L. B. Price Mercantile Company Building (1904-1999)

Built in 1904 for the L. B. Mercantile Company, a three-story brick commercial building once stood at this location. The company bought home goods in bulk and sold direct to the customer, growing very rapidly. One of the early tenants in the building was Gray Advertising, who offered an art studio where Walt Disney was hired as an art apprentice in 1919. The building was razed in 1999 for a downtown development project and is now occupied by a surface parking lot.

The brick commercial building once located here, at 14th and Oak Street was designed by Shepard and Farrar and built for the L. B. Price Mercantile Company in 1904. The main entrance was recessed and located central to the building on Oak Street. The facade was divided into 5 bays by brick piers. Large plate glass windows were found at street level, while the second and third stories contained triple windows in the central bays and paired windows in the outer. 

It has been known by many names over the years, based on its major tenancy. Originally, it was the L. B. Price Mercantile Company Building for its owner. Following this was the Gray Building for the F. A. Gray Advertising Company and the Liberty Building for the Liberty Starch Company. In 1980, it was the Phil Jacobs Building for the Phil Jacobs Sportswear and Dress Shop.

L. B. Price Mercantile Company

Successful businessman L. B. Price was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1856. At the age of 2 he moved with his father to Iowa, where they would run a farm until he reached age 26. L. B. was also a school teacher in the winter season. He got connected with W. A. Edwards, a mercantile owner out of Des Moines and spent 10 years working for him, eventually securing an executive position. In 1889, Price moved to Topeka, Kansas where he established his own mercantile business. He moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1893. 

L. B. Price Mercantile Company was incorporated in 1898, with 25 employees. They bought factory goods in bulk and sold directly to the consumer, including lace curtains, rugs, silverware, and bedding. In 1904, Price erected the office building at 14th and Oak Street. The company grew rapidly, employing over 600 individuals in 11 states throughout the Midwest by 1908. L. B. Price quickly became one of the million dollar merchants of Kansas City, but remained generous to his employees.

Office of Historic Preservation. Historic Inventory Form Phil Jacobs Building, Missouri State Parks. Accessed March 15th 2022. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/KC%20CBD%201980%20S3.pdf.

Viets, Dan. Burnes, Brian. Walt Disney's Missouri: The Roots of a Creative Genius. Kansas City Star Books, 2002.

Westlake Whitney, Carrie. Kansas City, Missouri: Its History and Its People 1800-1908. Volume 3. Kansas City, MO. S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1908.