KCRag Forum

I saw on the City's Channel 2 broadcast of the Nov. 18 Housing Committee meeting that there is a plan to finally restore the Linwood Presbyterian Church at Linwood and Michigan (next to Bruce Watkins).

The project will be called Linwood Place. The Heartland Presbytery is going to restore the former church sanctuary building, as well as construct a new senior residential building attached to that old bell tower structure that is currently standing alone and separate from the church building.  The Harold Thomas Center--to the south on Michigan--will be renovated into additional senior housing.  The total housing will be 33 units.

ReDiscover, a nonprofit community mental health center, will occupy a portion of the new complex.







http://kchistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.p ... OX=1&REC=6

http://kansascity.granicus.com/MediaPla ... ip_id=3852

In other news, there is also a big, new church building being completed across the street to the north on Linwood between Highland and Woodland.

Good news - I have always thought that was a nice looking church.  I bet the interior of the sanctuary is pretty impressive. 

The long-awaited redevelopment of the former Linwood Presbyterian Church, a prominent landmark overlooking Bruce R. Watkins Drive that’s been empty since the 1970s, is moving ahead after receiving approval for tax incentives.

The $10 million project, which will convert the historic church into a neighborhood services complex called the Linwood Area Ministry Project, or LAMP, was one of three redevelopment projects considered Wednesday by the city’s Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business ... 15681.html

Glad it's getting restored, but this giant, architecturally impressive church standing mothballed next to 71 was always a strong statement about the highway itself.

Eon Blue wrote:Glad it's getting restored, but this giant, architecturally impressive church standing mothballed next to 71 was always a strong statement about the highway itself.

Sorta. I suspect it would have been empty without the highway. Like the church on Benton that was torn down a few years ago.

The first time I saw it was when I was taking the bus to jr. high. Even then it looked like it had been empty for years. In reality, just over 10 years had passed since the congregation left. I wonder if they'd be surprised that it took 39 years for someone to redevelop it.

My Dad attended this church after college in the 1940s-1950s (and many once-prominent KC leaders were among the congregation: former President of Commerce Bank, the regional #2 real estate developer, etc.) It had a hotshot preacher named David Cowie. And a spectacular choir.

When Central High started to change in the late 1950s, the congregation slowly drifted to the neighborhoods southwest of there, Hyde Park, Brookside, Waldo. There is still an occasional meeting of the Linwood Presbyterian friends at John Knox Village (yes, I attended once; it's amazing to hear the firsthand stories about KC in those days)

One neighborhood legend -- the reason that there is a monument with traffic signal in the middle of the intersection of Paseo and Linwood -- this point marks the surveyor baseline for all Jackson County roads, according to the story, as directed by Harry Truman when he was County Commissioner.

It appears work has started restoring the vacant Presbyterian Church on Linwood at Bruce Watkins Drive.

Renovation underway for historic vacant church

The $10 million renovation of the former Linwood Presbyterian Church, 1801 E. Linwood Blvd., and the nearby Harold Thomas Center, 3210 Michigan Ave., is finally underway.

It took almost two decades but a non-profit development group is creating what it calls “a caring campus.”

The financing involved federal and state tax credits and a maze of complexities, said Jim Scott of Scott Associates, an architectural and development consultant group involved in the project.

http://midtownkcpost.com/renovation-und ... nt-church/

I saw the equipment in the parking lot about 2 months back. I was aross the street and they had one of the big plywood pieces off and were loading working inside through it.

herrfrank wrote:
One neighborhood legend -- the reason that there is a monument with traffic signal in the middle of the intersection of Paseo and Linwood -- this point marks the surveyor baseline for all Jackson County roads, according to the story, as directed by Harry Truman when he was County Commissioner.

the street was plotted n 1907 when he lived in Grandview. the stop light installed 8 years after he stopped being county commissioner and was county judge

it's unlikely the stop light is a survey point since you need to be able to put equipment on top of the mark, to measure lines from it. you can't have a non-moving baseline marker be in a place you have to resurvey every time you repave the road. and who surveys from the middle of the street anyways, seems unsafe.

and you can't have a line with just one point, there would dozens across the county so you can find the nearest ones to work with rather than having to measure across dozens of miles into KC. there would have to be at least one other point somewhere in the county. So if Truman did such a proclamation and if it really was used for surveys, you would think the legend would actually cover the actual line, not just one point on it. (i.e. "it goes from X on the state line, cuts right through the stop sign here and heads to the county line past blue springs")

I'm going with cool idea but false. too much weird things don't line up with the dates and the reality of doing surveys

A couple pictures of the ongoing renovation. I love how you can see where they cleaned the stone. These were a month ago, they've moved on to the steeple now.

Did they paint the stone?!?!

Oh god

the paint at least provided protection from weathering. (trying to think positive)

Isn't it terra cotta, not stone?

yes, it is terra cotta. I wonder if the paint is some polymer variety designed to adhere permanently to the old terra cotta?

Alright, I'll stand down.

I was driving by the Heartland Presbytery last night at Linwood and Woodland and saw it lit up inside.

Before renovation:



Last night:

I’m sure it’s been mentioned before, but what did they do w/ the old stained glass windows? (Yes, I'm being lazy and not reading the ONE page thread)