When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

A place to post and request pictures of Kansas City.
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FangKC
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by FangKC »

It's a shame the tower structure for the Pantages / Tower Theater wasn't retained, and reused as the entrance lobby for a new office building constructed on the auditorium footprint.
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Demosthenes
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by Demosthenes »

aknowledgeableperson wrote:And look at the surface lots.
Yea, where did everyone park? I would move across the state line to Kansas if I were them, where I could buy a cheap, ugly house with a garage to park my car. Ahh yes, then I could drive my car to all the Mcfast food joints and Walmarts so I could buy cheap, ugly stuff to put in my cheap, ugly house.
zonk
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by zonk »

Thx Fang!
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FangKC
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by FangKC »

The Florence Crittenton Home for Unwed Mothers was located on the northeast corner of 4th and Main in the River Market of Kansas City. Photo is from 1890.

Image

Larger photo here:

http://kchistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.p ... OX=1&REC=7

Kansas City – The Baby Hub of the US
According to statistics, Kansas City was the baby hub and a safe-place for unwed mothers. It was located in the middle of the US with convenient access to the railroad. A railroad map into Kansas City was featured on the “Interesting Willows’ Statistics” pamphlet printed in 1921 by Willows Maternity Home.

At that time, Kansas City also was the home of the Florence Crittenton Home, The St. Vincent’s Hospital, Eastside Maternity Hospital (aka Kansas City Cradle) and the Florence Home for Colored Girls.
http://blog.a3genealogy.com/2010/05/wor ... d-and.html
flyingember
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by flyingember »

harbinger911 wrote:I wanted to post some vintage photos I found and searched, finding this thread.
All of the first few pages photos are gone??
yes, they're gone because the poster likely stopped paying for their account sometime in the past 11 years. they used a paid service
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FangKC
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by FangKC »

One of the problems of linking to photos is that the links often go dead.
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Roanoker
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by Roanoker »

Links certainly do go dead. When I started posting here years ago, I used Opera's community site to store my photos so I could post here. Opera decided to stop supporting that site, but they gave people two or three months to find other sites. It was a hassle to transfer the images and change all those links, but I'm glad Opera provided some wiggle room. Not that it matters, but you can store up to one terabyte of images and videos on Flickr for free. All of mine can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/115393943@N05/collections.
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NorthOak
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by NorthOak »

aknowledgeableperson is currently on your ignore list.
You will no longer see any of her posts.
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grovester
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

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miz.jordan17
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by miz.jordan17 »

If anyone is interested, I've started a Google Photos album of the pictures I've snapped around KC. If there's any interest, I could turn it into a collaborative album and others could add their photos too. It would be kind of a cool way to document history in and around our city.

https://goo.gl/photos/u7YtEr2p4n36GtC37
missingkc
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by missingkc »

Enjoyed your album. Thanks. Have bookmarked it and will be checking back.
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normalthings
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by normalthings »

New plane being pulled

Image

Testing the Machine gun
Image

Edit: Flood waters can't stop the war effort
Image

Fairfax Airport 1940s. The Fairfax plant had a peak employment of 24,329 in October 1943.
Last edited by normalthings on Sat Apr 24, 2021 10:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Anthony_Hugo98
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by Anthony_Hugo98 »

I have to wonder how the all would commute to the plant there. Did a streetcar/Bus line run to fairfax?
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normalthings
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by normalthings »

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:38 am I have to wonder how the all would commute to the plant there. Did a streetcar/Bus line run to fairfax?
There were multiple streetcar and bus lines in KCK. I will also add, the water in the last photo is the Missouri River flooding and covering the Tarmac. Work stopped for nothing!

This map is from the war. I wonder how many walked to work? I think KCK used to have its own rail station as well.
Image
Last edited by normalthings on Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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FangKC
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by FangKC »

I wonder where most of their workers lived? Do you think it was likely KCKS?
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Karambit25
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by Karambit25 »

Eric Bowers Photo (Tosspot)
https://www.facebook.com/ericbowersphoto
KC starting to bulk up

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LCDSI
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by LCDSI »

Nice picture! I didn't recognize it as KC at first. I thought I was looking at a shot from New York
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Chris Stritzel
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by Chris Stritzel »

A photo like that makes me think that the Crossroads would look stellar if all the infill there was between 3-8 floors, a mix of classic brick design and modern, as well as a mixture of usages. The view could definitely be denser, but it’s great to see if this way.
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by shinatoo »

https://www.bygonely.com/kansas-city-historical-photos/Don't konw if this has been posted but I just saw it on Reddit.
TheUrbanRoo
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Re: When Downtown KC was a powerhouse - A must see for all

Post by TheUrbanRoo »

We as a society are so stupid for tearing all that down.
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