Flood waters swirl about establishments at 29th and Southwest Boulevard in Rosedale, Kan., not far from the Missouri state line, on a photographic postcard of unknown date. It pictures one of the many devastating floods that have been suffered by boulevard merchants. The row of seven small white frame tourist cabins in the background indicate a date in the '20s. The Garfield Court cabins pictured are not listed in early directories. In the foreground of the picture water reaches upper windows of the establishment of H.G. Dickhut and neighboring stores. The square structure at left bears the sign Purified Petroleum Products of K.C. Mo. Gasoline and Kerosene. Much of the property along both sides of Southwest Boulevard was originally owned by Dr. Simon Bell (founder of Bell Memorial Hospital, now the University of Kansas Medical Center). Bell had acquired it in 1866 from Joseph Parks, chief of the Shawnee Indian tribe. Bell's farm home was located two blocks south of the area pictured at 31st and the boulevard (opposite Waid's restaurant) and is today covered with railroad tracks. Early in the 1870s Dr. Bell began to think of subdividing his property and of a great wide boulevard through his farm. Southwest Boulevard from Kansas City, Mo., along the Turkey Creek Valley, through Wyandotte County and on into Johnson County, running diagonally through Bell's property and following the natural course of the creek, was the result. Kansas City Times, September 26, 1986.
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