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Library District (Kansas City, MO)
Encyclopedia
The Kansas City Library District is an officially designated area roughly bounded by 9th and 11th Streets on the north and south and Main Street and Broadway on the east and west in Downtown Kansas City
, MO. The District contains four buildings individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the West Ninth Street-Baltimore Avenue Historic District, also listed on the National Register.
Originally developed as a commercial and entertainment area in the 1880s, the Library District took its new name in 2003 in connection with the move of the Kansas City Public Library
's Central Branch to a building formerly the headquarters of the First National Bank of Kansas City. At that time, many of the commercial office buildings adjacent to or nearby were converted to residences and the City of Kansas City initiated plans for major streetscape improvements within the district which established a more distinctive character.
includes giant banners with images of the Great Hall of the Library of Congress
' Jefferson Building
and a fanciful image of a gathering of famous Kansas Citians in an architectural fantasy by local artist Bob Holloway.
The 22 "Community Bookshelf" book titles (in order from West to East on 10th street):
(Building Entrance)
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, MO. The District contains four buildings individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the West Ninth Street-Baltimore Avenue Historic District, also listed on the National Register.
History of the Library District
Kansas City Public Library
The Kansas City Public Library is a public system headquartered in the Central Library in Kansas City, Missouri.The system operates its Central Branch and neighborhood branches located in Kansas City, Independence, and Sugar Creek...
's Central Branch to a building formerly the headquarters of the First National Bank of Kansas City. At that time, many of the commercial office buildings adjacent to or nearby were converted to residences and the City of Kansas City initiated plans for major streetscape improvements within the district which established a more distinctive character.
Distinctive features
The Library District has a walking tour guide available through the Kansas City Public Library's website. The walking tour guide begins at the steps of the Library's public garage on 10th Street, between Wyandotte Street and Baltimore Avenue.Library District Buildings on the National Register
- New York Life Building [10]
- Bunker Building [12]
- Land Bank Building [2]
- Graphic Arts Building [18]
The Kansas City Library District Garage "Community Bookshelf"
The Central Library's parking garage has a distinctive facade on 10th Street, using images of 22 giant bookspines to create a "community bookshelf." The Wyandotte Street facade includes enlarged historic postcards with images of 10th Street and 9th Street from the early 1900s. The Baltimore Avenue facade next to the Kansas City ClubKansas City Club
The Kansas City Club, founded in 1882 and located in the Library District of Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, is the oldest existing gentlemen's club in Missouri. The Club began admitting women members in 1975. Along with the River Club on nearby Quality Hill, it is one of two surviving...
includes giant banners with images of the Great Hall of the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
' Jefferson Building
Thomas Jefferson Building
The oldest of the three United States Library of Congress buildings, the Thomas Jefferson Building was built between 1890 and 1897. It is known for its classicizing facade and elaborately decorated interior. John L. Smithmeyer and Paul J...
and a fanciful image of a gathering of famous Kansas Citians in an architectural fantasy by local artist Bob Holloway.
- Kansas City Stories, Volume I
- Kansas City, Missouri; Its History and Its People 1808-1908 (Carrie Westlake Whitney) 1908
- Tom’s Town, Kansas City and the PendergastTom PendergastThomas Joseph Pendergast controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri as a political boss. "Boss Tom" Pendergast gave workers jobs and helped elect politicians during the Great Depression, becoming wealthy in the process.-Early years:Thomas Joseph Pendergast, also known to close friends as...
Legend (William M. Reddig) 1986 - Goin’ to Kansas City (Nathan W. Pearson, Jr.) 1987
- Farm: A Year in the Life of an American Farmer (RhodesRichard RhodesRichard Lee Rhodes is an American journalist, historian, and author of both fiction and non-fiction , including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Making of the Atomic Bomb , and most recently, The Twilight of the Bombs...
) 1989 - Mr. Anonymous, the Story of William VolkerWilliam VolkerWilliam Volker was an entrepreneur who turned a picture frame business into a multimillion-dollar empire and who then gave away his fortune to shape much of Kansas City, Missouri, both through the William Volker Fund and anonymously earning him the nickname of "Mr...
(Herbert C. Cornuelle) 1951 - Kansas City, Missouri: An Architectural History, 1826 - 1990 (George Ehrlich) 1992
- Journeys Through Time: A Young Traveler’s Guide to Kansas City’s History (Monroe Dodd, Daniel Serda) 2000
- Kansas City Stories, Volume II
- Virgil Thomson, a Reader: Selected Writings 1924-1984 (ThomsonVirgil ThomsonVirgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
) 2002 - Mrs. Bridge (ConnellEvan S. ConnellEvan Shelby Connell, Jr. is an American novelist, poet, and short story-writer. He has also published under the name Evan S. Connell, Jr. His writing has covered a variety of genres, although he has published most frequently in fiction.In 2009, Connell was nominated for the Man Booker...
) 1959 - I Was Right on Time (O'Neil) 1996
- The O’Donnells (Peggy Sullivan) 1956
- Independence Avenue (Eileen Sherman) 1990
- Stella Louella’s Runaway Book (Lisa Campbell Ernst) 1998
- PrairyErth: (A Deep Map) (Least Heat-MoonWilliam Least Heat-MoonWilliam Least Heat-Moon, the byname of William Lewis Trogdon is an American travel writer of English, Irish and Osage Nation ancestry. He is the author of a bestselling trilogy of topographical U.S. travel writing.-Biography:...
) 1991 - Messages from my Father (Calvin TrillinCalvin TrillinCalvin Marshall Trillin is an American journalist, humorist, food writer, poet, memoirist and novelist.-Biography:Trillin attended public schools in Kansas City and went on to Yale University, where he served as chairman of the Yale Daily News and was a member of Scroll and Key before graduating...
) 1996
- Virgil Thomson, a Reader: Selected Writings 1924-1984 (Thomson
- Catch 22 (HellerJoseph HellerJoseph Heller was a US satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His best known work is Catch-22, a novel about US servicemen during World War II...
) - Children's Stories
- Goodnight MoonGoodnight MoonGoodnight Moon is an American children's book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. It was first published in 1947, and is a highly acclaimed example of a bedtime story. It is about a child saying goodnight to everything around: "Goodnight room. Goodnight moon. Goodnight...
(BrownMargaret Wise BrownMargaret Wise Brown was a prolific American author of children's literature, including the books Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, both illustrated by Clement Hurd.-Biography:...
, pictures by HurdClement HurdClement G. Hurd was an American illustrator of children's books. He is best known for his collaborations with author Margaret Wise Brown, including Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny...
) - Harold and the Purple CrayonHarold and the Purple CrayonHarold and the Purple Crayon is a 1955 children's book by Crockett Johnson. Johnson's most popular book, it led to a series of books, and inspired many adaptations.-Plot:...
(JohnsonCrockett JohnsonCrockett Johnson was the pen name of cartoonist and children's book illustrator David Johnson Leisk...
) - Winnie the Pooh (MilneA. A. MilneAlan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Biography:A. A...
) - Green Eggs and HamGreen Eggs and HamGreen Eggs and Ham is a best-selling and critically acclaimed book by Dr. Seuss, first published on August 12, 1960. As of 2001, according to Publishers Weekly, it was the fourth-best-selling English-language children's book of all time....
(Dr. SeussDr. SeussTheodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone....
) - What a Wonderful World (WeissGeorge David WeissGeorge David Weiss was an American songwriter and former President of the Songwriters Guild of America.-Career:...
, ThieleBob ThieleBob Thiele was an American record producer who worked on countless classic jazz albums and record labels.-Biography:...
, pictures by BryanAshley BryanAshley F. Bryan is an American author and illustrator noted for his children's books. His subjects most often are from the African-American experience.-Childhood:...
) 1995 - Little House on the PrairieLittle House on the Prairie (novel)Little House on the Prairie is a children's novel by Laura Ingalls Wilder and was published in 1935. This book is the third of the series of books known as the Little House series....
(WilderLaura Ingalls WilderLaura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House series of books based on her childhood in a pioneer family...
) - The Wonderful Wizard of OzThe Wonderful Wizard of OzThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...
(BaumL. Frank BaumLyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
) - M. C. Higgins, the GreatM. C. Higgins, the GreatM. C. Higgins, the Great is a book by Virginia Hamilton that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1975. It also won the National Book Award, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the only book to do that. It is a coming of age novel; it covers three eventful...
(HamiltonVirginia HamiltonVirginia Esther Hamilton was an award-winning author of children's books. She wrote 41 books, including M. C. Higgins, the Great, for which she won the National Book Award in 1974 and the 1975 Newbery Medal....
)
- Goodnight Moon
- Silent SpringSilent SpringSilent Spring is a book written by Rachel Carson and published by Houghton Mifflin on 27 September 1962. The book is widely credited with helping launch the environmental movement....
(CarsonRachel CarsonRachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement....
) - O Pioneers!O Pioneers!O Pioneers! is a 1913 novel by American author Willa Cather. It was written in part when Cather was living in Cherry Valley, New York, with Isabelle McClung and was completed at the McClungs' home in Pittsburgh...
(CatherWilla CatherWilla Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I...
) - Cien Años de Soledad (MarquezGabriel García MárquezGabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
) - Their Eyes Were Watching GodTheir Eyes Were Watching GodTheir Eyes Were Watching God is a 1937 novel and the best-known work by African American writer Zora Neale Hurston. Set in central and southern Florida in the early 20th century, the novel garnered attention and controversy at the time of its publication, and has come to be regarded as a seminal...
(HurstonZora Neale HurstonZora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance...
) - Fahrenheit 451Fahrenheit 451Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury. The novel presents a future American society where reading is outlawed and firemen start fires to burn books...
(BradburyRay BradburyRay Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
) - The Republic (PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
) - The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnAdventures of Huckleberry FinnAdventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in England in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written in the vernacular, characterized by...
(TwainMark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
)
(Building Entrance)
- Tao Te ChingTao Te ChingThe Tao Te Ching, Dao De Jing, or Daodejing , also simply referred to as the Laozi, whose authorship has been attributed to Laozi, is a Chinese classic text...
(Lao TzuLaoziLaozi was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching . His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of Taoism...
) - The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (HughesLangston HughesJames Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
) - Black Elk SpeaksBlack Elk SpeaksBlack Elk Speaks is a 1932 book by John G. Neihardt, an American poet and writer, who relates the story and spirituality of Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux medicine man or shaman. It was based on conversations by Black Elk with the author and translated from Lakota into English by Black Elk's son, Ben...
(NeihardtJohn NeihardtJohnathan Gneisenau Neihardt was an American author of poetry and prose, an amateur historian and ethnographer, and a philosopher of the Great Plains...
) - Invisible ManInvisible ManInvisible Man is a novel written by Ralph Ellison, and the only one that he published during his lifetime . It won him the National Book Award in 1953...
(EllisonRalph EllisonRalph Waldo Ellison was an American novelist, literary critic, scholar and writer. He was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Ellison is best known for his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953...
) - To Kill a MockingbirdTo Kill a MockingbirdTo Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature...
(LeeHarper LeeNelle Harper Lee is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama...
) - Journals of the Expedition (LewisMeriwether LewisMeriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark...
, Clark) + Undaunted CourageUndaunted CourageUndaunted Courage , written by Stephen Ambrose, is a 1996 biography of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The book is based on journals written by Lewis and Clark, along with other members of the expedition, and also offers additional insight into the travelers and...
(AmbroseStephen AmbroseStephen Edward Ambrose was an American historian and biographer of U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a long time professor of history at the University of New Orleans and the author of many best selling volumes of American popular history...
) - The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
(TolkienJ. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
) - A Tale of Two CitiesA Tale of Two CitiesA Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature....
(DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
) - Charlotte's WebCharlotte's WebCharlotte's Web is an award-winning children's novel by acclaimed American author E. B. White, about a pig named Wilbur who is saved from being slaughtered by an intelligent spider named Charlotte. The book was first published in 1952, with illustrations by Garth Williams.The novel tells the story...
(WhiteE. B. WhiteElwyn Brooks White , usually known as E. B. White, was an American writer. A long-time contributor to The New Yorker magazine, he also wrote many famous books for both adults and children, such as the popular Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, and co-authored a widely used writing guide, The...
) - Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
(ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
) - TrumanTruman (book)Truman is a 1992 biography of the 33rd President of the United States Harry S. Truman written by popular historian David McCullough. The book won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for "Biography or Autobiography." The book was later made into a movie with the same name by HBO.-Plot summary:The book...
(McCullough)