UMKC's Fine Arts building was constructed in 1942. and designed by Charles A. Smith, the same local architect who designed Haag Hall. Both buildings were built in what is known as a "modified collegiate gothic" architectural style. It was primarily as gift from University of Kansas City founder William Volker. The Fine Arts building specifically was originally built to house the Chemistry and Biology Departments. The location against the hillside was chosen to allow direct entry on each floor of the building. This facilitated the movement of heavy lab equipment without the need of a freight elevator. Today this building houses the Department of Art and Art History, to which the Studio Art program also belongs, as well as the department's art gallery.In the 1970s, the University of Kansas City constructed several new buildings and expanded existing programs to accommodate the growing student body. Some of the new buildings constructed were the Spencer Chemistry and Biological Sciences buildings, which were built in 1972 and gave the Chemistry and Biology departments expanded classroom, office, and laboratory space. Once these departments had relocated to their new buildings, the Department of Fine Arts, which had been at 4825 Troost Avenue since 1967, moved to this building, and it was renamed the Fine Arts building.

UMKC Professor George Ehrlich exhibits photos at the UMKC Art Gallery from his 1979 book Kansas City, Missouri: An Architectural History, 1826-1976 

Circa 1976 Art Class in the Fine Arts Building.

11/7/1988 Unews article about Yoko Ono's exhibition at the UMKC Gallery of Art

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.

Fine Arts Building, UMKC

Instructor

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.

The Kansas City School of Law merged with the University of Kansas City in 1938. At the time, the Volker Campus consisted of only four buildings and space for the new UKC School of Law was minimal. The second floor of hte Administration Building, today called Scofield Hall, was converted to classrooms and faculty offices. The university placed the law library on the second floor of the campus library, today Newcomb Hall. The university had originally intended this space to be a small autitorium.In 1940, William Volker gifted $250,000 to construct a new building for the UKC School of Law. However, construction of the eventual $400,000 building did not begin until after the Second World War. Materials shortages and labor disruptions at the end of the war delayed the completion of the building until 1950. The building, located across the street from the original quad, was likewise made of native stone. It was a huge improvement over the school's previous accommodations. Now there was room for all of the faculty and law classrooms in one facility. An ample law library held the school's collection with room to grow. The building included such modern amenities as a large student study lounge in the central tower portion of the building and a moot court space to provide students with a mock courtroom experience.In 1952, Hungarian artist Elemer Polony was the university's artist in residence. He gifted to the UKC School of Law a large two panel mural called "Of Truth and Life." The mural depicts a figure representing life itself on trial. The 7'X9' panels of the mural hung in the student lounge, the only room with tall enough ceilings. These murals have subsequently been put into storage.By the early 1970s, the UMKC School of Law had outgrown its building. It faced accreditation concerns from the American Bar Association because of a lack of study and library space. The school moved to its new facility across campus on Oak St. in 1979. The university then renovated that building to provide a home for UMKC's Departments of History, English and Philosophy. In 1980, it was renamed in honor of Carolyn Benton Cockefair, a legendary professor of English.Carolyn Benton Cockefair was born in 1884, near Odessa, Missouri. She was a cousin to famous Kansas City artist Thomas Hart Benton. When Dean Norman Royall of the University of Kansas City College of Liberal Arts hired her in 1947, she had been teaching English and literature on the high school and collegiate level for over 30 years and was well regarded throughout Missouri. She was an expert in adult education, which the university sorely needed with the influx of non-traditional veteran students after the Second World War. Her unorthodox and old-fashioned teaching methods, including acting out characters in literature and using the Socratic method, struck a chord with her more mature and worldly students. She started a Great Books program with Dr. Royall that expanded from an initial 4 discussion groups to over 40. These and other courses led the university to create the Department of Continuing Education. People flocked from sometimes over a hundred miles away each week to take Mrs. Cockefair's extension courses. Many of her students in these courses were women aged 35-55, who dubbed themselves "Cockefair's Ladies." These women raised money for the Cockefair Chair speakers and extension education series in 1961. Mrs. Cockefair always tried to make the world's greatest minds accessible to the common person. The Cockefair Chair has sought to bring the world's greatest artists, authors and thinkers to campus.Carolyn Benton Cockefair retired from teaching in 1964 at age 80 but was a frequent presence on campus as a professor emeritus and at Cockefair Chair engagements. She passed away in 1969. The Cockefair Ladies were instrumental in persuading the university to name Cockefair Hall in her honor. The Cockefair Chair continues her mission by hosting numerous speakers and extension education courses each year.

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.

Cockefair Hall

The former residence of Kenneth Dickey, this home served as the university president's home from 1936 to 1956. The location of this home was influenced by the decision of Kenneth's father, Walter Dickey, to construct a vast mansion two blocks west of this site in 1912. Walter was the owner of the Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company, and the proximity of the two homes was pragmatic as Kenneth was the company's business manager. Walter Dickey lost his fortune before the start of the Great Depression, and the family sold both properties to William Volker. The mansion became the university's first building in 1931 and is now known as Scofield Hall.This home was used by the university's first president, Duncan Spaeth, who occupied the home from the fall of 1937 through December 1938. Spaeth was a Shakespearian scholar from Princeton, and the trustees had high hopes for him. However, when the university failed to earn accreditation in the fall of 1937, he resigned. The trustees then appointed the head of the Department of English, Clarence Decker, as the university's second president. He and his wife Mary moved into the house in January 1938. They would call it home for the next 15 years. The Deckers strived to make the University of Kansas City a center of arts and culture. In 1934, Clarence Decker founded the University of Kansas City Review literary magazine, which would publish many of the foremost writers, artists, and thinkers of the mid-20th century.Renowned authors such as May Sarton and J.D. Salinger published their first pieces in this magazine. A passionate fan of classical music, Decker also formed the Kansas City Chamber Society, which brought many of the century's most famous chamber orchestras to the university. Over the years, he brought important writers, artists, and intellectuals to the university to speak or as guest professors. Frequently, these people would stay with the Deckers during their time at the university. The Decker's home on Rockhill became a destination for Kansas City's literati and intellectuals, who frequented their Saturday night "salons." On any given Saturday, one might find people like Thomas Hart Benton, Frank Lloyd Wright, or Orson Welles at the Decker home. Students were always welcome at these parties.During the Second World War, after Japanese Americans were moved to internment camps, Decker welcomed seven Japanese American students to the university. One of them, Sadayuki Mouri, lived with the Deckers and worked at the university to pay his way. After the university desegregated in 1948, the Deckers invited some of the university's first African American students to stay in their home. Every year at Thanksgiving, the Deckers welcomed the university's international students to Thanksgiving Dinner. A quote from a famous Kansas City artist and frequent guest of the Deckers sums up what the house meant to the university community."During the fifteen years that the 'house on the hill,' the President's house, across from the campus of the University of Kansas City, was occupied by Clarence and Mary Decker, it was a gay and happy meeting place for all kinds of people from all over the world. It was unlike the traditional university president's house as it could possibly be, even though a university was planned and built there almost from scratch. Its risk-taking, outspoken ways were perhaps too good to last. But those of us who knew those ways will always remember them."After Clarence Decker resigned in 1953, it became home to the university's third president, Earl Mcgrath. He and his wife Dorothy would only live in the home for three years because a larger home at 51st and Rockhill was donated to the university in 1956. The old president's house, now renamed University House, would go on to serve the university in a variety of functions. It was the home of the Department of Sociology for a long time. More recently, it has been home to UMKC's literary magazine, New Letters, which Clarence Decker founded in 1934 as the University of Kansas City Review.

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.

University House; New Letters Literary Magazine

UMKC's School of Pharmacy traces its origins as a department of the defunct Kansas City Medical College, founded in 1885. The former pharmacy department became an independent school in 1888 and operated out of a small building at 1721 Baltimore. The Great Depression led to a decline in the school's funds, and the start of the Second World War led to a decline in enrollment. Facing potential closure, pharmacy college owners Minnie and David Whitney decided to merge with the University of Kansas City (UMKC today). The UKC School of Pharmacy first operated in the university's new Chemistry-Biology Building. In 1948, the school moved to an old army barracks, one of five surplus army buildings the university acquired and reconstructed on the Volker Campus to support the postwar enrollment boom that resulted when millions of veterans used the GI Bill for collegiate education or vocational training.In 1961, Michael Katz donated $600,000 to the University of Kansas City in memory of his brother and business partner Issac Katz. Given the Katz family's role as the owners of the city's largest chain of pharmacies, Isaac made the donation to support a much-needed facility for the School of Pharmacy. However, Michael Katz's gift arrived at a time of deep financial trouble for the University of Kansas City. The School of Pharmacy, which had operated in the old army barracks for over a decade, demanded that the university immediately begin construction on the new building. The university's administration was hesitant, knowing that the donation alone would not be enough.When the alumni of the School of Pharmacy joined in pressuring the university's administration and pledged to raise an additional $100,000, the university reluctantly began construction at 50th and Rockhill. However, in less than one year, the funding ran out, and the unfinished Katz Hall was left less than half finished for the next three years. During that time, the University of Kansas City merged with the University of Missouri System, and eventually, the MU System Board of Curators approved the funding to complete Katz Hall in 1965.The School of Pharmacy operated in Katz Hall until 2008 when it moved to the Health Sciences Building at UMKC's Hospital Hill Campus. In 2010, the building was renovated and became the new home of UMKC's Department of Architecture and Urban Planning &amp; Design, which relocated from Epperson House. The Katz family's philanthropy included support of several Jewish institutions in Kansas City, including Menorah Hospital.The family fortune that led to the construction of this building dates back to 1890 when Isaac Katz immigrated to Minnesota with his family. He began peddling newspapers and candy at railroad stations when he was 13, which eventually brought him and his brother Michael Katz to Kansas City. The brothers set up small fruit stands near Kansas City's train station and eventually saved enough money to open two small cigar shops.During the First World War, a nationwide decree prohibited shops from staying open past 6pm. When the Katz brothers learned that pharmacies were exempt from the decree, they hired pharmacists and set up small sections of medicine in their shops. This was the genesis of the Katz Drug Stores. The Katz Pharmacies grew quickly and became precursors of today's variety and big box stores, which sell a huge selection of merchandise in addition to medicine. At its peak, there were over twenty locations in Kansas City and stores in St. Louis, St. Joseph, Sioux City, Des Moines, Memphis, and Oklahoma City. Katz stores in Des Moines and Oklahoma City were the sites of some of the first civil rights protests against segregation at lunch counters.

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 &amp; Design.

Katz Hall

Believing in the civic value of higher education, William Volker and other Kansas City philanthropists began the effort to create Kansas City University in the 1920s. The university opened in the midst of the Great Depression with the former Dickey Mansion at 5100 Rockhill at the sole building. The first library occupied what was originally the home's living room. Thanks to a donation from Volker, the first university library, today known at Newcomb Hall, opened in 1936 under the direction of head librarian Marjorie Copeland.The fifth library director, Dr. Kenneth Labudde, was a historian who believed that a library was the core of a university. Under his leadership which began in 1950, the university worked to increase library holdings and also raised funds to build this modern structure with the support of area philanthropists. After the University of Kansas City merged with the University of Missouri System in 1963, enrollment at UMKC began to grow rapidly. The student population increased from less than 4000 in 1963 to nearly 10,000 by 1969. However, the original campus library had been built for a student population of 1000. Library books were stored off site and students often had to wait days to receive requested materials and there was only study space for 150 students.Through a combination of private fundraising and money appropriated by the state legislature, the university was able to construct the General Library in 1969. The three-story structure was designed with an eventual addition of a fourth floor in mind. The entrance to the library was a bridge over a sunken courtyard of gardens and fountains. The General Library allowed the university to bring together its entire collection of Social Sciences and Humanities books for the first time. Moreover, it provide the study space necessary for the university's rapidly growing student population. By the late 1980s, the library collection had already outgrown the general library and the university decided to build a fourth floor on the building. Long time UMKC patron and advocate Miller Nichols donated $1.5 million to the project. The university showed its appreciation by renaming the building the Miller Nichols Library.In the early 2000s, the library once again needed to create more space for students and modern amenities such as a cafe. The university built a robotic retrieval system between 2008 and 2010 that freed up space for study areas. The system allows for compact storage of books and other materials and has been affectionately given the nickname "Roobot" by UMKC students as a nod to the university's mascot. The addition of the Miller Nichols Learning Center was completed in 2013, resulting in the creation of a new entrance and the addition of classrooms and a lecture hall.The most recent renovation was completed in 2021 thanks to the Sunderland Foundation and William T. Kemper Foundation, facilitating the relocation of the Missouri Historical Society Center from Newcomb Hall to the third floor and the creation of the Digital Collaboration Studio.<h1>Music/Media Library and Marr Sound Archives</h1>Located on the ground floor of UMKC's Miller Nichols Library, the Music/Media library offers a collection of books, magazines, and journals related to music along with over 130,000 music scores and audio recordings on media from CDs and records to digitized recordings available online. The collection also includes a variety of photos, manuscripts, and video recordings.Established in 1986 with a gift from UMKC Associate Professor Gaylord Marr and his wife Olga Marr, this unique library has grown from Marr's initial collection of 42,000 sound recordings to a collection ten times that size that is utilized by researchers around the globe. The archive is known nationally for its jazz collection and its extensive repository of classical music, and its collection includes numerous recordings of the spoken word and nearly every genre of music. The sound archive includes a preservation lab with technicians who work daily to restore everything from wax cylinders and records to cassettes and digital recordings. The archive has been a leader in the field of audio preservation for the past three decades and offers a variety of ways for students and faculty to learn about the preservation process.<h1>Kansas City Research Center, State Historical Society of Missouri</h1>The Kansas City Research Center of the State Historical Society of Missouri has been located on the UMKC campus since 1980. Formerly located in Newcomb Hall, this public archive of Missouri history was moved to the third floor of Miller Nichols Library as part of a larger remodel of the library in 2021. The archive holds over 13,000 cubic feet of records in the libraries innovative "Roobot" retrieval system, and also offers access to the archival holding of each of the archives in the University of Missouri system and the State Historical Society. Created in 1943 by the members of the University of Missouri system, the Western Historical Manuscript Collection is a system of history archives that preserve and share state and regional history. Guests at this archive can view and request archival records from other campuses and they will be delivered to the UMKC library for their use.<h1>Richard L. Sutton Jr. Geosciences Museum</h1>This small museum dates back to 1973 when UMKC professor and dean Eldon J. Parizek worked with Richard Sutton, a leader in the field of dermatology and adjunct professor of geosciences, to offer exhibits drawn largely from Sutton's personal collection of specimens. Highlights of the collection include numerous crinoids, a large fulgurite that was formed by a lightning strike, and items from Sutton's personal collection which includes cephalopods and rocks containing trapped liquid from tens of thousands of years ago. Thanks to Professor Emeritus Richard Gentile and his students at UMKC over the past four decades, the museum collection has grown to include numerous specimens from vertebrate fossils collected during dozens of research trips throughout the United States. The museum began with the personal collection of Dr. Richard Lightburn Sutton Jr. in 1973, and has grown to include new specimens thanks to the cadre of museum curators that followed over the next half-century. In addition to Dr. Gentile, the museum is curated by Dr. James Murowchick and Dr. Raymond Coveney.<h1>LaBudde Special Collections</h1>Dedicated in 2002 and named in honor of the late Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde, this research center on the third floor of UMKC's Miller Nichols Library combines a research center, archive, and rare book collection. Materials in the collection are utilized by students, local historians, and scholars from around the globe who share interests in the collection many strengths which include music history and Kansas City jazz, women's and gender history, rare books related to Kansas and Missouri, and manuscript collections related to regional history. LaBudde Special Collections offers a variety of online and digital exhibits and it also serves as the home of the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America. Special Collections also houses the university archives, a repository of materials related to the history of the UMKC. Dr. LaBudde was a professor of history and served as the Director of UMKC Libraries from 1950 to 1985.Similar to other university special collections departments, LaBudde's stacks are closed and researchers request archival materials by working with archivists and staff at the service desk. Thanks in part to the support of local foundations and the National Endowment for the Humanities, LaBudde Special Collections was recently renovated to offer more space for researchers as well as students and classes that utilize the library.<h1>Digital Collaboration Studio</h1>Completed in 2021 thanks to the generosity of the Sunderland Foundation and the William T. Kemper Foundation, the Digital Collaboration Studio offers a variety of spaces and tools designed to support students and faculty at UMKC. The large seminar room offers seating for 12 with video conferencing capability and a digital whiteboard. There are also two small collaboration rooms with high-definition monitors. The center of the studio offers tables and monitors designed to facilitate small group collaboration around monitors, and there is also a recording studio and production room to support oral histories and other public and digital humanities projects.Each of the four screens in the center of the space can be set to display the same content or allow each cluster to connect to a different source to facilitate group projects with the support of an instructor who can move around the room. This space on the third floor of Miller Nichols Library is open to UMKC students and faculty during regular library hours. Students and faculty can also reserve the small collaboration rooms and seminar rooms.<h1>Starr Women's Hall of Fame</h1>In recognition of the extraordinary life and contributions of Martha Jane Starr and many other women in Kansas City, the University of Missouri-Kansas City created the Starr Women's Hall of Fame in 2015. The third floor of the Miller Nichols Library includes a gallery that honors inductees and shares the history of the diverse women who have made a significant impact in Kansas City and beyond. The Hall's namesake, Martha Jane Starr, was a woman with a passion for education, advocacy for women, and helping the community as demonstrated by her support of numerous volunteer organizations. Among Starr's contributions are leadership in founding the Women's Council at the University of Missouri-Kanas City as well as the Graduate Assistance Fund for women in higher education. Her passion for promoting education on reproduction and support for programs that strengthen familial relationships and marriage allowed her and her programs to help families and couples in the area.Martha Jane Starr was born Martha Jane Phillips on November 27, 1906, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Martha was born into a privileged family, with her father, L.E. Phillips, being one of the co-founders of the Phillips Petroleum Company. She attended Bartlesville High School, where she was a member of the National Honor Society and the State Honor Society. Martha graduated from high school in 1925. While her family upbringing offered her special advantages, such as world travels, she was not permitted the chance to attend University. Although her brothers received a university education, Martha attended the Erskine School for Girls, a finishing school in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1925 until 1927. Although she was not allowed the chance to receive a higher education, this would not hinder Martha from achieving her goals and helping those throughout the community. In 1929, Martha married John “Twink” Starr, who had been working for L.E. Phillips as a geologist in his petroleum company. The couple would move to Kansas City in 1932, where both Martha’s and John’s contributions to the community began. Martha entered the Kansas City Junior League the same year she moved to the city and would be a member in various positions for decades. When World War II broke out, John was called to military service, while Martha was called to community service. She served at the Red Cross Blood Center from 1942 to 1944 and served as the Chairman of the Red Cross Nurse’s Aid Program from 1944 to 1946. After the War ended, John returned to Kansas City, and both Starrs continued to contribute to Kansas City throughout their lives. Martha would move onto a wide array of public work through various volunteer organizations and community affiliations. One such organization, which was especially progressive for the time, was Planned Parenthood, which Martha began working with in 1947. Through her work with Planned Parenthood, whom she would work with for years and serve as a board member and president, she focused on biological aspects of reproduction. This focus, which was not a common research topic within the medical community at the time, would lead to the creation of the first Research Professorship in Human Reproduction, held at the University of Kansas Medical Center. While rallying the funds for this professorship was difficult, it would be successful. However, Martha would not end her quest for educating the community on reproduction and relationships with her time at Planned Parenthood. In fact, her work was only just beginning. Martha held the importance of family and marriage in high regard, and believed that marriage should be a partnership of equality between spouses. She wanted to provide education for such an interpersonal relationship, especially with the prevalence of military marriages after World War II and the subsequent challenges they were facing. Her passion for this topic led her to Dr. David Mace, who was a sociology expert focusing on marriage enrichment. With his expertise, and the combined work of Martha and other individuals and organizations, the Research Center on Family Development was born in 1959. While this was an exciting feat in itself, it was difficult to gain public backing without a more credible institution in the mix. That led to a partnership with the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1963. The University and Research Center merged together to form the Family Study Center. Although the Family Study Center closed in the 1990s, there were many programs that branched from the Center that are still in operation today, including the UMKC Women’s Center. While educating the public on family relationships was highly important to Martha, she was also passionate about women’s empowerment and development.  This work led Martha to yet another creation: the Women’s Council at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She and a group of determined women formed the Women’s Council in 1967 to support women in the university system. Martha continued her work for women in the university system by creating the Graduate Assistance Fund. This fund provided scholarships for women who were in need. Not long after the creation of the Women’s Council, Martha was recognized for her enduring service to the community. In 1968, she was awarded the UMKC Chancellor’s Medal, making Martha the first woman to receive the award. Her participation in community organizations is innumerable, including affiliations with the Kansas City Council of Churches, the Greater Kansas City Mental Health Foundation Board, and the UMKC Board of Trustees. She would additionally provide donations and funds to multiple organizations and charities throughout her life. Martha Jane Starr would pass away on November 14, 2011, at her home, after a lifetime of philanthropy and community advocacy. The Starr Women’s Hall of Fame, named after Martha Jane Starr, started in 2015 and is housed on the third floor of the Miller Nichols Library on the University of Missouri-Kanas City’s campus. It recognizes extraordinary women each year for their dedication to bettering the Kansas City area.

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.

Miller Nichols Library, University of Missouri-Kansas City

The origins of the Atterbury Student Success Center begin in 1959 at a time when the University of Kansas City faced a dilemma. It was struggling financially, a fact which would lead to the University of Kansas City joining the University of Missouri System in 1963. In recent years, its enrollment had grown to over 3000 students. However, its existing infrastructure was originally built for a student population of 1000. To relieve some of the pressure and make campus life more comfortable for students, the university borrowed $1 Million from the federal government to create a modern student union for the Volker Campus.Construction on the University Center began in 1959 and the building was dedicated on September 29, 1961. It was placed at the point where Holmes road entered campus from the north. Holmes was rerouted around the building. The three-story building vastly increased student study and recreation space on campus. The lower level The Osage Room, a modern campus dining facility, replaced the tiny cafeteria in Haag Hall. A small cafe served by vending machines called the Pouch provided a space for socializing and live music. The University Barber Shop in the basement brought a major convenience to campus. The center also included offices, conference rooms, study space and lounges.When funding for a planned auditorium attached to the University Center ran out, Elmer Pierson, an alumnus of the university's law school and a member of the university's board of trustees, donated the money for its construction. The auditorium is named Pierson Auditorium in his honor. Pierson commissioned an original artwork to hang in front of the entrance to the auditorium from alumnus Hank Scott. Hank's father, Henry Scott was the long-time chair of the university's art department. Hank created a 6'X15' mosaic out of more than 70,000 pieces of venetian glass at his home in Martha's Vineyard. The piece, an abstract piece of modern art, was unveiled for Pierson Auditorium's dedication on October 29, 1961.Pierson Auditorium was the university's main concert and event space before the construction of the Swinney Recreation Center. It originally provided a performance space to UMKC's Conservatory and the Kansas City Symphony. The university sponsored many concerts over the years with famous artists of the 60s and 70s such as the Jimmy Dorsey Band, Herbie Mann, Nina Simone, Count Basie and the Smothers Brothers all performing there. Countless artists, writers and thinkers have spoken in Pierson Auditorium including Kurt Vonnegut, Muhammad Ali, Rod Serling, John Updike, Buckminster Fuller, Ken Kesey, and Maya Angelou just to name a few.In 1987, the west wing of the building was renovated as part of the expansion of the Swinney Recreation Center. A concrete over hang was constructed to protect the walkway between the two buildings. At this time, Holmes road was removed and a pedestrian walkway created. A lobby was built onto the front of Pierson Auditorium and a conference room called the Chancellor's Dining Room was added. At this time, the university decided to cover up the Hank Scott mosaic. It is unclear whether it was destroyed or still exists behind the new interior wall. The university renovated the building again in 1990, and added an east wing for use by the UMKC Bookstore. In the early 2000s, the campus dining facilities were renovated and updated.When the UMKC Bookstore moved in 2010 to the Student Union Building at 51st and Cherry, the university planned to renovate the University Center again and centralize many of the university's student support services all in one place. The building was named in honor of Alan Atterbury, a long time supporter of the university and the founding chairman of the UMKC Foundation, an independent, nonprofit organization that serves as the official fundraising organization for the university. Today services such as UMKC's Welcome Center, the Pal Program, International Student Affairs, and Academic Support and Mentoring can all be found here.

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 Atterbury Student Success Center

The UMKC Conservatory traces its origins to the Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Art, founded in 1906. The organization over the years occupied a variety of downtown office spaces and houses around Kansas City before settling in the early 1950s into a complex of three houses and a performance space called Grant Hall on Warwick Blvd, across from the Kansas City Art Institute. Grant Hall was named for William T. Grant, the long time chair of the organization's board of trustees, who had provided funding for the building. Grant was also a founding trustee of the University of Kansas City and the two institutions shared close ties. It was common for students to take classes at both schools.After Grant's death in 1954, his son William D. Grant became chair of Kansas City Conservatory trustees and steered the organization into an eventual merger with the University of Kansas City in 1959. When the University of Kansas City became part of the University of Missouri System in 1963, administrators began to try to bring elements of the UMKC Conservatory to the Volker Campus. The Conservatory's Warwick Blvd campus was much too small for its educational and performance needs and provided a logistical problem for students needing to take classes on both campuses. The Pierson Auditorium and University Playhouse on the Volker Campus provided needed performance spaces and after 1971, Epperson House was used as faculty offices and practice spaces for students. However, these measures were just temporary fixes for the problem. The Conservatory needed a large dedicated facility.In the early 1970s, the creation of a building for the UMKC Conservatory became a top priority of UMKC Chancellor James Olson. Olson had arrived at UMKC in the midst of a building boom brought about by huge increases in enrollment after the merger with the UM System. The state legislature had in recent years funded tens of millions of dollars for the eventual construction of 7 new buildings on the campus. However, when Olson approached the Curators of the University of Missouri for their support in raising the money for a facility for the UMKC Conservatory, he faced stiff resistance with one curator openly saying that he had no intention of financing a "Singing and Dancing Hall."Over the next 8 years, Olson helped raise private funding for the building and continued to lobby the curators and state legislature both as UMKC Chancellor and after 1976, as UM System President. In the end, UMKC was able to raise $11.5 million for UMKC's Center for the Performing Arts. 462 individual donors, corporations and foundations donated a total of over $6 million. This included a $2 million gift for Helen F. Spencer for the creation of the Helen F. Spencer Theater as home for the Kansas City Repertory Theatre. The rest of the funding was eventually provided by the state legislature. The P.A.C opened in the summer of 1979 and was eventually renamed the James C. Olson Performing Arts Center in honor of the man who had played such a pivotal role in its creation.The P.A.C. allowed the Conservatory to fully move to the Volker Campus. Eventually the Warwick Blvd campus was sold. Today the Kemper Museum of Modern Art sits at that location. The P.A.C contains office and practice space for conservatory and theater students. The White Recital Hall, named for long time supporters Raymond and Patricia White, provides performance and recording space for the school's orchestra and chamber groups. The Spencer Theater is home to the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, which has been associated with the university since 1964 and allows the university's theater students to gain valuable experience working with a professional theater organization. The Conservatory's Department of Theater also utilizes the Studio 116 Black Box Theater for student productions.The UMKC Conservatory is currently fundraising for an eventual expansion of the P.A.C. which will provide a dedicated performance space for Dance and theater programs.

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.

James C. Olson Performing Arts Center

Stanley Durwood's association with UMKC began in 1985, when Kansas City's NBA team, the Kansas City Kings, moved to Sacramento, Ca. Kansas City mayor Richard Berkley and civic leaders including AMC Theaters founder and chairman Stanley Durwood came to UMKC with a bold idea. The Kings had left a sports vacuum in Kansas City. To fill that vacuum, they proposed that UMKC move to NCAA Div 1 Athletics. Kansas City had a long history as a college basketball town. The Big 12 Conference held its basketball tournament each year in Kansas City as did the NAIA league. Kansas City had hosted more NCAA Final Four Basketball tournaments than any other city. Kansas City is a college basketball town. Would UMKC be interested in becoming Kansas City's hometown college team?The proposal was met with enthusiasm by UMKC's administration, which put together a task force to study it. A move from NAIA to NCAA Division 1 posed enormous challenges to UMKC. The university did not have a long athletic tradition and student support was minimal. Moreover, UMKC's basketball facilities, the so-called "Old Swinney" gymnasium was smaller than most high school basketball facilities. A move to NCAA Division 1 would require the construction of a suitable arena. It would also require that UMKC double the number of sports it sponsored to reach the NCAA minimum of 12 programs. The university would have to hire coaches, recruit players and start these programs from scratch. More than anything, it would require an estimated $1 million in the first year alone just to make the move.The task force recommended going forward with the proposal and the UM System Board of Curators approved the move. Men's basketball would move first and the other sports would follow over the next several years. The curators also approved funding for a massive expansion of the Swinney Gymnasium. The Swinney Recreation Center, as the new facility would be called would have a court suitable for NCAA Div 1 competition as well as two additional practice courts, offices, classrooms, locker rooms and training facilities. Of the $1 million needed to make the move, the curators had only allocated $250,000. UMKC would need to raise $750,000 from alumni and supporters. When the university struggled to raise this money in such a short period of time, Stanley Durwood stepped in and donated $500,000 towards the effort, which ensured that UMKC's move to NCAA Division 1 became a reality.Over the years, Durwood continued his support for UMKC's Athletic Department, including additional monetary gifts and the establishment of an endowed scholarship. In 1994, UMKC awarded him the Chancellor's medal, the university's highest honor, for all he had done. Stanley Durwood passed away in 1999, leaving much of his fortune to the Stanley H. Durwood foundation in order to continue his philanthropic legacy. In 2008, in honor of Durwood's association with UMKC athletics, his foundation donated $5 Million towards the construction of the $7.4 Million Stanley H. Durwood Soccer Stadium on the Volker Campus. Completed in 2009, the 850 seat stadium brought home UMKC's Men's and Women's Soccer teams, which had played at Swope Park or other city fields for decades. The stadium has also hosted numerous professional soccer games and in 2014 it was the home field for National Women's Soccer League member FC Kansas City, helping to broaden support for women's soccer in Kansas City.

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 Stanley H. Durwood Soccer Stadium

After finishing university and working for several years in retail, Edward Swinney began his career by working at a bank in Fayette, Missouri. He eventually moved to the First National Bank in Kansas City, Missouri, where he started off as a cashier but quickly rose through the ranks, being elected president in 1890. From there, he built a solid name for himself within the financial community and became a valued citizen of Kansas City. In the late 1930s, after urging from William Volker, Swinney donated $300,000 to the construction of a gymnasium at the University of Kansas City, as well as another $500,000 later to form an endowment for maintenance. The new building, finished in September of 1941, was named Swinney Gymnasium in honor of the donor who made the building's existence possible.The construction of the gymnasium was celebrated by KCU. Swinney intended to remain anonymous after making his generous donation, but word of his identity was leaked by the Kansas City Star. Once his name was released, 400 KCU students gathered at the First National Bank downtown one afternoon to say thanks in person. In response to shouts of "We want Mr. Swinney!" he went outside and accepted their thanks before rushing back inside to his office.A student named Betty Jo Fram also published a sarcastic article in the school newspaper backhandedly celebrating the gymnasium's addition to the school and ribbing on its facilities, how it was divided by gender, and other teachers and students. It was snarkily titled "What! No Swimming Pool?":<blockquote>Don't look now, but that pile of rocks on the northwest corner of the campus with a tile roof on it, is a far cry from that oversized sweatbox or "Little Bohemia" as Johnson and his thespian group of high grade morons call it. ... The new strcture boasts a ceiling that doesn't meet the floor, TWO basket ball goals, a basket ball court without a boxing ring at one end, and what is best of all, no gas masks are needed. No longer must that parfum au KCU gymnasium follow us around after a session of recreation. ... No longer do the boys' hand ball and boxing classes take the girls' minds off their game. Darn it!</blockquote><blockquote>... 'Tis rumored there are boxing, wrestling, and weigh lifting rooms on the boys' side, but I can't confirm it definitely. The only thing I can verify is that there IS a glass gallery on the third floor to watch court games, "as any fool can plainly see."</blockquote> In addition to a full sized basketball court, the Swinney Gymnasium had such modern amenities as Kansas City's first squash courts, a two lane bowling alley and a secret sunbathing deck on the roof of the building accessible only from the girls' locker room. However, the university quickly outgrew the facility originally intended to support the needs of a student population of 1000. The university's basketball and volleyball teams had to play in facilities that were smaller than many high schools. Plans to modernize Swinney Gymnasium began in the early 1970s, but work on improvements did not begin until the 1980s, when UMKC decided to move to NCAA Div. 1 athletics. The expanded building, now called Swinney Recreation Center, featured "four full-size basketball courts and a suspended indoor track, as well as locker rooms, a fitness center, classrooms, and office space." Also added was the pool with its retractable roof that students enjoy to this day.

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.

Swinney Recreation Center

Alexander Archipenko was born in Kyiv in 1887 and attended the Kyiv Academy of Art. Early in his career he moved to Paris and there became one of the first sculptors to apply the theories and ascetics of Cubism to sculpture. He later moved to the United States, where he began a decades long career as a sculptor and educator. In the spring of 1950, the Nelson Atkins Museum hosted an exhibition of Archipenko's work. The University of Kansas City invited him to speak and extended an offer to become an Artist in Residence for the 1950-1951 school year. Archipenko taught formal courses and gave demonstrations throughout the year. He also created two freestanding steel structures as a gift for the university. The "Unnamed Iron Figures" as Archipenko dubbed them, have a purely decorative function. Many of the students called them "the bombs" because their shape reminded them of World War 2 era bombs. However, they are commonly known simply as the Archipenko Statues.Archipenko experimented with light and shadow in his work. The fins on the 14' tall pieces are intended to create differences in shadow as the sun travels through the sky each day so that the pieces look different each time you see them. The artist's cubist origins can be seen in the figures at the top of the figures, which look like elements common in cubist paintings. Though the figures are identical, they are turned in different positions and appear to be very different at first look. The university erected the Archipenko Statues at the original main entrance to the campus off of Rockhill. Here they sat for nearly 50 years. However, over time that became a seldom used back entrance. Therefore, the statues were moved to their current location in 2000 so that they could be appreciated by all.

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.

The Alexander Archipenko Statues

The University Playhouse at UMKC was a $300,000 project by Clarence R. Decker and his wife Mary Bell Decker. Who both decided a small theatre would be good for the University. The Playhouse was originally a large auditorium at Camp Crowder, but as the war ended it was bought by UMKC and completely redesigned.   The stage was larger than your normal “little theatre” being 98’ x 34’, allowing only 500 seats; the proscenium was 28’ x 18’; the stage was equipped with 28 sets of lines for drops, curtains, and borders; the switchboard and lighting facilities were of recent designs for the time period which were centrally controlled; the stage settings were shifted on “wagons”; the orchestra pit was able to be raised and lowered hydraulically; rooms for costumes, props, and moveable equipment was provided as well. In addition, there were offices and classrooms, a circle-in-the-round theatre, a furnished “Green Room”, and a ten panel painting loaned to the University by Thomas Hart Benton.  Owing to the building's initial design to serve the needs of a military installation, there was no room for a lobby. This led to the decision to create the decorative fireplace at the front of the building along with a patio to offer a space for people to gather before the show and during intermission. The patio was constructed of Arkansas stone and designed by Rick Fillmore to include a large fireplace. One of the masons who helped create the structure referred to the substantial edifice as “a fireplace to end all fireplaces.” The fireplace was designed so that smoke would curl upwards through two sculpted ceramic masks symbolizing Comedy and Tragedy.It first opened its doors to the public on December 6th, 1948, with a gala performance of Maxwell Anderson’s Elizabeth the Queen. Jane Cowl guest starred in along with Belvins Davis as the guest director. The small theatre became a bustle of action through the years with a tradition of bringing professional actors and directors to come work with the students. One of those actors was Vaugn Burkholder, an actress who had a brief career on Broadway. She adored the theatre and would visit frequently, known for her high heels clicking along the catwalk above the stage. But, on the night of October 23rd, 1957, after she was dropped off at the playhouse, she was greeted by the manager just before she collapsed. She died of a heart attack in the manager’s arms that night. Since then, there had been strange occurrences around the Playhouse. Which only aided in the demise of the building. After many years of disrepair and the ghost story, the University Playhouse met its end in 1978, the building being demolished and replaced by Olson Performing Arts Theatre which resides on Cherry Street road.

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.

UMKC Playhouse (1948-1978)

Walter S. Dickey migrated to Kansas City from Canada in 1885. A few years later, he started the W.S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company, which made ceramic pipes out of burnt clay. At first, the business sold these pipes to farmers to drain their land with. However, as technology grew and developed, W.S. Dickey began selling to phone companies as early phone lines were put down. In addition, as more municipalities in the area developed their own sewage systems, the company began to sell to them, too, finding great success in doing so. In 1912, after his clay company proved successful, Dickey began construction on the Dickey Mansion at 51st and Rockhill Roads in Kansas City, Missouri. It took two years to complete. The marble for the home was imported from Italy. However, the limestone was quarried on site and the resultant hole at the corner of 51st and Rockhill was turned into a duck pond. A natural gas well on the property supplied the home.Dickey's other business ventures, including newspapers, failed and his investments crashed during the 1920s, putting him millions of dollars in debt. His financial troubles necessitated that he mortgage his home and property, in which he had $750,000 invested, for $75,000. After his death in January, 1931, Kansas City philanthropist William Volker approached Dickey's heirs with an offer to pay off the mortgage so that he could donate the home and property to the planned University of Kansas City. A year earlier, Volker had purchased the vacant 40 acres immediately to the north to serve as a campus for the university. Dickey's heirs agreed and the home became the first building of the University of Kansas City, called the Administration Building. The home was remodeled to suit the needs of the university, which opened on October 2, 1933. The living room was turned into a library. 2nd floor bedrooms became classrooms and offices. A $10,000 gift from neighboring Menorah Hospital helped the university to turn the kitchen into a science laboratory. A large greenhouse and a carriage house were also part of the Dickey property. The greenhouse was split in half with a biology lab on one side and a chemistry lab on the other. The home's former carriage house became a small gymnasium. The was enough room for a one-basket basketball court, some weights and a boxing ring.As the university grew and the university built other facilities including the Science Building in 1935, the Library in 1936 and the Liberal Arts building in1937, the university was able to finally provide proper office space for its president and administrators within the Administration Building. The Kansas City School of Law, which merged with the university in 1938, occupied the 2nd floor until 1950. In 1953, the 2nd floor became home to the new School of Business and Public Administration until the purchase of Oxford Hall in 1965. Numerous other university departments were located in the building over the years, including the university's KCUR radio station, which was created there in 1957. The foundation for its radio tower is still visible at the building's southwest corner.The back patio of the Administration Building served for decades as the university's stage. This was the location of convocation and graduation each year. This is where the President Harry Truman spoke in 1945 and the university gave honorary doctorates to the President of Mexico, Miguel Aleman in 1947 and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Khan in 1950. Bronze plaques mounted on the patio memorialize these events.In 1976, the building was renamed Scofield Hall to honor Carleton Scofield, the president of the University of Kansas City, who helped orchestrate the school's merger with the University of Missouri System. Scofield has been a professional psychologist, before entering academy at the University of Buffalo. He was recruited as an intelligence agent during the Second World War and help organize psychological warfare operations against the Japanese in the Pacific Theater. He was recruited by UKC President Richard Drake to become the university's vice president in 1957. When President Drake resigned in 1961, the trustees named Scofield acting president and charged him with trying to help save the financially troubled institution. By convincing the university's trustees to merge with the University of Missouri System in 1963, he helped save it from bankruptcy and also provided the new UMKC with the support it needed to realize its potential. He retired in 1965 as the last President of the University of Kansas City and the first Chancellor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City.Today Scofield Hall is home to UMKC's School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The dean's office is the former university president's office. This space was originally the home's breakfast room. The Department of Foreign Languages and Literature occupies the second floor. The rest of building is occupied by various university programs including advising offices.

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.

Scofield Hall 

Ernest Newcomb was an integral figure in the founding of the University of Kansas City (now UMKC) and this building was named in his honor in 1984. Despite his role as a "founding father" of the university, an early change of management caused his relationship with the school to become strained. Newcomb, who grew up in Neosho, Missouri, was president of Central College, an women's Methodist college in Lexington, Missouri. When that school closed, Newcomb came to Kansas City with plans to raise money and establish a new Methodist College. However, his plan for "Lincoln and Lee University" failed due to a lack of funding and community support.Newcomb then campaigned for the creation of a non-sectarian university and worked for several years to achieve this goal with the support of local philanthropist William Volker who purchased 40 acres of land. With additional funds from Volker and other supporters, The University of Kansas City opened in 1933 with Newcomb as managing executive and secretary of the Board of Trustees.Despite his central role in the formation of the college, Newcomb saw his position eliminated five years later. He moved on to other ventures and did not return to the university he helped to establish. Despite a period when Newcomb's role was not recognized, forty years after its completion, this building was renamed Newcomb Hall in the early 1980s to honor the founder a few years after his death in 1979.Newcomb Hall, originally known only as "the library," housed the university's collection of books and archives along with a small auditorium. Following the death of long-time collector Robert Snyder, Jr., William Volker purchased Snyder's collection of Americana which included more than 20,000 maps, manuscripts, and books. Today the Snyder Collection is kept by Labudde Special Collections in the Miller Nichols Library.Newcomb Hall currently houses offices for UMKC's Information Services. The former auditorium on the second floor has been renovated for UMKC's Faculty Commons, a lounge space and meeting space for the university's faculty.

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.

Newcomb Hall

When the University of Kansas City opened its doors in 1933, the Volker Campus consisted of three buildings. The Dickey Mansion, originally named the Administration Building but later renamed Scofield Hall, provided classrooms, offices, and the first library. The home's carriage house was used as a small gymnasium with enough room for a one goal basketball court, weights and a boxing ring. The Dickey's greenhouse was utilized as space for a science laboratory. This significantly limited school capacity when it opened in 1933, forcing the university to stop admittance at 260 students since that was the number that could safely fit in the limited spaces. In response to a growing student body, as well as increasing demand for science facilities, in 1934, Kansas City philanthropist William Volker donated $100,000 for the construction of a building dedicated to science programs. Completed in the spring of 1935, the Science Building housed the departments of Chemistry, Biology, Geology, Physics, and Home Economics.In 1940, a fountain was installed in front of the building as a gift of the school's second graduating class. Kansas City Art Institute instructor Walter Wallace Rosenbauer sculpted the three nude statues surrounding the fountain, which were called the Three Graces. In the late 1960's, the fountain was removed, and the statues were put into storage. Today, the statues are considered lost - literally, as recent searches in storage were unable to find them. However, it is likely they are still in storage somewhere and were just overlooked since they are small and were wrapped up in padding.Over the years as the university grew and was able to construct new buildings for its science programs, the building's name changed. When the Chemistry and Biology moved into their own building in 1942, the Science Building became the Geology-Physics Building. When Physics moved out in the 1970s, it became known as the Geosciences Building. When Geosciences moved to Flarsheim Hall in 1999, the university decided to convert the building to faculty office space. At that time it was decided to name the building after legendary professor of sociology, Ernest Manheim, whose tenure at the university had lasted more than 60 years.Ernest Manheim, was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1900. In his early life he wanted to pursue his passion for music and become a composer but his family insisted he study something "respectable," so he pursued a college degree in engineering. His schooling was interrupted after he volunteered to fight for the Hungarian Army in the First World War, where he served on the Italian Front. Another conflict emerged in 1919, when Romanian and Czech forces entered Hungary. Ernest again volunteered for the army. He was captured by the Romanians but escaped. After the war, he decided to study sociology in order to understand the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He eventually completed his doctorate at the University of Leipzig, Germany. In 1933, he decided to flee Germany after the rise of the Nazi Party. He then attended the London School of Economics and Political Science, earning a PHD in Anthropology in 1937. After graduating he accepted a position with the University of Chicago and moved to the United States.In 1938, he received an invitation from new University of Kansas City President Clarence Decker to teach Sociology. He thought to himself at the time, "What better place to study the sociology of the United States than in the center of the country." During his tenure at the university, Manheim became one of the country's and the world's most renowned sociologists. Much of his work centered on urban decay, poverty, and crime. His work was recognized with such honors as August Stern, Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships. He also received the University of Missouri's highest honor, the Thomas Jefferson Award. Manheim was a champion of civil rights and once threatened to organize a boycott of a Sociology Conference in Omaha, unless an African American Sociologist be allowed to attend and utilize the same hotel facilities. He was invited to give expert testimony in the landmark Brown Vs. Topeka Board of Education case. Many of his students, such as Alvin Brooks, would go on to become civil rights leaders in Kansas City.Manheim was a renaissance man. In addition to his work in sociology he had a passion for athletics, the theater and music. He was a tournament quality fencer and often helped with the university's fencing classes and with instruction for actors at the University Playhouse. He acted in, directed and helped produce theater productions at the university and in the Kansas City community. He was a passionate tennis player and few were the students that could beat him even when he was past his prime. His expertise in music ranged from folk to classic and he was talented on folk instruments such as the lute. His love of music drew him into Kansas City artist Thomas Hart Benton's circle and Ernest and his wife Anna could be frequently found in the Saturday night jam sessions at the Benton's home. He and Benton sometimes performed on local radio stations. He composed a number of classical pieces including a symphony played by the Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra.The old Science Building was renamed Manheim Hall in 1999 in honor of Dr. Manheim's 60+ years of service to the university. Ernest Manheim passed away in 2002.

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.

Manheim Hall

The construction of Royall Hall, known originally as Haag Hall Annex, took place during a wave of additions and expansions to the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the 1960s and 1970s. As enrollment increased at the university, demand for more space and educational programs increased. The decision to construct this building followed the approval to create Spencer Chemistry and Biological Sciences Buildings. Similar to this structure, those campus buildings were built in 1972, and were followed by the new School of Education and School of Medicine buildings in 1973 and 1974, respectively. In 1974, local astronomer Stanley Warkoczewski donated a telescope he had built to the university. The university installed it on the roof of the Haag Hall Annex. The "Warko" telescope as it is affectionately know, anchors UMKC's Warkoczewski astronomical observatory. On clear nights from May to October, the Department of Physics and Astronomy as well as local astronomical organizations will open the observatory to the public. Using the Warko and other more modern telescopes, visitors can view things such as the close-up surface of the mood, the rings of Saturn and galaxy clusters.Dr. Norman Royall began his studies at John B. Stetson University in 1929, at just fifteen years old. He earned his PHD from Brown University in 1940. In 1947, the University of Kansas City hired Royall as the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. He also taught math and physics, where he quickly became one of the university's most beloved instructors. Many were the students, who dreaded taking math or physics, that changed their majors to science by the end of the course. He was a firm believer in the value of a liberal arts education rather than education aimed at a particular profession. In 1953, Royall resigned as Dean of Liberal Arts and returned to teaching in protest of University of Kansas City's president Clarence Decker's leadership of the university. He was joined by three other administrators. The resulting conflict resulted in votes of no-confidence against Decker by the School of Pharmacy, the School of Law and the students. Decker resigned as a result. Dr. Norman would continue to teach at the university until his retirement in 1975. However, as an emeritus professor he continued to publish and remained a fixture of the university. Some of Royall's works outside of teaching included publications in the field of integral-transform theory and publications in general education, including a college algebra text he worked on for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and two more advanced mathematics textbooks. Another notable work of his was a 1961 series of 49 films on mathematics, which Dr. Royall completed for the United States Armed Forces Institute for use by American military members stationed around the world. In a 1960s profile in the Kansas City Star, journalist Charles Hammer stated, "Since coming to the University of Kansas City in 1947, Dr. Royall has been one of the intellectually moving forces in Kansas City." In 1983, as part of UMKC's 50th anniversary, the Haag Hall Annex was renamed Royall Hall in Dr. Royall's honor.

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.

Royall Hall

UMKC's engineering programs were originally run in conjunction with the University of Missouri-Columbia as a satellite program on UMKC's Independence Campus. This caused numerous logistical problems over the years since the program relied on Mizzou faculty who could commute between the two campuses on a regular basis. Also, the majority of the engineering courses were housed on UMKC's Independence Campus, while math and science courses were on the Volker Campus. Students had to commute between the two campuses. In order to alleviate these concerns, UMKC began a push in the early 1990s to create a building on the Volker Campus to house its engineering programs as well as units such as Geosciences and Physics, which had outgrown their original facilities. In 1997, UMKC broke ground on its new $30 Million science and engineering building. The state legislature provided about $22 Million via a bond measure with $8 Million coming from private gifts. The building was completed in 1999 and provided more than enough space for the university's science and engineering programs. In 2000, the UM Curators approved the creation of UMKC's own engineering program and UMKC founded the School of Computing and Engineering (now named the School of Science and Engineering). The building was named Flarsheim Hall in honor of Robert Flarsheim, a long-time neighbor and supporter of the university. Robert Flarsheim moved to his home at 5104 Cherry, adjacent to the University of Kansas City in the late 1940s. He owned a successful wholesale grocery business. To his south was the university's chancellor's residence and over the years Flarsheim became friends with a succession of the university's chancellors. To his north was the university's one residence hall. He and his wife never had children and in many ways the staff and students of UMKC became his family, especially after his wife Blanda's death. He loved to walk the campus and engage with students to ask their opinions about the news of the day and he could be frequently found at UMKC's cultural and athletic events. Mr. Flarsheim was a major donor to UMKC giving generously to athletics, the libraries, the School of Dentistry, the Cockefair Chair and scholarships. He was also a founding member of the University Associates, a group of influential Kansas City Businesspeople, who sought to strengthen the ties between UMKC and the business community. In 1969, Flarsheim donated his home and property to UMKC in honor of his friendship with former UMKC Chancellor Carleton Scofield. The gift provided that he and his wife be allowed to live in the home as long as he wanted. The university took over maintenance responsibilities for the home and helped look after him, especially in his later years when he lived alone. His home was eventually moved several blocks east to Kansas City's Troostwood neighborhood in 2009 to make way for the UMKC Student Union. In 1993, the UMKC Alumni Association named Mr. Flarsheim an honorary alumnus in appreciation for all he done. When he passed away in 1994, UMKC mourned a true friend and was amazed to discover that Flarsheim had bequeathed his entire fortune of $8.7 Million to the university. The gift became known as the Flarsheim fund and its provisions state that the university can only use the money for campus beautification projects. Flarsheim loved to walk the UMKC Volker Campus, especially on the quad, where he asked that his ashes be spread. He recognized the park-like setting and landscaping of the campus as one of its hallmarks. His gift seeks to preserve this.In 1999, UMKC commissioned a bust of Robert Flarsheim from Kansas City Artist Tom Corbin to sit in front of the building named in his honor. Corbin unveiled the statue during the dedication ceremony for Flarsheim Hall on April 11, 2000. The bust depicts Mr. Flarsheim as he was often seen around campus, casually dressed with his signature cap. Flanking the bust is a wall inscribed with the names of others who have donated to the Flarsheim Fund in honor of Robert Flarsheim and his legacy of support for UMKC. In 2004, in celebration of UMKC's new School of Computing and Engineering, the American Institute of Steel Construction gifted a statue called Blue Steel to adorn the front entryway of Flarsheim Hall. The piece contains 25 individual members and demonstrates all the different ways that steel beams can be connected. These can be difficult to visualize in a textbook diagram and so Blue Steel doubles as a teaching aid.

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.

Flarsheim Hall

In 1963, Missouri native Robert W. Plaster founded Empire Gas, which became one of the largest gas distributors in the United States. Hoping to provide educational opportunities to young people, particularly in Missouri and the Midwest, he created the Robert W. Plaster Foundation in 1983. The organization has funded educational facilities at institutions across the Midwest, including community centers, schools of business, athletics facilities, and art galleries. Plaster was also a cofounder of the organization Students in Free Enterprise, today known as Enactus, which promotes entrepreneurship and and community service on college campuses. Plaster's foundation established numerous "Free Enterprise Centers" at midwestern universities to provide resources to support entrepreneurship and small business development at universities and their surrounding communities. Mr. Plaster died in 2008, and his foundation has continued to provide educational opportunities and resources. Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Centers can be found across the Midwest, including Pittsburg State, Park University, and Missouri State University.In 2015, UMKC plans for the Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise and Research Center on the southeast corner of Brookside and Volker (now Martin Luther King) Boulevard. That site was home to an unused office building owned by the university, and UMKC demolished the building and began preparation for the new center. However, when Kansas City announced the expansion of its streetcar line, the university worked with the city to change the location and selected this site adjacent to Florsheim Hall.In 1912, this site was a quarry for the stone used to build the Dickey Mansion (today Scofield Hall). The Dickey family converted the former quarry site into a small duck pond, and for generations of students, the pond was a beloved feature of the Volker Campus. The university decided to remove the pond in the 1990s during the construction of Flarsheim Hall, and at that time, a small surface parking lot occupied this site. That construction also necessitated the removal of the original carriage house of the Dickey Mansion, a small stone building that had always been part of the university. The former carriage house had served the campus over the years as a small gymnasium, police station, a maintenance facility, and in recent years, a robotics laboratory. The university removed the carriage house in 2018 and put its roofing tiles and stones into storage for future use in another campus project.Construction of UMKC's $32 Million, 57,800 square foot Plaster Center was completed in 2021. In addition to the grant from the Plaster Foundation, 24 other donors, including the Sunderland Foundation, the Kauffman Foundation, and the Hall Family Foundation, provided funding for the building. The center includes 11 high-tech labs, classrooms, offices, and student study spaces. A two-story drone testing lab and FAA-approved flight simulator facilitate the School of Science and Engineering's drone design and Unmanned Aircraft Training programs. The 3D printing lab and fabrication shop provide resources so students and area entrepreneurs can create models and working prototypes for their designs. The center's Innovation Studio is available for community use and provides these university resources to anyone wanting to develop a product or business.

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.

The Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise and Research Center

The exhibit incorporates skeletal parts and recreations of Pleistocene (Ice Age ) animals that were recovered from sand and gravel deposits of the major rivers and tributary streams of the area. The exhibit also includes fossils found in upland areas entombed in glacial sand and gravel deposits (outwash) and in wind-blown silt (loess). Pleistocene age elephants have been reported from over half of the 114 counties in Missouri and from numerous sites in Kansas. Voorhies (1990) estimates that no fewer than 10 mammoth skeletons lie buried in the average square mile of Nebraska landscape, an indication that large numbers of these huge proboscideans once roamed across the Central Mid-Continent.The exhibit includes information on a variety of species, including ground sloths which first appeared in South America and gradually migrated into North America via the land bridge connecting the two continents that rose about 3 million years ago during the Pliocene Epoch. The species was given the scientific name Megalonyx jeffersoni in honor of President Jefferson, an amateur paleontologists, and one of the first to study extinct ground sloths. Two years before he became president, Thomas Jefferson published a description of an assortment of fossil bones including claws that had been excavated from a cave in West Virginia. Jefferson believed the claws were those from a large meat-eating animal that he named Megalonyx or “Great Claw” and instructed Lewis and Clark on their epic journey to explore the western part of the continent to watch for such a beast.

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.

Exhibit: The Ice Age Mammals that Roamed Throughout the Greater Kansas City Area

Only four years after its 1933 founding, the University of Kansas City had grown from one building to a small campus with several new buildings and over eight hundred students. After the library was completed in 1936, the greatest demand was more classroom space and a cafeteria. Prior to the completion of this building, students ate in the attic of the Administrative Building which was becoming exceedingly cramped.The new Liberal Arts Building, as it was known until renamed for the anonymous donor who funded it, met the need for a cafeteria while also doubling KCU's classroom space. The building was located next to the school's original entrance on Rockhill Road and given its location across from Scofield, Manheim, and Newcomb, the new building formed the quad that continues to shape the center of the UMKC campus.In 1936, an anonymous donor gave the university$225,000 for a building that would more than double the campus' classroom space. Students, faculty, and the local media speculated about the identity of the anonymous donor. Given his support for the university and his propensity for making anonymous donations, many assumed William Volker was also the funder behind this building. Volker was quick to correct the record, but since he regularly denied involvement with his philanthropy, the man known as "Mr. Annonymous" was assumed to be the donor. In 1951 the will of another philanthropist, Lena Haag, revealed that she had shared her inheritance with the fledgling university when her father passed away. William Volker was still involved, as Lena Haag had come to him for advice about how she could honor her parents and he suggested funding the building. Her will then bequeathed another $200,000 to the university for scholarships. When the students learned of Haag's generosity, they requested the building be named for her. The building was renamed and a memorial plaque with her and her parents' names on it was also installed in the building.Building planners included a bell tower on the top of the building and Howard Treadway, a member of the university's board of trustees, was persuaded to donate his prized possession, the bell from the historic riverboat Valley Queen, to hang inside it. The 1100lb bell was cast in 1879 and had been placed on a couple of different riverboats that had plied the waters of the Ohio, Cumberland and Missouri Rivers. Most recently it had been on the riverboat Valley Queen, which offered passenger and freight service between Kansas City and Omaha. When the boat crashed on a sandbar outside of Omaha in 1933, Treadway purchased the salvage from the boat including the bell, which he placed on a tugboat he owned at the Port of Kansas City. At first he didn't want to give the bell up. However, when he thought back to his days as a student at the University of Michigan, he fondly remembered the ringing of the campus bell. He wanted to provide that memory for the students of the University of Kansas City and donated the bell to the new building. For the next twenty years it rang in between classes. However, as the university grew, it was no longer practical to ring the bell. It rang one last time in 1983, during the university's 50th anniversary. Today UMKC is attempting to repair the bell so that it can ring again.This building is also home to two amazing art pieces. In 1940, Spanish Artist and political refugee Luis Quintanilla became the university's first artist in residence. In addition to teaching, Quintanilla created the mural entitled Don Quixote in the Modern World on the second floor landing. The mural is a retelling of the story of Don Quixote but set in 1940 America. It also provides a cautionary tale about the perils of the fascism and war that was swallowing Europe. The models of the murals were the university's students, staff and faculty. The university's president Clarence Decker and his wife Mary also appear in the mural as do Luis Quintanilla himself with his wife Janet and infant son Paul. As Quintanilla's last known mural, this artwork is priceless.The third floor landing is the home of The Seasons of the University of Kansas City by Austrian born artist Joseph Fleck. He was artist in residence at the university from 1943-1945. Like Quintanilla, the models for Fleck's mural were drawn from the university's student, staff and faculty. Famous Kansas City artist Thomas Hart Benton's son T.P Benton, a student at the university, is depicted in one of the panels. Each panel represents a season at the university. The "Indian Summer" panel depicts the campus pond, which was long ago filled in but was once a beloved feature of the university.Today Haag Hall houses classrooms, faculty offices and the UMKC Women's Center in the original cafeteria space. The Women's Center was founded in 1971 and has been part of the university for over 50 years. It has as its mission to advocate, educate, and provide support services for the advancement of women and gender equity on campus and within the community at large.

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.

Haag Hall

The history of the William Rockhill Nelson School dates to 1922, when the Kansas City Missouri School district built two frame buildings at 52nd and Charlotte. These buildings were referred to as the "overflow school" and reflected the rapid growth of area neighborhoods in what was then known as the Rockhill District, where the school was located. By 1925, the new school had over 350 students the district built a permanent brick building. The school was named after Kansas City Star founder William Rockhill Nelson, whose mansion, Oak Hall, was located north of the school and college before its demolition to create today's Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Nelson's daughter Laura donated a large portrait of him, which hung in the entryway of the school.In 1933, the University of Kansas City began operations one block north of the Nelson School. In 1954, the university founded its School of Education. Since the 1940s, a formal relationship existed with the school district, allowing the university's Department of Education and later the School of Education to run a summer demonstration school and a teacher training program at the Nelson School. The University of Kansas City had desegregated in 1948, and many of its first African American students enrolled in the education program. The School of Education opened up its demonstration school to children of all races, which was unprecedented in Kansas City. Moreover, black teachers from the university took part in the summer demonstration schools. Before that time, it was unheard of for African American teachers to teach white children in Kansas City.In 1951, Professor Hugh Speer, chair of the Department of Education, was asked to give expert testimony in the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education case. During his testimony, he repeatedly referred to the success of the desegregated demonstration school and teacher training program, which he oversaw.In 1980, the Kansas City, Missouri School District closed the Nelson School and UMKC began leasing the building for its Conservatory and Department of Theatre, which both needed extra space. The Conservatory operated out of its original facility on Warwick Blvd, named Grant Hall after W.T. Grant, a former president of its board of trustees, who had passed away in 1954. W.T. Grant's son, W.D. Grant, took over for his father, and he orchestrated the merger of the Kansas City Conservatory with the University of Kansas City in 1959. The former Nelson School building was renamed W.D. Grant Hall in his honor. For a time, UMKC had a W.T. Grant Hall and a W.D. Grant Hall, which were commonly referred to as Old Grant and New Grant. In 1989, UMKC sold Old Grant to the Kansas City Art Institute, which tore it down and built the Kemper Museum of Modern Art in its place. In 1987, UMKC formally purchased the former Nelson School and added a large addition on the north.Today, Grant Hall on UMKC's campus provides faculty offices as well as classroom, practice, and performance spaces for conservatory and theater students. The school's original cafeteria space has been remodeled and is now used for recitals. The original auditorium has become the theater for UMKC's undergraduate theater program.

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.

 William Rockhill Nelson Elementary (1924); Grant Hall

Originally from Maine, Herbert Hall got his first job working in a grain elevator in Chapman, Kansas. He later went on to co-found the Hall-Robinson Grain Company in 1887. Throughout his fifty-year career, he became one of the leading grain exporters in the United States and amassed more wealth for himself than most Kansans could dream of. He and Linda Southall, who were from Virginia, married in Kansas City in 1885. The two had no children and used much of their considerable wealth to support local philanthropy. Linda donated significant amounts to local hospitals to help women and children. Herbert Hall and his good friend Edwin Shields, who ironically owned the competing Theis-Shields Grain Company, were two of J.C. Nichols' financial backers. Both men decided to build in Nichols' South Park neighborhood, which was designed for estates for the wealthy. The Shields family built their home in 1909, and the Halls built across the street in 1913. It was popular for the wealthy to name their mansions in those days. William Rockhill Nelson, owner of the Kansas City Star, named his mansion Oak Hall. The Shields' family home was known as Oaklawn. The Epperson family a block to the south named their home Hawthorn Hall. Herbert decide to name his home after his wife, Linda Hall. Linda died in 1938, establishing in her will an endowment for a specialized free library. She requested that the library not be named for her. However, upon his death in 1941, Mr. Hall, who was by that point rumored to be the second richest man in Kansas City, left millions to Linda's library fund, instructing it to be named the Linda Hall Library. In consultation with the neighboring University of Kansas City, now UMKC, the trustees of the Hall estate decided the focus of the library should be science, the history of science and engineering. The university would then focus its library collections on the humanities and the health sciences. The university's students have always been welcome at the library and in the years before the construction of the Miller Nichols Library on the Volker Campus, the Linda Hall Library provided much needed study space for students. UMKC science and engineering students still are frequent patrons. The library opened in 1946 in the former Hall home, Linda Hall. The home was demolished and the current structure was constructed in 1964.Today, the Linda Hall Library is internationally recognized for its science, engineering, and technology collection, serving researchers around the world. Despite being located on UMKC grounds, the library is not a part of the university; instead, it is independently funded and operated. Also on the library grounds is a small urban arboretum, which contains many varieties of trees and native plants.Upon entering the library, visitors are greeted by a malachite tazza that was a gift to the American Ambassador to Russia from Czar Nicholas II in 1910. Helen Spencer discovered that this rare work had entered the private market and purchased it as a gift for Linda Hall Library. Additional treasures include a mid-19th century grandfather's clock that was designed by James Kenmuir, a hand-woven rug produced for a palace in China, and busts of famous scientists.

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.

Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, and Technology

In 1953, new president Earl McGrath changed the focus of the University of Kansas City towards an urban serving university. To that end, he founded the School of Business and Public Administration in the fall of 1953. The school operated in scattered locations around campus until the university was able to purchase the former mansion of Edwin and Martha Shields at 5110 Cherry St. in 1965. The home had been used previously by the Barstow School for Girls and for the past three years by St. Paul's Methodist Seminary as a classroom facility. St. Paul's had renamed it Oxford Hall, a name that UMKC retained. While Oxford Hall allowed for the school's dean and much of its faculty to locate in one facility, classes were taught in scattered locations around campus. As the school's popularity increased in the late 1970's and enrollment increased to over a thousand students, a movement began in the early 1980s to raise funds to expand Oxford Hall to create the classrooms and offices necessary to consolidate operations into one facility.At this time, the dean of the school, Eleanor Brantley Schwartz, had reached out to the CEOs of area companies with an invitation to participate in the creation of the curriculum. It was an opportunity for these CEOs to tell the school what type of education they wanted graduates and potential new hires to have. One of the people who participated in this program was H&amp;R Block founder Henry Bloch, whose ties to the university date back to 1947 when he was a university student for a year. His older brother Leon was a graduate of the university's School of Law. Henry Bloch had long used the university's extension education program to help train tax preparers for his company. Moreover, Bloch had been a member of various university booster organizations, including the University Associates and the UKC Trustees. In 1978, Henry Bloch and his family gifted money to create the Leon Bloch Law Library in the UMKC School of Law's new building at 52nd and Cherry.When the request came to give his input into the School of Business and Public Administration's curriculum, he responded with enthusiasm. Entrepreneurship had long been a topic dear to his heart. However, it was not a discipline taught in business schools at that time. He suggested the creation of a program to teach entrepreneurship and encourage business students to start new ventures. This was the genesis of the Bloch School's current program. In 1985, as the school sought public and private funding for the expansion of Oxford Hall, Mr. Bloch donated $1 Million to the effort. In gratitude for all he had done, UMKC renamed the school in Mr. Bloch's honor at this time. Over the years, Bloch made repeated gifts of endowments and scholarships to the Bloch School, and he was generous with his time in attending events and making himself accessible to students, including attending graduation, to show his support.In 2011, the Bloch family announced a $32 million gift towards the creation of the Bloch Executive Hall for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, a 68,000-square-foot building that opened in 2013 to support the school's entrepreneurship and management programs and allow it to increase its enrollment. The building includes innovative classrooms and labs that incorporate the ideas of Mr. Bloch, who had visited business education facilities around the country and the world.

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&amp;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.

The Bloch School, UMKC

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.

Henry and Marion Bloch Sculpture

Founded in 1895 by local lawyers William Borland, Edward Ellison, and Elmer Powell, the Kansas City School of Law sought to expand opportunities for legal education in Kansas City. The inaugural class consisted of 26 students, including three women. The thirteen inaugural faculty members were recruited from local attorneys and judges. The first president was Judge Francis Black, who was retired from the Missouri Supreme Court. Early graduates include Lyda Conley in 1902, who became the first Native American woman to take a case to the U.S. Supreme Court when she attempted to defend a sacred cemetery in Kansas City, Kansas, from destruction. Although Conley did not win the case, she and her sisters were able to prevent the cemetery's destruction through armed occupation in defiance of developers. The school operated out of rented offices in several downtown buildings before constructing its own building at 913 Baltimore in 1926. Originally a night school intended for local working professionals, the school attracted students from outside the Kansas City area and other states from the beginning.The Great Depression hurt the school financially and enrollment dropped. Seeking financial stability and a source for new students, the Kansas City School of Law merged with the University of Kansas City in 1938. Originally the UKC School of Law operated out of the second floor of the Administration Building on campus, today known as Scofield Hall. The Law Library occupied the second floor of the university's library, now known as Newcomb Hall. Traditionally a night school, daytime instruction was added at this time. A building was constructed for the school in 1950, largely through the generosity of UKC founder William Volker. This building, located at 52nd and Rockhill and now known as Cockefair Hall, would house the school for the next three decades. By the early 1970s, the School of Law's enrollment had nearly reached 500, and it had outgrown its building. It faced accreditation concerns from the American Bar Association because it lacked the required study and library space for its students. The discontinuation of the night program in 1972 did little to alleviate the school's space problems, so a campaign was launched to build a new facility. The University of Missouri Board of Curators approved funding in 1976 to construct the current structure, which was dedicated in 1979. Funding for the building's Leon E. Bloch Law Library was provided by the family of H&amp;R Block founder Henry Bloch in honor of his brother Leon, an alumnus of the school.Over the years, the Kansas City School of Law/UMKC School of Law has educated some of Kansas City's most distinguished citizens. These include former President Harry S. Truman, who attended for two years in the 1920s, and former Supreme Court Justice Charles Whittaker. Alumni include Mayor John Gage of Kansas City (1940-1946), numerous judges, and countless attorneys, lawyers, and businesspeople. In 1948, the school ushered in desegregation at the university by accepting Harold Holliday, the first African American Student at the University of Kansas City. Harold would become a prominent Kansas City attorney and civil rights activist. From the beginning, the school promoted legal education for women, and its female alumni range from Lyda Conley, the first Native American woman to argue before the Supreme Court, and Tiera Farrow, the first woman to defend a murder trial, to Melissa Taylor Standridge, current Justice of the Kansas Supreme court.Today, the UMKC School of Law is a critical part of the university's mission as an urban-serving university. It publishes both the UMKC Law Review and the Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. The Arthur H. Stoup and E.E. Thompson Courtrooms within the facility simulate the real-world conditions that future trial advocates will experience. The Stoup Courtroom was intentionally modeled after the ones used by Jackson County to prepare students who would eventually work in those courtrooms. The school's numerous legal clinics not only help in the legal education of its students but also provide much-needed legal services to members of the Kansas City community.

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.

UMKC School of Law

In 1911, prominent Kansas City doctor Herbert G. Tureman and his wife, philanthropist Marie Powers Tureman, built a luxurious mansion along Oak Street in what is now part of the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) campus. The 38-room, Italianate house was designed by architect John McKenie and took five years to construct. After Dr. Tureman passed away in 1926, his wife Marie moved out of the home and leased it out to famed fashion designer and garment factory owner Nell Donnelly. The mansion and its occupant became sensationalized on December 16, 1931, when Donnelly and her chauffer, George Blair, were kidnapped on the driveway. The pair were taken at gunpoint to Bonner Springs and held at ransom for $75,000 until they were rescued two days later. Marie Tureman, who remained owner of the house, passed away in 1966. In her will, she left the property to UMKC. For over a decade, the university utilized the house as an event space.The idea for a museum developed in the late 1970s thanks to the efforts of childhood friends and avid collectors Mary Harris Francis and Barbara Marshall. Francis collected antique toys as a hobby, with a particular focus on dolls and dollhouses. Marshall, who worked in the art department of the Hallmark Company, commissioned miniature scenes and furniture from professional artists all over the world. Marshall’s collection of miniatures remains the largest known in the world. In 1979, the pair founded a non-profit foundation with the goal of combining their collections in a public museum. They made an arrangement with UMKC to house their exhibits in the Tureman Mansion, and in 1982 it officially opened as the Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City. It started out with 7,500 square-feet of space, but the addition of new facilities outside the mansion in 1989 and 2004 grew the size to 33,000 square feet.In 2014, the museum underwent a massive, $8 million expansion and renovation project. Displays were updated and rearranged, audiovisual technology was incorporated into some exhibits, a new climate control system was installed, and toys from the mid-twentieth century to the present were added to the collection. When the institution reopened in August 2015, it rebranded itself as the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures. The first floor was given an art gallery design to display the miniatures collection, and also contains event spaces. The second floor houses the toy exhibits and spaces for rotating displays.Today, the museum contains a growing collection of over 86,000 artifacts. The bulk of these are vintage toys, dating as far back as the Victorian era. The toy exhibits illustrate the cultural and technological contexts from which the artifacts came. The miniatures collection contains over 20,000 items crafted by master artists. Many are 1:12 scale recreations of furniture, machines, toys, rooms, and buildings. The museum claims to have the world’s largest collection of miniatures, and one of the largest public collections of vintage toys.

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.

National Museum of Toys and Miniatures 

Uriah Spray Epperson was born in 1861 in Indianapolis and moved with his family to Kansas City when he was six years old. He started working for the Fowler Meat Packing Plant when he was 19 years old and stayed with the company for 22 years, eventually becoming the plant’s general manager. After his retirement from the plant, Epperson started two of his own businesses: Epperson Land Investment Company and U.S. Epperson Underwriting Company, which sold fire insurance. Mary Elizabeth Weaver was born in New York in 1855 to a prominent veterinarian and moved to Kansas City as a child. She married Uriah in 1899.Both of the Eppersons had a love of music and the arts. In the late 1890s, Uriah created a band of over 100 local businessmen, known as Epperson’s Megaphone Minstrels, to raise funds for local parks. The band played ragtime and cakewalk music, while performers in Blackface danced and did skits. [2] Epperson also helped organize the annual Priests of Pallas Festival, which included a parade, exhibits, concerts, and a masked ball. He served for a time as president of the predecessor of the Chamber of Commerce and spearheaded the construction of the Convention Hall. [3] The Eppersons were great philanthropists as well, donating to Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kansas City Art Institute, and the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, among others. [1] Uriah was prominent in civic affairs and was a long time member of the Commercial Club (KC Chamber of Commerce) and the Board of the Kansas City Convention Hall. When the Convention Hall famously burned down in 1900, 90 days before the Democratic Party's national convention was scheduled, Uriah was one of the men who marshalled the city's resources to rebuild it in time.The Eppersons chose Horace LaPierre to design their ostentatious mansion at 5200 Cherry. LaPierre specialized in designing grand residences around Kansas City. Legend has it that he showed them the plans for 1500 different houses before they settled on the Tudor &amp; Gothic style structure reminiscent of an old English castle. Construction began in 1919, and it was completed in 1922. . [4] The 24,180 square foot home originally had 48 rooms including a swimming pool, billiards room, organ loft, living room with a performance stage, library and a special "Elephant Room" to house Mary's collection of elephant statues. The inside features ornately carved oak fireplaces, stair bannisters, and wall panels. [3] The ceilings are also decorated and intricate crown moldings, and there are leaded glass windows throughout. The home cost a total of $450,000 to build, or about $6.75 million adjusted for inflation in 2019. The Eppersons named their home Hawthorn Hall, but it has been known locally as the Epperson House since it was donated to the university in 1942.Uriah died in 1927, just five years after the home was completed. Mary continued to live in the home until her death in 1939. Over 600 people attended her funeral, which was held in the home. [3] As the Eppersons had no children, they left their estate to Uriah’s business partner, J. J. Lynn. Lynn attempted to use the home as business offices for the Epperson Underwriting Company, but was denied commercial use of the property. In 1942, he donated the house to what would become the University of Missouri-Kansas City. It was used as a residence hall for aviation cadets being trained during World War II. After the war, the university used the home for a residence hall, classrooms, office space, and storage. [3]The home is the setting of numerous stories of paranormal activity and investigations over the years. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, and the home, with its many staircases and recessed floors, could not easily comply with the new law. It has been vacant since 2010 and in a state of disrepair for years. A fire in 2006 caused water damage to some of the woodwork and plaster throughout the home. [3,4] Due to the size of the building, renovation costs to comply with the law would be exorbitant, around $10-15 million. The university spends approximately $60,000 a year just to maintain the building. In late 2018, the university chancellor organized a task force to determine how to raise funds to preserve the home. [5]

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.

History of UMKC: University of Missouri - Kansas City Walking Tour

Fine Arts Building, UMKC

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources