KCRag Forum

My name is Tommy, I am new to posting messages, but have been a huge fan of this sight and check it very often. I am a grad student in Urban Planning and I love Kansas City. I would love to work for the city, especially in reviving downtown.

I have a lot of ideas about what could happen down there, but my most radical one- is bringing back "the Junction". The Junction was a very popular spot in KC's downtown history.

This is where Delaware, Main, and 9th Street all met at one intersection. If you go back and look at old maps of KC, you will see it. You will also see how downtown KC had a very nice grid street pattern, but that changed when the interstates came in and runied it and made the CBD an island, cut of from the River Market, Crossroads, etc.


I sugget they bring this back and make it an entertainmet, retail district with a possible stadium or arena near this area- not sure where just yet. The could line Delaware with mixed use retail, resturants, and right at the juction put an AMC theatre with a nice big neon sign that could be seen as you travel north on Main.

This might be hard to follow with out looking at old maps of downtown KC. If you want to see them, go to http://images.kclibrary.org/maps/ and click on Kansas City. Then a list of maps will come up and click on the first or third option and zoom in on the maps- it is cool to look at.

This is a pretty far fetched idea, but it is fun to dream, let me know what you think.

Tommy... I like your ideas. You should try to get a job with city and start making your dreams a reality.

What about tunneling the freeways in and arround downtown? That way we would keep the good access, yet make things look better.

KC is spread out enough without downtown freeways further separating thing.

tommy, excellent first post....here is a sample pic of the junction....this could have been like KC's "Time Square" if it stayed this way....



For reference, Aqulia (NY Life) is on the top left....main goes down the right of the split

Yes...that's a lot like Times Square...AWESOME!!! That could be the new retail and entertainment hub of downtown. Any pics of what it looks like now?

I'll see if it's in my then and now book but you know where the Muse of the River fountain is on main? That's what it looks like

Maybe we could combine "Petticoat Lane" (E. 11th St.) with "The Junction" and have "Petticoat Junction." LOL.

That area was called The Junction because many of the City's early cable and street cars routes criss-crossed there. The route that used the Ninth Street Incline from the old Union Station in the West Bottoms ended there.

It did have a sort of Time Square quality to it with the triangular-shaped buildings and all the old advertising signs.

I agree with the idea of tunneling the downtown freeways. Phoenix did that when they put a new freeway through downtown. The tunnel extends for 14 blocks and there is a deck park on top.

I've always thought it did a lot to separate the River Market from downtown. I'd even rather see some of the proposed parking garages be built on a deck park instead of using other needed parcels downtown--like the vacant parcels north of Ninth and Wyandotte. Those parking lots could then be used for infill projects that would bring buildings with people in them to those blocks and not just cars.

Man...the scene in that old photo is VERY cool.

And welcome aboard, Tommy!

I think I would have liked living in Kansas City from about 1900-59.

My parents lived here in the late-50s to 1962. My mother says that Kansas City was a fun town back then. She said she used to get excited when she took the streetcar to downtown to shop.

hmm, maybe we could, no that wouldnt work... (I was thinking about making Commerce Tower the new westgate, but Commerce Bank would have to be demolished
could someone post a photo of the modern day area? Like where the muse of Missouri is?

Great first post! Let's throw out "SoLo" for "The Junction". At least that doesn't sound like we're copying Soho or LoDo, plus it has historic significance to the area.

Hey everyone, thanks for the encouragement. I am glad so many people liked it and knew about it. It really was a cool area of KC back in the day.

At some point and time I will try and post a map or something showing my ideas. I like the idea of tunneling the highways a lot and the idea of throwing out "SoLo" and going with the Junction. This could really be a cool area and I think would make KC stand out.

as long as the building splitting the roads is tall (taller than the westgate, but smaller than commerce tower)

Here's a photo depicting the Junction around 1906.



The 4-story triangular structure was called Vaughan's Diamond Building. Constructed in 1870, it was from the Second Empire style of architecture.

Vaughan's Diamond occupied that site until 1915, when it was razed and the Westgate Hotel was built. The 11-story Westgate Hotel was sometimes referred to as Kansas City's Flatiron Building. It was a 200-room hostelry (which meant basically tiny rooms with a bed and a bathroom) marketed towards visiting cattlemen.

The Westgate was later called the Kay Hotel. It was torn down in 1954.

Feasably, this could be done, I think. There is a smaller building across from Scudder and the Muse that could feasably be torn down without destroying 10 Main Center and the Commerce Tower. That building looks like it could use a good clean up. I'm not sure if that will allow enough room, however. I seriously doubt Tower Properties will give up their premier property (Commerce Tower) or AMC will give up their new home (10 Main Center).

Wasn't Vaughan's Diamond also called Vaughan's Folly?

Yes, that's true; it was called Vaughan's Folly because it was thought to be too far south (in 1870) for desirable office space.

QueSi2Opie wrote:Great first post! Let's throw out "SoLo" for "The Junction". At least that doesn't sound like we're copying Soho or LoDo, plus it has historic significance to the area.

There you go!

bump...I was just thinking about this area the other day...it could be a really unique and cool part of downtown.