All photos are scanned from the Mid-Continent and Kansas City Missouri Public Libraries and available for public use.
I'm doing a paper researching the history of Kansas City, Missouri.
Evidently the city was once called "The Little Apple" and also the "Paris Of The Plains." The Little Apple reference had mostly to do with KC's art-deco skyscrapers, steaks and massive train station. I've also found that KC once had more buildings over 10 stories than any inland city other than Chicago up until 1950.
I'm also in the middle of researching St. Louis and should have some interesting photos scanned of her soon. Here are a few photos from my research of KC, "The Little Apple", I hope you enjoy.
This one is simply amazing
A sense of the scale
And here is the end and synopsis of my research. Seems like the end of downtown KC's heyday came once they ripped out 30 square blocks of density along the 6th Street Trafficway. This divided downtown from the River District and allowed traffic to bypass downtown. Later after the suburbs exploded they tore up 15th Street (Truman Road) and built another leg to the freeway system, allowing people to bypass downtown to the south and west. Downtown KC has been running uphill ever since.
Sweet highways!! i think they should tear down the rest of the city and build more roads and parking lots... Think about how easy it would be to find a parking space if there weren't all those pesky buildings and neighborhoods?
thanks for the pics
I did a lot of research on historic NYC skyscrapers and development for some of my college courses, so I like seeing these types of pics
What is magical about these historic photographs is not only the way they detail a dense and wonderfully prosperous Kansas City in her prime, but also the fact that the countryside and great plains were easily within reach from the city's vibrant core. Loved it, thank you.
Man, KC was one sweet little city back in the day. I remember getting of a train from Dallas back in the mid-1950's and spending a morning seeing the sights before boarding another train in the afternoon. Union Station and the view from the tower in the park across the way made huge impression on this little boy.
Usually, I look at new pictures with impatience. Yeah, yeah, yeah, see one new box you've seen 'em all. These old ones are, by contrast, amazing. I linger just to savor the density, the architectural detailing, the whole urban matrix. What a loss....
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