Kansas City Chronicles: An Up-to-Date History

by Arcadia Publishing

Overview

From guerilla warfare and martial law to the elegant dresses of the Harzfeld Parisian Cloak Company, discover how everything became up-to-date in Kansas City (including the phrase "up-to-date" itself, which predates the song in Oklahoma!). Watch as the Jackson County Poor Farm became the state-of-the-art Truman Medical Center and learn why Old Westport is the real McCoy. Meet the resident mouse of the Laugh-O-Gram studio on Thirteenth and Forest, which took food from Walt Disney's hand as Mortimer before taking shape on Disney's drawing board as Mickey. In this collection of his best historical columns, David Jackson delivers a vivid portrait of the people, places and events that continue to shape this fascinating town.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596299863
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	07/16/2010
Series:	American Chronicles
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

David W. Jackson received a BS magna cum laude in historic preservation, archives studies. He is founder of the Orderly Pack Rat, a historical research and consulting service. Since 2000, Jackson, as director of Archives and Education for the Jackson County (Missouri) Historical Society, has served as editor of the nonprofit organization's scholarly JOURNAL; administers its archives operations; services patron requests through its research library; manages its bookshop; updates its website; coordinates a volunteer program; presents on behalf of its Speakers' Bureau; contributes regular, local history, related articles to area newspapers; and has written and directed the publishing of several products through the society's imprint (available at http://www.jchs.org). The Orderly Pack Rat (http://www.orderlypackrat.com) published Jackson's first book, Direct Your Letters to San Jose: The California Gold Rush Letters of James and David Lee Campbell, 1849, 1852 (2000), and subsequent Recipes of Our Past: Morsels from Our Grandmothers' Recipe Boxes (2005).

Table of Contents

Introduction 9

Before Jackson County (-1826)

A River Runs by It: Kansas City's Origins Carried on the Missouri River Current 11

"Man Is Arriving, Man Is Arriving, Man Is Arriving" 12

First Fifty Foundational Years (1826-1876)

Natural Mineral Springs Once Poured Local Flavor 19

The Abuse and Acquittal of Rebecca Hawkins 21

Log Courthouse Served as the First Seat of Justice 23

Historic Red Bridge Crossed the Big Blue River 25

Rediscovery of the Rice Plantation Cemetery in Raytown 27

California Gold Rush: A Local Nugget of American History 30

Gilliss House Hotel Registered the Far Western Frontier 33

Poor Farm Is a Major Medical Center Today 35

Frontier Justice and the 1859 Jackson County Jail 37

Picnicking Under the Lone Jack Tree 39

When Martial Law Reigned in Jackson County 42

Alexander Majors's Dramatic Life as an Overland Commissioner 46

Kansas City's Hannibal Bridge Laid Rails to Future 48

Fifty Golden Years of Expansion (1876-1926)

Folly Theater's Majestic Standard 51

Volker's Legacy Outlived Anonymity 53

Corralling Jackson County's Prized Stockyard Business 56

Bucolic Big Blue River Valley's Past and Future 58

The Enduring Charm of Swope Park's Lake of the Woods 60

The Day the Horseless Carriage Rolled into Kansas City 62

First Telephones Rang a Bell 65

The Birth of the Kansas City Zoo 66

An Up-to-Date Hypothesis 69

Priests of Pallas: An Alluring Festival 71

Nelly Don Tried One On and Took It for a Ride 75

African American Neighborhood of Steptoe Vanishing 78

Independence Day in the Heart of America 81

Some Unpleasant Happenings on Pleasant Street 84

A Half Century of Triumphs Over Challenges (1926-1976)

Andrew Drumm's March to Make Life Better 89

Disney's World of Hollywood Animation First Sketched in Kansas City 91

Civilian Conservation Corps Relieved a Great Depression 93

Winding the Clock for Jackson County's Two Nineteenth-Century Courthouses 95

Lost Americana Returns Home 99

Mary Minor Laird's Climb to the Tower 101

Jackson County's Agrarian Past at Cedar Croft 104

Veterans' Daily Life Stories Collected 106

When World War II Prisoners of War Camped in Jackson County 110

Sheraton Estates: Kansas City's First African American Suburb 112

Harzfeld's Dressed Kansas City Elegantly 115

The Planning, Planting and Propagating of Kansas City's Parks and Boulevards 118

The Neck: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 119

Preserving the Past for the Future (1976-2026)

Harry S Truman's Civil Rights Legacy 125

Kansas City Women of Independent Minds 127

Protect Scenic Vistas While They Last 129

The Jury Is In: Hotel President Exemplifies Kansas City Hospitality 132

Growing Native Landscapes Honor Earth, Pioneers 134

Old Westport Is the Real McCoy 135

Conserving Cemeteries as Sacred Spaces 139

Jackson County Counts: Counting America's Stories One by One 142

Jackson County Historical Society's Illustrious Past and Glimmering Future 145

Index 149

About the Author 157