Kansas City's dream of a civic center came true when the new county courthouse and City Hall were erected on Oak Street between 11th and 12th. They were built four years apart, the courthouse dedicated Dec. 27, 1934, and City Hall in 1937. Old newspapers, especially the popular Sunday Star rotogravure section, gave pages of description and pictures of the city's and county's proud achievement. Mayor Bryce B. Smith moved to his new offices on the 29th floor of City Hall late in October 1937. Furnishings were partly from the old structure of brick, erected by the city in 1892. Walls of the new office were walnut from Jackson County trees. Only one room in the new building was air-cooled, the mayor's. It was loaded with flowers from well-wishers that first day.Councilmen pictured at their first meeting in the handsome new chambers were D.S. Adams, 2nd District; Frank Backstrom, 4th District; Frank W. Eviston, at large, 4th District; James E. Shoemaker, 3rd; Freman Alford, at large, 3rd; Ruby D. Garrett, at large 2nd; Charles H. Clark, 1st; A.N. Gossett, at large, 1st; H.F. McElroy, city manager. Downtown Oak Street today is an impressive thoroughfare...something new in bright lights, more tranquil and more impressive than the night scenes on 12th Street to which Kansas Citians are accustomed, wrote an enthusiastic reporter on Oct. 31, 1937. Kansas City was proud and boastful of the achievement. The pioneer town had grown up. The old postcard, printed in color, reflects this pride. It was mailed in 1942 during World War II to a Braymer, Mo., boy, Euguene F. Wooden, stationed in Camp Robinson in California. Wooden, transferred overseas in the 82nd Airborne division was killed on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and is buried in the cemetery at Normandy Beach. His brother, Randall Wooden of Independence, Mo., sent the postcard, removed from the pages of the soldiers album. Kansas City Times, March 24, 1989.
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