West Bottoms, Kansas City
GoogleEarth Image (November 11, 2022) showing the West Bottoms and surrounding areas. The Kansas River runs from south to north and joins the Missouri River just north of the map area. The red outline represents the West Bottoms Historic District expanded from the earlier North District indicated by the dashed lines.
Map of the West Bottoms Historic District.[1]
The West Bottoms area is a commercial and industrial district developed on the floodplains near the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. Because of frequent flooding of this low-lying area, Kansas City itself grew on the adjacent bluff. The West Bottoms was supported by an extensive railroad system that continues to be in operation. There are remnants of rail sidings through the district and some of the buildings were designed and located to take full advantage of these low-speed track section that are distinct from the through lines.
The largest concentration of historic buildings is in the area bounded by West Ninth Street and Forrester Road to the north, the railroad tracks and Beardsley Road to the east, I-670 to the south, and State Line Road to the west. Outside these boundaries, a significant amount of demolition has taken place, affecting the industrial character of the area.
The north section of this area – called the West Bottoms North Historic District – was included in the National Register of Historic Places on November 15, 2016. On September 26, 2022, the historic area was expanded and renamed West Bottoms Historic District. The nomination form submitted in 2016 was prepared by the Historic Preservation Group in Cleveland, OH, and is available online.[2]
According to the nomination form,
the district is generally laid out on a grid with the interior of blocks often connect by unpaved alleys where the rail sidings[3] ran. Sidewalks appear in some places but raised concrete platforms that functioned as loading docks or no sidewalks at all are the norm. Buildings are typically located at the street or sidewalk edge and consist mostly of commercial and industrial manufacturing, warehouse and storage buildings that range in size from modest to fairly massive. Pockets of demolition within the district, and more significantly so at the edges, have removed some of the cavernous feeling one probably had a century ago but there are still complete blocks filled with buildings.
In an area like the West Bottoms – North Historic District the historic feeling of the place would have been more pronounced when every building was occupied with workers, railroad traffic was at peak, and goods were being manufactured, processed and moved by rail and truck to destinations east and west. While the hustle and bustle is gone, the setting created by the buildings, streets, alleys and rail lines still convey the feeling of, and association with, the commercial and industrial history of the area.
Buildings range from one to seven stories in height, with twenty buildings of four or more stories in height, representing two-thirds of the buildings in the historic district. The buildings were constructed at the street edge or sidewalk line, creating a distinctive physical environment. On street frontages, raised docks rather than sidewalks were a common feature on buildings, facilitating loading and unloading from horse-drawn wagons. On side and rear elevations, railroad sidings were a dominant feature, providing direct loading and unloading from boxcars. Most buildings are rectangular in shape, although this basic shape was altered in some cases to construct walls parallel to railroad sidings. Several buildings even had sidings built inside. The buildings also shared a common vocabulary of materials, with red or brown brick walls, stone accents, and decorative brickwork, sometimes with Italianate or Romanesque stylistic details.
Brick is the predominant building material used in the district, but also includes stone, timber framing, reinforced concrete, and steel. The most important aspects of integrity in the West Bottoms – North Historic District are location, setting, feeling, association and materials—all of which define the character of the place. Workmanship in the original building construction and details contribute to the integrity as well. All buildings retain enough integrity to make them contributing resources in the district.
Raised docks can be seen along the sides of these buildings, and many other buildings in the district.
The greater West Bottoms area occupies a floodplain meander on the east side of the Kansas River. Part of the area is actually located in the State of Kansas. Kansas City, MO, is built on the higher bluff overlooking the river. The edge of this bluff is visible in the GoogleEarth image as the green strip of vegetation paralleling the railroad tracks running in the northeast direction. Because topography of the area is level and low-lying it was perfectly suited for becoming a hub of railroad activity after the Hannibal Bridge across the Missouri River opened in 1869. This bridge provided a link between the commercial centers of Chicago and St. Louis through Kansas City to lands further west. In 1878 the Union Depot was opened in the West Bottoms, establishing the area as a primary manufacturing and distribution center. A decade after the Hannibal Bridge opened thirteen different railroads radiated out from Kansas City to all parts of the country; by the turn of the twentieth century this number had increased to seventeen.
The expanding network of railroads was a boon for business, in particular the livestock, manufacturing, wholesale and warehouse, and distribution sectors. As detailed in the nomination form,
the business occupants of the West Bottoms – North Historic District illustrate the breadth of the economic activity in this area, as it became a sales, processing, and transshipment point for both raw materials and finished goods. Farm and ranch commodities arriving in the District included lumber, wool, seed, wheat, sugar, and a variety of food crops. Typically, some commodities were broken down from railroad boxcar loads into smaller quantities suitable for sale at the retail level; other commodities – shipped from small producers – were aggregated, thereby improving their marketability by increasing available quantities of specific items; and finally, other commodities were processed, which added value and created ready-made goods for sale. The end products were either used locally or shipped to other markets. These steps in the production chain were often facilitated by brokers, who ranged from individuals to small firms to large companies that both bought and sold goods and products for customers. Manufactured products also arrived in the West Bottoms area for temporary storage in warehouses of specific companies or in general storage facilities. In turn, these goods would either be sold to retailers or directly to final customers.
By the mid-twentieth century a slow decline had set in. Continuing with the nomination form,
by the 1930s and 1940s some of the once thriving industrial establishments in the West Bottoms area started to become less competitive due to a number of factors, including changing modes of transportation, improvements in manufacturing technology, shifting markets, and changing business models such as the advent of chain-store franchises. The overall shift in commerce patterns during this period was illustrated in the West Bottoms – North Historic District. For example, Seavey & Flarsheim, a large brokerage firm for food products built a five-story building for itself in 1902. The firm moved out of the historic district in 1930. Abernathy Furniture, one of the largest employers in the historic district, closed in 1950. It was a multi-generation, family-manufacturing firm that expanded its operations to Kansas City about 1880 and occupied a growing number of buildings on West Ninth Street and Liberty Street eventually totaling 300,000 square feet.
Another disastrous flood struck on July 13, 1951. The Kansas and Missouri Rivers submerged the West Bottoms area with flood waters “sometimes thirty to forty feet deep, destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of property, crippled hundreds of businesses which lost inestimable millions in shutdowns and short shifts, left 20,000 homeless, rendered drinking water unsafe, and destroyed an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 hogs and cattle”. The Kansas City Stockyards, once a major force in the district, was decimated, and operations dwindled over the next twenty years. While federal and city authorities continued the cleanup and reconstruction activities business activity had difficulty recovering. Some companies closed their doors permanently, while others moved to another neighborhood or out of the city altogether and to more modern facilities in the suburbs.
Despite the lack of big-time investments over the last half century or so, the West Bottoms has remained a significant industrial center, although perhaps at a smaller scale than during the district’s heyday. Revitalization has been a more gradual process. Several buildings have been repurposed into apartment buildings and the old brick warehouses have evolved to house a variety of antique shops, artist studios, small retailers and a scattering of bars and restaurants. And yes, trains continue to pass through the district.
On June 30, 2022, New York based SomeraRoad[4] received the first stamp of approval for their redevelopment plan of the West Bottoms Historic District. The Kansas City Council unanimously voted to rezone 21.85 acres, roughly bounded north to south by Union Pacific railroad tracks and 12th Street, and west to east by Liberty Street and BNSF Railway tracks, to an urban redevelopment district. The rezoning measure came bundled with a conceptual phased plan under which New York developer SomeraRoad Inc. could build as many as 1,238 apartments, plus hospitality and mixed-uses, through the end of 2035.[5]
SomeraRoad has already acquired or agreed to purchase more than a dozen buildings in a six-block section in the historic district. One of these, the infamous Weld Wheel Building, previously known as the Ridenour-Baker Grocery Company Building at 933 Mulberry Street, is slated for demolition according to the plans of SomeraRoad. This building was occupied by Weld Wheel Industries from the early 1980s to 2000, at which time the company had outgrown the massive building, according to the then CEO and former race car driver Greg Weld. The building has set vacant for the last two decades.
Weld Wheel Building, previously known as the Ridenour-Baker Grocery Company Building at 933 Mulberry Street.
There is a unique flavor to the West Bottoms District – perhaps an entrepreneurial spirit that operates at the margins of capitalist society. Most of the antique shops and flea markets are only open on the first weekend of each month. Consequently, on any given day the number of visitors and people wandering the streets may be small. When I visited on a recent sunny Saturday morning to take photographs shown on this page, there were not many folks milling around. However, myself and whoever else were in the Bottoms that day came there with a purpose tied to the unique character of the district. Right now, the West Bottoms is not on the way to anywhere and people have no reason to visit unless they want to be here. Those who call the area home are here because of the seclusion and opportunities offered by the neighborhood and that are not available elsewhere in the city. And these are typically the people who do not have a voice in decisions made by the Kansas City Council.
Changing the character of the district to “revitalize” – read: increase the economic return of the district – takes away current opportunities and creates yet another playground for the affluent. Increasing the population density by constructing more apartment buildings may impact the current economic dynamics as rents and taxes will increase accordingly. There is a multitude of such “renovation” projects around the country that perhaps are considered successful from a commercial point of view, but that have had disastrous consequences for the original occupants of these areas and whose voices were ignored while decisions were made. One can only hope that the Kansas City Council and SomeraRoad can learn from such past experiences and not repeat the same mistakes over again. It is doubtful whether Kansas City needs to follow in the footsteps of the Arena District in Columbus, Ohio, and to a somewhat lesser extent the Union Station – Wholesale District in Indianapolis, Indiana. Both are examples of renovated neighborhoods that cater primarily to affluent urban professionals without kids and large disposable incomes – and to like-minded tourists.
Pictures on this page taken on October 23, 2022.
[1] From: https://kcwestbottoms.com/map.htm
[2] https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/16000771
[3] Rail sidings are low-speed track sections distinct from a running line or through route and may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end. Sidings often have lighter rails, meant for lower speed or less heavy traffic, and few, if any, signals.
[4] https://someraroadinc.com/about/
[5] https://www.startlandnews.com/2022/07/someraroad-west-bottoms/