921 Massachusetts Street

As one of the first buildings on Mass Street, 921 has been occupied by over 15 different businesses over the last 153 years. From a meat market to a music school, a shoe store, and even a drugstore. Currently, the building is known as Rally House Kansas Sampler which is a retail store that sells officially licensed sports teams and collegiate apparel and gifts. From the outside, this building looks like any normal retail store, but throughout the duration of this building's history, and the several businesses that have occupied this building, it has facilitated historical events that have impacted the development of the community of Lawrence. In the 1960s this building would become the hub for all political conversation from topics like age, race, gender. It became a safe space for the local college student to discuss social and political movements and as a result of the conversations and interactions within this building, the community of Lawrence now has things like the Lawrence Fair Housing Ordinance, the Lawrence Public Pool, and just in general a sense of a very politically progressive and inclusive community.

What is now the historic downtown area, which is the 600-1200 blocks of Mass Street in Lawrence Kansas, began to develop in the late 1850s. Today the building serves as just a retail store, but the walls hold onto untold stories and forgotten memory of the developmental years of Lawrence. It was one of the first buildings to be constructed on Massachusetts street in 1868 but was originally numbered 167 Mass. The first company to occupy the building was the Frishman & Brother dry goods store. After the dry goods store, companies went in and out of it for nearly 40 years, until in 1911 it became a department store called S.H Kress Co. 

S.H Kress Co was a very successful department store chain with 250 different locations, one of them being Lawrence Kansas. This company was significant to the Lawrence area because the owner, Samuel Kress, “Envisioned his stores as works of public art that would contribute to the cityscape” (thriveallencounty.org) Samuel was not only a businessman but had a love for architecture and art. He found a way to combine those passions, and along with having uniquely designed department stores all over the nation, he was also known for selling his drawings and photographs of the architecture and towns where his stores were located. The National Building Museum was able to collect the company's building records and according to their website, they secured “thousands of drawings and photographs relating to the design, construction and operation of more than 200 stores stretching from New York to Hawaii.” (nbm.org) Kress’s photographs and drawings were sold as postcards at his department stores, each store selling postcards related to the town they were in. Today these postcards are unfortunately no longer for sale but if they were they could provide lots of memory toward the developmental years of Lawrence and preserve the memory for Samuel Kress and the impact his company had.

After 44 years of business in Lawrence, S.H Kress Co. closed down, and there was a change in ownership of the property. 921 Mass St then became owned by Richard Raney, with Raney Properties, L.P, who was mayor of Lawrence from 1967-1968. Sadly, Raney passed in 2017, but within his 89 years of life, he was very active and influential during the development of the Lawrence that we know today. One major impact that Raney made on the Lawrence community was assisting the passing of the Lawrence Fair House ordinance. This ordinance protects the safety of those in public housing from different acts of discrimination and harmful situations, and it also led to the building of the Lawrence public pool. 

Once Raney became the property owner for 921 Mass St, it became the Raney Family Drugstore. What was so special about this drugstore was that inside of it was also a coffee shop, which would soon become a free and open space for people to congregate and discuss politics and social issues. This coffee shop, located at 921 Mass St, became a crucial aspect of how politics were during the 1960s because it became a free space for people of all races and backgrounds to come together and discuss these issues. Although a Republican candidate, Raney was open-minded to working with the Black community so that he could further understand them and their perspective. The coffee shop in his drug store provided a place for conversation and change for the community, and also gave Raney a chance to further educate himself on the prevalent issues and make a difference with the political power he had. 

Raney’s Drugstore thrived in the Lawrence community and after 30 years closed for business in 1996. Fast forward 14 years and 921 Mass Street finally becomes Rally House Kansas Sampler which is the business that is currently occupying the building, but Raney Properties, LP. still has property ownership of the building. From S.H Kress Co. to Raney Drugs and all the other niche stores in-between. 921 Mass St. has fostered many memories and historical moments for the Lawrence community, and even though that history may not be visible to the eye at first glance, raising awareness of these memories and history can help our community further understand its rich history and how it became the place that it is.

1. 921 Massachusetts street. Unmistakably Lawrence. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://www.explorelawrence.com/things-to-do/history-heritage/block-by-block/900-block/921-massachusetts-street/. 
2. Kress & Company Collection at the National Building Museum: National Building Museum. National Building Museum |. (2021, October 26). Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://www.nbm.org/collections/s-h-kress-company/. 
3. Richard Raney Obituary (1928 - 2017) Lawrence Journal-World. Legacy.com. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://obituaries.ljworld.com/us/obituaries/ljworld/name/richard-raney-obituary?pid=185431784. 
4. Google. (n.d.). This is America? Google Books. Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://books.google.com/books?id=AQzGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=raney%2Bdrugs%2Blawrence%2Bks&source=bl&ots=zhD2Sr1faG&sig=ACfU3U3gu1xvzk2hEdQ5RBiR_xTxNkGZhA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjP8MjIk7_0AhWnlWoFHfhzB2QQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=raney%20drugs%20lawrence%20ks&f=false.