Charles Francis Adams Jr. Building

While the family of John Adams and John Quincy Adams is best associated with Washington D.C. and Massachusetts, Charles Francis Adams Jr., the great-grandson of John Quincy Adams, left his mark on Kansas City when he had this West Bottoms building constructed in 1883.  At that time, this was prime real estate between Union Depot and the old Stockyards, and Adams understood the economic power of agricultural business in the area. This building was home to several important agricultural businesses over the years, starting with the Buford and George Company, a leader in the farm implement business. A fire that swept through the area in 1894 destroyed the original structure and Buford and George occupied the building until 1903, the same year as a devastating flood that served as a harbinger of future floods. John Deere eventually took over the location and used it to support their saddlery and harnesses business until 1913. By then, Union Depot's fate was sealed as Union Station was only a year from completion, and many businesses that depended on rail transportation were moving to the Crossroads area. The building is now a mixed-use property with loft apartments and a barbershop and salon on the first story alongside businesses such as West Bottoms Whiskey next door.

Constructed in 1883, this building was home to several of the leading industries of the West Bottoms during the late 19th and early 20th century, each a part of the agricultural business sector that shaped Kansas City. Shortly after the Civil War, Kansas City was selected as the site of the first bridge over the Missouri River. With the construction of the Hannibal Bridge just over a mile northeast of this point, this area soon became the crossroads of commerce. Nine years later, Union Depot was completed just half a mile north of this location. This rail stop proved to make Kansas City a booming railroad city. 

The nexus of rivers and railroads attracted investors, including Charles Francis Adams Jr., the great-grandson of former president John Quincy Adams. Adams had local advisors, Nathan Thayer and Charles F. Morse, survey the business landscape and offer him investment ideas. While he would invest in land on both sides of the Kansas–Missouri border, no area appealed to Adams Jr. more than the West Bottoms. Two existing industries in the West Bottoms attracted him to the location. A block to the east was the John Deere building while the stockyards straddled the state border. With these businesses and easy access to the rail line, Charles Francis Adams Jr. invested in the location. 

Over the decades following its construction, the building was home to some of the most important agricultural businesses in the West Bottoms. The first of such tenants was The Buford and George Company in 1883. At that time, they were one of the largest agricultural firms in the country and sold equipment from various manufacturers. The company acquired a building in Kansas City in 1878 on the southwest corner of Union Avenue and Santa Fe Street, which demonstrated the growth of Kansas City's agribusiness sector. On June 10th, 1894, a fire demolished the original structure, but Buford and George reinvested in the West Bottoms and selected the firm of Van Brunt and Howe to design a replacement. This structure was completed in 1895 for $17,000 and would serve the company and its over 100 employees until owner Edward George sold the company to John Deere upon his retirement in 1903.

John Deere maintained the same workforce, but some of their inventory and operations were naturally transitioned to John Deere’s main building, which was a block to the east. This building was used to support the saddlery and harness division that made Buford and George so popular after John Deere acquired the building, and soon John Deere decided to divide this part of the company into a separate entity, the Velie Saddlery Company in 1907. Veile produced and sold equipment to farmers in places like the American Southwest, but as farmers utilized mechanized equipment in the years that followed, the company downsized and left the building in 1913. Numerous agricultural firms operated out of this building in the next decades. Today, the structure is a mixed-use property with loft apartments and a salon at the base of the building.

Flint, Kara Evans . CATTLEMEN AND VISIONARIES: THE MEN WHO MADE THE STOCKYARDS, KC History. May 15th, 2014. Accessed June 21st, 2024. https://kchistory.org/blog/cattlemen-and-visionaries-men-who-made-stockyards.

Millstein, Sydney. Adams, Charles Francis Jr. Building, MoStateParks. August 12th, 2019. Accessed June 21st, 2024. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Adams_Charles_Francis_Jr_Building.pdf.