Local History Blog

As Kansas City was growing up in the late 19th century, its leaders recognized the need for respite from the hubbub of urban life. They set aside green spaces, the parks that would become an identifying feature of the city, and built wide, inviting boulevards to connect them. A “What’s Your KCQ?” reader points to one of those important connectors, asking, “When was Admiral Boulevard designed and built?” And beyond that, “What was the goal of the parks and boulevard(s) system?”

An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 babies were delivered inside The Willows’ gates during its 64 years in operation. To this day, it’s one of Kansas City’s best kept secrets: An apartment complex now sits at 2929 Main Street, sprawled out between a school and a hotel, but decades ago the land on Union Hill served as the birthplace of thousands of children born to unwed mothers. The Willows Maternity Sanitarium is scarcely known, despite its role helping Kansas City gain notoriety as an “adoption hub” of America through the mid-20th century. It’s the subject of the latest “What’s Your KCQ?,” a partnership with the Kansas City Public Library.

Standing at 11th and Main streets downtown is a peculiar street sign labeled Petticoat Lane. Taking in the surrounding parking garages, banks, and office buildings, it can be difficult to discern why this short byway was named after women’s undergarments of a bygone age. Reader Scott Allen asked us to get to the bottom of it. To begin, we must imagine an 11th Street of a different age – inhabited by department and dry goods stores, bustling with buggies and streetcars, and crowded with shoppers. Over the years, local outlets like Emery, Bird & Thayer; John Taylor’s; Harzfeld’s; and Peck’s gave way to national chains like Macy’s and Dillard’s. And they all made the little downtown street an ideal place to buy a petticoat.

On a hill off Eastern Avenue, just south of where 1-435 now intersects Raytown Road, once stood a building with a complicated past. The two-story, concrete structure served as Kansas City’s tuberculosis hospital for almost 50 years until it was closed and abandoned in the summer of 1964. Vandals soon laid claim to the place, and it was demolished in 1971 to make way for a Kansas City Police Department helicopter unit. John McNamara remembers his older siblings sneaking into the building to scare themselves before it was torn down, prompting him to ask, “Can you tell us more about the old tuberculosis hospital?” The What’s Your KCQ team, a community reference partnership between the Kansas City Public Library and The Kansas City Star, has the details.

Missouri Valley Special Collections staff have been hard at work adding new content to KCHistory. Below, you will find a list of newly digitized historical photographs, maps, books, and other objects added to the site during the months of December and January. Enjoy!

In hindsight, Kansas City’s development as the largest city in western Missouri seemed inevitable. Its location at the confluence of two rivers made it a likely transportation hub and a gateway for westward expansion. But as reader Ken Truax pointed out, Independence was once the city destined to make it big in the region, and he wondered how Kansas City took over that role. While exploring KC’s origins, we also take up Michael Vuinovic’s question: How did Westport, which isn’t close to the rivers, become such a significant part of Kansas City’s development into a dominant trade community?

A lumber baron with a dream and his equestrian daughter are at the heart of this week’s “What’s Your KCQ?,” a community reference partnership between the Kansas City Public Library and The Kansas City Star. When reader Kim McIntire asked about the history of Longview, we delved into the story of R.A. Long and the origin of the Lee’s Summit neighborhood. While the name Longview might elicit a few different images—a mansion, a lake, or perhaps a community college—those unfamiliar with the area might be surprised to know that it once encompassed the grandest country estate in the Midwest.

The Guadalupe Centers might be over 100 years old, but the images you see on KCHistory.org from its historical collection are brand new – sort of. In conjunction with the 2019 centennial celebration of the Guadalupe Centers’ work serving Kansas City’s Latino community, Missouri Valley Special Collections staff rescanned 556 photographs from a collection donated to the department in the 1977. These photos were originally compiled into albums by long-time Guadalupe Center director, Dorothy Gallagher, and depict many of the services and activities that took place at the center from the mid-1920s through the early 1940s.

KCQ Reader Annette S. Bright asked The Kansas City Star and the Kansas City Public Library a question about an iconic set of KC holiday symbols. "What happened to all the Christmas decorations that used to be downtown, particularly the crowns strung across the streets with garland?"

’Tis the season for nostalgia: a time to reminisce about Christmases past and beloved holiday traditions. Many Kansas Citians have fond memories of the brightly lit Christmas Crowns that once illuminated the downtown shopping district and warmly recall festive department store displays. Shiny new toys under beautifully decorated Christmas trees, model trains chugging through snowy townscapes, and mechanical elves, reindeer, and carolers were hallmarks of the holiday shopping experience.

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