Postcards From the Edge of Time

[anniewarbucks]

  I thought I recognized that Wal-Mart in the back ground.   Or, as it was called back then, "Wal-General Store." 

I do not see any other building in this pic.

An aerial of Union Station shows the massive train sheds that surrounded it in 1930.

It was the largest train shed cover between Lawrence, Kansas, and Oak Grove, Missouri.   :P

It would be nice to see this type of developement again.

[schugg]

thanks for everything fang!

[FangKC]

The stage of the Lincoln Theater at 18th and Lydia.



Announcement of opening of the Lincoln Theater in 1923.





Advertising panel for Lincoln Theater

[FangKC]

James Scott, a ragtime musician and composer who worked with Scott Joplin, and his orchestra, played music at the Lincoln and Eblon theaters in the Jazz District.



Opening announcement of the Eblon Theater

[FangKC]

Sheet music cover for a ragtime songs composed by James Scott.

[KCFutbol]

I do not see any other building in this pic.

[AllThingsKC]

All you can do is smile and nod. 

[FangKC]

The original Gem Theater on E. 18th Street between Highland and Vine appeared quite different that the present one.  Around 1929, the theater was reconstructed with a new art deco facade, and made larger. It was also called the Star Theater at one time.



The Eblon Theater sat on Vine Street between E. 18th and 19th Streets. It later became the Monarch Bowling Alley.



The other "colored" theaters at the time were the Criterion (Boone Theater) at 18th and Highland, the Love Theater on Vine Street, the State at 15th and Prospect, and the Lincoln at 18th and Lydia.   Other popular ballrooms and halls at the time were the Armory, Paseo Hall, the Lyric Hall, and Lincoln Ballroom.

[FangKC]

[FangKC]

The Delaware Building, located just north of the old junction (where Main and Delaware met at 9th), at 812-820 Delaware. The 1913 promotional post card was made for the G. R. Kinney & Co. Shoe Store--occupant of the building.

[FangKC]

Buildings along the Sixth Street Expressway.

[FangKC]

Main Street looking north from 11th Street sometime after 1956.  The Victor Building and Palace Theater are still standing on the left at 10th and Main, and the Ridge Arcade and Building is just north of the Commerce Bank parking garage.

[FangKC]

Main looking south from 8th Street in 1950.

[lock+load]

Buildings along the Sixth Street Expressway.

Wow. That doesn't even resemble Kansas City.  Amazing.

[FangKC]

The area where the Sixth Street Expressway was constructed (North Loop freeway today) had many similar buildings from that era of architecture.  When those blocks were demolished, it wiped out several years of continuous examples of building stock that were built over those years. There is a realgap between 1870 and 1884 in examples of remaining buildings. Most of them were in that strip.  That physical history was just wiped out for the most part.  Most of those buildings fell under the pre-Victorian transition period when took off around 1885.  They would be post-civil war buildings (1865-1885).

When a City does widescale urban renewal in its primary business district, you wipe out whole decades of architecture. 

One can still see a lot of buildings like that in New Orleans.

[FangKC]

Signboard Hill from the south at the Main/Grand intersection.

[FangKC]

This is how 6th Street looked before the 6th Street Trafficway was constructed.  The view is looking west from probably Grand or Walnut.  The Portland Hotel is on the left, and to the left of it is the Brown Building--the one with the angled corner entrance.

[moderne]

If Sixth had remained intact it would sort have been like Canal in NO, seperating the old quarter from the business district.

[FangKC]

The play area at The Landing Shopping Center.

[AllThingsKC]

Signboard Hill from the south at the Main/Grand intersection.

Do you know the year for this one?

Fang, the more you post these pictures, the more angry I get!  Because of what we've lost!  I look at these photos and I cannot help but feel sad, and even angered because of how urban it used to be.   :x

That said, keep 'em coming!