Not an automobile in sight, but a bustling business is indicated on this post card published in Germany before 1907. Various kinds of horse-drawn vehicles are shown on Eleventh street, while ladies with long skirts brushing the street, move from shop to shop. The Browning King Clothing Company for Men and Boys occupied the tall building in the right foreground, a space now used by Harzfeld's Petticoat Lane store for women. Kansas City Times, April 3, 1971. The old postcard in color, printed in Germany, pictures an early Petticoat Lane scene, looking east. The tall spire of the Congregational Church rises in the distant background. There were many downtown churches at the time. A shopper, her long skirt brushing the street, pauses to allow the driver of a bay horse and buggy to continue on toward Main Street. Browning King's Men & Boys Clothing Store building is shown at the right side of the postcard. It later became the site of Harzfeld's, for years the favorite store of style-conscious women here. It was one of the first ready to wear dress and coat shops in Kansas City. (This site, and extending through to Walnut, is the future site of the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. building). The tall building in mid-background, left, pictures the Emery-Bird-Thayer store, another downtown establishment which brings happy memories to several generations of Kansas Citians. The postcard was published by and made expressly for S.H. Kresge & Co., the big red-fronted variety store, just around the corner on Main Street, but not shown in the picture. Kansas City Times, December 28, 1985.
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