Cockfair Hall is home to UMKC's Departments of History, English and Philosophy. The Building was home to the UKC/UMKC School of Law from 1950-1979. In 1980, the university renovated the building and named it for former professor Carolyn Benton Cockefair. Cockefair had been instrumental in teaching veteran students after the Second World War and established the university's Department of Continuing Education. UMKC's Cockefair Chair in Continuing Education, a speakers and education series, also honors her.
This frame house was built in 1924 and was the residence of Kenneth Dickey until 1936, when Kansas City philanthropist William Volker purchased the home and donated it to Kansas City University (UMKC today). This frame house served as the home of university presidents until 1956 and is now home to UMKC's literary magazine, New Letters. During its two decades of service as the university president's home, this house welcomed many of the nation's leading intellectuals as guests of university president Clarence Decker and his wife, Mary. Decker was the longest-serving president in the university's history, and he took an active role in making the university more inclusive. Towards the end of World War II, KCU was one of several universities that welcomed Japanese American students who had previously been placed in internment camps. The Deckers welcomed one of the seven Japanese American students who attended KCU during this time into their home. After the university ended its policy of racial segregation, the Deckers also invited several of the first African American students to live with them in this home.
The Isaac Katz Memorial Pharmacy Building, or Katz Hall as commonly known, was built from 1961 to 1965 as a new home to the UMKC School of Pharmacy. The building is named in honor of Isaac Katz (1879-1956), founder of the locally famous Katz Drugstore chain, which had over twenty locations in the Kansas City Area throughout the mid-20th century. The building was partially financed by an initial gift of $600,000 given to the university in 1961 by Isaac's brother and business partner, Michael Katz. The building was home to UMKC's School of Pharmacy from 1965-2008. Today, the mid-century modern campus building is home to UMKC's Department of Architecture and Urban Planning & Design.
Dedicated in 1969 as a three-story structure known as the General Library, UMKC's Miller Nichols Library has grown thanks to the support of area philanthropists to include more individual and collaborative spaces for students, resources for faculty, and several unique archival collections that serve scholars and the Kansas City community. The library was named in honor of Miller Nichols in 1991 following a $1.5 million donation that supported the completion of the fourth floor.
The Fine Arts building joined the University of Kansas City campus with its completion in 1942, housing the Chemistry and Biology departments. For the first three decades, the structure was known Chemistry-Biology Building. The building was renamed in 1972 in the midst of a wave of expansion. With the departments of chemistry and biology moving to the Spencer Chemistry Building and Biological Science Building, the Department of Fine Arts moved to this building which was renamed accordingly.
The Atterbury Student Success Center is named for Alan Atterbury, a long-time supporter of the university and founding chair of the UMKC Foundation. The center is the result of a $6 million remodel of the existing University Center, which combined a number of student services previously scattered in different locations around campus. The building's history stretches back to 1959, when the University of Kansas City took out a $1 Million loan from the federal government to build a new student union for its growing population. The University Center, completed in 1961, brought a modern campus dining facility to campus along with offices, lounges and study space. In 1961, Pierson Auditorium was added to the building, creating a concert and event space.
The James C. Olson Performing Arts Center or the P. A. C. as it is commonly known, was completed in 1979 as home to the UMKC Conservatory. It is named for James Olson, who was Chancellor of UMKC from 1968-1976 and University of Missouri System President from 1976-1984. Olson was a champion for the building's construction and helped guide the university through the political process that created funding for it. The building houses the Conservatory's music, music education, music therapy and dance programs as well as space for UMKC's Department of Theater. Performance spaces include White Recital Hall, the Studio 116 Black Box Theater for student productions and the Helen F. Spencer Theater, home to the Kansas City Repertory Theatre.
AMC Theaters founder Stanley Durwood was a long-time supporter of UMKC and UMKC athletics. In 2008, the Stanley H. Durwood Foundation gifted $5 million to UMKC towards a $7.4 million soccer stadium, which would be named the Stanley H. Durwood Soccer Stadium in his honor. Completed in 2009, the 850 seat Durwood Stadium is home to UMKC's Men's and Women's Soccer teams and has played host to various professional soccer matches as well. In 2014, the stadium hosted National Women's Soccer League member FC Kansas City, helping to broaden support for women's soccer in Kansas City.
The E.F. Swinney Gymnasium was dedicated in 1941. Two years earlier, with encouragement from William Volker, Edward F. Swinney, the president of Kansas City's First National Bank, made two major donations to the University of Kansas City: one of $300,000 to build the gymnasium and another of $500,000 to start an endowment to maintain it once it was built. In 1987, the building was expanded into the Swinney Recreation center in order to add modern equipment, more basketball courts, and a swimming pool.
In 1950-1951, Ukrainian born sculptor Alexander Archipenko served as the University of Kansas City's Artist in Residence. He taught courses and created two steel figures as a gift to adorn the campus. He titled them simply, "Unnamed Iron Figures" but they are popularly known as the Archipenko Statues. The university originally placed them in 1951 at the entrance to the quad off of Rockhill but moved them to their current location in 2000 to increase their visibility.
Now located between the Swinney Recreation Center and Miller Nichols Library, this campus landmark contain the remains of the University Playhouse. Constructed in 1948, this was the original main campus theatre at the University of Kansas City, a private institution of higher education created by civic leaders in 1933. The organization joined the University of Missouri system in 1963. The Playhouse the result of efforts led by university supporters and theatre connoisseurs Clarence R. and Mary Bell Decker. With support of campus leaders, the university purchased the building from the U.S. Army as war surplus. Prior to being moved to the campus and converted into a theater, the wooden structure previously served as a large auditorium at Camp Crowder in Neosho, Missouri. The building slowly fell into disrepair leading to the administration's decision to demolish the structure in 1978. Today, all that remains is a decorative patio of Arkansas stone, along with a once large fireplace that is now used as decoration for the two intricate ceramic masks representing Comedy and Tragedy. Given its location at between the central quad, library, and student centers, the beloved campus landmark continues to serve some of its original function as a place where students gather and hold social and community events.
Constructed from 1912 to 1914 for industrialist and local newspaper publisher Walter S. Dickey, this stately mansion became the first building of the University of Kansas City after philanthropist William Volker acquired the property and donated it to the new university in 1931. Volker was one of the strongest advocates for the new university, and with his help, classes started in the fall of 1933 despite the financial turmoil wrought by the Great Depression. The building was later renamed in honor of former chancellor Carleton Scofield, who oversaw the transition from a private university to a member of the University of Missouri system. Dr. Scofield became the last president of the University of Kansas City in 1961, and following the successful merger, he retired as chancellor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1965.
Referred to simply as "the library" for much of its early years, this was the University of Kansas City's third building and was renamed in 1984 to honor Ernest Newcomb, one of the key founders of the university and the school's executive secretary from 1928 to 1938. The building originally housed the library and a small auditorium and its completion in 1936 reflected the growth of the university and its student body. This library became home to the large Snyder Collection in 1937 after the collection's purchase by William Volker. The library's collection and the needs of the university outgrew the capacity of this building leading to the creation of Miller Nichols Library in 1969. In the decades that followed, the former library building housed classrooms and offices, the university's telephone switchboard, and the State Historical Society's Western Historical Manuscript Collection before its move to Miller Nichols Library.
Manheim Hall became the second building on the campus of the University of Kansas City when it was completed in 1935, just two years after the first courses were held in the former mansion known today as Scofield Hall. This building was also a gift from the university's leading founder, philanthropist William Volker, and met the needs of the rapidly-growing university by offering laboratory and classroom space. Initially called the Science Building, this structure became the home to KCU's departments of chemistry, biology, geology, physics, and home economics. In 1999, the Science Building was renamed Manheim Hall in honor of sociology professor Ernest Manheim.
Originally constructed as an addition to neighboring Haag Hall and known as the Haag Hall Annex in its early years, this UMKC building was completed in 1972 to provide much-needed classroom space. The building reflected changes to higher education with two large lecture halls, a feature the university had previously been lacking. In 1974, the university installed a telescope built by local astronomer Stanley Warkoczewski on the roof. The "Warko" as the telescope is affectionately know, anchors the university's Warkoczewski Observatory. In 1983, the building was renamed Royall Hall in honor of Norman Royall, a longtime professor of math and physics who earned a national reputation for his textbooks and educational films.
Flarsheim Hall was completed in1999 to be the new home of several of UMKC's engineering and science programs. It is named for Robert Flarsheim, a long-time neighbor and supporter of UMKC, who left the university an $8.7 million gift upon his death in 1994. The building allowed the university to consolidate its engineering and science programs, which were housed on the university's Independence campus and in various local buildings. Today Flarsheim Hall is home to UMKC's School of Science and Engineering and such departments as Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Geosciences and Physics.
The Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise and Research Center, commonly known as the Plaster Center, was dedicated on Oct 1, 2021. The $32 Million, 57,800-square-foot building features eleven research labs as well as classrooms and offices for UMKC's School of Science and Engineering. Highlights of the building include a 3D printing lab, a 2-story drone testing facility, augmented and virtual reality equipment, a fabrication shop, and an FAA-approved flight simulator. The center's Innovation Studio is available to university students and staff, as well as members of the community, who can create models and prototypes of their products and designs. The Plaster Center was made possible by the financial support of 25 separate donors, including the Robert W. Plaster Foundation, which has helped establish similar centers at several other universities across the Midwest. The site is located at the former site of the rock quarry used to create today's Scofield Hall and was home to a campus pond for several generations.
This exhibit within UMKC's Flarsheim Hall shares the work of the late Dr. Richard J. Gentile, Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The exhibit debuted at the Box Gallery in downtown Kansas City and was moved to this location in October, 2022. The exhibit invites students, faculty, and guests to the university to explore and learn about this region during the Ice Age when herds of giant mammals lived in the area. Most of the species on display became extinct about 10,000 years ago. This exhibit compares skeletal remains of Ice Age mammals with their modern day relatives including the giant ground sloth, woolly mammoth, mastodon, saber-toothed cat, and the giant beaver. The first photo within this Clio entry, as well as the 360-degree image within the Google Streetview section of this Clio entry, show how the exhibit now appears on the UMKC campus. The rest of the photos depict the exhibit during its 2021 debut at the Box Gallery.
Known as the Liberal Arts Building for its first decade-and-a-half, this campus building doubled the University of Kansas City classroom space when it was completed in 1937. The new building gave the school its first cafeteria in addition to classrooms to accommodate the school's enrollment which had grown from 260 students in 1933 to more than 800 students. In 1951, the anonymous donor who funded the building was revealed to be local philanthropist Lena Haag. Once this was revealed, the building was named in her honor.
Grant Hall is home to UMKC's Conservatory and Department of Theatre. The building was originally the William Rockhill Nelson Elementary School, built in 1924. Starting in the 1940s, the then-neighboring University of Kansas City maintained a partnership with Nelson School with demonstration classrooms and teacher training programs operated by the college's School of Education in partnership with the Kansas City School District. In 1979, the school district closed the school, and the university leased the building for use by its Conservatory and Department of Theatre. In 1987, the university purchased the building and expanded it, adding a north wing. At that time, the building was renamed W.D. Grant Hall in honor of W.D. Grant, one-time president of the Kansas City Conservatory Board of Trustees. Grant organized the merger of that cultural institution with the University of Kansas City in 1959.
Established in 1946 through a six-million-dollar gift from Herbert and Linda Hall, this independent science research library includes an arboretum. Both the grounds and the library are open to the public. One of the largest science libraries in the United States, the collection began with the acquisition of the library of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1946. The availability and decision to acquire this collection shaped the direction of the library, which now also holds a sizable collection from the Franklin Institute and the Engineering Societies Library. The library holds over two million items, including a quarter million patents and records of leading scientific organizations. The collection is the largest of any private STEM-centered library in North America that is open to the public and is known for its collections related to the history of science and technology.
The Henry W. Bloch School of Management, commonly known as the Bloch School, can trace its origins to the establishment of the University of Kansas City School of Business and Public Administration in 1953. Now part of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the school was renamed in honor of H&R Block founder Henry Bloch, an advocate and supporter of the university and the business school for decades. The school's classrooms and offices are located within two buildings, Bloch Heritage Hall and Bloch Executive Hall, and the school is the second largest unit at the university. Home to the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, the buildings are also the home of programs in business administration, accounting, entrepreneurship, real estate, and public administration.
Sculptor Eugene Daub was commissioned to create this work to honor University of Missouri - Kansas City supporters Henry and Marion Bloch who provided substantial funding in support of the creation of the Bloch School of Management and other initiatives of that train students Kansa City area students in business and other related academic disciplines. The sculpture was dedicated in 2013 as part of the celebration of the opening of the Henry W. Bloch Executive Hall which is located near this sculpture. Eugene Daub was commissioned to create the statue honoring Rosa Parks in the U.S. Capitol as well as the Lewis and Clark statue in Kansas City.
The origins of the UMKC School of Law can be traced back to 1895 with the founding of the Kansas City School of Law by three local lawyers, who wanted to expand opportunities for legal education in Kansas City. Starting as a night school with 27 students in an office in downtown's New York Life Building, the school moved to various locations as enrollment grew until it purchased its own building at 913 Baltimore in 1926. Having been weakened financially by the Great Depression and with declining enrollment, the school merged with the University of Kansas City in 1938. After the university merged with the University of Missouri System in 1963, it has been known as the UMKC School of Law and has occupied several locations on campus. This current building was dedicated in 1979.
The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures opened in 1982 and offers visitors the chance to explore the world's largest collection of fine-scale miniatures, dolls and dollhouses, antique toys, and offers dozens of exhibits related to the history of toys. The museum is housed in the historic 1911 Tureman Mansion and included a collection that has grown to over 86,000 artifacts. The museum began when lifelong friends Mary Harris Francis and Barbara Marshall decided to donate their collections to start the museum. Francis collected old toys as a hobby, while Marshall commissioned handcrafted miniatures from professional artists worldwide. In 2015, the museum reopened after an 18-month renovation that saw the addition of new interactive exhibits and an expanded collection of artifacts. Since that time, the museum's first floor has been dedicated to fine-scale miniatures while the second floor offers exhibits of toys from the past two centuries.
This historic Kansas City home was completed in 1922 and was the home of Uriah and Mary Epperson, local business owners and philanthropists. The couple shared a love of music and the arts and donated considerable sums to charitable institutions around Kansas City. The Collegiate-Gothic mansion had 48 rooms and cost $450,000 at the time it was built. The home has belonged to the University of Missouri-Kansas City since 1942, although it has been underutilized for over a decade due to accessibility requirements. Plans are underway to find funds to restore the mansion and find a new use for the property.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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Starting with 260 students in 1933, the University of Kansas City grew from local philanthropist William Volker's belief that a great city deserved a great university. With stops at buildings and other campus landmarks, this walking tour explores the history of Kansas City's urban university through the lives of students, faculty, and local supporters over the past ninety years.
