http://www.historickansascity.org/, https://historickansascity.substack.com/

Historic Kansas City, 200 Westport Road, P. O. Box 5995, Kansas City, MO (2026)

08/21/2026

The 18th & Vine Historic District is among Kansas City’s most culturally and architecturally significant historic places, recognized on local and national historic registers for its association with the development of jazz, the Negro Leagues, and the commercial, social, religious, and professional life of Black Kansas City. During the decades of segregation, 18th & Vine developed as the center of a much larger Black community containing hundreds of businesses alongside theaters, clubs, churches, hospitals, professional offices, residences, and other institutions. Ongoing and planned preservation projects promise to leverage millions in state and federal historic tax credits as private, nonprofit, and public investment flows into historic rehabilitation projects.

Tomorrow, Friday, August 21, Councilwoman Melissa Patterson Hazley and Councilman Crispin Rea will host a walking tour highlighting historic preservation projects and opportunities throughout the district, as well as some other highlights. Beginning at 4 p.m. at the Jazz District Parking Garage, the tour will visit Wheatley-Provident Hospital, the American Jazz Museum, Boone Theater, Gem Theater, The Parker, and other sites before concluding at Vine Street Chicken Co. and Vine Street Brewing Co. for a “Cash Mob” from 5–6 p.m.

Among the buildings along the route is the former Holy Ghost New Testament Church at 1813–1815 The Paseo. Constructed in 1926 as Jamison Temple C.M.E. Church, this notable church building is distinguished by its monumental entrance, four columns with Egyptian-influenced lotus capitals, stained glass, and Classical detailing. After years of deterioration, including extensive water damage and loss of the roof, the building faced demolition before more than $2.3 million in City funding was secured for stabilization and preservation. Wheatley-Provident Hospital is likewise associated with major rehabilitation plans, and Boone Theater celebrated its opening this summer following a years-long restoration.

Speaking with The Kansas City Star, Melissa Patterson Hazley emphasized the central role of preservation is set to play in the District's success: “You save the historic nature of the community, which people have fond memories of both the church and the hospital,” she noted, pointing also to the economic value of retaining historic buildings. Preservation, she acknowledged, serves to “create a place where people want to be and want to live and want to work.” The walking tour runs 4–5 p.m. Friday, August 21, beginning at the Jazz District Parking Garage, followed by the Cash Mob from 5–6 p.m. at 2010 Vine Street. Check out the recent Kansas City Star article for more information: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article316861042.html

08/19/2026

Kansas City’s colonnaded apartment buildings are among the most recognizable features of our urban core historic neighborhoods, but some prominent examples have come remarkably close to disappearing. One notable success story can be found along Armour Boulevard, where four apartment buildings known collectively as the “Colonnades” were included on Historic Kansas City’s 2014 Most Endangered Places List. Constructed in 1902–1903 and designed by noted Kansas City architect John McKecknie, the buildings at 100–118 W. Armour Boulevard occupy a prominent stretch of the Old Hyde Park Historic District, facing one of the city’s historic boulevards and reflecting the early development of multi-family housing in Midtown.

At the time of listing, owner MAC Properties had applied for permission to demolish the buildings, citing economic hardship. Historic Kansas City, working closely with the Old Hyde Park Neighborhood Association, opposed demolition and participated in a lengthy public review process before the Historic Preservation Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustment. Both bodies denied the demolition request, triggering the Historic Preservation Ordinance’s three-year waiting period. The waiting period was not without issues, including a failed attempt to deconstruct the porches, but it ultimately created space for exploration of alternatives to demolition.

Nearing the end of that three-year period, a preservation-based solution emerged with support from the City, facilitated by Councilwoman Katheryn Shields, with cooperation from MAC. A revised plan relied on Historic Tax Credits and approximately $800,000 in surplus City “building interruption” funds, allowing rehabilitation to proceed rather than demolition. As reported by The Kansas City Star, MAC representative Peter Cassel “declared the wisdom of hindsight and acknowledged that neighborhood leaders and historic preservationists were right to fight for saving the buildings, which, he said, are quite stunning.” The Colonnades remain a favorite highlight of Historic Kansas City’s “Endangered No More!” series, providing a model for what preservation advocacy can accomplish through collaboration among Historic Kansas City, neighborhood partners, property owners, and leadership from local elected officials.

Scroll through the images below to see these buildings as they appeared in 1940 Jackson County tax assessment photos.

08/19/2026

It's back-to-school time in KC! Now's a time to consider the architect with more influence on the educational landscape of Kansas City than any other: Charles Ashley Smith (1866 – 1948). While serving as architect for the Kansas City Board of Education from 1898 until his retirement in 1936, Smith designed more than 50 of the city’s public schools. This was a period encompassing the district’s most prolific era of school construction, and it also coincided with an era that gave rise to self-consciously "Progressive," innovative, and health-oriented design in educational settings. The National Register Multiple Property survey for Kansas City’s pre-1970 public schools credits Smith (alone and alongside his later firm) with 55 new school buildings and 26 additions or expansions during his tenure—81 projects in the Kansas City district alone. This body of work also extended well beyond the city, with schools in communities including Liberty, Lee’s Summit, Bonner Springs, Osceola, and elsewhere in the region. In Kansas City, many of these schools have seen recent adaptive reuse projects, most commonly transforming them to multi-family apartments.

Born in Ohio in 1866 and raised in Iowa, Smith began working as a draftsman at age 16 in the Des Moines office of Bell & Hackney before coming to Kansas City with architect William F. Hackney in 1887. After Hackney’s death, Smith became Board Architect in 1898 and developed school plans that could be enlarged in phases as neighborhoods grew, while incorporating changing ideas about ventilation, sanitation, fireproof construction, natural light, and specialized educational spaces. His designs ranged from the Classical Revival and Jacobethan to Colonial Revival and other popular revival styles; surviving examples include Bancroft School, Attucks School, Woodland School, Northeast High School, Central Junior High School, and Westport High School. Smith’s work often derived from a handful of basic typologies, from symmetrical early elementary schools and specialized open-air schools to the large high schools and junior high schools constructed during the building campaigns of the 1920s.

Smith’s school work formed only part of a Kansas City architectural career spanning more than half a century. He was a principal in Smith, Rea & Lovitt from 1910 to 1921, whose work included the YMCA Building at 1822-28 The Paseo, Kansas City Club at 1228 Baltimore, and Firestone Building at 2001 Grand, and his practice encompassed commercial buildings, residences, churches, and apartments in addition to schools. Among his final designs were the Fine Arts Building on the present UMKC campus, completed in 1942, and Unity Temple on the Plaza, completed in 1948, the year Smith died. His unusually long tenure as Board Architect helps account for the recurrence of his name across Kansas City’s historic school buildings. Over his four decades as Board Architect, Smith developed school plans that could be flexible to adjust for enrollment changes and additions, while introducing improved ventilation, natural lighting, and fireproof construction. For those buildings that have changed use in more recent years, the fact of their durable materials sturdy construction, and functional spaces has contributed to making disused schools into quality apartment housing.

Dialogue around repurposing of some of the last KCMO schools left empty since the early 2000s continues, most recently with Kansas City Public Schools' consideration of proposals for the Bryant School campus in the Countryside Neighborhood. Historic KC will have more information on this process in the coming days and weeks, but be sure to check out today's coverage of this Smith-designed school from The Kansas City Star: https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/article316916078.html

08/18/2026

BREAKING: Historic buildings representing two centuries of Independence, MO, history are officially headed to the November ballot. This evening, the Independence City Council voted unanimously, 7–0, to place a General Obligation bond question dedicated to the City’s historic sites on the November 3 ballot.

If approved by Independence voters, the measure would authorize $19.9 million for renovations, improvements, and equipment upgrades, with priority given to the Bingham-Waggoner Estate, Vaile Mansion, Truman Memorial Building, Old Fire Station One, and 1827 Log Courthouse, along with creation of a 20-year business plan for the City’s historic buildings.

The vote follows months of discussion over the future ownership and long-term maintenance of Independence’s historic sites. In July, the Council unanimously affirmed continued City ownership of the Bingham-Waggoner Estate and Vaile Mansion while pursuing additional funding for all City-owned historic sites.

Historic Kansas City is a member of the Save Our Sites Coalition, alongside the Bingham-Waggoner Historical Society and Vaile Victorian Society of the Vaile Mansion. We’ll have more to share about these places and their preservation needs as November approaches. Check out the following article for more on tonight’s vote, the five historic sites, and what the bond would fund: https://historickansascity.substack.com/p/independence-historic-sites-headed

08/17/2026

Happy 816 Day! Festivities took place today across Kansas City, including in and around 18th and Vine, Downtown, and the Country Club Plaza—three places with very different histories and forms of historic recognition as "historic districts." If 816 Day is an opportunity to celebrate what is special about Kansas City and the Missouri side of the metropolitan area, historic designations provide one way of taking stock. Kansas City alone contains more than 300 sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places and more than 100 listings on the Kansas City Register—many of which contain whole neighborhoods. Beyond the borders of KCMO, Missouri-side communities have established their own historic preservation commissions, local landmarks, and historic districts.

Among these many recognized places are six carrying the additional distinction of National Historic Landmark designation, reserved by the National Park Service for properties of exceptional value in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States: Fort Osage near Sibley (1961), Watkins Mill near Excelsior Springs (1966), the Harry S Truman Historic District in Independence (1971), the Mutual Musicians Foundation in Kansas City (1981), the Harry S Truman Farm Home in Grandview (1985), and Liberty Memorial in Kansas City (2006). These sites stretch geographically from Sibley and Excelsior Springs to Independence, Kansas City, and Grandview. They also represent different periods in time, ranging from the early nineteenth-century frontier era of our region to the booming metropolis of the interwar period.

The Country Club Plaza, despite more than a century of documented history, is not presently listed as a historic district in either the National Register or Kansas City Register. Downtown, the 1934 Jackson County Courthouse and 1937 Kansas City City Hall similarly form a major Depression-era civic complex without National Register or local historic district designation. Historic designation provides an important means of identifying and, depending upon the type of designation, protecting historic resources, but the work of identifying and listing significant places remains very much ongoing! For places not yet formally designated, architectural surveys, archival research, and resources like Kansas City’s African American Heritage Trail remain available to the public as reference materials.

Read more about historic recognition across Kansas City and the Missouri side of the metro—including maps of locally designated historic districts and landmarks—in the following HKC Substack article: https://historickansascity.substack.com/p/celebrating-816-day

08/14/2026

A neighborhood landmark of the Central Avenue corridor in Kansas City, Kansas, historic Fire Station No. 9 anchors the corner at 2 South 14th Street. The station was completed in 1911, during a period of major period of civic building that followed KCK's adoption of the commission form of government in 1910. Designed by William E. Harris, the three-story brick station originally housed an Anderson combination chemical and hose wagon, 1,000 feet of hose, two chemical tanks, ladders, and a crew of four. The station served the surrounding Grandview neighborhood, then a growing mixture of working- and middle-class homes and businesses along Central Avenue.

Architecturally, No. 9 is a far cray from the strictly utilitarian model of a fire station. Its mustard-colored brick exterior incorporates Prairie School influence in its broad overhanging eaves, red tile roofing, terra cotta trim. Some Tudor or Gothic elements are also present in the arched openings, buttresses, and sculptural elements. Among these decorative ornaments are terra cotta gargoyles depicting small firemen, including one mounted on the former hose tower. The station closed after a replacement facility opened at 11th and Central in 1967 and was subsequently used by city maintenance crews. A neighborhood-led effort returned it to productive use in the 1970s as the Prescott Neighborhood Center, with exterior restoration beginning in 1977. The property was listed in the on the state historic register by the Kansas State Historic Preservation Office in 1979 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The building's occupation has been consistent since 2006, when Community Housing of Wyandotte County moved its offices from a small house in Strawberry Hill into the old fire station. The rehabilitation, designed by STRATA Architecture + Preservation and supported by state and federal historic tax credits, adapted the former fire station for office and public-facing uses. The organization became Build WyCo in 2025, and the historic station serves as its headquarters. Its work has expanded well beyond its early neighborhood housing programs. Build WyCo reports more than 890 homes built, renovated, or repaired and more than 960 families assisted with homeownership, while its current strategy includes mixed-use development and a commitment to “preserve historic places.” That work is taking on a larger role in Downtown KCK, where Build WyCo is pursuing the rehabilitation of several historic properties as part of renewed investment in the area.

08/14/2026

At 1025 W. 8th Street, the Faultless Starch Company Building remains one of the most recognizable industrial landmarks in the northern West Bottoms. Faultless Starch moved to this site after the company’s earlier building was badly damaged in the 1903 flood, commissioning Shepard & Farrar to design a new plant with manufacturing, storage, and office functions positioned beside major railroad freight facilities. Continued expansion saw a garage built in 1910, a substantial four-story addition designed by Hoit, Price & Barnes in 1937, and further additions in 1955. Immediately east, the Sewall Paint and Glass Company Building at 1009-1013 W. 8th Street, also completed in 1903, was designed by Adriance Van Brunt and housed a prominent manufacturer and distributor of paints, varnishes, stains, and enamels. Both companies relied heavily on the adjacent rail network for national distribution.

The two buildings were individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and are also included within the newly nominated West 8th Street Historic District, which encompasses industrial and warehouse buildings from 931 to 1127 W. 8th Street and along Santa Fe Street. The district documents a corridor that developed with manufacturing, warehousing, seed, food-processing, iron, wagon, paint, and other industrial businesses tied closely to the West Bottoms rail network. By 1939, the south side of West 8th Street between Madison Avenue and Santa Fe Street was fully developed, with the Kansas City Southern Railroad Freight House immediately to the north. Faultless itself grew into a nationally distributed brand, while Sewall held several patents and trademarks associated with its industrial paint products.

The buildings are now part of The Borman Group’s proposed “Starchworks” redevelopment, covering eight former Faultless campus buildings along the 1000 block of West 8th Street. The $15.8 million first phase calls for rehabilitation of the properties with a distillery and bar, brewery and sports bar, food and beverage commons, and continued office and event uses. Former rear loading docks would be adapted as an elevated walkway, while the familiar Faultless storage silo would remain a focal point with refreshed signage. The Borman Group acquired approximately 11 acres of former Faultless property in 2022 and is seeking Port KC incentives for the project; construction could begin later this year and continue through 2028.

Read more via The Kansas City Star: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article316873182.html
and the Kansas City Business Journal: https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2026/08/12/starchworks-faultless-borman-group-west-bottoms.html

08/12/2026

Endangered No More! The “Nelsonhood,” a collection of historic houses north of the The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art along 45th Street and Rockhill Road, represents a past success story of Historic KC's Endangered Places List helping to spotlight an exceptional concentration of historic residences and bring attention to the need for long-term preservation planning. Beginning in the 1990s, the museum acquired five residential properties in the Rockhill neighborhood for institutional use, while identifying demolition as a potential long-term outcome. The properties were zoned residential and listed on both the National Register of Historic Places and Kansas City Register of Historic Places. Their inclusion on Historic Kansas City’s Endangered Places list helped focus attention what had become an uncertain future.

After nearly a decade of discussion between the museum and surrounding neighborhoods, a preservation-oriented resolution was reached in 2017. With strong leadership from neighborhood residents and support from Historic Kansas City, Councilwoman Katheryn Shields, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, an agreement was incorporated into the "Nelson-Atkins Master Planned Development and a related Memorandum of Understanding." It called for preservation of the façades and interiors of all five houses and the sale of the nearby Kirkwood Mansion for rehabilitation and continued residential use. The museum was permitted to use the remaining four houses for institutional purposes under the preservation framework established by the agreement. The City Council unanimously approved the agreement in June 2017.

The agreement also established a Stewardship Committee with representation from the Nelson-Atkins, Historic Kansas City, and the Rockhill and Southmoreland Neighborhood to provide ongoing communication and review of proposed changes affecting the museum-owned residential properties. That committee remains active today, meeting regularly as the museum and neighborhoods plan for the future of these properties and the larger campus. Nearly a decade after the agreement, the houses remain standing. As Historic Kansas City prepares its first new Endangered Places List in five years, we are also looking back at places once included on the list that were ultimately saved. The Nelsonhood demonstrates the value of putting threatened places in the public eye while there is still time to reach a preservation-oriented solution.

08/12/2026

Support for historic preservation has often been galvanized by loss. On a national scale, few examples are more consequential than the 1963 demolition of New York City’s Pennsylvania Station. Public outrage over the destruction of the monumental 1910 train station helped propel the modern preservation movement and provided immediate impetus for passage of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which established much of the statutory framework for historic preservation that remains in place today. Kansas City has a direct physical connection to that story: the sculptural group that once stood above Penn Station’s Seventh Avenue entrance was brought here following the station’s demolition and incorporated into the Eagle Scout Tribute Fountain, dedicated in 1968.

Sixty years after passage of the National Historic Preservation Act, one of its most important provisions is facing substantial proposed changes. Section 106 requires federal agencies to “take into account” the effects of federally funded, permitted, licensed, or undertaken projects on historic properties. It does not prevent projects or give preservationists a veto. Instead, Section 106 requires federal agencies to consider effects on historic properties and consult with interested parties about ways to avoid, minimize, or mitigate harm.

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is now advancing proposed revisions to the regulations governing that process. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and other preservation organizations have raised concerns that the proposal would reduce opportunities for public participation, diminish the role of entities like the State Historic Preservation Office and Tribal communities and no longer require agencies to seek to avoid or minimize damage to historic places.

Historic Kansas City has published a new article, “Section 106 Explained: Why Proposed Changes Matter,” providing background on the National Historic Preservation Act, explaining how Section 106 review works, and outlining the proposed regulatory changes and what happens next.

Read “Section 106 Explained: Why Proposed Changes Matter”: https://historickansascity.substack.com/p/section-106-explained

For additional information, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the congressionally chartered nonprofit established in 1949 to facilitate public participation in historic preservation, has taken a leading role in the national response to the proposed Section 106 changes. The Trust has assembled background information, analysis of the proposal, advocacy resources, and updates for preservation organizations and members of the public who want to follow the issue and make their voices heard. From the Trust, "Section 106 Under threat": https://savingplaces.org/section106

08/11/2026

Another group of the River Market’s historic warehouses and commercial buildings could soon join the National Register of Historic Places. An expansion of the "Old Town" National Register Historic District is in the works, which would certify historic recognition of more buildings Kansas City’s River Market, once known as the "River Quay." The proposed 2.65-acre boundary increase would add seven contributing buildings in two areas along the district’s western edge, primarily around West 2nd, West 3rd, and Wyandotte streets, with a smaller section along West 5th Street between Wyandotte and Delaware. The seven contributing buildings proposed for addition were constructed between about 1890 and 1946 and were used for warehousing, manufacturing, commercial activity, and related functions tied to the City Market and nearby rail lines. The KCMO Historic Preservation Office recommended approval of the nomination when it came before the Historic Preservation Commission in June, and the Heritage Consulting Group team will subsequently seek approval of the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation before the nomination proceeds to the National Park Service.

The proposed expansion includes a group of the River Market’s surviving warehouse and commercial buildings, some of which are positioned for ample reinvestment in the coming years. The four-story Chase Bag Company Building at 201 Wyandotte Street, built around 1907 and expanded in 1922, retains decorative buff brick, large masonry openings, and historic skybridges connecting it with neighboring buildings. Nearby, 116 West 3rd Street was constructed in 1890 for the Railroad Transfer Company, while the 1907 Household Fair Warehouse Building at 204 West 3rd Street is defined by its large window openings (due to its steel-frame construction), retaining both a loading dock and fire escape. The oldest of this "batch" is the two-story building at 210 Wyandotte Street, constructed around 1903, and notable for its decorative brick quoining, cornice, and entablature surrounding the canted corner along 3rd Street. The more utilitarian, one-story warehouse at 200 Wyandotte Street, built in 1946 for M. Lyon and Company, occupies the former site of the Kansas City Suburban Belt Railroad Station. Farther south, the adjoining buildings at 114 and 122 West 5th Street retain a handful of visible historic features alongside a non-historic brick facade.

The Old Town Historic District was first listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and has since been expanded four times, in 2005, 2005, 2006, and 2012. The original district and those earlier expansions now contain 75 contributing resources across approximately 42 acres. Boundary Increase V would add the remaining cohesive group of historic buildings along much of the district’s western edge, where surface parking, newer construction, highways, and railroad corridors have interrupted the older development pattern. The nomination proposes significance under Criterion A in Commerce for association with Kansas City’s warehousing and manufacturing economy and Criterion C in Architecture for its collection of rail-adjacent commercial and industrial buildings. Just as National Register listing decades ago set the groundwork for reinvestment in the district, supported by state and federal historic tax credit programs, we can expect more rehabilitation progress in the old "River Quay" in the years to come!

Historic Kansas City

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