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 downtown. Another feature of the block was the availability of garages for one or two cars, an amenity that had not been offered when earlier Midtown areas were built up.
While much of Midtown was developing between 1900 and 1910, this block was still in the hands of one property owner. A 1907 map shows the area belonging to Thomas H. Prest, who owned a hardware and furnace store at Twelfth and Grand. Prest started business on that site in the 1870s in a small wooden building, later replaced by a much larger brick structure. He lived at Twenty-third and Troost.
By 1917, James B. Welsh Realty and Loan Company, a prominent Midtown developer, had platted the Troostwood subdivision and was building eight houses. “Be sure to come,” a newspaper ad beckoned. “You’ll like it.”
By 1922, Welsh had an additional twelve homes under construction. At 4900 Troostwood, a salesman was “on the ground,” waiting to show a new nine-room hollow-tile and brick home on half an acre. The home had a three-car garage and grounds landscaped by one of the best landscape gardeners in the city, including 178 shrubs and 25 trees. The following year, Charles M. Vining, a Commerce Trust Company vice president, bought the home.
The homes of the block range from five-room bungalows to large ten-room, two story residences.
The photos below show the homes on the block as they looked in 1940.
Historic photos courtesy Kansas City Public Library/Missouri Valley Special Collections.
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