HUB Bookstore

HUB Bookstore

The Hub Bookstore was founded in 1965 by two local couples and quickly became more than just a bookstore–it was the cultural hotspot for African Americans in the Kansas City community. Opening during the period of awakening for African American literature, music, and art, The Hub was the one-stop-shop for gathering, learning, listening, and creating. When national chains began carrying similar products, The Hub began its decline, leading to its closure in 1975. Despite closing, the store left a lasting legacy on the people and cultural artifacts that spent time in the space. 

In 1965, The Hub was opened by Chester and Lillie Owens and James and Dorothy McField and quickly became the cultural hotspot for African Americans in Kansas City Kansas. During this time, there was an awakening in the US as a new awareness among African Americans that there was a wealth of Black literature, music, and arts that were largely ignored by public school curricula and bookstores. During this time, there was also a post-Civil Rights Black nationalism that looked to its roots in Africa for cultural identity. The Hub became a gathering place for the community and a breeding ground for new ideas and arts. Prior to the Hub, the building was home to the Curt Drugstore, a local family pharmacy. After Curt sold the site the building also housed a Grocery store before falling vacant when the Hub then moved in.

Longtime pals Chester Owens and James McField saw that the main commercial corridor of Kansas City, Kansas was lacking a bookstore and a place for African Americans to go to experience new ideas. Soon after, they and their wives opened The Hub, and quickly the store became a regional destination. The Hub featured a carefully-curated collection of African American books, artwork, music, and news as well as a safe space for people to gather and share ideas. This spot was so hot, that even the youth gathered here to find out what was new and provided an opportunity for education beyond what they were receiving at school.

In the late 1960s, The Hub was targeted like many other African American-owned bookstores across the country by anti-communist counterintelligence initiatives that brought surveillance to their locations. This along with the immersion of their products into national retailers, African American bookstores across the country began to close, with the Hub closing in 1975. Today, the legacy of The Hub lives on in McField’s home studio, which houses a variety of the merchandise once sold in The Hub, open to the public.  

McField, James and Dorothy. A Brief, Incomplete Story of a Bookstore, Phools County. March 27th 2019. Accessed July 15th 2022. https://phoolscountry.com/the-hub/.

The Kansas City Star.. Accessed June 8th 2022. https://account.kansascity.com/paywall/subscriber-only?resume=258680613&intcid=ab_archive.

Ziegler, Laura. In The 1960s, This Bookstore Was The Place For Black Culture In Kansas City, Kansas, KCUR. October 29th 2019. Accessed June 8th 2022. https://www.kcur.org/community/2019-10-29/in-the-1960s-this-bookstore-was-the-place-for-Black-culture-in-kansas-city-kansas.