Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, Liberty: disposal, medical center, Amtrak)

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by MRG Dallas

Well I sorta struck gold by accident today. Found online the Polk's directories that MAD talks about and uses. I've got so many pages of notes I'd bore you all more than usual if I went to town with this stuff.

Would you share the link to the online Polk's? That would save me some trips to the library, and could be helpful in Geneaology research.

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

I got those theater seating numbers from a web site. They may be suspect. I thought the Granada held almost 1,000 seats. As I recall, it extended from Maple back to Lexington, a distance of one block, whereas both the Electric and Plaza only extended to the alley behind. The web site also shows the Englewood as having more seats than the Granada and I recall the Englewood being much smaller than the Granada.

We were in the Englewood on New Year's Day. The auditorium is much wider than the Granada's.

Originally Posted by sally36

You guys are talking a lot about printers. Anyone remember Lambert Moon Printing on South Main several doors down from Lexington ? My Mom worked for him when she was young and after I came along she'd take me up there and he wouldd let us scavenge all his paper discards in the basement. I loved taking home pieces of all colors of pastel papers to draw on and make things out of. He was a great guy and I think he was still there in the '50s--not sure. Sort of across st. from Firestone.

Lambert Moon's was still in business in the early 70s. I'm sure of that on account'a it was one of the customers on my paper route.

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

We also patronized Sears mail order quite a bit and I think they eventually moved to the Kresge building on the northeast corner of Main and Maple across from Katz.

Most of our mail order though was at Wards down at Maple and Osage.

The Firestone place is still going strong as some type of auto repair place.

Sears did move to the old Kresge at Main and Maple. Ward's moved to the old Milgram's at Main and Lexington. The Firestone building is currently vacant, the Shamrock Tire Company recently closed. For many years they were at the NW corner of 23rd (Alton) & Noland. They expanded to the Square location, later closed on Noland, and then went out of business.

[WCHS'59]

There were six to eight of us kids, both boys and girls, who attended the Granada as a group before any of us were able to drive. The parents would switch off taking and picking us up on Friday nights.

We always arrived thirty minutes before the movie started and would sit and talk among ourselves (after we hit the Granada Sweetshop). On one occasion someone wondered how many seats there were in the theater. So we started counting but stayed seated where we were at. We would point our finger at each seat in each row starting with the front row and count out loud. Then someone would pass by blocking the row we were counting or sit down in front and we would lose count and start over. Then someone would start talking and the counting would be again be interrupted.

Our span of attention was not very long back then and we would only get through a few rows before everything fell apart and we would start talking about something else.

Never did get a full count.

[MRG Dallas]

Would you share the link to the online Polk's? That would save me some trips to the library, and could be helpful in Geneaology research.

Sent you a DM.

Lambert Moon's was still in business in the early 70s. I'm sure of that on account'a it was one of the customers on my paper route.

The '46 Polk's has a Councilman named J. Orrin Moon, a rather uncommon surname (ok, Wally Moon too :-) I wonder if he was connected to the printing business?

[WCHS'59]

Anyone remember the “town” of Centropolis?

Centropolis was located about four and one-half miles west of the square on east Truman Road just outside the west city limit. Apparently the Centropolis area extended north and south of Truman several blocks.

Centropolis was more like the Maywood neighborhood rather than a real town and it was rougher looking and more industrial. But it did have a weekly newspaper. On the south side sitting at the 7300 block of east Truman Road was a brick railroad passenger station with a name board showing “CENTROPOLIS” in large letters.

The passenger station and the rails belonged to the now defunct Saint Louis-San Francisco Railway and Missouri Pacific Railroad. A postcard with a station picture is on EBay at http://www.ebay.com/itm/CENTROPOLIS-MISSOURI-FRISCO-RAILROAD-DEPOT-POSTCARD-MO-/320755949009.

I would imagine that some old timers will recognize that station since Truman Road was the main drag used by many to get to downtown Kansas City. Truman would end at Main Street below the high bluffs, which required blasting out at great expense when the Interstate highway system came downtown.

Through the fifties, the multiple tracks on Truman Road in Centropolis had to be crossed at street level. Automobile traffic had to stop many times a day due to the extensive rail traffic. Sometimes the delays were a huge problem. There are a few tracks there now but at the time there were several more.


The brick station appears to be long gone.

At some point, Kansas City eliminated the traffic stoppage by building a bridge across all those tracks.

[pearjas]

I can picture it being a Candy and Tobacco Co. Even now, going in there, it smells "old".. if that makes any sense. They have a lot of advertisements from the older days, when advertisements for medications claimed to cure EVERYTHING. It's quite interesting to peer around.

Originally Posted by MRG Dallas

Pearjas . . . 211 W Lexington in 1960 shows the occupant as the aforementioned MS White Candy & Tobacco Co. That business later moved somewhere else on The Square (Main perhaps). You're right there has been a lot of shifting. I'm also wondering if there's been some re-numbering of streets as well over time, which would make remaking The Square project all the more difficult for us.

BTW, I didn't see the Natatorium listed at 1400 W Lex in 1960 so I suspect it may have closed in the 59-60 timeframe. There were still several individuals listed west of the hobby store, so those must have been cleared out (as well as an apt. building) to make room for whatever business moved into that corner

[pearjas]

Thank you for the info! I'm definitely going to look into this.

Originally Posted by sally36

Dear Pear -- Plowman's was right on the square, maybe just one door down from and east of the old Penney'. Look in the phone book and try to locate him at home. i hope you do. i can't stand to think of what might have happened to his gargantuan collection ! If he passed, it should've gone to the Historical Society or a museum in town. Wonder where he got all those snapshots and photo's.

[MRG Dallas]

Originally Posted by pearjas

I can picture it being a Candy and Tobacco Co. Even now, going in there, it smells "old".. if that makes any sense. They have a lot of advertisements from the older days, when advertisements for medications claimed to cure EVERYTHING. It's quite interesting to peer around.

Alot of those buildings had a distinctive scent. First Methodist Church was one. Years later you could've blindfolded me and I could've told you where I was. Woolworth's and Kresge's with their wooden floors and huge ceiling fans. Diamond Bowl.

I hope you can track down those photos. That would be incredible to see pics from The Square's heydays.

[MRG Dallas]

I noticed that the Granada Sweet Shop was called Kelsey's Sweet Shop. I also saw Kelsey's Restaurant which I remember across Truman from the Hospital. Same family ownership? I suspect so.

[MRG Dallas]

Polk's for Independence is available up to 1960, and is available every other year prior (except ones of 59 and 57). The amount of information is just unreal. I was able to locate my Mom's beauty shop up on The Square and the few years it was open (giving birth to me was the end of that business I also see that she and her family lived immediately two blocks south of Sally's grandparents on S. Main. Both houses still standing according to Streetview. The Natatorium looks like it was the swim place in the 40s and 50s, as I mentioned earlier, no listing in 1960 so that must be the time it closed. Also, the Cooper Hobby Shop didn't go back too many years so they must've been new to that residence and business in the late 50s.

I've stumbled across so many names, many long forgotten. 3&2 baseballers, bowling leaguers, friends, friends of friends, parents of friends, customers and so forth. Polk's also listed occupations and employers (can't imagine privacy laws letting them do that today). Not surprisingly Sheffield Steel, Standard Oil refinery are prominently mentioned, and to lesser extent, Union Wire Rope, Columbian Steel Tank, Gas Service Co. Also noted lots of entrepreneurs lived very close to their Square businesses.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by MRG Dallas

I noticed that the Granada Sweet Shop was called Kelsey's Sweet Shop. I also saw Kelsey's Restaurant which I remember across Truman from the Hospital. Same family ownership? I suspect so.

Was there a name for the Plaza Sweetshop?

I dont think it went by that name though.

Also, was the Plaza open in 1951 or 1952?