In 1909, this portion of Linwood Boulevard was starting to be settled, and two churches, First Baptist Church and Linwood Boulevard Methodist Episcopal Church, located on the north side of the street, dominated much of the landscape. At the time, the Linwood Boulevard M.E. Church was a simple chapel. There were a few residential buildings as well as empty lots.
Comparing the 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map to the 1925 Tuttle-Ayers-Woodward-Co. Atlas you can see additional development of the existing and empty lots, including expansions of both churches and the building of the Ivanhoe Masonic Temple on the south side of the street. In its heydey, the temple housed meetings and civic activities of the largest group of Freemasons west of the Mississippi (“Golden Spade,” 1920). It’s construction from 1920 – 1922, and its $1 million price tag (Penn, 1999), was big news among the ladies and gentlemen who lived, worked, and played in Kansas City’s inner suburbs.
1951 saw the heaviest density of these two blocks with all plats being built up and additions of Sunday School buildings for both churches. However, between 1951 and present day, several of the original buildings were torn down including the temple and many of the residences. After being added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, the Ivanhoe Masonic Temple was demolished in 1999 at a cost of $400,000 to the city plus $65,000 already spent to purchase the building (Penn, 1999). Some members of the community, including architectural historian Cydney Millstein, fought to save the building for its historic value. Others, including the Reverend Wallace Hartsfield of the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church across the street (formerly First Baptist Church), wanted it torn down because it had become a blight on the neighborhood. Ultimately, the city was not able to find a suitable use nor a buyer (Penn, 1999).
The two churches still remain on these blocks and are currently open and operating. On the south side of the street three original multi-family residences remain in use. An original building called the Colonial on the north side of Linwood and Wabash remains as well but is used for commercial space.
The figure ground studies below show the stark contrast in the built environment between 1951 and 2015.