News Items from The Kansas City Journal ~ Old News That's New to You from Vintage Kansas City.com

December 8, 1910

SKYSCRAPER FOR

"PETTICOAT LANE."

Northeast Corner of Main

and Eleventh Leased

for 198 Years.

By the leasing of the northeast corner of Main and Eleventh streets for 198 years, plans were made yesterday of a skyscraper, twelve stories of concrete and steel, to be built on the expiration of the old lease, February 1, 1911. The consideration was $18,000 a year, a total of $5,544,000 for the entire lease.

Hoyt-Ballentine-Kelley Investment Company acted as agent. John O. Patterson of is the lessee from the May-Stern Realty Company.

The rental of the ground, although of considerable size, is in reality less, per annum, than the rentals accruing from the out-of-date improvements now on the land. The property was purchased five years ago by the May-Stern Realty Company for $325,000, and just recently the firm refused an offer of $500,000 for it. The lot faces Main street with a frontage of forty-eight feet and runs back on Eleventh street for 115 feet.

"The new building will be equal in construction to any in the city," said Mr. Patterson. "The first four or five stories will be used for retail purposes and the upper eight stories will be entirely for commercial and office use. The building will be arranged that every office room in it will be exposed to light, and air." Mr. Patterson's offices are at present diagonally across the street from this corner.

Labels: Eleventh street, Main street, Petticoat Lane, real estate

October 6, 1909

FOR PETTICOAT LANE

8 MILES IS TOO FAST.

Too Slow for Boulevards,

Auto Dealers Say.

"It is a crime to run a machine down Petticoat Lane at eight milees an hour," declared Harry E. Rooklidge, president of the Automobile Dealers' Association, at their dinner yesterday at the Hotel Kupper. "It is far more dangerous to run a machine at even six miles an hour on this particular street than it is to run at twenty or twenty-five miles an hour on the boulevards. We want the speed of automobiles regulated, but we want this done in a common sense way.

"We all know that eight miles an hour is too slow for driving on the boulevards, while it is entirely too fast for the downtown district. I am in favor of members of the Dealers' Club assisting in framing speed laws which will protect the autoist as well as the pedestrian.

"There are men in Kansas City who do their best to stand in the way of automobiles downtown so that they may be injured and get damages from the auto owner," said Mr. Rooklidge. "It is not a far cry until we shall have a law similar to the one in force in Paris; that is arrest of the person injured in a collision, as well as the person who drives the car."

The date for the automobile show was fixed at the first week in March. It was decided to hold a meeting on November 27, at which a committee will be selected to take charge of the affairs of the show which will be held in Convention hall.

There was some talk about giving some sort of a race meet this fall, but this idea was abandoned because of the lack of time in which to make the necessary preparations.

Labels: automobiles, Convention Hall, organizations, Petticoat Lane

April 3, 1909

PEDESTRIAN HAS AN INNING.

Eleventh Street Gets a Bath and the

Autos Stampede.

The pedestrian -- that meek and lowly man who ducks and dodges the restless and unruly benzine buggy in Kansas City's crowded thorougfares, and who is smile upon benignly by the carefree chauffeur, had his inning yesterday, or he might have had he been along Eleventh street, between Grand and Walnut, for automobilists who attempt to frisk up and down "Petticoat lane" have their troubles.

Early yesterday afternoon the street springling brigade took special pains to give the aforementioned section of Eleventh street a good bath. They succeeded in mixing a mud that made the surface of the asphalt as slippery as the floor of the oleo room in a packing plant. And when the first autoist to attempt to perform on the slippery surface rounded the corner of Eleventh and Grand the pedestrian's fun began, for the auto refused to make a scheduled stop. In a few minutes the street was full of smoking machines that groaned and chugged to no avail. They were all stuck.

There were cross words from chauffeurs and merry "ha-has" from assembled pedestrians. As the wheels of the autos whirled about like a buzzsaw and the cars did not move an inch, the merry crowds on the sidelines offered numerous suggestions.

"Give 'er the sand, pal," suggested a man who wore the garb of a motorman.

What they did give a majority of the stubborn cars before they got them out of the trouble district was plenty of push.

And the "common people" stood by and smiled broadly.

Labels: automobiles, buggy, Eleventh street, Grand avenue, Petticoat Lane, Walnut Street, weather

February 7, 1909

RAIN COULDN'T STOP

THE SHRINE PARADE.

PROCESSION GLITTERING SUC-

CESS IN SPITE OF WEATHER.

Advance Sale of Seats for Twelve Per-

formances Is Enormous -- 30,000

Tickets Having Already

Been Sold.

THE SHRINERS' PARADE PASSING THROUGH THE BUSINESS DISTRICT.

Three sharp blasts on three shiny bugles, blown by three nattily clad circus women, astride three snow white horses, and the Shriners' monster parade began its course from Convention hall promptly at 2:20 o'clock yesterday afternoon. It had begun to rain, but that made no difference to the Shriners. Circus parades always had to happen, "rain or shine," and the nobles clambered into the many automobiles waiting for them and started out to show what might be expected from the Rhoda Royal Indoor circus, which will be given in Convention hall all this week.

First in the line of parade rode members of the mounted squad from the Kansas City police department, followed immediately by Wheeler's band. Then came the notable Shrine patrol, every member of which was dressed in his bright Zouave uniform. Following the guard of the patrol rode the grand marshal of the occasion, Noble J. H. Knapp, in saddle for the first time in twenty-six years. The high nabobs or illustrious potentates, past and present, were placed up close to the head of the procession, also garbed magnificently in their mani-colored robes and turbans. They followed the grand marshal.

Then came the city officials, the mayor and members of the council. Then, high up on tally-hos, rode the Daughters of Isis, the woman's auxiliary of the Shrine. The rain didn't hurt them other than taking the curl out of the carefully trained locks of hair.

The general body of the Shrine nobles had planned to walk, but the rain made that too uncomfortable and automobiles were hastily gathered for them, and the several hundred nobles rode behind the tally-hos and the Daughters of Isis.

REAL LIVE CAMEL.

But the camel, he must not be forgotten, and it was a real live camel, too, with two real, ugly humps on his back. He, led by his daring keepers, Nobles Brown and Hartman, shuffled along the slippery pavements between the divan and the body of the nobles.

But the order of the parade has not been finished. After the body of nobles came the Wild West bunch, augmented in numbers by the boys from the stock yards. the saddles and horses had the appearance of the wild and woolly West, and the crowds on the street knew n o better. then rode the feminine contingent of the circus, some of them driving tandem.

Yes, the clowns were there, two of them, in fact, mounted upon jackasses. That's what made the circus parade real. Sandwiched in between the two clowns was a wagonload of prospective initiates to the shrine, masked and hideously decorated. The wagon which held them bore the legend: "We are going to cross the hot, hot sand," but nothing was said of the cold, wet, asphalt pavements.

Two or three more bands and another Wild West and stock yards contingent brought up the rear of the parade.

Crowds of people lined the sidewalks and streets watching the parade. The route was a convenient one, calculated to give every one a chance to see the procession twice, at least.

The automobiles at times didn't behave like well-bred automobiles should. At the Petticoat lane turn they insisted upon skidding into the crowds which had lined the streets. The drivers couldn't help it. Neither could Sergeant James Hogan of the traffic squad, although no one was injured. It was not infrequent that something went wrong with one of the numerous machines, and that blocked the parade. Two or three of the machines had to be pushed out of the path of the parade.

Labels: animals, automobiles, circus, Convention Hall, Mayor Crittenden, music, organizations, parades, Petticoat Lane, police

January 19, 1908

PLAN TO "GINGER UP"

ALL TWELFTH STREET.

Improvement Spreads West; Baseball

Club Formed.

Not satisfied with its work in gingering up the 300 block of East Twelfth street, from McGee to Oak streets, the Ginger Club has now decided to begin a campaign to improve all of Twelfth street in the downtown district, hang flaming arc lights on artistic brackets from each trolley pole, and call it "The Great White Way.

The merchants on Eleventh street, from Main to Walnut have an advantage in that they are located on Petticoat Lane, a name that everybody recognizes," said E. J. Richards, president of the Ginger Club yesterday. "We want the women to know that ours is the cleanest block on the city, and the brightest at night."

"Even the negro porters in the block are getting interested. Several of them have been to me today to know what they can do to help. 'We want to do our best,' they said."

ORGANIZE BALL CLUB.

Last night the Ginger Club organized a baseball club at the office of the secretary, L. J. Galbert, 309 East Twelfth street, and has issued a challenge to the Kansas City Athletic Club to play a game of indoor baseball on Washington's birthday. The Ginger Club has secured some of the best semi-professional baseball talent in the city, including men from Iowa and Kansas state leagues.

Labels: Eleventh street, Ginger Club, organizations, Petticoat Lane, retailers, sports, Twelfth street

July 21, 1907

THE HOTTEST PLACE

ELEVENTH AND WALNUT SET

THE RECORD YESTERDAY.

THERMOMETER 106 THERE

Petticoat Lane a Sizzling
Pathway for Shoppers

Petticoat Lane is the hottest place in town. Petticoat Lane is one block in length, running east and west, between Main and Walnut streets -- or, more plainly put it is the main thoroughfare between several of the large department stores of the retail downtown Kansas City.

At 4:45 o'clock yesterday afternoon the mercury registered 106 at the northeast corner of Eleventh and Walnut streets. This intense heat was general in Petticoat Lane. Just around the corner in Walnut street at Eleventh, on the west side of the street, it was a trifle over 3 degrees cooler.

The regular afternoon crush of women shoppers was on yesterday afternoon in Petticoat Lane, to and from the various department stores in that district. P. Connor, the United States weather forecaster at the Scarritt building at Ninth street and Grand avenue, remarked:

"The sun's rays beat down on Petticoat lane all day long. The pavement is smooth and reflects the heat. Then the summer southwest breeze picks up the heat and hurls it against the buildings on the east side of the street. That accounts for the cooler temperature on the west side of Walnut street, just off Eleventh street."

And while the sun's rays beat down upon the pavement in Eleventh street, better known as Petticoat Lane, thousands of shoppers walked and rewalked through the block all the long, hot afternoon. The women carried fans and liberally patronized the soda fountains which are located alluringly near the open doors of the drug stores -- and all thought yesterday was the hottest day ever.

Labels: Eleventh street, Grand avenue, Main street, Ninth street, Petticoat Lane, retailers, Scarritt building, Walnut Street, weather