A promotional postcard in black and white, mailed to Oak Park, Ill., in 1908 pictures homes on Brooklyn Avenue, 35th to 36th streets. The subdivision was one of 50 built here by the A.J. King Realty Company. Arthur J. King came to Kansas City from Ohio in 1886 and entered the real estate and loan business. In 1890 the King Realty Company was formed. According to The Book of Missourians, edited by M.L. Van Nada of Chicago (1906), King made a specialty of acre property, buying the land, platting it into lots, improving the plats with buildings and other properties and selling same. They have incidentally done a great deal to build up the suburbs of the city. Mr. King devotes his attention to the business with excellent results. Homes of modern architecture ranged in price from $3,500 to $8,000. As many as 150 houses would be under construction on one plat. King introduced the monthly payment plan of home purchasing to Kansas City in the late 1880s. The King family residence was at 1705 Linwood, where the King children were reared. A later home was at 4 East Armour Boulevard. A son, Myron King, took over the company in 1927 when A.J retired. Kansas City Times, June 5, 1987.
Reproduction (printing, downloading, or copying) of images from Kansas City Public Library requires permission and payment for the following uses, whether digital or print: publication; reproduction of multiple copies; personal, non-educational purposes; and advertising or commercial purposes. Please order prints or digital files and pay use fees through this website. All images must be properly credited to: "Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Missouri." Images and texts may be reproduced without prior permission only for purposes of temporary, private study, scholarship, or research. Those using these images and texts assume all responsibility for questions of copyright and privacy that may arise.
