Few on campus may know that the oldest portion of the Bloch School building has gone through at least four names and a couple of different owners before becoming a part of UMKC. And here to explain the history of the building is returning guest blogger Chris Wolff…

The building that we know today as the Bloch School of Management Building has a long history that predates the university. It was originally built in 1909 for the family of Kansas City grain merchant Edwin Shields and his wife Martha. The family had purchased a 10 acre tract of land at the northwest corner of Cherry and 52nd streets from the J.C. Nichols Company, which was then platting out the Southwood Park Subdivision of the Crestwood Neighborhood. The family also purchased 10 acres of vacant land stretching from the southeast corner of Cherry and 52nd Streets to Holmes and 52nd Streets. The J.C. Nichols Company had planned this area as a neighborhood of large mansions and estates. Epperson House, the Toy and Miniature Museum and Scofield Hall were some of the other homes that were originally built in this development.

The Shields called their colossal 3 story Tudor style mansion Oaklawn in honor of the many native oak trees that grew on the undeveloped part of their property. Automobiles were not yet prevalent in Kansas City and so the family also built a carriage house at the end of the long cobblestone driveway that provided the original entrance to the property. There were stables for the horses and a small polo field on a rectangular track of their land at the northeast corner of 52nd and Oak. Mr. Shields passed away in 1920, leaving the property to his wife and children. In 1947, Mrs. Shields donated the vacant 10 acre tract of land on the south side of 52nd street to her neighbor, the University of Kansas City. Over the years the growing university had acquired some of the other properties in the area including Epperson House and the mansion of Walter Dickey (Scofield Hall). This land would sit vacant until 1968, when UMKC began construction of the School of Education building at this location.

Oaklawn in the 1920’s

When Mrs. Shields passed away in 1954, her children sold the house and property to the nearby Miss Barstow’s School for Girls, which had operated out of a Tudor style mansion at 50th and Cherry Streets since 1924. The Barstow School renovated the home into classrooms and offices.

In 1959, Miller Nichols, President of the J.C. Nichols Real Estate Company offered to trade 40 acres of land at 115th and State Line to the Barstow School in exchange for the former Shields residence and property. Mr. Nichols had been a long-time supporter of the University of Kansas City and would eventually serve for decades on the university’s board of trustees. His goal was to make real estate acquisitions in the area around the Volker Campus and to either donate the property or sell it when the university could afford it.

The Barstow School accepted the land swap proposal in 1961 and built a new school at their current location of 115th and State Line. At this time the private University of Kansas City was in financial trouble and did not have the funding to purchase the property. Therefore, the J.C. Nichols Company leased the building in 1962 to the St. Paul’s Methodist Seminary, which renamed it Oxford Hall. They renamed the small carriage house Epworth Hall. The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, had attended Oxford College and was from the town of Epworth, England. At the same time St. Paul’s purchased the Brookside Hotel at 54th and Brookside Blvd. to use as a residence hall for their students. Saint Paul’s leased Oxford and Epworth Halls from 1962-1965, when they decided to move to a new campus in downtown Kansas City.

In 1963, the University of Kansas City had merged with the University of Missouri System. The now financially stable University of Missouri-Kansas City was able to afford to purchase the former Shields’ residence in 1965 from the J.C. Nichols Company. The university would later purchase the rest of the Shields’ property in 1973, including the former polo field at 52nd and Oak, which became the site of the new School of Law building. Miller Nichols and the UKC Trustees, who had become a fundraising and advisory board to the university after the merger, also purchased the former Brookside Hotel at 54th and Brookside Blvd. from St. Paul’s. They turned this into a student residence hall renamed Treadway Hall, which they ran for the university for 30 years.

Oxford Hall, 1960’s

Oxford Hall became the home to UMKC’s School of Business and Public Administration, which since its formation in 1953 had operated on the second floor of the Administration Building (Scofield Hall). The school turned the former carriage house, Epworth Hall, into a student lounge on the ground floor and classroom on the second floor. Even though Oxford Hall provided much needed space, there wasn’t room for all of the faculty offices and many of the school’s classes were scattered in buildings across campus. As the school continued to gain popularity this situation began to worsen. By the early 1980s, the School of Business and Public administration was the second biggest unit at UMKC with over 1500 students.

By the mid-1980s, a new facility for the School of Business a Public Administration had become one of UMKC’s highest priorities. The plan called for a $7.5 million renovation of the existing building and an expansion wing that would link Oxford and Epworth Halls into one giant facility. The new building would have 57 faculty offices, work stations for 30 graduate students, classrooms, a computer lab and student lounge and study space. In 1986, H&R Block founder and long-time supporter of KCU/UMKC donated $1 million of the remaining funding needed to begin construction. In honor of his generosity UMKC changed the name of the school to the Bloch School of Business and Public Administration. The new Bloch School building was completed in 1988.

Did you know that many of the innovations in vending machines started with a company called Vendo? And that Vendo was begun right here in Kansas City by Elmer F. Pierson and his brother? The same Elmer Pierson that Pierson Auditorium is named for in the Atterbury Student Success Center (Formerly the University Student Center).

In addition to donating the money to build the auditorium, Pierson’s Vendo company also provided many of the vending machines on campus – including several in Student Center.

In this picture we can see a student getting a snack out of one of the Vendo machines, circa the 1960’s. Look closely at the image and you can see the kinds of food that were on offer back then as well as the prices. You might be surprised!

A few weeks back Kansas City saw an unmatched celebration in front of Union Station as the Royals brought home the World Series trophy for the first time in 30 years.

As a counterpoint, here is that same vantage point, also 30 years ago, with the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance’s Heritage Chorale group….

This feature from the 1949 Kangaroo magazine lays out “expectations” for UKC Freshmen

In the 1970’s, Swinney Gym on campus proved to be inadequate for the needs of the UMKC basketball team for games. As a result a push was made for the basketball games to be held in the Municipal Auditorium downtown. This button was produced to increase support for the downtown move…

Not even UMKC was immune from the phenomena known as the “Food Fight”. This picture, from the 1970’s, shows the aftermath of one such comestible conflict at the Student Center Cafeteria (now the Atterbury Student Success Center)

From the beginning the University of Kansas City has done things a little differently. And a prime example of that is the university’s mascot. Not only is a kangaroo perhaps an unusual choice for a mascot it also became the university mascot even before the university had any sports teams!

The story of the kangaroo began in 1936 with a series of articles in the Kansas City Star about the Swope Park Zoo acquiring two baby kangaroos. A group of students began suggesting that the university should have a symbol and a kangaroo would work well since the word kangaroo rhymed with KCU. The students additionally suggested the kangaroo could be the mascot for the Debate Team since the young university did not have any athletic teams.

In April 1937 a group of enterprising students debuted a “humor magazine” which they titled The Kangaroo. Despite the name, a kangaroo did not appear on the magazine cover until the second issue in May 1937

following within a year was the most often re-circulated Kangaroo humor magazine cover – one drawn by Walt Disney himself featuring Mickey Mouse shaking hands with a kangaroo. This artist coup was accomplished when Disney was visiting Kansas City for a short time and the enterprising Kanagroo staff contacted him, asking for a drawing.

Later in 1938 an unidentified student took inspiration from Disney’s version of the Kangaroo and produced the design seen here:

It was also around this time that the kangaroo mascot gained his name – “Kasey” – meant to rhyme with K.C.U. (alternately the name has been spelled “Casey” as well over the years).

The 1940’s saw another change in design – this one incorporating more of the school’s colors of blue and gold:

The 1950’s saw more changes including one of the first images to incorporate a joey – or a baby kangaroo – in a pouch. Oddly enough, this would make Kasey a female instead of a male.

Another 1950’s era image is odd due to the fact that the two kangaroos shown are playing football – a sport that was never played at the university:

As UKC began it’s athletics program in the 1950’s it also began the practice of Letterman jackets. Here we have a felt patch which was likely meant to be sewn on a Letterman jacket. “Kangies” was a nickname used for the UKC basketball team during that era.

This emblem, from the 1960’s, was in use at the time of the 1963 merger with the University of Missouri System as is evidenced by the fact that is goes from UKC to UMKC.

An Athletics Department Kasey image from 1966 also reflected the sports mascot costume at the time – which featured a young man in a kangaroo costume wearing boxing gloves. Both were inspired by the athletics tag-line of the “Fighting Kangaroos”. It also tieed into the natural defensive fighting style of kangaroos in the wild which has long been described as “boxing”.

In the 1970’s UMKC operated a publicity campaign that encouraged potential students to “Think Marsupial”:

Not long after, in 1976, the Think Marsupial campaign continued but the design of the kangaroo changed drastically:

As the 1980’s came around the Kangaroo began to change. This design from the Athletic Department showcased all of the sports that were played at UMKC at that time. In a throwback to the 1960’s Kasey is depicted in boxing gloves again.

The 1984 basketball emblem definitely had elements in common with the previous image – the kangaroo design was similar and the boxing gloves remained.

Throughout Kasey’s history the mascot has been depicted as male or at least gender neutral. Not so with the 1986 volleyball team’s version of Kasey…

1987 though saw the debut of a more stylized and less cartoonish version of the kangaroo with the “Flyin’ Roo” design.

The “Flyin’ Roo” would continue throught the 1990’s and into the 2000’s with only slight variations.

No matter how much the kangaroo design changes as years go by though it still remains your UMKC mascot. Fighting Roos, Flying Roos, A vital part of their community Roos.

In honor of Founders Week here at UMKC here is a picture of the entire UKC Faculty when the University opened in 1933

In honor of Founder’s Week here at UMKC it seems appropriate to look at those who helped found the University with the financial backing to get it up and running back in 1933. Below is an image of the original Sponsor’s Roll with the signatures of the first financial sponsors of UKC.

The University of Kansas City opened to students in 1933 but it took more than a year before it began to visibly grow… in the form of the first original building built for campus.

The Science Building, now Mannheim Hall, was the first addition to the campus – finished in 1935 and built of local stone in order to pair well with the Dickey Mansion (Scofield) across the lawn.

Here we have a rare picture of Mannheim Hall still under construction but nearing completion: