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

ignatius · Post by **ignatius** » Tue May 04, 2004 5:44 pm

A re-post of what I'm building on ssp.

Source: KC Library (public domain)

In the 20's and 30's, KC was the It city between Chicago
and San Francisco. Because KC was the only city to completely
ignore the Prohibition and was less impacted by the Great
Depression, KC thrived in the early half of the 20th
century. KC was a major jazz center during the Prohibition
because it was the best place for musicians to get work - bars
were freely open and didn't close. As a result, KC was the third
largest convention city in that period.

1921. Union Station is the second largest train station in the US, behind
Grand Central. Check out the people on the roof.

Late 20's. Fidelity Bank building under construction. 36 floors.
Is now renovated into residential, the tallest residential in midwest outside Chicago.

Late 20's. Power and Light building under construction. 34 floors.
Also proposed for residential conversion.

1920's winter scene.

Cigar counter

Westgate Hotel. Gone.

Waiting for streetcars.

Late 20's. Power and Light under construction.

When TWA was based in KC....

Hundreds more coming...

ignatius · Post by **ignatius** » Tue May 04, 2004 5:45 pm

It's only the beginning, check back for more.

Mack's Smoke Shop - 70th/Prospect

ignatius · Post by **ignatius** » Tue May 04, 2004 5:46 pm

From the KC library...

"Queens" of the Priests of Pallas festivals (1887-1924) were disguised and
their identity never disclosed during the festival events. It was later revealed
that the "queens" were, in fact, men. At the time, it was felt the parade and
other activities would be too strenuous for a woman. Drawing cross-dressers
from the region, many burlesque performers at cabaret clubs during
the jazz era were actually men.

Yes, the library claims these are men at least in the first 2 pics.
Could the term 'queen' be taken any more literally?

1896. Check out the goth dude.

1905

1900

Early 30's. All women hotel.. lesbos inn? Opened years before
San Francisco's first lesbian bar.

1890s? Strike a pose.

And while on topic.... Bank building, now a lesbian bar.

ignatius · Post by **ignatius** » Tue May 04, 2004 5:47 pm

1929. Ruled as bankrupt suicide. Jumped off the 20-story Commerce bank
building onto the loading dock. Stock market crash victim or
tangled up with the wrong crowd?

Original City Hall

Gone.. (fire)

ignatius · Post by **ignatius** » Tue May 04, 2004 5:47 pm

1929. Ruled as bankrupt suicide. Jumped off the 20-story Commerce bank
building onto the loading dock. Stock market crash victim or
tangled up with the wrong crowd?

Original City Hall

Gone.. (fire)

ignatius · Post by **ignatius** » Tue May 04, 2004 5:48 pm

1950, when TWA was based in KC...

ca. 1930. It's hard to see but the two tallest buildings are being topped off at the same same. P&L lower left and Fidelity Bank upper right.

ignatius · Post by **ignatius** » Tue May 04, 2004 5:49 pm

THE RAILS

KC began as a rail hub and is now the second largest rail center in the US.

Check out my 'Hiking The Rails' thread...
http://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho ... +the+rails

This shot was taken from downtown looking down into the
West Bottoms industrial district. About 1900.

This is a cable car run, not street car. KC had lots of street cars but also had the 3rd largest cable car system.

ignatius · Post by **ignatius** » Tue May 04, 2004 5:50 pm

More cable cars...

1880's. Cable car line under construction. The building on the
right is now that awful Mexican restaurant next to the Peanut.

tat2kc · Post by **tat2kc** » Tue May 04, 2004 6:00 pm

Excellent photo history of the city! its a shame how much we've lost.

KCK · Post by **KCK** » Tue May 04, 2004 6:47 pm

KC still is a powerhouse.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Tue May 04, 2004 9:09 pm

I'd love to have a time machine!

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Tue May 04, 2004 9:39 pm

This should be titled "When downtown was a powerhouse"... \

Downtown will be back, better than ever.

GRID · Post by **GRID** » Tue May 04, 2004 10:45 pm

ignatius, I love these historic threads you create. The ones on SSP are great. I really enjoy reading your captions, I have trully learned quite a bit from them. Keep up the great research on KC!

Nice job, now you get a sticky

tat2kc · Post by **tat2kc** » Wed May 05, 2004 8:07 am

I think my favorite pic is the one of a block of buildings, very victorian, with domes, and turrets, and bay windows and such. I think its an old block of rowhouses. They are just incredible! Its too bad they didn't survive. I'd love to see someone build a housing development like that again today. It has so much character.

ignatius · Post by **ignatius** » Sun May 16, 2004 10:22 am

Then...

Now...
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ignatius · Post by **ignatius** » Sun May 16, 2004 10:23 am

Then... (1910)

Now... (yes, 12 stories were added in the 30's - now renovating to condos)

ignatius · Post by **ignatius** » Sun May 16, 2004 10:24 am

Then... 1920's

Same building 1940's. Mid-nite burlesque shows anyone?

Now... Note the different placemenet of fire escapes.

KCK · Post by **KCK** » Thu May 27, 2004 4:09 pm

Do you mind if I add a couple of small pictures from Kansas City, KS? After all the two cities are linked to the past.

This is Minnesota looking west from 6th street in the 1930's.

This is the 500 block of Minnesota in the early 1900's.

This is Central Ave. between 7th and 8th streets back in 1909.

This is a picture of them building the scottish rite temple in 1908.

Here is the temple as it stands today. Minus the big green flag.

Here is the Elks Club Building aka. the Huron Building. The cities first, and last great skyscraper.

KCK · Post by **KCK** » Thu May 27, 2004 4:14 pm

I wanted to add that in 1950 was 18.7 square miles, had a population of 129,553, and a population density of 6928 a square mile, which meant it was slightly more dense than Kansas City, MO.

KCDevin · Post by **KCDevin** » Thu May 27, 2004 4:18 pm

umm, I've brought this up before, you cannot take population and divide it by area for the density, because it doesn't reflect true density.