Valentine

Long-Forgotten L.A. Allen Home Stood at Valentine and Broadway

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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 […]

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Valentine Block Was Home of School Board President

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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

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Valentine Mansion Once Housed Pioneer Family, Children of Working Mothers

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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

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Mastin Mansion Once Dominated the Block at Armour and Main

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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

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Valentine Was Home to First Female Livestock Exchange Member

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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.

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Video: Lost Homes of the Valentine Neighborhood

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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

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Broadway Block Changed from Residential to Commercial

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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

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Homes Where Penn Valley Community College Now Stands

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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

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