James Crews Postoffice

This post office was named after James Crews, the older brother of newspaper editor Nelson Crews and an activist and civil rights pioneer in his own right. Crews began working as a letter carrier in 1883 and was the first Black postman in Kansas City. James Crews was one of Kansas City’s five delegates to a national convention of the NAACP in its early years. Crews continued working in postal services until his retirement following almost 47 years of service. A former postal branch, also in the 18th and Vine neighborhood, was named in honor of James Crews in 1953. This branch was later named in honor of Crews following the closing of that location.

James Crews was born in Howard County, Missouri sometime before or during the Civil War and is believed to be the oldest of his four brothers to reach adulthood. Not much is known about his time in Howard County but he moved to Kansas City in the late 1870s when he was a teenager. The 1900 census also mentions that he took a woman named Florence of Washington, D.C. as his wife and she was identified as mulatto race. They had four sons. 

Crews began working as a substitute letter carrier in 1883 and by the 1900s the Crews were one of only two Black families living in the 2400 block of Wabash in Kansas City. By 1920, Crews had remarried and moved to 2735 Vine Street which was only a few blocks from the home of his younger brother and activist, Nelson Crews. 

James and Nelson were both heavily involved in improving the quality of life for Black men and women in Kansas City. Nelson was more well known due to his service with various organizations dedicated to the betterment of Kansas City’s Black residents and his position as Editor of the African American newspaper The Kansas City Sun. James was a Freemason, was a member of the NAACP and one of Kansas City’s five delegates to the organization’s national convention. In order to better the lives of Black Kansas Citians, he spearheaded the establishment of the YMCA on 1824 Paseo as a place for Black residents to gather and to uplift the community. James outlived Nelson who passed due to complications from an illness in 1923 at the age of 57. 

In addition to participating in local civil rights activism, James continued working for the post office, becoming Kansas City's first full-time Black postal carrier. James retired in 1930 after approximately 47 years of service as a mail carrier. He passed away sixteen years later in 1946 at the age of 87. According to a news clipping from a February 1952 edition of the Kansas City Star, there were plans to create a substation in the 18th and Vine area to be named after James Crews, marking the first time a postal branch was named after an employee. An article in the 1953 edition of the Kansas City Star shared the news of the substation's opening while bearing his name. That substation has since closed, but the current post office located at 2201 East Truman Rd. is still in operation and is named in honor of Crew.

, Daniel Coleman. Nelson And James Crews, Accessed February 26th, 2023. https://pendergastkc.org/article/biography/nelson-and-james-crews.

Coulter, Charles E. Take Up the Black Man's Burden: Kansas City’s African American Communities 1865–1939. University of Missouri Press.

"To Add A Mail Unit: Postoffice Department Grants a Substation in the 18th-Vine Area." The Kansas City Star (Kansas City) February 7th, 1952. .