Jackson County (Mo.)
Historical Society
Portals
to the Past by David W. Jackson
Designing the face of KC
This
holiday season we’re exploring a timeline of local history in four
installments, this being the third. A
River Runs By It: The Story of Jackson County, Missouri, highlights how
much history transpires in less than one lifetime.
Here
are some history morsels in memory of those who lived from 1876-1926, the
next 50 years of our timeline:
Following the Civil War, Jackson
County went on a building spree; some examples of which are still standing
today, some we’ve lost. Kansas City’s Jewish community organized the city’s
first synagogue, Temple B’Nnai Jehuda.
The stockyards and Union Depot in the West Bottoms were constructed, as was
the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Quality Hill. The New York Life Building,
arguably the city’s first skyscraper, opened at 20 W. 9th Street. The Vaile Mansion
was built in Independence;
an example of postwar opulence. And, Octave Chanute’s Kansas
City Bridge across
the Missouri River put Kansas City
on the map for good. In 1889, the community incorporated in 1850 as the Town
of Kansas grew to become Kansas City.
In 1907, 1.25 million immigrants
entered the United States;
thousands arrived in Jackson
County. The down side
to progress and growing population affected social norms that had their roots
in the antebellum era, and resulted in entrenched segregation. For example,
by 1920, Kansas City’s African-American population was confined to an area
bounded by 9th Street,
Prospect, 27th Street,
and Troost. Its commercial center became the legendary intersection of 18th
and Vine.
The beginning of the 20th
Century introduced notable icons to Kansas
City like J.C. Nichols, who got his start in real
estate in 1903 and developed the Country Club Plaza in the 1920s. Nichols’
neighborhoods were well designed and remain today some of the best examples
of American urban planning. In 1910, Joyce Hall was selling postcards out of
his room at the downtown YMCA. By 1922, his postcard business had evolved
into a major enterprise that would eventually become the industry leader,
Hallmark Cards. Tom Pendergast, elected as Jackson County Marshal in 1903,
established himself as the kingpin of the Democratic Party in Jackson County by 1922. He then endorsed a
young, unsuccessful businessman, Harry S Truman, for the position of Eastern
District Judge of the Jackson County Court.
European hostilities in 1914
eventually affected American lives. It was during the World War I era that
Kansas City acquired many of its most enduring landmarks: Union Station at 23rd
and Main Streets; The Scout statue installed in
Penn Valley Park; and, following the Great War to end all wars, the Liberty
Memorial, the nation’s only museum solely dedicated to World War I that
recently debuted a world class museum.
Prohibition and women’s suffrage
followed in 1920. The era of flappers, speakeasies had begun. By the
mid-1920s, over 150 speakeasies, nightclubs and dance halls were doing
business in Kansas City.
The 1920s were remarkable for other
reasons as well: Walt Disney opened Laugh-O-Gram Studios on 31st Street. Architects Nelle
Peters and Mary Rockwell Hook designed distinctive homes and commercial
buildings. Nell Donnelly turned her talent with a needle into a multi-million
dollar industry. The Negro National League organized at the Paseo branch of the YMCA, giving birth to the Kansas City
Monarchs, whose roster included baseball legends Satchel Paige, Jackie
Robinson, and Buck O’Neil.
Take
this opportunity to recognize your own part in local history, and think of
how you wish to perpetuate your legacy. Much history is preserved and made
available to the public; donations of original materials to our permanent
collections are always welcome.
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