Let’s visit another city in the past, Kansas City on this occasion. Most images appear to be from the mid-50s and show a good deal of daily life, light traffic, and a few iconic sites of the city.
The lead pic is at the city’s Union Station.
Municipal Stadium.
Emery Bird Thayer & Company building (torn down in 1971), a ‘prime attraction on the city’s main retail thoroughfare, popularly known as “Petticoat Lane,” famed for its Tea Room’ – Wikipedia. Downtown Kansas City.
City Skyline.
City Skyline.
Country Club Plaza.
US Route 40.
Unity Village, Jackson County.
Unity Village, Jackson County.
The 2nd pic: are they waiting in a line? If not, how would the guys in the middle get out?
No one in chev or rambler. You just wait til game is over
Austin Powers 23-point turn.
What’s the red sedan in the center of the ballpark picture? My first thought was a Kaiser, but that didn’t seem right. Willys, perhaps?
’52 or ’53 Nash.
D’oh! I spent too much time looking at the grille and totally missed the closed-in front wheels. 😉
Thanks!
Nash
This is exciting – a series of these historic pictures where I am quite familiar with the location!
Union Station looks much less drab these days. Long ago I had a post where a Crown Vic taxi broke a ball joint by the front door.
Might the red car in the second picture be a Nash?
Country Club Plaza has not changed any tremendous amount – lots of terra cotta roofs and, now, a Tesla showroom (or last I was there).
Things have gone full circle. The trolley system had been gone (picture with blue ’55 Ford) but is now back. One end of the route is at Union Station.
The general lack of whitewall tires is nice. If you see any of these cars now it seems like they’d be shod with awful whitewalls.
A NASH .
I sure do miss trolleys and trolley buses .
These are a nice set of photos, I remember those times and they were nice but not excellent for many Americans .
-Nate
Good to hear that Country Club Plaza is still going strong. It’s one of the prettiest places in the world.
Unity was always something of a mystery. It’s run by a very quiet religious group that has a lot of money but not a lot of publicly visible members. At the time when I lived in KC, Unity was a separate municipality.
The “City Skyline” picture is Main St., heading towards the Liberty Memorial (now WWI Memorial) property. This area is completely changed now – below is a 2019 picture compared to the vintage shot. And like Jason mentioned above, the streetcar line that was on that road in the 1950s was removed, and is now being put back in place. StreetView image is here:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/KDeNizoY8eS76oMU9
Incidentally – and pertinent to our Packard video today – in the vintage shot, you can see the red vertical sign of a Packard dealership. That was Jack Beebe Packard until 1956, and then the dealership was sold and became Keith Ware Studebaker-Packard in early 1957. The address was 2735 Main St.
Also that’s a yellow Packard in the foreground left of that last picture!
Thanks for these shots!
That yellow car is a 1954 Mercury.
Is it? Oh it is, you are right.
Google Images shows Union station is a sight to behold both inside and out. While I have never been there I greatly appreciate architecture of all types from ancient to modern. Those huge round entrance columns with striations matching the building facade sure caught my eye. Glad to read that it’s still alive, well maintained and most importantly being used by small businesses and various organizations. Those Cantenary electric cables for street cars also got my creative juices flowing.
In the late 80s I had a project in Kansas City so I had the wonderful opportunity to visit a number of times. I was working in what was then the BMA Tower at the corner of Penn Valley Park. I was staying at a hotel in the Country Club Plaza area. Unless it was raining I used to walk back to the hotel, and at about halfway I used to pass an antique car dealer. I don’t remember the name, but they had some very unusual vehicles, including the only Peugeot Bébé that I have ever seen. I can find no mention of such a business on the internet, but it was interesting.
Love the old “Standard” gas station with the great old pumps and glass globes on top of the pumps! Wonder what became of those pumps and globes? Would love to have one now!!
OMG! Having grown up in the Kansas City area in the ’50s and ’60s these pictures bring back lots of memories-Union Station has been completely restored; in the ’50s my mother and I used to travel by train from the station. I remember Municipal Stadium, went down there several times to watch the Athletics play. The photo of the KC skyline is fascinating, with the rails and caterny for the trolley cars. They were later torn out, now the trolley cars are being reintroduced in Kansas City. As for Unity Village I have been there several times, it was operated by a rather secretive religious group-I believe it still continues today.
I have been trying to locate the “Hollywood Studio” (Kanas City, MO) where my parents had their wedding photos taken. It would have been in the 1950s. I can not find any record of it ever existing. It is stamped on the front lower corner of their photo. Beautiful. Just lost my mother a month ago, Dad- 20 years ago and in the process of revisiting their wedding album, felt led to learn more about this sweet time of their young lives.
There was a Hollywood Studio at 1230 Main St., next to the Midland Theater at the time. It could have been this place:
Oh wow this is exciting! I think you may have what I am looking for, Eric703. Thank you soooo much!
My pleasure!