Lowe and Campbell Sporting Goods Building

This attractive building was constructed by the Lowe and Campbell Sporting Goods Company in 1925. The third location for the company, it housed the company's retail, office, and manufacturing space. The six-story building was designed with Classical Revival elements and features a terra cotta base with fluted pilasters, arched windows topped with decorative cartouches, modillions above the arched windows, a projecting cornice between the second and third stories, and terra cotta blocks with urns and garlands. The remaining floors feature a brick facade and along the top are terra cotta medallions and decorative bands. The building is also significant for representing the rise of the sporting goods industry in the early 20th century. Lowe and Campbell eventually merged with Wilson Sporting Goods, which is one of the largest sporting goods companies in the world. Various businesses occupy the building today. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

The sporting goods industry emerged in the late 19th century thanks to innovations in using byproducts from meatpacking plants including bones, hides, blood and entrails). Some of these could be used to make glue, fertilizer and glycerin. Animal hides were used to make balls and entrails were used to make thread and fibers. In Chicago, the Ashland Manufacturing Company, which was a meatpacking company, started manufacturing sporting goods in 1913. That turned into a great success and eventually the company transitioned to making sporting goods and renamed itself the Wilson Sporting Goods Company. The demand for sporting goods rose significantly around the country as people had more leisure time thanks to urbanization and the increase in office jobs.

There were a dozen sporting goods companies in Kansas City in 1912 including Lowe and Campbell, which was founded that year by George C. Lowe and D. Keedy Campbell, and all were located in the city's central business district. In 1921, the company moved to its second location which was a three-story structure at 1508 Grand. Four years later, they moved into the present building. The company was successful, having expanded into Dallas, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Minneapolis by 1926. In 1931, the company became a division of Wilson and operated as wholesaler. By 1946, Lowe and Campbell expanded into several additional cities including Pittsburg and Denver.

In 1961, Lowe and Campbell moved to a new building that had large parking lots. By then, Wilson had grown to become one of the largest companies of its kind in the world with 34 sales branches and 14 factories in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. Wilson remained in Kansas City until the 1980s. After Lowe and Campbell vacated the Grand Avenue building, the Hoover Bothers Educational Equipment and Supplies company moved in and remained until at least 1981. In 2011, the Hanna Rubber Company was occupying the entire building. It has since relocated and other businesses occupy the building as of August 2022.

Rosin, Elizabeth. "Lowe & Campbell Sporting Goods Company." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. January 12, 2012. https://catalog.archives.gov/OpaAPI/media/63819397/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MO/11001018.pdf.