Library District (Kansas City, MO)

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.

History of the Library District

Originally developed as a commercial and entertainment area in the 1880's, 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.

Distinctive features

The Library District has a walking tour guide available at the Kansas City Public Library's [http://www.kclibrary.org/guides/localhistory/index.cfm?article=read&articleID=193 website] . The walking tour guide begins at the steps of the Library's public garage on 10th Street, between Wyandotte Street and Baltimore Avenue.

The Garage has a distinctive facade on 10th Street, using images of 22 giant bookspines to create a "community bookshelf." The Wyandotte facade includes enlarged historic postcards with images of 10th Street and 9th Street from the early 1900's. The Baltimore Avenue facade 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.

Book Titles displayed on the Kansas City Library District Garage "Community Bookshelf"

* The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain. 1884.
* Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux. Black Elk as told to John G. Neihardt. 1932.
* Catch-22: A Novel. Joseph Heller. 1961.
* Charlotte’s Web. E. B. White. 1952.
* Cien Años de Soledad/100 Years of Solitude. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 1967; translated 1970.
* Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes. 1994.
* Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury. 1953
* Invisible Man. Ralph Ellison. 1952.
* Journals of Lewis and Clark. Meriwether Lewis. 1804-1806.
* The Lord of the Rings. J. R. R. Tolkien. 1954-1956.
* O Pioneers! Willa Cather. 1913.
* The Republic. Plato 4th Century B.C.
* Romeo and Juliet. William Shakespeare ca.1599.
* Silent Spring. Rachel Carson. 1962.
* A Tale of Two Cities. Charles Dickens. 1859.
* Tao Te Ching. Lao Tzu. 4th/3rd Century, BCE
* Their Eyes Were Watching God. Zora Neale Hurston. 1990.
* To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee. 1960.
* Truman. David G. McCullough. 1992.
* Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. Stephen E. Ambrose 1997.

Children’s Stories
* Goodnight Moon. Margaret Wise Brown; pictures by Clement Hurd. 1947.
* Green Eggs and Ham. Dr. Seuss. 1960.
* Harold and the Purple Crayon. Crockett Johnson. 1955.
* Little House on the Prairie. Laura Ingalls Wilder. 1953.
* M. C. Higgins, the Great. Virginia Hamilton. 1974.
* What a Wonderful World. George David Weiss; pictures by Ashley Bryan. 1995.
* Winnie the Pooh. A. A. Milne. 1926.
* The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. L. Frank Baum. 1900.

Kansas City Stories
* Farm: A Year in the Life of an American Farmer. Richard Rhodes. 1989.
* Goin’ to Kansas City. Nathan W. Pearson, Jr. 1987.
* Kansas City, Missouri: An Architectural History, 1826 - 1990. George Ehrlich. 1992.
* Kansas City, Missouri; Its History and Its People 1808-1908. Carrie Westlake Whitney. 1908.
* The Kansas City Story for Kids. Monroe Dodd and Daniel Serda. 2000.
* Mr. Anonymous, the Story of William Volker. Herbert C. Cornuelle. 1951.
* Tom’s Town, Kansas City and the Pendergast Legend. William M. Reddig. 1986.
* I Was Right on Time. Buck O’Neil. 1996.
* Independence Avenue. Eileen Sherman. 1990.
* PrairyErth: (A Deep Map). William Least Heat-Moon. 1991
* Messages from my Father. Calvin Trillin. 1996.
* Mrs. Bridge. Evan Connell. 1959.
* The O’Donnells. Peggy Sullivan. 1956.
* Stella Louella’s Runaway Book. Lisa Campbell Ernst. 1998.
* Virgil Thomson, a Reader: Selected Writings, 1924-1984. 2002.

Library District Buildings on the National Register

* New York Life Building [10]
* Bunker Building [12]
* Land Bank Building [2]
* Graphic Arts Building [18]

References

* George Ehrlich, Kansas City, Missouri: An Architectural History, (Kansas City: Historic Kansas City Foundation, 1979)
* Millstein, Cydney. “West Ninth Street Baltimore Avenue Historic District Boundary Increase I, Kansas City, Missouri.” National Register of Historic Places Nomination, 2001.
* Millstein, Cydney. Library District Walking Tour Guide. Kansas City Public Library. 2004