In The Loop: November 13, 2022
Your connection to Downtown Kansas City
See the web version of this newsletter here
A couple weeks of leisure for The Loop
Heading toward the holidays, just a reminder that the “In The Loop” email newsletters scheduled for Nov. 20 and Nov. 27 will be replaced by “best of” content, or other replacement posts, which will allow me to take a couple weeks off. We’ll be back at it with the Dec. 4 issue.
And now, on to the The Loop….
Happy birthday to the late Buck O’Neil
Hard to believe, but today would have been John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil, Jr.’s 111th birthday. Born in Florida in 1911, O’Neil went on to become a baseball Hall of Famer and the Negro Leagues’ greatest ambassador while he was alive. From 1938 to 1955 — save two seasons when he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II — O’Neil was a member of the Kansas City Monarchs team, either as a player or manager.
After his time with the Monarchs, O’Neil he went to work as a scout for the Chicago Cubs and, in 1962, became the first African-American coach for a Major League Baseball club.
Appearing in Ken Burns’ 1994 PBS documentary series, Baseball, took O’Neil to even greater heights of fame — and provided a larger platform from which to promote the greatness of the Negro Leagues. After the documentary, he started making appearances across the country — sometimes 200 a year — to promote the league and the museum based in Kansas City.
Earlier this year, Buck O’Neil was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Buck O’Neil with the Monarchs (left) and later as an ambassador and advocate for the Negro Leagues and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. NLBM
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City opens
On Wednesday’s date in 1921, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City officially opened at 925 Grand. Less than two months prior to the opening, construction of the 21-story building paused briefly in order for workers to deliver and install a 50-ton bank vault door.
Other interesting facts about the Fed’s home for 87 years: Architects Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White also designed Chicago’s Wrigley Building; there was no air conditioning until 1934; and from 1953 until his presidential library was completed in 1957 in Independence, former president Harry Truman leased an office on the 11th floor.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City relocated to a newly built tower at the south end of Downtown, near the Liberty Memorial, in 2008.
The building at 925 Grand was home to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 1921 to 2008. The building still stands and remains a candidate for redevelopment (the most recent plan was to convert it into an Embassy Suites hotel), but the structure has been empty since 2008. Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library.
ICYMI: Northeast hosts 7,000 on Halloween
One of the great streets of our city — Gladstone Boulevard — in one of our great Downtown neighborhoods — the Scarrit-Renaissance neighborhood of the Historic Northeast — shut down the road again this year in order to provide a car-free trick-or-treating experience for an estimated 7,000 children and families on Halloween night. Twenty-one “safe houses” handed out more than 250,000 pieces of candy by some reports. The Northeast News published a photo gallery:
LINK: Scare-It Halloween
The Northeast News
Sponsored Post
Downtown KC Office Summit this Wednesday
The 6th annual Downtown KC Office Summit is this week, and anticipation has been building for this popular, annual meeting of Kansas City area business leaders, developers, and public officials. The Office Summit is produced each year by the Downtown Council of Kansas City.
This year's Office Summit will explore “Place Matters” during the afternoon of Oct. 16 at The Gallery event space in the Kansas City Power & Light District. Place Matters is a growing trend among urban centers across the country, and is setting a course for the future of Downtown KC. For more info:
LINK: Downtown Council Office Summit information
LINK: Eventbrite tickets for 2022 Downtown KC Office Summit
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Seasonal adjustment to Farmers Market hours
The City Market folks remind us that the Farmers Market starts an hour later in November. From now through the end of December, hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. From January through March, it will be open the same hours, but Saturdays only. Then from April through October, the Farmers Market goes back to 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Of course, the City Market is open every day all year long. Check here for more info:
LINK: Farmers Market Information
LINK: City Market Information
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1931
While in Kansas City for an exhibition fight, heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey — the Manassa Mauler — put comic actor Hal Sherman over his knee at the Hotel President to administer a spanking as Sherman’s wife looked on. At Convention Hall on Nov. 18, 1931, Dempsey boxed two exhibition rounds each against two fighters that the Kansas City Times described as “nondescripts” and “miserable third raters.” Late in his career and without the power or speed that earned him the world the heavyweight championship from 1919 to 1926, Dempsey still helped draw nearly 9,000 spectators to the Downtown venue. (There were also seven regular boxing matches featured that night.) Sherman and his wife were in Kansas City to perform at the Mainstreet Theater, where Hal made audiences laugh with his eccentric, slide-step dance routine and other schticks. Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Mo.
Artful City: One weekly selection with a Downtown connection
Gary Pycior, Fantastic 10, archival pigment prints, edition of 10, 2022, part of the KIOSK x 10 group exhibition, Saturdays noon to 4 p.m. through Jan. 7 at Kiosk Gallery, 1600 Genessee, Suite 133, in the historic Livestock Exchange Building.
Downtown Lens: A single image depicting the urban aesthetic
A treehouse on a residential street in the Westside neighborhood. The Loop
Who are all these people?
Answering the question “Who are all these people and where are they going?”, The Loop brings you a list of some of the biggest events happening Downtown each week. Please give a friendly Downtown-Kansas City welcome to audiences and attendees of….
TODAY
Metropolitan Youth Orchestra 25th Anniversary Concert, this afternoon at Kauffman Center
Carrie Underwood at T-Mobile Center
Harmony Zhu at the Folly
Closing performance of the Lyric Opera’s La traviata at Kauffman Center
MONDAY the 14th
Brian Culbertson at the Midland
TUESDAY the 15th
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.: A Celebration of the Legendary Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin at Kauffman Center
WEDNESDAY the 16th
Kansas City Symphony Free Happy Hour Concert at Kauffman Center
Slander at the Midland
THURSDAY the 17th
Tauren Wells at the Midland
Ninja Sex Party at the Folly
FRIDAY the 18th
Reba McEntire at T-Mobile Center
Puscifer at the Midland
SATURDAY the 19th
LaChanze & Friends: Dance Divas at the Folly
ONGOING
Maya the Exhibition: The Great Jaguar Rises, most days through January 1, at Union Station
For a more exhaustive list of everything happening Downtown, go to the VisitKC events page and use the “regions” function to search for Downtown, Westside/Southwest Blvd, West Bottoms, River Market, Power & Light, Crown Center, Crossroads, 18th & Vine — or anywhere you want to go in the KC Metro
For live Kansas City Jazz performances, visit LiveJazzKC.com
Got a tip or question about Downtown KC?
Write to: tips@kcdowntownloop.com or contact The Loop via social media
Kevin Worley, Co-Publisher/Editorial
Joe Nichols, Co-Publisher/Business
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