Kansas City Historic Garment District Museum (2002-2024)

Until its closure in September 2024, the Kansas City Garment District Museum was housed in the former office space for Poindexter Dry Goods, which was built in 1901. The museum was founded by Ann Brownfield and Harvey Fried in 2002. Both founders were former employees in the Garment District, and the museum benefitted from their firsthand reflections and knowledge of the district. Ownership and management of the collection was transferred to the Kansas City Museum in 2015. Beginning in 2022, the Kansas City Museum collection is co-owned by the Kansas City Museum Foundation and Union Station.

Kansas City’s Garment District grew rapidly in the 1920s and became one of the nation’s largest, and Kansas City's overall production of garments was second only to New York City's at its peak. In the 1930s, one in seven women in the U.S. owned a garment made in Kansas City, thanks in part to Nell Donnelly's company, which was initially located in the district before expanding operations to the Corrigan building at 18th and Walnut. The heart of the district spanned from 6th Street to 10th Street and Washington to Wyandotte. Many of those structures were constructed as Kansas City grew rapidly from the 1870s to the early 1900s. While clothing manufacturing occurred here at that time, the Garment District grew immensely in the early-to-mid twentieth century.

The Garment District employed women who could leverage their work as seamstresses, taking skills of domestic work into the factories of the city. Prior to the development of new tools, some of which were on display in this museum, men took jobs cutting fabric while women sewed and finished garments. One of the largest labor unions of the 1930s in the United States came out of the Garment District: the Ladies’ Garments Workers’ Union.

The Garment District became one of the largest employers of women, immigrants, and Jewish refugees. A streamlined process known as the “section system” was created and functioned much like an assembly line. Each person would sew just one part of the garment and could focus on just learning how to sew that section - such as sewing on buttons for example.

Nelly Don was founded by Nell Donnelly and became the largest dress manufacturer of the 20th century, with 75 million dresses made between 1916 and 1978. Nelly Don, Kansas City’s pioneer in fashion, opposed unionization and sought to preempt unionization by offering employees benefits and childcare. Remembered by many as both an influential designer and a savvy business leader. Nell Donnelly became one of the most influential people in the city.

Like Donnelly herself, the Garment District was heavily influential over Kansas City’s economy for decades. It experienced its prime in the 1950s and 1960s, but its decline began during the 1960s and accelerated in latter decades as a consequence of international trade and overseas manufacturing.

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