took up the entire block between SouthweTrafficway (then called Summit) and Pennsylvania north of 31st Street (Karnes). Although it was called the Orphan Girls’ Home, the institution did
- [Troostwood Block Offered Shade, Bungalows, and Two-Car Garages](https://midtownkcpost.com/troostwood-block-offered-shade-bungalows-and-two-car-garages/) - Some blocks of Midtown Kansas City were built to house Kansas City elites, and others were created as working-class enclaves. Today’s block, in the Troostwood neighborhood from 49th to 49th Terrace and Tracy to Troostwood, was developed in the early 1920s for middle-class families who wanted a shady neighborhood away from the hustle and bustle of
- [Parkview Drugstores Started on this Manheim Park Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/parkview-drugstores-started-on-this-manheim-park-block/) - In the early 1900s, this block from Brush Creek Boulevard to Cleaver Boulevard between Tracy and Virginia was best known as the home of the original Parkview Pharmacy. Located just east of the popular Electric Park, in those days, the block was a mixture of commercial buildings, apartments (even one designed by Nelle Peters), and
- [Newly-renovated Scottish Rite Temple Anchors Historic Linwood and Paseo Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/newly-renovated-scottish-rite-temple-anchors-historic-linwood-and-paseo-block/) - May 13, 2019 The Kansas City Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Temple is a massive structure that has fascinated those driving along Linwood and the Paseo for years. Last week, the Temple was opened for a public tour to showcase its renovations. The Scottish Rite, the largest branch of Freemasonry, still uses the building for meetings
- [Block of Boulevards Shifts from Residential in 1920s](https://midtownkcpost.com/block-of-boulevards-shifts-from-residential-in-1920s/) - If location is all-important in real estate, location along two boulevards must be even better. The intersection of Linwood Boulevard and The Paseo (now called Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard) historically attracted elite families who moved into substantial homes before the turn of the 20th century. However, the location also made the block a target
- [West Plaza Block: Immigrants, Births, Deaths, Weddings, Soldiers](https://midtownkcpost.com/west-plaza-block-immigrants-births-deaths-weddings-soldiers/) - Much of the history we read celebrates outstanding architecture, elite families, and unusual lives. But it is equally interesting to study blocks like this one in West Plaza, between 45th and 46th Street from Fairmount to Wyoming. Perhaps its most unusual event was a gas explosion in 1962 that destroyed eleven houses in the neighborhood (more about
- [Residents Rebuild in West Plaza After 1962 Gas Main Explosion](https://midtownkcpost.com/residents-rebuild-in-west-plaza-after-1962-gas-main-explosion/) - A fiery explosion that leveled 11 homes and damaged 17 was not enough to drive away residents of the West Plaza neighborhood in 1962. The whole city was shocked by the story that year, with headlines detailing the devastating blast and the lingering impact on the lives of the impacted families. A year later, neighbors
- [Manheim Park Block Attracted Immigrants in 1920s](https://midtownkcpost.com/manheim-park-block-attracted-immigrants-in-1920s/) - When residents began moving into this Manheim Park block (from Troost to Forest between E. 43rd and E. 44th) in the early 1900s, many were new immigrants to this country. The 1920 census shows people who had recently come from Scotland, England, Germany, Sweden, and Italy settling into homes alongside others born in the United
- [Gardeners Once Flocked To A Backyard On This Block Near Westport](https://midtownkcpost.com/gardeners-once-flocked-to-a-backyard-on-this-block-near-westport/) - In 1920, homes on this block from Westport Road to Archibald between Clark Street (Belleview) and Jefferson went on sale. The block was in a subdivision known as Whitehouse Place, which developers advertised as including 40 homes. In 1930, they were filled with bungalows, Queen Anne’s, and three-story houses. No two were alike, but they
- [Mansions at Armour and Main Gradually Repurposed, Replaced](https://midtownkcpost.com/mansions-at-armour-and-main-gradually-repurposed-replaced-2/) - Today’s historical post looks at the block from Armour to 36th Street, from Main to Walnut, which undertook a radical transformation in a few brief decades. From an exclusive enclave of wealthy families like the Armours in the early 1900s, the block became a center of culture around the Conservatory of Music in the 1940s. Main
- [Female Architect Left Her Stamp On This Countryside Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/female-architect-left-her-stamp-on-this-countryside-block/) - Built when well-off residents of Kansas City were moving south of the Plaza and located right next to Loose Park, it is no surprise that this Countryside neighborhood block was built by prominent architects and attracted prominent families. The block from Wornall to Wyandotte between W. 54rd Street and W. 53rd Terrace is part of the
- [Glen Airy Place Tucked Away in North Hyde Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/glen-airy-place-tucked-away-in-north-hyde-park-2/) - (This post was originally published on June 18, 2017) Fewer than a dozen homes lined what was once known as Glen Airy Place in the North Hyde Park neighborhood, but the street still retains a tucked-away quality that sets it apart from other streets around it. Reader Dale Ealey recently asked what history is known
- [Westwood Park Block Attracted Families in Early 1920s](https://midtownkcpost.com/westwood-park-block-attracted-families-in-early-1920s/) - Doctors, dentists and lawyers were among the first residents of the Westwood Park block from 50th to West 50th Terrace between Wyoming and Westwood Terrace. They settled in the neighborhood next to salesmen, bank presidents and undertakers in the 1920s as the development of Midtown moved south. The block is part of what is known today
- [How One Family Came to this Rockhill Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/how-one-family-came-to-this-rockhill-block/) - As well-to-do Kansas Citians moved south in the 1920s, several settled on a newly-developed block of the Rockhill neighborhood, from roughly Rockhill Terrace south to 45th Street. One of these new families, Alfred and Grace Schauffler, moved in around 1928, joining their well-off neighbors as commercial and civic leaders. All of the Rockhill neighborhood originally
- [Black, White families,  Shared Westport Block in Early 1900s](https://midtownkcpost.com/black-white-families-church-businesses-shared-westport-block-in-early-1900s-2/) - On one block of Westport around 1900, black families lived next to white families, and a church founded by a former slave and his brother stood just down the block from a grocery store in one of the oldest buildings in Kansas City. The block of Westport from Pennsylvania to Mill between 40th and Westport Road has seen
- [Prohibition Raid Found 'One of Finest Distilleries' in South Plaza](https://midtownkcpost.com/prohibition-raid-found-one-of-finest-distilleries-in-south-plaza/) - One of the greatest troves of Midtown history comes from the crime logs, which hold fascinating newspaper accounts of car wrecks, runaway wives, domestic robberies, suicides, murders, and other events. They sometimes offer the best window into a past that was not intentionally preserved. That is true of the South Plaza block from 51st Street
- [Family Once Owned This South Plaza Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/family-once-owned-this-south-plaza-block/) - Some blocks of Midtown Kansas City offer more insights into history than others. That is true of the block from 50th to 51st between Main and Walnut Streets. Two weeks ago, we offered the story of one house where prohibition agents discovered “one of the finest equipped distilleries ever found in Kansas City.” This week,
- [Plaza’s Nordstrom Block Has Seen Changes Before](https://midtownkcpost.com/plazas-nordstrom-block-has-seen-changes-before/) - Change is happening on this Plaza block from 47th to 48th between Jefferson and Summit, the site of a new Nordstrom store. And it isn’t the first time the block has been transformed. At the beginning of the 20th century, small homes populated by working-class families lined the west side of Summit Street. Later, as
- [Middle, Upper Class Families Were First Residents of Crestwood Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/middle-upper-class-families-were-first-residents-of-crestwood-block/) - Like the rest of the J.C. Nichols-developed subdivision, this block of the Crestwood neighborhood (E. 54th to E. 55th from Cherry to Holmes) attracted middle- and upper-middle-class residents after development began in 1919. According to the National Register of Historic Places nomination, the homes reflect various historically based revival styles popular in America after World
- [A 1920s Block Filled with Streetcar Workers](https://midtownkcpost.com/a-1920s-block-filled-with-streetcar-workers/) - In the early 1900s, the residents of a rapidly expanding Midtown worked at various jobs: they were salesmen, teachers, real estate developers, packing house employees, bookkeepers, and business owners. However, on one block, 47th to 48th between Charlotte and Campbell, one type of work predominated – local streetcar jobs. "Street railway" workers made up the majority
- [Newly-Renovated Scottish Rite Temple Anchors Historic Linwood and Paseo Block](https://midtownkcpost.com/newly-renovated-scottish-rite-temple-anchors-historic-linwood-and-paseo-block-2/) - The Kansas City Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Temple is a massive structure that has fascinated those driving along Linwood and the Paseo for years. The Scottish Rite, the largest branch of Freemasonry, still uses the building for meetings and administration. Faced with the ever-soaring cost of maintenance, however, the group hopes a 2019 renovation will
- [Homes Once Lined 39th Street West of Trafficway](https://midtownkcpost.com/homes-once-lined-39th-street-west-of-trafficway/) - When you turn west on 39th Street from Southwest Trafficway these days, you pass a small shopping center and commercial buildings on your right as you drive toward State Line Road. One hundred years ago, that stretch of 39th Street from Summit to Roanoke looked much different. It had recently been developed as the Hamilton Hill
- [Grain magnate Predicted  Future of 51st and Oak](https://midtownkcpost.com/grain-magnate-predicted-the-future-of-51st-and-oak-2/) - Near the site where a Whole Foods store now stands at 51st and Oak Streets, a Kansas City grain executive named Edwin Shields once lived with his wife in a celebrated house known as Oaklawn. Shields occupied a large tract of land along with neighbor Herbert Hall that, by the time this map was made
- [Builder Helped Working People Buy Homes](https://midtownkcpost.com/early-plaza-westport-neighborhood-builder-helped-working-people-buy-homes-2-3/) - The history of Midtown Kansas City is full of tales of fortunes made and lost in real estate, but the Plaza Westport neighborhood’s past tells a different kind of story. A real estate developer and builder there, Will Corbin, is remembered for finding a way to help working-class people in Kansas City afford the modern

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## Categories

- [All Posts](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/midtown-neighborhoods/)
- [Cultural Melthing Pot](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/melting-pot/) - Midtown was built by immigrants, Catholics, Jews, formerly enslaved people, and those who came from all over the United States. Dumped into one big melting pot.
- [Gathering Places](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/gathering-places/) - Schools, churches, dance halls, saloons, and other places where Midtown people mixed outside their homes.
- [Lost and Endangered](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/lost-and-endangered/) - Midtown is constantly changing, but the buildings and homes we have lost shape what is here today. We need to consider what is important before we consider demolition.
- [Essential Character](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/essential-character/) - Development patterns, zoning laws, park and boulevard creation, and other ways the Midtown grid came about.
- [Big Changes](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/big-changes/) - Midtown morphed from quiet streetcar suburbs to bustling commercial areas to boarding houses and then reblossomed.
- [What’s Preserved](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/whats-preserved/) - What buildings and neighborhoods are protected as historic assets.
- [Neighborhoods](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/neighborhoods/) - Midtown has more than two dozen unique neighborhoods and several commercial and cultural districts. No two are alike. They are all interesting.
- [Great Streets](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/great-streets/) - As Midtown grew, its streets and boulevards bloomed with homes and businesses, connecting us to other neighborhoods and other parts of the city.
- [People](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/people/) - Architects, developers, dreamers, artists and musicians. All sorts of people have had an impact.
- [Buildings and Architecture](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/buildings-and-architecture/) - From four-plexes to shirtwaists, Midtown’s unique architecture sets it apart.
- [Reading List](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/reading-list/) - To get to know more about the nooks and cramming of Westport, try some of these books, websites, and other resources.
- [Good Stories](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/good-stories/) - Every neighborhood has its legends, great characters and weird events. They should not be forgotten.
- [Steptoe](https://midtownkcpost.com/category/steptoe/) - A lost neighborhood founded by formerly enslaved people that deserves to be remembered.

## Tags

- [Valentine](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/valentine/)
- [Westwood Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/westwood/)
- [Heart of Westport neighborhood](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/heart-of-westport-neighborhood/)
- [39th Street](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/39th-street/)
- [Troost Avenue](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/troost-avenue/)
- [Coleman Highlands](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/coleman-highlands/)
- [Main Street](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/main-sreet/)
- [South Plaza](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/south-plaza-neighborhood/)
- [Nelle Peters](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/nelle-peters/)
- [Crestwood](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/crestwood/)
- [Center City](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/center-city/)
- [West Plaza](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/west-plaza/)
- [31st Street](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/31st-street/)
- [Linwood Boulevard](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/linwood-boulevard/)
- [The Paseo](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/the-paseo/)
- [Union Hill](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/union-hill/)
- [Steptoe](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/steptoe/)
- [Southmoreland](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/southmoreland/)
- [Volker](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/volker/)
- [North Hyde Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/north-hyde-park/)
- [Rockhill](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/rockhill/)
- [Westport](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/westport/)
- [Old Hyde Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/old-hyde-park/)
- [Armour Boulevard](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/armour-boulevard/)
- [Squier Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/squier-park/)
- [UMKC](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/umkc/)
- [Warwick Boulevard](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/warwick-boulevard/)
- [Sunset Hill](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/sunset-hill/)
- [Countryside](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/countryside/)
- [Plaza Westport](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/plaza-westport/)
- [South Plaza](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/south-plaza/)
- [Broadway Boulevard](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/broadway-boulevard/)
- [Roanoke](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/roanoke/)
- [South Hyde Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/south-hyde-park/)
- [Troostwood](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/troostwood/)
- [Central Hyde Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/central-hyde-park/)
- [Manheim Park](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/manheim-park/)
- [Country Club Plaza](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/country-club-plaza/)
- [W. 31st Street](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/w-31st-street/)
- [Armour family](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/armour-family/)
- [A.B.H. McGee](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/a-b-h-mcgee/)
- [Apartments](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/apartments/)
- [Albert Turney](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/albert-turney/)
- [Westport Road](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/westport-road/)
- [Kansas City Life Insurance](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/kansas-city-life-insurance/)
- [J.J. Squier](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/j-j-squier/)
- [Grocery stores](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/grocery-stores/)
- [Martini Corner](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/martini-corner/)
- [Country Club District](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/country-club-district/)
- [W. 39th Street](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/w-39th-street/)
- [J.C. Nichols](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/j-c-nichols/)
- [Heart of Westport](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/heart-of-westport/)
- [Broadway](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/broadway/)
- [Merrill William Day](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/merrill-william-day/)
- [Valentine Road](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/valentine-road/)
- [Parks and boulevards](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/parks-and-boulevards/)
- [Nelson Atkins Museum](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/nelson-atkins-museum/)
- [Irish immigrants](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/irish-immigrants/)
- [Orphans](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/orphans/)
- [Architects](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/architects/)
- [Schools](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/schools/)
- [Immigrants](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/immigrants/)
- [Drugstores](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/drugstores/)
- [Churches](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/churches/)
- [Summit/Southwest Trafficway](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/summit-southwest-trafficway/)
- [Mastin family](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/mastin-family/)
- [Black history](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/black-history/)
- [Pioneers](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/pioneers/)
- [Swedish](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/swedish/)
- [Bungalows](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/bungalows/)
- [Historic Designation](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/historic-designation/)
- [Corner stores](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/corner-stores/)
- [Apartment Hotels](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/apartment-hotels/)
- [Good stories](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/good-stories/)
- [Churches and synagogues](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/churches-and-synagogues/)
- [Swedish immigrants](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/swedish-immigrants/)
- [Boarding houses](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/boarding-houses/)
- [Movie theaters](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/movie-theaters/)
- [Reading list](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/reading-list/)
- [STReetcar suburbs](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/streetcar-suburbs/)
- [William Rockhill Nelson](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/william-rockhill-nelson/)
- [Early farms](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/early-farms/)
- [Stone walls](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/stone-walls/)
- [Cemeteries](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/cemeteries/)
- [Art deco](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/art-deco/)
- [Repeated Building Designs](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/repeated-building-designs/)
- [Colonnaded Apartments](https://midtownkcpost.com/tag/colonnaded-apartments/)