This scene of Petticoat Lane was on one of the first post cards published under the name of Hall Brothers, Kansas City. The reverse side bears this printed legend: Part of Kansas City's shopping district. This is one of the busiest thoroughfares in America and is always crowded with women shoppers as is indicated by the name. A small Hall's store in the old Bryant Building at street level sold stationery, greeting cards, post cards, framed mottoes, Cordova leather wallets and later some jewelry and dishes. Novelties placed in the store window included kewpie dolls, fashioned after the Rose O'Neil sketches appearing in the Ladies Home Journal, hula dolls, and Teddy bears of fur cloth, stuffed and with shoe button eyes, popular during the Teddy Roosevelt era. All were such fast-moving items it was hard to keep them in stock. Emery Bird Thayer's 11th Street store entrance and a row of early automobiles parked parallel to the curb are on the right side of the post card. The old Bryant Building entrance and long-skirted women shoppers are seen at left.Petticoat Lane, named in the 1890s, was modestly described by an early day writer as receiving its name by virtue of the exposure of garments of the same name, to the whims and whiffs of Kansas prairie winds. Kansas City Times, March 28, 1980.
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