Kansas City Public Library Rapid Response: Quick Answers To Your Kansas City History Questions

Press release from the Kansas City Public Library:

June 18, 2021

For this installment of “What’s Your KCQ?,” the joint project of the Kansas City Public Library and The Kansas City Star, Missouri Valley Special Collections staff tackle a variety of Kansas City history questions.

When Commerce Tower at 911 Main Street opened in 1964, one of the modern office building’s many amenities was the Top of the Tower restaurant on the 30th floor. Rather than a single dining experience, Top of the Tower offered diners five distinct experiences: the Mongolian-themed Genghis Khan, the Irish-themed Paddy’s Pub, the Italian-themed Guiseppe’s Roof, the German-themed Salzberg Haus, and the French-themed Tour d’Argent. An advertisement from the building’s opening promised diners “an unparalleled view of Kansas City’s surging skyline and the countryside beyond,” and with the 180-degree view south toward the river made possible by the small projection, the statement rang true.

Top of the Tower closed in 1975. Ten years later, Commerce Trust Company moved out of the building. Vacancies increased as downtown went into decline. Finally, in 2013, the property was acquired by an investment group who rehabilitated the structure into residential units for new city dwellers. Today, the small projection on the 30th floor is part of an apartment inhabited by a very lucky someone with a spectacular view.

Milton Thompson, real estate investor and owner of Highland Farms, led the development of Lake Tapawingo in 1926. Tapawingo, which translates to “beautiful place” in the Sioux language, was advertised in The Kansas City Star as the city’s “exclusive sports retreat and rest haven.” Businessmen looking for summer homes quickly bought up the five hundred picturesque lots surrounding the lake.

Shortly after Tapawingo’s success, Thompson and his associates embarked upon a second lake project in the Sni-A-Bar Creek valley, Lake Lotawana. According to Thompson’s wife Maud, a group of the developers’ wives chose the name during a political rally, specifying that it should be pronounced with a long O sound. Lotawana or Lotowana, meaning “sparkling water,” was the name of a legendary Mohawk princess from the Catskill Mountains.

The etymology of the 970-acre Lake Jacomo is perhaps less exciting. Named by the county court in 1958, “Jacomo” is an acronym for Jackson County, Missouri (JA-CO-MO.) According to The Star, the descriptive name was used to specify that the recreational district was financed solely by the county, without state or federal funding. Planning for Lake Jacomo began in the early 1950s due to increasing demand for more recreational areas in Jackson County.

One reader noticed a short stretch of street named Coal Mine Road near the Blue River and Eastwood Park and wondered if it was named for an actual coal mine. Not only was there a mine in the area, but also a now forgotten town that trusted its future to the mine’s success. Both were short-lived.

In the early 1880s, geologist John A. Gallaher found traces of a coal bed along Brush Creek. At the same time, real estate developer George W. Neumer settled near the find. Gallaher and a group of investors sank a coal shaft along Brush Creek about one and a half miles south of Leeds and started mining as the Kansas City Clay and Coal Company. While observing the progress of the mine, Neumer dreamed of establishing a town to capitalize on its success. He bought up land around 43rd Street and Indiana Avenue and named the area Cedar Springs.

The company didn’t last long, though. Due to poor ventilation in the mines and Gallaher missing a payday, his workers went on strike and came close to hanging him in 1894. The mine closed and its property and assets were sold off later that year. Consequently, Cedar Springs became a ghost town and faded from memory. By 1900, the mine reopened as the Brush Creek Coal Mining Company. Continued poor management and working conditions caused the mine to be closed permanently shortly thereafter.

In 1916, a Kansas City Star article reported that a delegation of area farmers had asked the city to grade what had become known as Coal Mine Road, described at the time as one of the oldest roads in Jackson County.

This press release was produced by the Kansas City Public Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.