Was Walnut Street in downtown Kansas City really this busy in the early 20th century?
Editor’s Note: Past|Present is a video series from The Star that travels through time to show how scenes Kansas City depicted in vintage postcards look today. We have to stock up on more postcards so Past|Present will be on break after this installment. Have a postcard you’d like to share with our team? Tell us about it here. Watch this space for a new Kansas City history-centered series coming soon that we think you will enjoy.
Downtown Kansas City in the early part of the 20th century was a very busy place, bustling with pedestrians, streetcars and a growing number of automobiles each year.
But the amount of activity depicted in this Hall Brothers postcard, believed to be from 1918, suggests something out of the ordinary has just taken place. Maybe a parade or big event of some kind, though no details are given that would account for nine streetcars in such close proximity.
Artistic license, perhaps?
What is known about this stretch of Walnut Street between 9th and 10th Streets is the abundance of banks that were located along it, drawn in large part by Kansas City’s growing importance as a transportation hub.
A sign for City Bank is visible on the west side of the street, and according to the Kansas City Public Library at least eleven financial institutions did business in the immediate vicinity.
The Bank of Commerce, later Commerce Bank, was the largest. Its 15 story tower at the corner of 10th Street was designed by Jarvis Hunt, the architect who later gave us Union Station. Today, the 116-year old building houses the headquarters of Commerce Trust Company and anchors the Financial District.
The streetcar line has moved from Walnut to Main Street, a block to the west. Foot traffic, except at the start and finish of the workday, is minimal. And parking garages have replaced the shops and stores which once lined this vital part of the downtown core.
Looking for more Kansas City history?
Revisiting “Mr. & Mrs. Bridge,” a movie set in Kansas City that featured lots of local landmarks
How the kidnapping of Nell Donnelly gripped KC in 1931
Another major building Jarvis Hunt was responsible for (besides Union Station)--the Kansas City Star
