The Fidelity Trust company building at the corner of Ninth and Walnut streets was owned and occupied by a banking house which closed its doors during the bank holiday in the 1930s. Long before its banking days the building served as Kansas City’s main postoffice, custom office, federal assay office and federal court. The gray stone building, with twin towers, one containing a clock and the other a huge bell, was erected in 1884 by the federal government. Theodore Case, appointed by President Grant in 1873, was postmaster at the time of its construction. The first free delivery service of the U.S. mail in Kansas City was established early in the administration of Case, with eight regular carriers and two substitutes. The early carriers wore regular street clothes and had small brass plates with a number fastened to their hats. Three years after completion of this Federal building, President Cleveland and his bride visited Kansas City. He was the first U.S. president to visit here and one of the festivities in his honor was the first Priest of Pallas parade in October, 1887. The same week, President Cleveland spoke to a crowd of 5,000 from the balcony of the Federal building (as pictured) and enthusiastically declared, “There is no limit to what a community, living in such a place, and actuated by such a spirit, can do.” The building served as main postoffice from 1884 until 1900. Today the site is occupied by the Federal Office building, 911 Walnut street, 35 stories tall and topped by twin towers that are reminiscent of those of its predecessors. Above these is the radar tower weather ball, operated by the government weather bureau, for detection of approaching storms. Kansas City Star, April 25, 1970.
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