The first two buildings erected on the Country Club Plaza, the Chandler Landscaping and Floral Company and the Mill Creek Building, are pictured in this post card scene of the mid-'30s. Chandler's is at the left and the red-tiled, flag decorated Mill Creek building is at the right. The intersection is 47th and Mill Creek Boulevard, now J. C. Nichols Parkway. Mill Creek was named for a small stream which ran through the valley, emptying into Brush Creek. It powered a mill in old Westport. (The old bed of the stream is directly beneath Nichols fountain.) Chandler's with its tall chimney from the steam-heating plant of the greenhouse, was a well known landmark even before the Nichols Company began the Plaza development in 1922. Today the Chandler site is occupied by the Swanson building, with its Giralda Tower, Seville Light and Chandler Court, the largest courtyard in the Plaza named in memory of Clarence E. Chandler. The Mill Creek Building was part of Edward Buehler Delk's master plan of the Plaza. His renderings reflected a 9-year study, made while J. C. Nichols was purchasing ground. The first Christmas lights were a few strings of colored lights strung over the doorways of the Mill Creek building by Charles Pirat, manager of the Plaza for Nichols. Kansas City Times, December 1, 1973.
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