The Sweeney Automobile and Tractor school building, located on the corner of Twenty-fourth and Wyandotte streets, opposite the Union Station, was built by Emory J. Sweeney just before World War I. The school, originally an exclusive motor car school, was called a young man's enterprise. Sweeney, the architects (Keene and Simpson), the contractor and realty agents who negotiated the site purchase, were all under 35. The structure contained 550 rooms and there was a white tiled swimming pool in the basement. (The building was planned so that it might be converted into a hotel.) Fourteen trades were taught, and, according to Sweeney, 80,000 students received training in the school's 10 years of existence. During the war, 5,400 draftees were assigned to the school. The flu epidemic of 1918 took its toll of lives at the Army-sponsored school. Of the 3,000 enrolled, 2,300 contracted the disease. Fifteen mechanics died between September 29 and October 4. A quarantine was ordered, which proved successful in combating the disease. According to the Missouri Historical Review, Army officials described the quarantine as a reverse quarantine, because it was designed to protect the Army men from civilians, instead of the opposite. Financial reverses caused the closing of the school, in these quarters, and on November 8, 1929, the building was acquired by the Businessmen's Assurance company, which renovated and remodeled the structure and used it for the next 33 years. The Pershing building recently was purchased by Calvin Communication, Inc., which will use it as its corporate headquarters. Kansas City Star, May 9, 1990.
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