F. W. Woolworth Building - Troost Ave

Constructed from 1927 to 1928, this F. W. Woolworth Building was one of three Woolworth locations when it opened and the first of two Woolworths to be located on Kansas City's Troost Avenue. The company operated a large central location at 11th and Main starting in 1911. As the company's "Five & Dime" retail chain grew to more than 1,800 stores throughout the United States and Canada, additional stores opened at 39th and Main (1926) this location (1928) and an additional store at 46th and Troost and 5th and Walnut in 1930. The store's founder, F.W. Woolworth, died in 1919 but his company continued to grow until the advent of larger discount stores like K-Mart led to the chain's closure in the 1990s. Woolworth generally operated large downtown locations as well as smaller suburban stores such as this location, a site selected owing to the decision to pave and widen Troost to 7th street in the 1920s as well as significant streetcar traffic from lines along Troost, 31st Street, and Linwood.

Constructed from 1927 to 1928, The F. W. Woolworth Building enjoys significance for its association with the commercial development along Kansas City's electric streetcar corridors during the early twentieth century and for its association with the advent of the suburban Woolworth's Five-and-Ten-Cent (or Five & Dime) chain store in Kansas City in the late 1920s. The F. W. Woolworth Company developed a marketing program based on the expanding suburban middle-class, notably those who frequented streetcar lines and their transfer points. 

Despite Kansas City's population falling below Woolworth Company's minimum threshold, the company chose to invest in Kansas City due to the high volume of pedestrian traffic at the city's streetcar transfer points. Indeed, Woolworth operated more than 700 stores nationwide, with the vast majority of them in cities with populations double that of Kansas City.  Erected in 1927-1928, the Woolworth Building stood as one of three secondary suburban Woolworth stores in Kansas City (the only dime store in the city to operate multiple locations during the 1920s). The store faced the city's main commercial corridor within its fastest-growing ward; the ward supported 32,495 residents by 1930, a 127.5 percent increase over the previous decade.

Five & Dime stores played an influential role in American culture during the first half of the twentieth century, and Woolworth dominated the industry during that time. The chain opened in 1879 when Frank Winfield Woolworth opened a notions store in Pennsylvania. He pioneered retail precedents that continue today, such as purchasing merchandise directly from manufacturers in bulk and establishing fixed prices on all items (five or ten cents). He also placed merchandise out on display for the public to view, select, and purchase. (Commonly, stores kept items behind counters so that customers had to ask clerks to select items, and then they would bargain over the price.) Woolworth also served as the first retailer to install a lunch counter so that the store became a gathering place for social and business encounters. After the initial success of his store in Pennsylvania, Woolworth and his brother, Charles S. Woolworth, opened a large number of five & dimes. The Woolworth Company established multiple stores in selected large cities, primarily in their central business districts and in suburban middle-class commercial districts at locations with high pedestrian traffic near significant streetcar lines. Woolworth's success led to other five & dime stores opening so that the format evolved into a fixture of America's commercial culture (mainly for the middle class). In 1911, the F. W. Woolworth Company incorporated six five & dime chains. By the time F.W. Woolworth died in 1919, his chain had grown to 1,081 stores in the United States and Canada. 

In addition to the Woolworth Company model of selling general merchandise at fixed prices and establishing each store as a meeting place (usually at the lunch counter), Woolworth generally paid better wages than most of its competitors, routinely hired women, introduced minimum wages for positions, offered paid vacations and provided Christmas bonuses -- all unique for the early twentieth century. In 1932, during the Great Depression, the company raised its top prices from ten cents to twenty cents. And, in 1935, the controlled pricing ended altogether when the store began selling higher-priced merchandise such as furniture and appliances. The lunch counter and community aspect remained a staple of the Woolworth's model, though. By the 1940s, the Woolworths chain was the nation's largest food-service retailer with almost one thousand lunch counters.  

Woolworth's not only served cities as general retail outlets, but the stores also served as a social meeting places as each store included a lunch counter. During the early 1960s, downtown Woolworth stores became the center of challenges to segregation. Suburban locations were also significant to the social history of neighborhoods, as their lunch counters were gathering places for residents of Kansas City's middle-class neighborhoods.

In the 1960s, the five-and-dime model evolved into the larger discount store. In 1962, the F. W. Woolworth Company founded the Woolco chain to compete with Kmart; Woolco operated for two decades and closed in 1982. Also, during the early 1960s, the Woolworth Company closed many of its major downtown stores. By the 1990s, Woolworth store numbers fell to roughly 400 outlets. In 1997, the Woolworth Company closed its remaining stores. The rise of large discount stores as a leading cause of the decline of Woolwoorth's is symbolized by the replacement of Woolworth by Wal-Mart on the Dow Jones Industrial Average

Kilian, Michael "Counter Culture." Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL), June 27, 1997. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-06-27-9706270123-story.html

Plunkett-Powell, Karen. Remembering Woolworth's: A Nostalgic History of the World's Most Famous Five-and-Dime. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999.

Schwenk, Sally F. "Nomination Form: F.W. Woolworth Building." National Register of Historic Places. mostateparks.com. 2004. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Woolworth%2C%20F.W.%2C%20Bldg.pdf

Sloane, Leonard. "The five and dime empire." New York Times (New York, NY), July 1, 1973.