In this turn-of-the-century photographic post card, lithographed in black and white in Leipzig, Germany, streetcar tracks occupy the center of Minnesota Avenue, horses and wagons stand at the curb and not an automobile is in sight. The stately old red brick courthouse with high tower and dome, a familiar landmark from 1882 until 1927, is at the left. At right is the Federal Building, or post office, completed and occupied in 1902. Both buildings are gone today. The county courthouse was replaced by the Montgomery Ward store building, now occupied by the Board of Utilities. The old post office site is now a parking area and part of the City Center mall, with its controversial pylons. According to Joseph H. McDowell's history of the area, the townsite of Wyandotte was platted in 1859. A corporation to promote a city had been formed by four men from across the river in Missouri, one of whom was Thomas Swope. The corporation secured three Wyandots as stockholders, Isaiah Walker, Joel Walker, and Silas Armstrong, who conveyed their land for stock in the new town company. At the time the plat was made, Minnesota Avenue was one of four wide streets named for the four remaining U.S. territories of the West, Washington, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Kansas. (Kansas later was changed to State Avenue.) Kansas City Times, June 22, 1974.
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