This existing report in Valentine Neighborhoods is about environment. The environment could include mostly flooding in the area. Flooding is the consequence rain contour to landscape. The association to flooding is illegal dumping as well as ROW (right of way) inspections alongside sidewalks and curbs. The effect of flooding is the cause of increase in flood heights and velocities. Floodway is the increasing of flood height more than one foot at any point. For example, the ROW happened in Valentine Rd about three blocks away from Broadway Blvd. The second study happened on 38th St. and Broadway Blvd with sidewalks and curbs.

The elephant in the room in Valentine is housing. There are three challenges that I recognized in the neighborhood. Those challenges are pressures of displacement, demolition of their neighborhood, and adversarial institutions, namely Kansas City Life Insurance.

First, rent prices are up 30% since 2012.

Eviction Lab studied evictions in Kansas City in 2012-2015 and I compared that average to the average monthly eviction rate to 2022-2025 and the monthly eviction rate is up 8%.

Income has risen 12% in Valentine from 2012 to 2025. In Kansas City at large income is up only 3%, so unless everyone in Valentine is getting raises, it seems that new higher incomes who can afford the new higher rents are moving in and lower incomes are getting displaced.

The displacement pressure isn’t just felt by renters, it’s also felt by working class and middle class residents who own and live in their home. 

Home value is up 79% since 2012 which is simply magnificent if you own a home. But this isn’t necessarily money that is accessible to you, it is tied up in equity in your home, not dollars in your bank account.  

But nevertheless with your new found wealth comes a 20% increase in dollars paid in property taxes. And if you are a working class home owner or god forbid on a fixed income this could be the difference between you getting to stay in valentine or having to sell your home and leave , which turns over the neighborhood.  

Demolition of the Neighborhood

There is simply less opportunity to buy a stake in valentine

You can’t buy a home that doesn’t exist. At Valentines peak density it averaged 16 units per acre – about 5000 units in the neighborhood. A comparable neighborhood would be Hyde park or Brooklyn Heights in New York. But Then Kansas City Life Insurance started to buy homes and destroying them. Now that density has been cut in half and it hangs closer to 8 units per acre, much closer to Waldo in comparison of density.

Why is Kansas City Life Insurance destroying homes?

This takes us to the 1971 Plan that Kansas City Life Insurance released that same year.

The biggest problem with this plan? It destroys an entire neighborhood. Many more problems with this plan, it’s suburban in nature and would put the old walkable bones of Valentine to shame. But this plan is from 71, we don’t need to bad mouth its form and use too bad. But I brought it up because there are two things we can glean from this plan: time, and space.

Time

Phase 1 was supposed to be complete in 1971, It wasn’t. But for Kansas City Life Insurance that’s ok. Kansas City Life Insurance operates on institutional time. Cigas and neighbors fought tooth and nail to make sure that they saved their neighborhood. And generation after generation has fought that fight ever since. We are humans who will die. Kansas City Life Insurance will not, they have time.

Space

This plan clearly states they have no problem taking all of the neighborhood north of Valentine Rd. Now we just need to examine their actions.

This is a map that denotes corporate landlords, mom and pop landlords, the transparent blue is Kansas City Life Insurance owned parcels, and owner occupiers.

This map clearly demonstrates the creeping and crawling of Kansas City Life Insurance. Only seven structures remain on the northern half of where the plan was created including one owner occupied house. There are only 5 owner occupied houses in the southwestern plat.

Less owner occupiers means less stability and potentially less of a tie to the neighborhood and certainly less control of the neighborhood as the rules are set up today. There is an argument to be made if you are a landlord in Valentine you are more concerned with your bottom line than housing. If Kansas City Life Insurance was to make a lucrative offer that beats that of the rental market then why would you turn that down.

And as time passes and displacement pressure builds or natural migration occurs, especially when residents are being antagonized by a major institutional investor that sees their neighborhood as a means for their own profit. Kansas City Life Insurance will likely continue to be there lurking in the grass waiting for the opportunity to snatch up this property to fulfill their paternal instinct and recreate the Valentine neighborhood in their own image. 

For the first six weeks of our Junior Studio, our class has been working on creating an existing conditions report of the Valentine neighborhood. This report was created to describe the state of Valentine today and how we got here. My focus for this project was working on the Figure Grounds, LGBTQ Population Census Data, and the overall team management for this project

I was responsible for the majority of the figure grounds. All of us were assigned a couple of blocks of the neighborhood and I stitched everyone’s figure grounds together in photoshop. I used a base map of the current figure ground that I made in ArcGISPro, then assembled the figure ground for the 1925-2025 maps. These figure grounds showed how the environment changed over time in the past 100 years. The biggest changes that I highlighted in the presentation were: the redesign of Summit Street to Southwest Traffic Way, the commercialization of Broadway and 39th Street, and the development in the MCC and KC Life properties. 

On Friday I presented my work on the LGBTQ census data, but I also presented Ailyn’s work on marital status. Initially Ailyn was going to present her slide but we decided that since the two solids are related that it would be okay to have one person take on both. I was also part of the arts and culture team that Jeremy presented. I helped Jeremy, Ramica, and Joshua collect information about the music, arts and LGBTQ spaces nearby Valentine. My work on the census data shows a higher rate of men and women who never married, which implies the presence of same sex couples and the LGBTQ community in Valentine and Midtown. 

Finally, I had a big role in organizing the slides and the overall team management for the final Friday presentation. I met with Koby, Meghan, Teresa and Joshua to collaborate on the final presentation format. We decided on a format that allowed everyone the opportunity to take a slide and fill it with the information they’ve been working on. After about 2 days for people to fill in their slides, that same team (and a couple others) stayed late on Thursday night to finalize and polish all the slides, and run through a practice presentation the night before.

My assigned area is 32nd St. to 34th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. to Central. Starting from 1900, my assigned blocks were mostly housing units. Heading into 1925 we begin to similar housing units that are single-family homes and apartment units. Withing this time frame we also see more commercial units being built South of 33rd and 34th.

Going into 1950, some older housing units remain but some are starting to get demolished for the development of more commercial units. Redevelopment pressures continue and with this causes a decline in housing structures. In the late 60s leading to the 70s is when we see the biggest shift.

Penn Valley Community College was constructed in 1969 and using the 1975 maps we can see that most of the housing, if not all, is demolished. The area is now a college campus with the blocks around it being parking structures and businesses. There are a handful of home based businesses in and around the area. One notable thing that I noticed is a church south of central St. that remained throughout the years. After 1975 there is not much change expect with some businesses either being added or demolished.

Sources: ProQuest. Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867–1970. Accessed February 19, 2026. https://digitalsanbornmaps-proquest-com.proxy.library.umkc.edu/about?accountid=14589

kc1940.org. “Blocks.” Accessed February 19, 2026. https://kc1940.org/blocks

Higginbotham, N. Historic Aerials. Accessed February 19, 2026. https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer

My census research contains the information from 1940 – 2020 about the veteran population, race population and total population. This information will cover the Kansas City and Midtown area and the graphics will be comparing these two. I was able to find these results using the website social explorer and using the U.S. Census and ACS (5 Year Estimates).

The veteran population is pretty straight forward with similar trends in both Kansas City and Midtown. Veteran populations have decreased in both Midtown and Kansas City over time. Midtown generally had a higher percentage compared to KC but over time they remained about even until the 2020 data showed that KC has 5% with Midtown having 2%.

The total population for Kanas City and Midtown was on a decline until 2010 then has since risen in 2020. The race demographic was majority white in both areas with over 90% in the mid 1900s. After 1970 into the 1980s is when we start seeing a bigger shift in the total black population increase and white decrease. Going into the 2000s is when the other populations, such as mixed or other races, start rising. 2020 shows the highest in “other” races. The question “is midtown getting whiter” can be answered by saying that it was always white or majority white but black and other races have increased more after the 70s.

The Valentine Neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri is a historic residential neighborhood in Midtown Kansas City that is recognized for its early 20th-century development and architecture. A large portion of Valentine’s housing stock dates from 1902 to 1929, indicating a thriving streetcar neighborhood that emerged around the Norman School.

Valentine has been at the forefront of preservation and development conflicts in recent years. The Valentine Neighborhood Association has been advocating for the establishment of the Norman School Historic District, which is a locally recognized historic district that would protect approximately three blocks of the neighborhood bounded by 35th Street, Valentine Road, Pennsylvania Avenue, and Southwest Trafficway. This proposed designation, also part of a long-term effort to gain National Register listing, aims to preserve approximately 60 contributing historic structures and ensure that any future development is consistent with the character and history of the neighborhood.

The Valentine neighborhood has also struggled with the negative impacts of demolition and redevelopment. The Kansas City Life Insurance Company has owned and demolished many properties in the Valentine neighborhood, particularly between 33rd and 35th streets, in response to which residents and preservationists have expressed frustration that homes are being demolished without any clear plans for replacement. Working with the area around Penn Valley Community College and using the 1940s KC Tax Assessor photos, we can see that Valentine used to be majority housing with home based businesses. With the Development of Penn Valley college starting in the 60s, a lot of these homes were demolished over the years. Working in this area is very interesting and will be great to learn about.

My study area is the area directly south of the Valentine neighborhood; from 40th Street to Archibald Street and Central Street to Clark Avenue. Most notably in this area today is the Westport entertainment district and the Mill Street Station commercial development.

This area previously hosted a variety of industrial uses on the eastern half up to roughly Broadway Avenue. The western half was predominantly residential.

The construction of Southwest Trafficway in the the late 1940’s to 1950’s, was a notable construction event that destroyed dozens of homes in this area. It replaced what was Summit Street in the area.

1975 saw the construction of federal government offices along Westport Road between Mill Street and Waddell Avenue.

In 2000, the Mill Street Station development shows up on the map. Another quite notable event that took place just south of Westport Road. From Clark Avenue to one block east- Bridger Road– numerous homes were demolished for the City Place at Westport Apartment buildings. In the 2000 figure ground, this is only shown as the loss of those structures since construction had just begun .

In 2025 figure ground, the City Place at Westport Apartment development appears. From 2000 to 2025, no major developments like those of the past occurred, though a building just north of 40th Street and east of Pennsylvania Avenue was demolished and parking canopies were added to the parking lot of the apartment complex to the west of Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Valentine neighborhood is a resilient neighborhood with beautiful homes. This notion has been understood for a while in Kansas City. The Kansas City FOCUS master plan – adopted in the late 1990’s – addresses the neighborhood with praise and acclaim. Some of the specific qualities mentioned in the plan include a tremendous stock of high quality and affordable housing as well as having historical significance. 

Aside from neighborhood descriptions, the FOCUS plan outlines some key ideas it wishes to work towards for some areas as well. The suggestions for the Valentine neighborhood include historic preservation status, a sentiment that has been shared among residents in the neighborhood as well with the Norman School Historic District proposal. For the broader Midtown Area, suggestions include reinvestment in public infrastructure; the recent streetcar extension and separated bike lane on Armor are evidence of some success in municipal investment in the area.

Several large institutions dominate the area including the MCCKC Penn Valley Campus on the northmost end and the KC Life Insurance company more centrally located. The latter of the two has garnered quite a negative reputation for reasons I am sure will be discussed in later posts or the posts of my peers.

The Valentine neighborhood is a neighborhood in the northwest portion of the Midtown area of Kansas City, Missouri. it is bound by 31st Street to 40th Street- north to south- and Broadway Boulevard to Southwest Trafficway- east to west. Except for 40th Street, the boundary roads are all high traffic streets, with Southwest Trafficway having one of the highest annual traffic counts across the entire city. Historic homes, mature tree coverage, comparatively narrow streets on the interior, and proximity to many amenities all make this neighborhood quite attractive and desirable. While seemingly picturesque, this neighborhood has faced and continues to face unique challenges.

Prior to this assignment, I had become superficially acquainted with the Valentine neighborhood and the surrounding area. I’ve lived in the nearby Hyde Park neighborhood for nearly two years and my main route to reach the grocery store, as well as my commute on the Main MAX bus route, has taken me to the neighborhood quite often. Additionally, before transferring to UMKC, I attended and graduated from the MCC – Penn Valley campus on the northernmost portion of the neighborhood. That said, most times before now has had me traveling through the neighborhood rather than to it.

Against my better judgement, for my first site visit, I took a rather unpleasant walk along Southwest Trafficway and fully experienced the historic “highway” as a pedestrian. The now over 70 year old highway truly highlights the stark differences and changes seen in roadway design standards over the years. Originally built with narrow lanes that have persisted to today in addition to the high speed limit of 45 miles per hour all make driving very uncomfortable (though that doesn’t deter drivers from driving above the speed limit). However, for pedestrians, it isn’t just uncomfortable; It is outright unsafe. The narrow sidewalk built right up to the curb (shown in the photo below) puts pedestrians even closer to peril . On a day such as this one, the remaining snow on the sidewalk only made the situation worse; One patch of ice unnoticed could have been my end.

The walk from 31st Street to 38th Street also highlights the main struggle this neighborhood has seen for at least the last 70 years; The demolition of homes or, more broadly, land vacancy.

A large portion of the lots facing Southwest Trafficway, as well as many going into the interior of the neighborhood, once saw homes but now sit empty waiting for eventual redevelopment. Most of these lots are owned by the Kansas City Life Insurance Company that also calls the neighborhood home (Located at the intersection of 35th and Broadway.)

There is a deep history to Valentine and its residents have taken a strong interest and ownership in the neighborhood and how determinations are made. Working in this neighborhood will certainly be learning experience.