Linwood: Kensington Ave to Elmwood Ave

The area that I was assigned to was a little old neighborhood called Knoches Park.  It was located east of The Paseo and the way I got there was by using The Metro.  Getting there was a bit of a challenge because I was unfamiliar with the area.  My assigned block looked like any suburban block around the Kansas City Metropolitan Area.  However, when I was doing some research I found out that it looked a lot more different than it is now.  The area was pretty much no man’s land prior to the 1890’s.  It wasn’t around 1895 that the city limits started to expand and make it’s way past Paseo Drive.  Although some housing was incorporated into the area most of the roads were unpaved and the main mode of transportation was by foot.  It wasn’t until the 1920’s that paved roads started to accommodate pedestrians, horse and trollies, and a few automobiles.  The area was beginning to expand with housing as the population grew around the city limits. By the 1950’s, Kansas City was beginning to sprawl outward with more roads and houses to accommodate the growing population.  The automobile began to shape the suburbs and that allowed for more business districts to come into the suburbs.  The area between Kensington Ave and Elmwood Ave saw mostly changes in residential development.  SInce 1925, it has expanded in mostly housing.  New additions since 1950 include newer homes on the south side on Linwood Blvd, a new church on the corner of Kensington Ave, and metro bus lines that run on Linwood Ave.  Milton Moore highschool was built around the 1900’s right on the corner of Linwood Blvd and Elmwood Ave.  It has stood there over the years with a few minor additions.  The building never expanded  and was eventually turned into an elementary school.   It still surprises me how a small highschool  at the turn of a centrury still stands today to serve elementary students in that area.

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