The area around The Landing Mall began as a suburban escape from the urban core. The southern expansion of Kansas City can be noted by curvy streets and larger parking lots. The surrounding neighborhoods were built around the park and boulevards system in Kansas City, making it a desirable place to live when it began. As suspected, the area surrounding the Landing was not very populated in the 1920s but in the 19603, around when the Landing was built, the area became pretty dense. Since then it has seen some demolition of buildings and the ground is less packed.
1963 Figure Ground Map Surrounding The Landing (1″=200′). Made by Adair Bright2018 Figure Ground Map Surrounding The Landing (1″=200′). Made by Adair Bright
Describing the seemingly complex intersection of 63rd Street, Meyer Boulevard and The Paseo, famed Architect and Urban Designer, Ted Seligson, refers to it as “the knuckle” of Kansas City’s boulevard system. Viewing the intersection from an aerial view, Seligson’s analogy becomes clear. The way Meyer Boulevard merges into The Paseo, then briefly runs parallel with 63rd Street, before finally turning back down into itself, looks like a person’s finger joints. The knuckle, which lies just East of The Landing (which was discussed in my last blog), is a node that various different land uses gather around. Not only is this the case for present day (currently a mix of residential, commercial and institutional uses surround the knuckle) but it has been the case for the past 100 or so years. This post will look at how the area immediately surround the knuckle has developed over time.
1925 Figure Ground Map – 63rd Street between Tracy and Woodland Avenues. Source: Jared Islas, 2019.
The earliest developments in the area were mostly single-family residences. These homes mostly originated along Tracy and Woodland Avenues, with some additional homes appearing on either side of The Paseo. Many of the homes on Tracy and The Paseo will remain intact through to present day, but the same can not be said for those on Woodland.
According to the 1925 Atlas of Kansas City, the present-day Landing site was formerly home to two large greenhouses known as “William L. Rock Flower Company.” These greenhouses would also not last long, as they would be sold to JC Nichols in the mid to late 1940’s who would go on to develop The Landing Mall (Kansas City Star, 1947).
Also, just Northeast of the knuckle, sat the Blue Hills Golf Club. This would remain an important part of the neighborhood up the site was redeveloped for a suburban-esque retail shopping center and neighborhood.
1963 Figure Ground Map – 63rd Street between Tracy and Woodland Avenues. Source: Jared Islas, 2019.
By 1963, more single-family residences had filled up the area Northwest of the knuckle and almost all of the houses that had been fronting Woodland Avenue had disappeared. Also, Convent of Christ the King, and some other institutional/office buildings sprung up South of 63rd Street. And The Landing mall was constructed on the former site of the two large greenhouses.
1991 Figure Ground Map – 63rd Street between Tracy and Woodland Avenues. Source: Jared Islas, 2019.
By the early 1990’s, the Blue Hills Golf Club was gone and replaced by the suburban-esque strip mall, a six-story office building and a three-story parking garage. Commercial pad sites began developing around the knuckle and other intersections along 63rd Street.
2019 Figure Ground Map – 63rd Street between Tracy and Woodland Avenues. Source: Jared Islas, 2019.
As of today, the area around the knuckle has not changed much since the early 90’s. The only major difference is the large additions to building at the Southeast corner of 63rd and Meyer. These buildings ultimately became the campus for the Ewing Marion Kauffman School, which is a public charter school.
While the structures and their uses surrounding the knuckle have changed in the last 100 years, there are some things that have remained the same. The first being some of the older, now historic, single-family homes on 62nd Terrace. The picture below shows these homes first in 1940, as part of the 1940 Tax Assessment photos, and then again in 2015 through Google Maps Street View.
Comparison of single family homes on 62nd Terrace Source: 1940 Tax Assessor photos and 2015 Google Street View
These structures have remained relatively untouched during the almost 80 year gap that these photos were taken. The only things that have changed are expected renovations in older homes like these – materiality and landscaping.
The next set of photos, comes to the same conclusion. This commercial building, located halfway in between Tracy Avenue and The Paseo on the North side of 63rd Street has also remained relatively unchanged.
Comparison of a commercial building on 63rd Street. Source: 1940 Tax Assessor photos and 2018 Google Street View.
These historic photos show that while there have been some structures that have been around for the better part of the last 80 years, nothing compares to the longevity of the knuckle.
Only less than 100 years ago the area between 62nd street – 66th street and Rockhill Road – Troost Avenue was just beginning its development. A new shopping center on the southwest corner of 63rd st and Troost Ave. was built in the late 20s as neighborhoods began to move away from the city’s core. This shopping center offered a drugstore, barber shop, and restaurants, but has since been replaced with a US Bank and empty units. It is great to see this building is still standing strong and features its original structure, but it does not feel as lively as it looked in the late 20s. Figure 1 shows the 63rd and Troost Shopping Center in 1927 compared to today in 2019 (Figure 2).
Another building that has stuck around is the Highland Telephone Exchange Building, now called the Blue Hills Building. Located on the northwest corner of 63rd st and Troost Ave. and was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 2005. Telephone exchange buildings were build in the “heart of the area they would serve” and were necessary for connecting calls during this period. Once an important structure now sits vacant with boarded up doors and broken glass window.
Since 1925, this area has greatly advanced. Blocks that were almost completely empty have been replaced with homes and retail shops. Largest changes in the area can be seen between the 1920s and the 1960s. Residential neighborhoods continue to stay north of this area and commercial structures remain more south. Looking at figure grounds from 1990 and 2019 there is little modifications. Few structures have disappeared leaving behind open land. This open land is opportunity for development and growth.
Figure 5. Figure ground maps of 1925 & 1963 created by Cristina Aurich 02/2019 Figure 6. Figure ground maps of 1990 & 2019 created by Cristina Aurich 02/2019
Historical analysis of sections of the Main Street corridor (39th to 41st, from Walnut to Baltimore)
Four maps, a 1925 Sanborn, 1957 and 1991 Jackson County aerials, and a modern GIS layer of present conditions, give insight into the changing dimensions of the corridor throughout time. A common scale of each map allows one to readily see the spatial changes of the built environment.
The intersection of Westport Road and Main provides an interesting analytical starting point. At this node, the built environment stayed largely intact between 1925 and 1951. The structures immediately on the corner of Westport Road and Main, now housing the Oddly Correct coffee shop, are intact from 1925.
According to the 1940 tax assessment photos, the building housed Foster’s Shoe Store, seen below.
Another significant significant building at this intersection was the Hyde Park Christian Church, seen below in 1940.
.
This structure was constructed in 1905, yet was demolished in the late 1950s. The church’s activity relocated to 3801 Wyandotte. A structure of a similar footprint is evident from the 1957 Jackson County aerial. However, since the building’s destruction, no new structures have been erected in its place.
Furthermore, this stretch of the Main Street corridor is noted for other prominent demolitions. Throughout time, commercial structures that lined Main approaching 39th street have been destroyed to accommodate car-oriented uses (such as the CVS and surface parking lot at the southwest corner of Main and 39th street). Additionally, in the earlier 20th century, there was significantly more housing directly on or adjacent to Main Street. According to the 1925 Sanborn, a development known as “Weaver Place” contained 5 3-story apartment buildings. These appear to have been of the 6-plex brick typology commonly seen throughout Kansas City. Across the street, 12 2-story apartment structures lined 40th Street Way. These structures are evident in the 1957 Jackson County aerial, yet were demolished before the 1991 aerial. Presently, 40th Street Way is a one-way street with relatively little activity. Commercial uses and surface parking flank the formerly residential district on the north and south sides. Weaver Place appears to have been destroyed as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church expanded its institutional footprint in ensuing decades. This expansion included destroying the Rollins School, originally constructed in 1904.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Day School erected a new structure on the site of the former Rollins building.
Another culturally significant change along the corridor involves the iconic Katz Drug Store at the corner of Westport Road and Main. Seen below in 1940, Katz’s personifies an Art Deco charm.
An Osco pharmacy most recently inhabited this structure. The structure has been largely vacant since 2006, however. Recently, art pop-ups have given new life to the vacant building.
Undeniably, this stretch of Main has experienced significant change throughout the decades. The preservation and adaptive reuse of the buildings that survived, however, has contributed to the charms of this Midtown area.
