This mural showcases the history of the working-class communities of color such as Latinx and Black residents of Kansas City, Kansas throughout the twentieth century to the present day. At the beginning of the mural, there is a turn of the century white woman in a stagecoach looking out. Next, we see filmmakers and their vision of the area. This is followed by various BIPOC residents of the area enjoying 1920s Kansas City, Kansas. This is quickly followed by hardships- from the world wars, racism, and low-socioeconomic circumstances. There are several BIPOC people involved in the war industry- we see two Black women as Rosie the Riveters. The women are placed above Mexican Americans in zoot suits. Below the Zoot suiters, there are people laboring for the railroad and a shirtless man that appears to be impoverished. Next, we see the flood of 1951 that destroyed and displaced these working-class communities represented here. Finally, there is a person that closely resembles the muralist Jose Faus, as he takes a picture of a diverse group of young people in the community.

In this oral interview, Loretta Chavez describes her life growing up in the Argentine neighborhood.

This mural was painted by Jose Faus in 2006 who utilizes the metaphor of camera film to represent the passage of time. The figures show a chronology of world events throughout the mid-twentieth century and their effect on various communities of color. Some themes highlighted in Faus' mural include the consequences of discrimination and the tragic consequences of inequality, but there are also images depicting work, family, and community life throughout the work.

Avenue Chronicles

This walking tour starts at the Strawberry Hill Museum and includes a dozen Kansas City landmarks including the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, Judge Cordell Meeks Plaza, the Huron Indian Cemetery, Granada Cemetery, and Sumner High School. 

The Cruise-Scroggs MansionThis Queen Anne Victorian home was built as an elaborate residence for the wealthy family of Margaret (Kerstetter) Cruise Scroggs. It was the first home commissioned to the young architect John G. Braecklein, who had just opened his own practice in the city. [1] The home was built on six lots, elevated high above street level with a stone retaining wall, and close to the downtown business district. It is made of brick with stone and wood trim. It has a round three-story tower on the northeast side, as well as gables and dormer windows on each side. There is a large wrap-around front porch along the front entrance. The interior is decorated with ornate woodwork, built-in shelving, tile fireplaces, pocket doors, embossed walls, and stained glass windows. [1] The mansion was completed in 1887, and Margaret lived there with her husband, John B. Scroggs, as well as her three children from a previous marriage. At the time of its completion, it was considered one of the finest examples of Victorian architecture in the city. [1]St. John’s OrphanageMargaret Scroggs died in 1915, and her daughter Emma and her husband John E. McFadden lived in the home for a few years. In 1919, they sold the home for $15,400 (about one-third of its worth) in a gesture of goodwill to the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church next door. [1] The Croatian parish had been looking for place to open an orphanage for children whose parents had died during the Spanish Influenza pandemic, which had spread throughout the world in 1918-1919. The Sisters of St. Francis of Christ the King ran the orphanage as well as a day care and nursery school program out of the home. [2] There was a huge need for their service, and from 1922-1930, four additions were made to the building. These grey stone additions added a large kitchen and dining room, dormitories, bathroom, playroom, study rooms, laundry facilities, and a chapel to the orphanage operations. The nuns used the original residence as their sleeping quarters, so most of the ornate exterior and interior was left preserved over the years. [1]In the 1930s and 1940s, the orphanage was caring for about 70 children. It received its first license from the State Board of Health in 1940. The nuns would later be trained as caseworkers. Sometime in the 1970s, the mission of the home was changed from an orphanage to a residential treatment facility. It closed permanently in 1988. By that time, St. John’s Orphanage had cared for over 3,000 children. [2]Strawberry Hill Museum and Cultural CenterAs early as the late 1800s, within the lifetime of Margaret Scroggs, the demographic of the neighborhood surrounding the home began to change. Immigrants from many different countries, especially those from Eastern Europe, began to move to the area. The Flood of 1903 forced many to move from the lowlands along the river up to what was then known as Splitlog’s Hill, now Strawberry Hill.When St. John’s Orphanage closed, the building was purchased by the Strawberry Hill Ethnic Cultural Society. The mission of the society was to preserve the stories and legacy of the area’s ethnic heritage. They restored the original portion of the home with furnishings to serve as a historic house museum. The additions to the home were converted into displays. Today, a Hall of Immigrants display tells the story of the many families who moved to the Strawberry Hill neighborhood. Exhibits explain the history and culture of the people who called the neighborhood home over the years through their clothing, photos, toys, and books. Holiday events featuring the traditions of the various cultures are especially popular with visitors. The cultural center also hosts other community-oriented events. The museum is open for guided tours on weekends. It also has a tea room and a large gift shop. It is available for as a venue rental. [3]

This building in the Strawberry Hill historic neighborhood has a long and varied history, beginning with its construction in 1887. It was the mansion residence of Margaret Cruise Scroggs’s family for over 30 years, a fine example of Queen Anne Victorian architecture. In 1919, the home was purchased by the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church for use as an orphanage. The church added four large additions onto the home over the next few years. The Sisters that ran the orphanage served over 3,000 children over the course of 70 years in operation. In 1988, the building reopened as a museum dedicated to preserving the history and culture of the Eastern European immigrants that have called the Strawberry Hill neighborhood home. 

Strawberry Hill Museum and Cultural Center

Father Anton Kuhls arrived in Wyandotte Kansas in 1864 and quickly began the work of organizing a parish. After acquiring this land from Mathias Splitlog for $800, construction of the original church began in 1865. The cost of the effort was reduced by the profit Father Kuhls made by selling a third of the land he acquired for nearly double the original price. However, according to Perl Morgan's 1911 work on the history of Wyandotte County, that fortune was short-lived as a thief stole $1700 while the priest was away in Leavenworth. These funds were the entirety of the church's funds, leaving the construction of the original church in doubt until members of the congregation raised $800 the first Sunday after their priest returned. Additional funds were donated by parishioners and members of the community at a fundraising picnic organized in response to the theft, raiding an additional $1,000 and allowing construction to continue.

Founded as the Mother of God Parish in 1858, St. Mary’s Church in the historic Strawberry Hill neighborhood is home to the oldest Catholic parish in Kansas City, Kansas. Father Anton Kuhls led the parish from its founding to the start of the 20th century, and together with the support of the parish, they also established St. Margaret's hospital. The cornerstone of this church was dedicated in 1890 and replaced the original building which was constructed shortly after the Civil War. With the support of parishioners, the limestone building was completed in stages and dedicated on June 21, 1903.

St. Mary's Church 

Architects William Warren Rose (1864-1931) and David Burton Peterson (1875–1937) formed a partnership in Kansas City, Kansas in 1909. Rose had been the Board of Education architect since 1889, and he also briefly served as Kansas City Mayor from 1905 to 1906. Rose &amp; Peterson would design over sixty projects around the city in the 16 years that they were partners. The pair were particularly prolific in school designs, but also worked on the Soldier and Sailors Monument and the Argentine Carnegie Library.In 1910, a $200,000 public bond was issued for the construction of a City Hall. However, this would not be enough to cover Rose &amp; Peterson’s original elaborate design. Some substitutions in materials were made to compensate. The first stage of the City Hall’s construction, the southern section and 6th Street entrance, was completed in 1911. City officials had difficulty raising the funds necessary to finish the project. It wasn’t until 1926 that another bond was passed allowing for $70,000 to complete the City Hall and $280,000 to construct the adjacent Fire Department Headquarters. The five-floor City Hall is constructed in the Renaissance Revival style. On the west front entrance, the lower two stories have a limestone façade and the upper three stories are made of brick. The basement, which once contained the jail, has windows are at street level, although most of that floor extends below street level. On the south façade, the fourth story windows have an arched arcade above, which was the original plan for the entire building.The Fire Headquarters, completed in 1930, has three floors, again with basement windows at street level and made of limestone. The main entrance on 6th Street has a carved 1920s fire tank with hoses and fire plugs above the door. The north side has six garage doors and large bronze letters spelling out “FIRE HEADQUARTERS.” A five-story tower to the east was once used for training purposes and for drying hoses. [2] The building as City Hall until 1973, when a new municipal building was constructed. It was then used as storage. The Fire Headquarters has remained in use. The buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Kansas City's City Hall and Fire Headquarters, also frequently known as Old City Hall and the Main Fire Station, are recognized for their local historical significance. The building was designed by local architects William Rose and David Peterson of the architectural firm Rose & Peterson in a classical Renaissance Revival style. Due to financial constraints, the building was completed in two phases. The south and west portions of the City Hall was completed in 1911. The north annex and the Fire Headquarters portion were completed in 1929. 

City Hall & Fire Headquarters, Kansas City, Kansas

A few years after the conclusion of WWI in 1918, the Kansas State Legislature had allowed for public funds to be used for the construction of Memorial Halls. A petition led by Harry Darby and other veterans collected signatures. In 1921, $500,000 was allotted by the Kansas City Board of Commissioners for the construction of the memorial. The architectural firm Rose &amp; Peterson was chosen to design the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall. Architects William Warren Rose (1864-1931) and David Burton Peterson (1875–1937) formed a partnership in Kansas City, Kansas in 1909. Rose had been the Board of Education architect since 1889, and he also briefly served as Kansas City Mayor from 1905 to 1906. Rose &amp; Peterson would design over 60 projects around the city in the 16 years that they were partners, the Memorial Hall being one of their most notable accomplishments. An elaborate groundbreaking ceremony and parade was held on May 14, 1923, and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall was completed in 1925. It is constructed in a Classical Revival and Georgian design. It is three-stories high, and the exterior is covered in brick with terra cotta and limestone trim. Six stone columns dominate the façade. The parapet has inscriptions flaked by two eagles. Steps lead up to five entrance doors, with portico windows above. The grand main lobby is two-stories high and features two large bronze chandeliers, decorative plasterwork, columns, and arches. The walls of the hall are etched with patriotic quotes and plaques listing the names of military men and women who lost their lives in battle. The hall’s auditorium seats 1,000 on the ground floor and 2,500 on the surrounding seats and balcony. The third floor has a chapel/reception area for 500. The final cost of the construction was over the initial budget at $542,476. In 1922, Kansas City delegates to the national conference for the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) offered the Memorial Hall as headquarters for the VFW offices. Rose &amp; Peterson had not even completed their design for the hall, and construction had yet to begin. Nevertheless, the offer was accepted, and in 1923, the VFW moved their headquarters from New York City to Kansas City, Kansas, renting office space until the Memorial Hall was completed. For several years, the VFW was allowed to rent the Memorial Hall space for $1 per year and was supplied with free utilities. This was unacceptable to Harry Darby and others who had worked toward the construction of the hall. They filed a court case in protest, which went all the way to the Kansas State Supreme Court. In 1927, the court decided the city had no right to lease the property to a private corporation without proper compensation. The VFW moved out of the building that year to Kansas City, Missouri, where it is still headquartered today. Memorial Hall has held countless concerts over its nearly 100-year lifespan. Most notably, it was the last venue where country music star Patsy Cline ever performed, on March 3, 1963, a few days before her tragic death in a plane crash. Between 1969 and 1979, The Grateful Dead played eight shows at the venue. Memorial Hall was also a popular venue for weekly wrestling events throughout the 1970s. In 1985, the Kansas City landmark was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Kansas City's Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall is both a civic auditorium and World War I memorial. The building was completed in 1925 and dedicated to the 6,500 men and women from Wyandotte County who served in the armed forces during World War I. The structure was designed by local architects William Rose and David Peterson in Georgian and Classical Revival-style architecture. From 1924-1927, the building served as the national headquarters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). Since its construction, the building has hosted numerous concerts and events, including the last performance of Patsy Cline.  

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall

BiographyCordell D. Meeks, Sr, was born September 25, 1914 in Little Rock, Arkansas. [1] His parents, Reverend Charles and Mrs. Mossie Meeks, moved their family to Kansas City, Kansas, in the late 1920s. Meeks graduated from Sumner High School in 1933 as class president. [2] He would go on to attend the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where he experienced racism that was easily dismissed by school authorities and led to his choice to study law: “...the meeting with the Dean of Men convinced me of the fact that if I ever wanted to help change the deplorable unjust and discriminatory conditions which existed at the university and elsewhere, I would have to get inside the system which controlled it. So I decided to get inside. The meeting had not been in vain.”[2]Meeks graduated from the University of Kansas with a BA in political science and then a Juris Doctorate (law degree) in 1940. [1] At the time, the bar association in Wyandotte County was segregated. [2] He opened his own practice in 1941. In 1947, he became an assistant District Attorney and helped found the first Black-owned bank in the city, Douglass State Bank. [3] By 1958, he was a senior partner in his own firm. [1]Meeks was elected Wyandotte County District Court judge in 1972, making him the first African American elected to a Kansas District Court. [1] He served two terms and retired in 1981. He had also been recommended for the Kansas State Supreme Court. He served 24 years as Wyandotte County Commissioner and then was elected Chairman of the Board in 1965, becoming the first African American to head a county government in the state. [2] Other accomplishments include: Trustee of First A.M.E. Church, member of the NAACP, and National Convention delegate for the Democratic Party. [1]Meeks and his wife Cellastine Brown had four children. His son Cordell D. Meeks, Jr, would also go on to be a judge. Meeks, Sr wrote his autobiography “To Heaven Through Hell: An Autobiography of the First Black District Court Judge of Kansas” in 1986. He died in 1987 and is buried in Highland Park Cemetery in Kansas City, KS. Judge Meeks’ home, located at 600 Oakland Avenue, is also on the National Register of Historic Places (see separate Clio entry).

In 1972, Judge Cordell D. Meeks, Sr became the first African American District Court judge in Kansas. A plaque with Judge Meeks’ portrait and a quote from his autobiography is located at the front of the Wyandotte County Courthouse, where he held this historic position. He had a distinguished career as a lawyer before becoming judge and was an active member of many local organizations. 

Judge Cordell D. Meeks, Sr Plaza

The Scottish Rite Masons fraternal organization was established in Kansas City, Kansas on October 31, 1898. The first organization was known as the Lafayette Lodge of Perfection. Acting on behalf of the Scottish Rite Masons, Henry F. Wulf purchased the former church of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) congregation, located at the corner of Seventh and Ann Streets, in 1902. The building cost $12,343, and more money was put into extensive renovations. Unfortunately, on October 20, 1906, a fire broke out at a street festival along Ann Street, taking out several city blocks and reducing the Scottish Rite Temple to a shell. The Kansas Trust Company granted a $75,000 loan to the Scottish Rite Masonic Association to construct a new building. William Warren Rose, a notable local architect, former mayor, and Scottish Rite Mason himself, was chosen to design it. [1]The new Scottish Rite Temple was completed in 1909. For fifteen years, it was the largest gathering place in Kansas City, Kansas (until the construction of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall) and was used by other statewide fraternal organizations and for business conferences. During World War I, it was used as the headquarters for the Red Cross efforts in the area. It also housed relief operations during the disastrous flood of 1951. [1] In 1996, the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma purchased the building, with intentions on making it into a casino, but was met with resistance in the local community. After several litigation battles, it finally opened in 2008 as the 7th Street Casino. The building went through a $20 million renovation project. [2]The Scottish Rite Temple building consists of three stories of brick and limestone construction. It is done in a Gothic Revival style. Wide steps lead up to the three main entrance doors. The doors and windows feature elaborate leaded and stained glass designs. A large central Gothic window extends between the second and third floors on the front of the building. The roof has unique crenelated parapets, highlighted with limestone and giving the impression of a medieval castle along the top of the building. Inside, the original temple had a large lobby with meeting rooms on the main floor. The upper floor had a two-story auditorium with a capacity of 800, often used for rites of initiation. The raised basement had a kitchen and banquet room that can hold 500. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. [1]

The Scottish Rite Temple was constructed in 1909. It was the meeting place of the Scottish Rite Masonic Association, which had existed in Kansas City, Kansas since 1898. The Gothic-style brick building was constructed by the well-known architect William Warren Rose. The temple features beautiful stained and leaded glass doors and windows, as well as a unique parapet around the roof. In 1985, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Since 2008, the building has functioned as a casino, owned by the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma. 

Scottish Rite Temple

Wyandot, or Wendat, means “dwellers of a peninsula/island.” [2] Prior to European arrival, the Wyandot lived primarily around the St. Lawrence River and Georgian Bay of Lake Huron in Ontario. At its peak, the Wyandot Confederacy was believed to have had a population of around 20,000-40,000. [3] The French who encountered the Wyandot called them Huron, although only some of the Wyandot tribes were part of the Huron Confederacy [4]. The Wyandot were related culturally and linguistically to the Iroquois, although they fought aggressively with other Iroquois tribes. In 1649, the Wendat Confederacy was defeated by the Iroquois (who had allied with the English and Dutch) and was forced to relocate further southwest to modern-day Michigan and along the Ohio River Valley.In 1830, the Indian Removal Act was passed, calling for all Native Americans to be moved west of the Mississippi River to "open" the area to European settlement. The Wyandot managed to hold on to their lands for over a decade after the act was passed despite increasing encroachment and violence. In 1840, white settlers killed Wyandot chief Summundowat, and the murder went unpunished by authorities. Finally, in 1842, the Wyandot signed a treaty with the US Government that guaranteed them 148,000 acres of land in modern-day Kansas, as well as an annuity. [1]In the summer of 1843, about 700 members of the Wyandot nation, the last remaining organized Native American group in Ohio, left for Kansas territory via wagon and steamship in what has since been called “Ohio’s Trail of Tears”. The US Government failed to fulfill terms of the treaty, so the Wyandot set up a makeshift camp along the Kansas River. Poor living conditions in the new climate and flooding led to disease and malnutrition. A measles epidemic wiped out between 100-200 people in the community, including many small children, within a year of arriving. Many of the victims were buried in what is now known as the Huron Indian Cemetery. [1]Late in 1843, the Wyandot purchased land from the Delaware tribe that today encompasses Kansas City and began to set up a home for their community. According to the diary of William Walker, Jr, a notable Wyandot politician: “They brought with them from Ohio a well-organized Methodist Church, a Free Mason's Lodge, a civil government, and a code of written laws which provided for an elective Council of Chiefs, the punishment of crime and the maintenance of social and public order.” [5] To prevent further relocation, the Wyandots formed their own territorial government with representatives, which Congress repeatedly rejected. [6] The Wyandots, like the rest of the country at the time, were divided on the issue of slavery. Several Wyandots, including William Walker, Jr, owned slaves, but others opposed it and joined the abolitionist community of Quindaro to the north of Kansas City.The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 "reopened" land occupied by Native American tribes to white settlement. The next year, some Wyandots signed a treaty giving up their lands in exchange for US citizenship. Many decided to move on to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. According to Encyclopedia Britannica: “The Wendat Confederacy was reaffirmed in 1999, with a document signed by the four constituent members of the confederacy: the Huron Wendat of Wendake (Quebec, Canada), Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma, Wyandot Nation of Kansas, and the Wyandot of Anderdon Nation (Michigan, U.S.). In the early 21st century, population estimates indicated some 3,500 Wendat descendants.” [7]

This set of twelve historical markers offers a detailed history of the Wyandot Nation and was authored by members of the tribe. The Wyandot were among several tribes removed from their homelands in the east to reservations in Kansas. Historically found as far north as modern-day Quebec and Ontario, they settled mostly in Michigan and Ohio after European expansion. In 1842, all Wyandot lands were ceded to the federal government in exchange for lands west of the Mississippi, which were never granted to them. Instead, the Wyandot purchased land near the Kansas River. Congress declared that Kansas Territory was "open for the settlement of American citizens and immigrants of primarily European descent in 1854, again removing the Wyandot and other Native American tribes further west.

History of the Wyandot Nation in Kansas Historical Marker 

In 1855, Wyandot leaders signed a treaty that included granting control of this burial ground to the tribe. In 1867, many Wyandot made the difficult decision to move once again in hopes of painting their way of life, this time relocating to Oklahoma Territory. At the time, Oklahoma Territory was a place where tribal institutions were still recognized and the federal government promised to always recognize Native sovereignty. The relocated Wyandot formed the Wyandot Nation of Oklahoma. Because they retained their tribal institutions, they believed that they also retained rights to the cemetery.By the turn of the 20th century, the area around the cemetery had become prime real estate property. Local businessmen negotiated a deal with the Wyandot Nation of Oklahoma to buy the land. Local citizens and the Wyandot who remained in Kansas fought this sale and future attempts in court. In the early 1900s, this conflict reached all the way to the Supreme Court. Three sisters of partial Wyandot lineage took up the fight. They also made the decision to live at the cemetery in a small shelter, wielding shotguns and demonstrating their resolve to use their weapons against any who would trespass on the cemetery. They maintained this resistance for two years, an action that proved vital to preventing the sale and commercial development of the cemetery. In 1909, one of the sisters, Lyda Conley, argued her case in the Supreme Court. Although the court did not support her case, she became the first Native American woman to argue a case at the nation's highest court.When the members of the Wyandot agreed to termination in the 1950s, a process by which Native American tribes were compensated for agreeing to end their claims and forfeit their recognition of tribal sovereignty, the cemetery was set to be sold by the federal government. However, Native people organized the Wyandot Nation of Kansas, an action that greatly aided the continuing effort to preserve the cemetery. The cemetery's addition to the National Register was controversial, but preservationists and historians persisted, and the site was declared a National Landmark in 2016.

In 1843, over 664 members of the Wyandot Nation traveled from the Lake Huron region and established this cemetery for those who did not survive the difficult journey. A year earlier, the tribe ceded all lands of Michigan and Ohio to the federal government in exchange for lands in Kansas. After they arrived, the survivors found that the land promised to them had already been claimed by others. The small tract of land near the river was too low to bury the 50-100 Wyandot who had died of illness, so the tribe chose this hill to bury their dead. Because of its prime real estate location, over the next century and beyond, developers and city leaders attempted to move the burials to another cemetery. Legal fights ensued, and supporters of the cemetery's preservation prevailed, but only after more than a century of effort. The initial preservation victory was largely the result of Lyda, Helena, and Ida Conley, three women of Wyondot lineage, who armed themselves to protect this land and led a legal challenge that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Thanks to their continued effort and more contemporary support, the cemetery was saved from would-be developers in the early 1900s and urban development plans in the mid-20th century. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. In 1988, the Wyandot Nation of Kansas and the Wyandot Nation of Oklahoma mutually agreed that the remaining cemetery must not be used for other purposes. The preservation fight continued into the 21st century, with preservationists scoring yet another victory when the cemetery became a National Historic Landmark in 2016.

Wyandot National Burying Ground (Huron Indian Cemetery)

Prior to the construction of the hotel, this was the site of the Wyandotte County Jail which operated from 1880 to 1931. The former jail was razed in 1949 to make room for the Town House Hotel. From the time it opened in 1951 to 1969, the hotel was the tallest building in Kansas City Kansas. Today there are two taller hotels in the city limits of Kansas City, Kansas, a condominium and a second senior living facility that are both about a foot taller than this building.This hotel was financed through public subscription and was part of the city's effort to compete with Kansas City, Missouri. For the first decade-and-a-half, the hotel hosted numerous events and provided accommodations for musicians who performed at the city's leading venues, including Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall. On top of serving celebrities and visiting sports teams, the convention hotel brought many regional and national meetings to the Kansas side of the metro area until convention organizers increasingly chose to hold their events in Kansas city, Missouri or took advantage of air transportation to hold their events in larger cities. The hotel has a tragic connection to air travel, Country music legend Patsy Cline spent her last night at the hotel prior to the plane crash that took her life on March 5, 1963.In addition to a decline in conventions and major events on the Kansas side, highway travelers began to pick roadside motels for their overnight stays. As a result, the hotel saw declining business in the late 1960s. After its first change in ownership, the new operators renamed the business the Town House Motor Inn, in hopes of attracting highway travelers. The hotel was later sold again and became Ramada Inn - Center City. The hotel hosted news crews during the 1976 Republican National Convention, but that was the venue's last connection to major events and the business never experienced the success of its early years, leading to the sale of the building and its conversion to a retirement home known as Cross Lines Tower.

At 175 feet, the former Town House Hotel is the tallest building in downtown Kansas City, Kansas. The fifteen-story hotel was completed in 1951 and offered 250-rooms in the next two decades, an era when it occasionally welcomed celebrities and star athletes thanks to its proximity to Fairfax Airport. In its first years of operation, the Town House was the hotel of choice for racially integrated teams as most hotels in neighboring Kansas City, Missouri drew the color line until the mid-1950s. The building was utilized as a hotel until 1978 when it was converted into apartments, a reflection of the increase in hotels next to interstates and changes within downtown Kansas City, Kansas, and neighboring Kansas City, Missouri. After eight years of efforts to renovate and repurpose the historic building, it now serves as a retirement home and is known as Cross Lines Tower.

Town House Hotel (Cross Lines Tower)

The Granada Theater was opened in 1929 by Ben Gorman and William Toplikar. Gorman was a cabinetmaker from Russia who owned a successful furniture business in Kansas City. Toplikar was a realtor who negotiated a lease with Midwest Film Distributers and Midwest Theaters, Inc for the construction of a new theater near Gorman’s furniture store. [1] Gorman and Toplikar chose brothers Carl and Robert Boller to design the new theater. The Boller Brothers architectural firm, based in Kansas City, Missouri, specialized in theaters and movie palaces in the 1920s. [3]The three-story theater was built in the Mission and Spanish Revival style with a stucco exterior. It was originally painted light brown with shades of pink and terra cotta trim. The façade has a fake slanting roof of Spanish-style ceramic tiles. A marquee projects out over the sidewalk. The two main entrance doors, with a glass ticket booth in between. Above the marquee is a set of three large two-story windows with decorated columns and terra cotta panels. [1]The Granada Theater is representative of an “atmospheric” movie house, popularized in the 1920s. The sweeping auditorium had a capacity of over 1,200 and was designed to make visitors feel like they had stepped into a Moorish palace courtyard, with faux stone walls, bridge features over the stage, and torch-like light fixtures. Decorative fountains, statues, and plants added to the effect. The ceiling was dark blue with twinkling lights resembling stars in the night sky. In its early years, clouds were projected onto the ceiling and mechanical birds traveled across on wires. [1,2]The theater operated until 1968, outlasting many other theaters which could not survive the popularity of television. The interior and exterior have had extensive restoration done over the years. It has reopened briefly several times as a movie theater and a live performance theater. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Sites in 2005, and now operates as a church. It remains one of the best surviving examples of the Boller Brothers’ theater design, as well as one of the only operational atmospheric theaters left in the country. [3]

The Granada Theater is an excellent example of the large, ornate movie palaces that were popularized in the 1920s. It was designed by the well-known Boller Brothers architectural firm in Mission and Spanish Revival style. One of the few surviving “atmospheric” movie theaters in the country, the grand interior was designed to be reminiscent of a Moorish courtyard. It operated continuously as a movie theater from 1929 to 1968. It has since reopened and closed multiple times and gone through several renovations. 



Granada Theater

Castle Rock is a private house in Kansas, City, Kansas, the construction of which was begun
in 1935 and completed in 1938. It was nominated to the National Register of
Historic Places under Criterion B, in the area of “Ethnic History: Black” for
its association with the distinguished African-American physician and pilot Albert Porter Davis
(1890-1976), and under Criterion C, in the area of “Architecture.”&nbsp;Dr. Davis was born in Palestine, Texas in
November, 1890, and&nbsp;graduated from Meharry Medical College in
Nashville, TN, in 1913.&nbsp; In the same year, A. Porter Davis&nbsp;received his medical license from the State of Kansas and began practicing there. Proficient in Spanish, he first specialized in treating the many immigrant workers in the area. He then founded the Davis Maternity Sanitarium for Unwed Mothers, which served, in complete secrecy,&nbsp;African-American women who would not have been treated elsewhere because of their race. This institution operated until the early 1940s. Davis served as Assistant Health Director of Kansas City,&nbsp;twice served as Deputy Coroner of Wyandotte County, Kansas,&nbsp;and then as Chairman of the Board of Trustees and President of the National Medical Association (NMA), an organization of Black physicians who were denied, because of their race, to join the American Medical Association (AMA).&nbsp;He was also a member of the Society of Applied Psychology and many other professional, fraternal and civic organizations.&nbsp; Dr. Davis was awarded his pilot's license in August, 1928, only a year after the U.S. government started issuing such licenses. A local newspaper, in a 1939 article, claimed that he was "the fourth Negro [in the U.S.] to hold a pilot's license and the oldest Negro pilot in seniority, with eleven years flying experience as a private pilot."&nbsp;He purchased his first of three planes in 1928. In August 1929, Dr. Davis formed A. Porter Davis Aviation Industries with the goal of teaching young African-Americans to fly. The timing was unfortunate, however, because the Great Depression soon forced this organization to fold. In August, 1939, the National Airmen's Association of America was organized at a meeting in Chicago, where Dr Davis became the recipient of the Dwight H. Greene trophy for "the greatest contribution to aviation among Negroes." In 1942, he was listed in the publication Who's Who in Aviation.&nbsp; Among Dr. Davis' other talents were music and acting. In 1920, he wrote a jazz composition arranged by local ragtime pioneer James Scott. In the following year, he starred in a five-reel silent film called The Lure of a Woman, one of the first African-American-produced films to be shot in Kansas City. Two posters for this film survive and can be seen at the Jazz Museum at 18th &amp; Vine. Davis&nbsp;was also passionately involved in civil rights work throughout his life.&nbsp;He organized the Kansas State Conference of Branches of the NAACP and was its chairman from&nbsp;1932 to 1942. He was also president of the Kansas City NAACP Branch, 1942-45. Castle Rock was constructed predominantly of limestone by local architect Raymond J. Buschhusen for $14,000, and was completed in August, 1938. The property was located in the predominantly Black neighborhood north of downtown Kansas City, one of the few areas in the segregated city of that time in which Davis and his family could live. Upon completion, Dr. Davis held an open house to display the property, and a complimentary article in the local newspaper praised its&nbsp;fireproof construction, the phone jacks in every room, including the bathroom, the copper screens on all windows, the central heating and air conditioning and the wine cellar.&nbsp;The house's L-shaped plan, its conical entry tower with articulated chimney at the intersection of the "L", its wall dormers, casement windows, steeply pitched gables, and arched front entrance and porch are all characteristic of the French Eclectic style.&nbsp;The masonry exteriors of such dwellings made this style additionally attractive for their superior fire resistance over wooden dwellings, as in the 19th and early 20th centuries, fires in urban areas were often devastating. As the NRHP nomination form states, "the instance of a Black individual hiring
an architect to design a personal residence transcended the impediments of segregation... The resulting dwelling is a superb example of its idiom and one
that mirrors its owner's position in the community."&nbsp; In the late 1960s, Davis' health began to decline. He died on September 1, 1976, the fiftieth anniversary of his marriage to his wife, Hazel White Davis.&nbsp;

This limestone and brick residence, constructed in 1938, is significant for two reasons. First, it is a rare example of the French Eclectic style in Kansas City, an architectural style which was in vogue in the United States after World War I, but less popular than the contemporary Tudor Revival style. Second, the house is associated with Dr. A. Porter Davis, a doctor, pilot, artist and activist, whose life was, according to one source, "full of firsts in his pursuit of medical, aviational, artistic, and political activities." The house is thus a landmark of the African-American upper class in early 20th Century Kansas City. The property was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in February, 2000. 

Castle Rock (Dr. A. Porter Davis Residence)

Parker's father was African American and his mother was of mixed Choctaw and African American descent. Besides his birthplace at 852 Freeman Avenue, Parker also lived at: 3527 Wyandotte Street, Kansas City, MO, from 1927 to 1930, 109 West 34th St., KCMO, from 1930 to 1933, and 1535 Olive St., KCMO, from 1933 to 1939.Parker attended Douglass Elementary School (kindergarten and first grade), Penn School (second grade thru sixth grade), Sumner School (seventh grade) in Kansas City, KS and Lincoln High School (eighth and ninth grades) in Kansas City, Missouri. However, never attended Crispus Attucks school, as cited by some sources. By the age of fifteen Parker, known as "Yardbird" or "Bird" because of his love of eating chicken, was married and had begun using drugs. In 1941 he became a member of pianist Jay McShann's (1916–) band, making his first commercial recordings.Parker's earliest records reveal that he was already developing the more complicated musical approach that was characteristic of his mature work. This approach and his harsh tone made it difficult for the casual listener to follow the logic of his choruses. Also, with major changes taking place in the rhythm section, his music sometimes met with opposition or downright confusion. Parker played with extraordinary technical skill, which allowed him to express his ideas very clearly even at the most rapid tempo (the rate of speed of a musical piece).Parker's music brought a generation of innovators along with him, among them visionaries such as drummers Max Roach and Kenny Clarke, pianists Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, bassist Oscar Pettiford and singer-bandleader Billy Eckstine, whose banks included at times, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, Art Blakey, and Sarah Vaughan.At this time Parker also met and began performing with trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie (1917–1993), widely accepted as the cofounder with Parker of the jazz style that became known as bop or bebop (featuring complicated harmonies and quick tempos). In 1945 they recorded some of the greatest titles in the new style. Although younger musicians quickly realized Parker's genius, musicians who were older and more set in their ways did not approve of him or his playing. In 1946, as a result, Parker suffered a mental breakdown and was committed for six months to a sanitarium (an institution for rest and recovery). Upon his release he formed his own quintet (five-piece group) and performed with it for several years, mainly in the New York City area. He also toured with Norman Granz's "Jazz at the Philharmonic" and made trips to Paris, France, in 1949 and Scandinavia in 1950.Parker composed a number of tunes that became jazz classics, though these were usually casually assembled items based on chord sequences of popular tunes. In terms of melodic skill, his recordings of ballads such as "Embraceable You" and "How Deep Is the Ocean" are even more revealing than his songs in the bebop style. Many other musicians imitated his playing, but his own achievements were unique.Some of Parker's greatest hits include Meandering, Parker's Mood, Koko, A Night in Tunisia, Scrapple from the Apple, Hot House, Relaxin' at Camarillo, Billie's Bounce, Donna Lee, Barbados, Embraceable You, Ah-Leu-Chas, Cool Blues, Warming Up a Riff and Lover Man.In the last five years of Parker's life, he was unable to work steadily as a result of physical and mental illness. On March 4, 1955, he made his final public appearance; he died eight days later in New York City on March 12th at the age of thirty-four.

Jazz Musician. Charles Christopher Parker, Jr., was born at this location on 29 August 1920 to Charles Parker, Sr., and Adelaide “Addie” Bailey. As a boy, Parker lived at this location for seven years before the family moved to a few other homes in Kansas City. Regarded by many as the most influential figure in modern jazz, Parker was one of the leading collaborators who created of a new style of playing called bop, or bebop. He began his career playing alto saxophone for various bands in his native Kansas City territory during the late 1930s and early 1940s, most notably with a group led by pianist Jay McShann. He later moved to New York but is buried in Lincoln Cemetery in the Kansas City metro area.

Birthplace of Charlie Parker

The story of Sumner High School aligns with a broader narrative about racial segregation in the US school system. At the turn of the last century, elementary schools around Kansas City, Kansas were segregated, but as fewer students continued education at the secondary level, there was little need for more than one high school. For about 20 years, KCKHS had operated as an integrated public high school, following state law that required high schools be integrated. Then, on April 2, 1904, Roy Martin, a white student at KCKHS was shot and killed by a young Black man named Louis Gregory. A lynch mob gathered outside the jail the night of Gregory’s arrest, but it was deterred by members of the African American community who had anticipated the violence and stood guard outside. [1]Even though the shooting took place after school, off school grounds, and Gregory wasn’t even a student, the incident was used as fuel for an initiative to racially segregate the high school. The next morning, the school’s 80 Black students were blocked from entering KCKHS by about 700 white students who had formed a human barricade. Administrators turned a blind eye to the white students’ actions. When a police force arrived, they put themselves between the groups, appearing to form another barricade to the Black students trying to enter. [1]Students, administrators, and lawmakers began a campaign to amend the state law that allowed for integration at the high school level. When the bill made it to the desk of Kansas Governor Edward Hoch, he vocally opposed it, calling it a “step backwards” and a “concession to Southern ideas,” but nevertheless, signed it into law on February 22, 1905. [1] African American leaders in the city were also opposed to segregation, although some newspapers spun stories that the bill had support from the local Black community. [1] Mamie Richardson, an 18-year-old Black student at KCKHS, filed a case against the new law that made it to the Kansas Supreme Court later that year, but was unsuccessful. A $40,000 bond was issued for the construction of the new Black high school. However, segregation took place even before the new building was completed, with white students attending KCKHS in the morning, and Black students attending “The Manual Training School” in the afternoon (in the same building with the same curriculum). Sumner High School opened for the 1906-1907 school year at the corner of Washington and Ninth Streets. The Board of Education had chosen the name Sumner after abolitionist and US Senator Charles Sumner. Most of the faculty had advanced degrees, and Sumner quickly gained a reputation as one of the best high schools in the state, setting itself apart both in academics and in extracurricular activities. It was accredited by the North Central Association of High Schools in 1914. [2] The school hosted an annual “Ambition Day,” in which students were encouraged to come to school dressed in their desired profession. [2] Sumner High School also became “a pillar of strength in the African American community.” [1]The original Sumner High School had a capacity of 300, which quickly became inadequate as more African Americans moved to Kansas City from the South. [2] Four rooms were added on to the high school in 1908, and a gymnasium was erected in 1924. [2] The facilities were still beyond capacity when administrators took advantage of the Public Works Administration (PWA) program of the 1930s to apply for labor to construct a new school.The new Sumner High School opened at Oakland and Eighth Streets in 1939. The three-story brick building was designed by local architect Joseph W. Radotinsky in Art Deco style. It contained 32 classrooms, a library, an auditorium, a gymnasium, and a swimming pool. Original interior details remain today, including original woodwork, glazed brick walls, Art Deco light fixtures, terrazzo floors, and transom windows over classroom doors [3]. The school originally had a capacity of 800 students, but has since had several additions, increasing capacity to almost 1000.In 1978, the school closed as Sumner High School and students were reassigned as part of the state’s court-order desegregation program. [2] The building was renovated and reopened as the Sumner Academy of Arts and Science. The magnet school continues to operate today and attracts academically advanced students. [2] The 2019 US News Best High Schools report ranked Sumner #1 in Kansas and #55 nationally. [4]

Sumner High School was built in 1905 as the city’s first racially segregated high school for African Americans. The first public high school in the area, Kansas City, Kansas High School (KCKHS) had been integrated, and about 5% of its student population was Black. An unrelated homicide in 1904 led proponents of racial segregation to bypass a state law that permitted segregation at the elementary and high school levels in larger cities but required high schools to be integrated owing to the costs of maintaining separate schools. Sumner High School quickly established itself as one of the best high schools in the state, due to outstanding faculty and a high level of academic achievement by students. The first Sumner High School was replaced by a new building in 1939, partially using funds from the Public Works Administration program of the Great Depression era. In 1958, Martin Luther King spoke at Sumner and predicted the end of segregation. Today, the shcool operates as Sumner Academy of Arts and Science and is consistently rated one of the best high schools in the country.

Sumner High School

Cordell D. Meeks, Sr, was born September 25, 1914 in Little Rock, Arkansas. His parents, Reverend Charles and Mrs. Mossie Meeks, moved their family to Kansas City, Kansas, in the late 1920s. Meeks graduated from Sumner High School in 1933 as class president. He would go on to attend the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where he experienced racism that was easily dismissed by school authorities and led to his choice to study law: “...the meeting with the Dean of Men convinced me of the fact that if I ever wanted to help change the deplorable unjust and discriminatory conditions which existed at the university and elsewhere, I would have to get inside the system which controlled it. So I decided to get inside. The meeting had not been in vain.”[2]Meeks graduated from the University of Kansas with a BA in political science and then a Juris Doctorate (law degree) in 1940. At the time, the bar association in Wyandotte County was segregated. He opened his own practice in 1941. In 1947, he became an assistant District Attorney and helped found the first Black-owned bank in the city, Douglass State Bank. By 1958, he was a senior partner in his own firm. Meeks was elected Wyandotte County District Court judge in 1972, making him the first African American elected to a Kansas District Court. He served two terms and retired in 1981. He had also been recommended for the Kansas State Supreme Court. He served 24 years as Wyandotte County Commissioner and then was elected Chairman of the Board in 1965, becoming the first African American to head a county government in the state. Other accomplishments include: Trustee of First A.M.E. Church, member of the NAACP, and National Convention delegate for the Democratic Party.Meeks and his wife Cellastine Brown had four children. His son Cordell D. Meeks, Jr, would also go on to be a judge. Meeks, Sr wrote his autobiography “To Heaven Through Hell: An Autobiography of the First Black District Court Judge of Kansas” in 1986. He died in 1987 and is buried in Highland Park Cemetery in Kansas City, Kansas.

Constructed in 1903, this became the home of Judge Cordell D. Meeks, Sr. the first African American District Court judge in Kansas, when he acquired the property in 1949 from Judge Charles W. Trickett. He was also an active member of many community organizations and a leader in the city. Meeks mentions the home in his autobiography: “As a child I had lived for a short time in the 600 block of New Jersey.  On afternoons and Saturdays when I walked to my afterschool job in the grocery store on 5th Street, I had to pass by a big house at 600 Oakland.  To me the house looked like a beautiful castle.  I would look up from Sixth Street and admire the architecture and day dream about living in it someday.” [2]
The home would be host to many political events and meetings over the years, as Meeks became actively involved with the Democratic Party. His wife lived in the home until her death in May of 2011. The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. Judge Cordell Meeks, Sr Plaza is located adjacent to the Wyandotte County Courthouse where Meeks presided over the District Court.

Kansas City Kansas Walking Tour

Avenue Chronicles

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources