Kansas City Power and Light District Walking Tour

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The Kansas City Power & Light Building is a leading historic landmark in the city’s Power & Light District. The building was constructed in 1931 and served as the headquarters for the Kansas City Power & Light Company for six decades. The building’s Art Deco style and ornate rooftop lantern quickly made it a Kansas City icon, and to this day, the lantern appears as a symbol within logos for the Power & Light District. KCP&L occupied the first nineteen floors of the building's thirty-six stories when their new headquarters was complete, renting the other half until 1957, when they sold the property and became a tenant. The company continued to rent space here until 1991. In 2014, the KCP&L Building was sold after its last tenant left. The historic office tower underwent refurbishments and reopened in 2016 as a luxury apartment complex. The building was the tallest in Missouri for nearly fifty years and remains the fourth-tallest in the city.

2. Hotel President (Hilton President Kansas City) and the Drum Room

From its opening in 1926, Kansas City's Hotel President reflected the opulence of Kansas City during the 1920s and was selected to host the 1928 Republican National Convention which nominated Herbert Hoover for President. Other notable guests have included Bob Dylan, Charles Lindbergh, and Presidents Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower, and Nixon. The hotel’s Drum Room lounge, which opened in 1941, hosted legendary entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, the Marx Brothers, the Glen Miller Orchestra, Sammy Davis Jr., Benny Goodman, and Tommy Dorsey. The President closed in the late 1970s and sat vacant for over 20 years. Saved from demolition, the hotel underwent a $45 million renovation in 2006 and reopened as a Hilton franchise, dubbed the Hilton President Kansas City. The President, along with multiple other hotels, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

3. Mainstreet Theater, Kansas City, MO

Located in downtown Kansas City in Jackson County, Missouri, the four-story Mainstreet Theater is one of the city's most visible historic landmarks. First opened on October 30, 1921, during the vaudeville era, it was built for promoter Martin Beck by the distinguished architectural firm of C.W and Geo. L. Rapp of Chicago designed some of the most significant theaters in America in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the largest theater in the city until the Midland Theater was built in 1927, and it is distinctive for its Beaux-Arts design and prominent Byzantine-style dome. With a seating capacity of 3,250, it was one of the first theaters of its type to cater to the working class. Between 1921-1949 it presented vaudeville acts, movies, and traveling shows. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. After many years of being closed, the theater reopened in 2012 after being purchased and renovated by Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas. The theater closed during the pandemic and was purchased and reopened by B&B Theatres in 2021 and now operates as B&B Theatres Mainstreet KC at The Power & Light District.

4. Union Women's Prison Marker

The Union Women’s Prison Marker is located off 1425 Grand Boulevard in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The marker was erected to honor those lost and injured after the building collapsed on August 14, 1863. The building housed female prisoners arrested under Union Brigadier General Thomas Ewing, Jr. as part of a strategy in order to subside Confederate guerrilla warfare along the Missouri-Kansas border. In 1863, Kansas City was named the headquarters of the newly-created U.S. Army District of the Border, which was charged with controlling the Confederate guerrilla insurgency along the Missouri-Kansas border. The women were accused of aiding the Confederate guerrillas, known as Bushwhackers. The 17 accused women were housed in the top two floors of a seven-year-old three-story building owned by renowned Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham. Union soldiers and officials worked in offices on the first floor. Four women were killed, and a number were injured. While it is unknown why the building failed, it is noted that Union officials removed support columns and bricks to make room for a storage cellar.

5. National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame

The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, occupies about one-third of the College Basketball Experience at the Sprint Center. This hall of fame compliments the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame by recognizing coaches, players, and teams that have made significant contributions to college basketball. Visitors can honor college basketball legends and learn about the history of the game by not just observing but by experiencing college basketball for themselves.

6. Jenkins Music Company Building

The Jenkins Music Company Building in Kansas City, Missouri, was originally constructed in 1911-1912. The building was built to serve as the general offices, retail headquarters and the wholesale division of the prominent musical instrument and music publishing firm, the Jenkins Music Company, founded in 1878 by John Wesley Jenkins, Sr. During the 1890’s, the Jenkins Company became one of the largest manufacturers of guitars and mandolins in the world and one of the most distinguished publishers of sheet music in the nation. The structure was designed by locally-based architectural firm, Smith, Rea & Lovitt, especially by the firm's senior partner, Charles A. Smith. It is a significant example of unaltered, Modernistic-style commercial architecture, combining Late Gothic Revival and Art Deco decorative elements. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

7. Boley Building (aka Katz Building)

The Boley Building is a six-story, steel-frame Art Nouveau commercial building constructed in 1909 by noted architect Louis Curtiss. The building's National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination form called it Curtiss' "single most important work." Originally occupied by clothing store Charles N. Boley, the building may have been the very first "curtain wall" metal and glass structure in America, as it was constructed almost a decade earlier than San Francisco's Hallidie Building, which is sometimes considered the first "curtain wall" design. It was not well received in its day, but this design concept would become popular beginning in the 1950s. Thus, the building was at least 40 years ahead of its time. The building is also known as the Katz Building, because the Katz Drug Company owned the building for a time. It is now the headquarters of Andrews McMeel Universal, a publisher of noteworthy comics and books including "Calvin and Hobbes" and "Doonesbury." It was included in the NRHP in March, 1971.

8. The Midland Theatre

The Midland Theatre is a historic entertainment venue in the Power & Light District of Kansas City. It first opened in 1927 as Loew’s Midland Theater; at the time it was the third-largest theater in the United States. It became well known for its opulent interior, which included features such as gold leafing, hand-cut crystal chandeliers, and other ornamentations. After the original theatre closed in 1961, it was acquired and operated by AMC for a number of years. It underwent extensive renovations and restorations in 2008. Today the theatre is sponsored by Arvest Bank, and is formally known as the Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland. It hosts a number of live shows and performances throughout the year. The theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

9. Newman Theatre (1919-1972)

Built in 1919 for local exhibitor Frank L. Newman, the Newman Theatre was known for its opulence and extravagant features. It was the biggest and most costly of any Kansas City theatre at the time, holding an audience of 2,000. Notably, in 1921 a series of short satirical cartoons called Newman Laugh-O-grams were screened, which were the first animated productions created solely by Walt Disney. The Newman became Paramount Theater in 1947 and operated for a short time as Towne Theater before eventually closing due to a decline in business. It was demolished in 1972 for an urban renewal project and today, is the site is occupied by a skyscraper called the Lightwell Building.

10. Baltimore Hotel, 1899-1938

One of the largest hotels beyond New York City and perhaps the most luxurious hotels in the West prior to World War II, the Baltimore Hotel was the center of social life and politics in Kansas City during the first half of the 20th century. The hotel was popular among local business leaders, visiting celebrities, and even played an integral role in national politics. A young Harry Truman had many fond memories at this hotel-including his role (which he later denied) in bringing a live moose into the hotel during one of the Democratic Party's national conventions.

11. Muehlebach Hotel

From the time of its construction in 1915 to mid-century, the Muehlebach Hotel was one of the centers of Kansas City social life. The luxurious hotel was built by the son of the city's famous brewer and hosted celebrities, famous athletes, and even presidents and foreign dignitaries. The hotel is also the site of the first band performance to be broadcast over the radio, the birthplace of the Barbershop Harmony Society, and the place where Harry Truman stayed while waiting for the 1948 presidential election results. The Muehlebach, along with several other downtown hotels, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. After closing in 1986, the Muehlebach was acquired by Marriott Hotels and incorporated into the Kansas City Marriott Downtown. In 2018 it was announced that Platform Ventures will convert the historic hotel into an apartment building.

12. Aladdin Hotel

When it opened in 1925, the Aladdin Hotel was the tallest building in Kansas City. The 16-story building was designed by architect Phillip T. Drotts in the Italian Romanesque style, with architectural highlights that included a white limestone facade on the first through third floors with arches and terra cotta detailing, ten-story brick pilasters topped with life-size terra cotta female figures, sets of five arched, recessed windows on the 16th floor, and a pyramidal roof. The Aladdin is architecturally significant but also serves as a reminder of the city's prosperity during the early 20th century when grand hotels helped attract major conventions, a critical part of the local economy, and a source of civic pride. As of August 2022, the hotel is closed but its current owners acquired it in December 2021 and plan to redevelop the historic hotel. The Aladdin is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Downtown Hotels in Kansas City, Missouri district, which consists of seven hotels and numerous other structures.

13. The North American Conference of Homophile Organizations / Phoenix Society for Individual Freedom Historical Marker

This historical marker commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first National Planning Conference of Homophile Organizations. Dedicated on October 12, 2016, at the corner of 12th and Wyandotte in Kansas City, the marker shares the history of one of the early LGBT civil right organizations in Kansas City, Missouri, The Phoenix Society for Individual Freedom, and its founder, Drew Shafer. The marker was created with the help of community members, historians, activists, and the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America, which is housed at the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri - Kansas City.

14. Barney Allis Plaza and Fountain

This large fountain was built in 1985 as part of a redesign of the Barney Allis Plaza, and urban park located above a parking garage at the site of the city's first convention hall which was built to host the Democratic National Convention of 1900. That convention hall was used until the 1930s and today, the plaza where it once stood is a tree-lined urban park that features several statues and is named after the manager of the former Muehlebach Hotel which was located across the street. That historic hotel is now part of the Marriott Hotel. Barney Allis managed the hotel for three decades beginning in 1931. Despite his short stature of 5 foot 3 inches, Allis had a tremendous presence and ran the hotel in a way that left a positive impression on visitors to the city. Allis earned a reputation as a perfectionist and his leadership bolstered the hotel's reputation which compelled a number of celebrities, including the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, and future President Harry Truman, to choose to stay at the Muehlebach. The fountain is on the north end of the plaza and features 112 water jets. The plaza was first created in 1956.

15. Folly Theater, Kansas City

The historic Folly Theater is Kansas City’s oldest theater and entertainment venue, dating back to 1900. It still operates as a functional theater today (showing live theater, jazz performances, national touring shows, and other programs) and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Although the Folly Theater is seen as a place of quality, family entertainment, the theater’s origins were based in vaudeville, burlesque, and, later, striptease performances, showcasing nationally acclaimed artists such as Gypsy Rose Lee and Tempest Storm. In the 1920s, however, the Folly Theater (then named the "Shubert's Missouri”) produced dramatic productions and even featured the Marx Brothers and a young Humphrey Bogart. After falling into disrepair in the 1970s, the KCMO community took up the cause and saved the Folly Theater, and it is now one of the most important theatrical and historical sites in the downtown area.

16. Old French Kansas City Historical Marker

Kansas City was first officially incorporated as a town in 1850, but for several decades prior it had been an area of settlement for Frenchmen. Traders in St. Louis and along the Mississippi River had long used the Missouri River as a westward route to trade goods with the Native Americans. Kansas City sits at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers and is a natural crossroads of traffic, making it ideal for settlement. French people's presence in the region long outlasted the French state's presence which mostly left by 1763.

17. Kansas City Municipal Auditorium

The Municipal Auditorium, nicknamed the Municipal, is a historic event center in Kansas City. The Art Deco structure was built in the 1930s as part of a Ten Year Plan to revive the city’s economy with construction jobs and new public buildings. Over the decades it has hosted many community and national events, including national basketball championship games and two speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr. Today, the historic structure is part of the overall Kansas City Convention Center Complex.

18. Kansas City Club Building; Hotel Kansas City

Now home to Hotel Kansas City, this historic structure Gothic Revival-style building served as the headquarters for the prestigious Kansas City Club for nearly 80 years. The Club was first formed in 1882 to provide a place for the city’s business class to socialize. In 1922, the organization celebrated the completion of this building which offered numerous amenities for club members, including guest rooms, meeting spaces, athletic facilities, and a banquet hall. With declining membership reflecting trends in other cities, the club sold the building in 2001, and most of the structure was converted into apartments. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. In 2020, Hyatt Hotels converted the building into Hotel Kansas City, preserving its historic features such as the two-story stained glass mural in the main ballroom crafted by Ronald Neill Dixon.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Kansas City Power and Light District Walking Tour

Created by David J. Trowbridge on July 10th 2018, 8:53:12 pm.

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Description

This walking tour begins at the Kansas City Power & Light Building which was completed in 1931 and includes numerous historic theaters and other landmark buildings that were home to the leading economic, social, and cultural hub of the city. Highlights of the tour include the Mainstreet Theater, Kansas City Club Building, the Muehlebach Hotel, the Naismith College Basketball Hall of Fame, and of course, one of Kansas City's famous fountains.

Entries on This Tour

Kansas City Power and Light District Walking Tour

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