Cruising The Hood Volume 5

  There's a story that goes with this church on Prospect.  I interviewed a lady who spent part of her childhood in the home on the left (north).  In the time before air conditioning each Sunday her family got to listen to the church service next door as all windows were open.  Her father kept doves as a hobby.  One particular Sunday the service was more fervent than usual and, toward the end of the service, the preacher proclaimed, "Lord, we ask that you give each of us a sign of your love."  Her father at that moment took one of his doves and tossed it across the narrow alley into the sanctuary. Christian bedlam ensued . Many were saved that day and none the wiser. 

                                     Northeast homes decked out in their Summer finery. 

Above and below, Independence Boulevard Christian Church. 

                     Above, all new windows.   Below, all new construction at St. John and Benton. 

 

Cruising The Hood Volume 4

Above and below, 9th and Van Brunt...used to be the old trolley/bus barn.  Now soccer fields  and neighborhood gathering place. 

Above and below.  Elmwood Cemetery.  Very well maintained.  Holds lots of KC Mayors and an ex-girlfriend of Abraham Lincoln.  

Above, the chapel, below family vaults. The closest one "Waldo"... like the area of the city.

Above and below, more Elmwood Cemetery.  Below the chapel named for Armour of the meet packing company. 

                                      Above the Northeast Athletic Fields, still used. Below, former Luce Luggage, my mother worked there as a teenager. 

                                                           Below, Van Brunt Boulevard. 

 

Kansas City Museum In Spring

          Kansas City Museum from the second floor balcony looking south across Gladstone Boulevard.

                             Kansas City Museum, west side next to Kessler Park on Walrond. 

The Day Of The Dead - Kansas City Museum

This years Day of the Dead at the Kansas City Museum didn't disappoint.   Well done, and accompanied by a wonderful sunset.   Social distancing required advance registration for the event and all slots are reserved already. 

 

Victorian Sparkles Anew

The new owner of 500 Bellefontaine Avenue in Historic Northeast has completed its renovation.

The Victorian, built in 1890, was showing its 128 years when purchased, but is now ready to shine. 

For more on the Bellefontaine Avenue Historic District:   https://hyperblogal.blogspot.com/2018/07/bellefontaine-avenue-historic-district.html

 The home, above, in 1940.

 The home, in the Bellefontaine Historic District, was platted in the Richmond Place Subdividion.

The first residents were Dr. George A. and Mary Dean.  He was in the private practice of Homeopathy. 

At some point after 1900, the home was made a duplex-upstairs/downstairs.  There were many who lived there through the years.

Dr. William and Virginia Coffey (he was elected Jackson County Coroner)

William T. Holt

Robert H. Seymour

Mary Hathaway (teacher at Rollins School)

Frederic and Laura Teschemacher

Joe and Nancy Ficcadenti  (Barber 2323 1/2 Independence Avenue)

Pasquale Amendola

The Azzaro family

See the last image below for the story of a dust-up between doctors, Flavel Tiffany and William 

Coffey. 

Dr. and Mrs. Coffey

 All of the woodwork is original 

 The removal of a wall allowed for a larger, modern kitchen. 

Home office. 

 The second floor, formerly an apartment. 

 Two car garage is a new addition. 

 When many of the mansions and other buildings were being torn down in the 30s and 40s along Independence Blvd., the bricks were taken down by the river and put in large piles.  The Azzaro family retrieved many of them to make the patio and driveway above.