Petticoat Lane, Looking East is the title of a post card published in color in 1908 by Paul Eskenasy, 107 W. 9th. The street traffic pictured is almost entirely horse and buggy. A few early-day automobiles are parked parallel to the curb. Shoppers with long skirts throng the sidewalks. Browning-King's store is at the right and the Waldheim building at the left.The tall spire of the splendid First Congregational Church at the northeast corner on 11th and McGee is in the background. It was one of the many denominations with fine Downtown churches, eventually slated for destruction as the city moved to outlying residential districts.First Congregational Church, with a membership that read like the blue book, was designed by architect A. Van Brunt. It took one year for the members to buy the lot, another to put in the foundation, another to raise the walls. All bills were paid as the work progressed.The church was built of stone, the windows were of stained glass and the roof slate. It was completed in 1884 at a cost of $85,000, and as Dr. Henry Hopkins said in his inaugural sermon, it was put up to be lasting. First Congregational records, published in book form in 1909, gave this description: Thus the church began its new life in the beautiful new building under the most auspicious circumstances. From this moment, with Henry Hopkins as pastor, and thoroughly equipped for its work, the church went steadily forward, increasing in numbers and influence until it became one of the strong centers of religious life in the city, not only for Congregationalists, but in a sense for all denominations, so strong a personal hold did Dr. Hopkins gain upon all who were interested in the betterment of Kansas City. (He had spent four years in the army as chaplain with the Union forces.) For 22 years Dr. Hopkins successfully led his flock, an active congregation and during the formative years of the city. Names such as Beardsley, Marty, Holmes, Richardson, Emery, Bird, Stillwell, Winner, Twiss, Doggett, McCune, Bartlett, Gillham, Lee, Hamblin, Jenkins, Allen, Gates, Burnham, Bigelow, Fowler, Fox, Hockaday, Kitchen, Rust, Chandler, Luce, Meyer, Findlay, Sutton, Crittenden and Fuller are only a few of those appearing in the records as officers or trustees. Then in the spring of 1902, Dr. Hopkins was elected president of Williams College, and accepted. He left Kansas City shortly after. Circumstances made it more and more difficult to hold the church together after Dr. Hopkins left. Many had moved their residence to remote parts of the city. Membership fell to 285. (It had been 502 in 1900.) Expenses incidental to the grading of McGee were over $10,000, which meant a deficit of nearly $5,500 for the church. Trustees of the church voted in November 1905 to sell their property and merge with Clyde Congregational Church. The two groups would occupy a new edifice to be built at the corner of Admiral and Highland, the new organization to be called The First Congregational Church of Kansas City. Later the trustees voted to sell the 11th and McGee property for $150,000. The sale was consummated, though First Church retained, for a reasonable rental, the use of the building until the new edifice was completed. In 1908 the old church building was razed. The Kansas City Journal commented on the transaction: Secondhand churches do not bring much as a rule. First Congregational Church went on the counter yesterday and $1,400 was all it would fetch. The stone wall around it cost five times as much. The windows could not be duplicated for twice the money. At $75,000 it was held to be cheap. Fourteen hundred dollars was all the wreckers would pay for it and the owners were glad to get that. Today the site is occupied by the Continental Trailways bus station. Kansas City Times, February 9, 1979.