KCRag Forum

FangKC wrote: The interior of the former Washington Street Station restaurant located on the SW corner of W. 9th and Washington.  The restaurant occupied a former building housing a garment enterprise that made overalls.  One example of a building that never should have been torn down.  A unique restaurant this was.  The restaurant took its' name from the former cable car power station and trolley barn across the street.  The one that operated the Ninth Street Incline.

I didn't realize it wasn't there anymore.  I used to eat there frequently, as I worked nearby. They had the best cheddar cheese. They allowed me to buy big chunks of it so I could enjoy it at home.

Thank you for posting these cards, Fang. You, too, RMD.

I'm told that DST bought the buildings and demolished them. The land sits vacant today.  That street trolley should be tracked down and placed in the lobby at Union Station.

FangKC wrote:

Looks a lot simmular to the Streetcar Named Desire in Crown Center.

Zesto Drive-in on Westport Road

Buggy races down Independence Avenue in the 1880s.

The 12th Street Rag was composed in 1914 by Euday L. Bowman, a Ft. Worth, Texas native who was earning his living in Kansas City at that time.  Bowman also composed the 11th Street Rag and the Petticoat Lane Rag, also named for streets in Kansas City.  Bowman sold the rights to the 12th Street Rag to the Jenkins Music company for $100.  The song you'll hear playing below was recorded in 1921 by the Imperial Marimba Band.

The 12th Street Rag was said to have been first performed at the club in the basement of the Edwards Hotel next to the Folly Burlesque Theater.

http://www.vintagekansascity.com/12th_street_rag.html

The song spoke of the life along 12th Street in Kansas City.

The Agricultural Exposition Hall on the eastside of Kansas City was a wonder in its time. It was severely-damaged in a hail storm, and was eventually demolished.

The Kansas City Times Building towers over the Vaughn's Diamond Building at The Junction of 9th, Delaware, and Main.

The Midland Hotel was also known as the Exchange Building at one time, and the hotel was a favorite among cattlemen taking the street trolleys down 8th Street to Union Depot and then the Stockyards.

Municipal Stadium was home to the Kansas City Blues and Monarchs baseball teams. It was located south of the 18th and Vine Jazz District at Brooklyn and 22nd Street. The stadium was also know as Muehlebach Field after the owner.

A troop carrier vessel being launched into the river by the Darby Corporation during the second World War.

FangKC wrote: Municipal Stadium was home to the Kansas City Blues and Monarchs baseball teams. It was located south of the 18th and Vine Jazz District at Brooklyn and 22nd Street. The stadium was also know as Muehlebach Field after the owner.

And it was surrounded by parking lots and single family homes!

FangKC wrote: A troop carrier vessel being launched into the river by the Darby Corporation during the second World War.

That's pretty cool.

Any photos of the old Fairfax Airport in KCK during the heyday of its bomber construction?

It's amazing what we've lost.

That is why Fang is such a curmudgeon at times about such things. We have lost so many cool things, and interesting architecture, that would have made Kansas City so much more rich an environment for us all as well as drawn in more tourism and conventions.  In the long run, my argument always comes down to an overall financial one in that the City would have benefitted so much more had it retained some of these "treasures."  We might not have to have built an entertainment district from scratch.

The charming advertising marquees from the Katz Drug Store chain were once seen all over Kansas City.

The Nu-Way was one of many drive-in restaurants in Kansas City. This restaurant featured an art deco mast on its' roof.

The Wishbone Restaurant, near 45th and Main, was a Kansas City favorite for  many years, and produced the famous line of salad dressings we know today as Wish-Bone line of salad dressings.  The Wish-Bone built its' reputation on fried chicken though.

An image of the 9th Street incline funicular railway on the West Bluffs of downtown shows small houses built on the hillside.  They were removed for the Kersey Coates Drive parkway, and later the West Loop highway.

The grouping of buildings on the left side of the bluff are those of the former St. Joseph's Hospital and Infirmary, which sat where the Clark's Point lookout is today.

Were any of the houses on the top of the hill (Quality Hill) saved?  It looks like I can recognize one or two of them, but it's hard to tell.  Also, I'm crazy.