The four-story red brick Diamond Building, on lots one and two on a wedge shaped property at the Junction -- Main, 9th and Delaware -- was built by Maj. Samuel D. Vaughan in 1870. Asa B. Cross was the architect and the cost was $40,000. The lots had been purchased in 1865 from the Scarritt family. The building was known as Vaughan's Diamond and locating it there was one of the first indications of the city's move south from the Missouri River levee. It quickly became the center of business and a transfer point for cable cars and street cars. Two years after its erection the building was sold at a sheriff's sale to Howard M. Holden, for $31,000. Then in 1883 the Kansas City Times bought the structure for $85,000. The paper also bought lots 5 and 6 and built an adjoining building, which the newspaper occupied in 1885. Both buildings were sold to Nathaniel Thayer of Boston in 1886 for $300,000. Pictured on the postcard are huge signs advertising Tom Moore and Owl five-cent cigars. A Bunker Printing Co. sign is seen on the top floor. A sign on the ground floor over the door reads: Junction Ticket Offices. Alongside were names of railroads such as Frisco and Chicago & Alton. In the background a cable car approaches from the city square and market, passing beneath the elevated street car tracks on 8th. The Diamond building was torn down in 1916 and the 11-story Westgate Hotel was built on the site.The postcard was published in color by the Elite Postcard Co. of Kansas City. It was mailed in 1913 with a one-cent green postage stamp. Kansas City Times. March 2, 1984
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