Once described as looking ‘fussy’, what remains of KC’s former city hall near river?

Editor’s Note: Past|Present is a new video series from The Star that travels through time to show how scenes Kansas City depicted in vintage postcards look today. Have a postcard you’d like to share with our team? Tell us about it here.

One of the best indications that Kansas City started as a river town was the placement of its first two city halls.

Both were located on Main Street between 4th Street and 5th Streets, just a few blocks from the Missouri River. In fact, the site was originally a large ravine, filled in with pilings to support the structures.

While the first one, built in 1853, was fairly plain, its successor arrived in 1882 with considerably more visual flair. It was six stories tall and marked by architectural flourishes that led building historian George Ehrlich to describe it as “fussy..”

By the 1920s, the city’s rapid growth had begun to seriously strain the facility . Pressure mounted to follow the population southward. and build again.

In 1937, despite the Great Depression, Kansas City opened its third and current municipal headquarters at 12th Street and Oak Street.

Little time was wasted in demolishing the old one. Photos from 1938 show construction underway on the “new” City Market, yes, the one we still enjoy today, immediately east of piles of debris from the second City Hall.

Today, what’s known as the River Market area has started coming back to life. In fact, the streetcar route runs down 5th Street.

But all that’s visible at 5th Street and Main Street is a parking lot on the market’s west side.

You’d never know that a key part of Kansas City’s past was ever present there.

Looking for more Kansas City history?

“What’s Your KCQ?” sifts through the confusion about how the state line is drawn

How did Kansas City take over Independence as a riverside metropolis?