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 call for retraining the workforce.
After considering several sites and much debate, trustees in Kansas City built the Kansas City campus on a 27-acre site at 31st Street overlooking Penn Valley Park.
As land was cleared for the college, property was purchased from home and business owners. Jim Browne of Brown’s Deli, a local business that had been serving the neighborhood (and continues to do so), lamented in 1969 that 450 families were gone from the area within two years.
Some homeowners fought the condemnation of their houses. Anastasia Rodarte wrote a letter to the editor of the Kansas City Star in 1968.
My husband has worked for 30 years for a company that will no longer be in operation after the end of the month. We are not young and I feel confident that we would not be able to pay out a mortgage on another home. The Junior college negotiators have offered us $12,000. Where in Kansas City can we buy another home of comparable value? After many months of searching we have yet to locate one. Our plight is not an isolated one. Many of our neighbors are already retirees, many are elderly and sick, and cannot meet the demands of moving.
There’s no doubt Penn Valley Community College has been an asset to Kansas City.
But this video will help us remember the families that lived in those lost homes of the Valentine neighborhood and preserve some of the history created there.
As part of our Uncovering History Project, the Midtown KC Post is examining each block in Midtown. A set of 1940 tax assessment photos is available for many blocks.
Photos courtesy Kansas City Public Library, Missouri Valley Special Collections.
Thank you for the video, Mary Jo. This makes me so sad. I had no idea so many wonderful homes were destroyed in Valentine in the name of progress. The homes and yards in the photos looked well maintained; it was obviously a viable part of the neighborhood. I wonder why they thought the community college had to replace a functioning residential area. It underscores the need–then and now–for neighborhoods to make their voices heard at City Hall.
I grew up at 34th &Broadway- Went to Redemptorist Grade School–great neighborhood.
This was a great video. I grew up on Jefferson Street in one of the homes that was removed for Penn Valley Community College. We then moved over to Coleman Highlands and we went to Redemptorist Grade School.
I am interested in any and all existing photos of McGee street between 40th St, & 41st streets in KC. 4029 especially if possible.
I’m Leigh Boltz 816-810-8816
Easyleigh69@gmail.com