THe Bowery

17th to 25th Streets, Troost to Woodland

From the “History of the African Americans in Kansas City” by Sandra Walker, Ph.D.

Between 1900 and 1910, the African American population grew by seven thousand forcing newcomers further into the Black Eastside. Some moved into sections of apartments called the Bowery. Beginning the twentieth century in Kansas City from 1900 to 1920, Kansas City had no zoning that restricted tenement-type dwellings. About the Bowery, Walker quotes “Most of the buildings were two and three-story brick structures arranged in two and three-room apartments. They were all nearly poorly constructed and crowded closely together, many of them facing the alleys. One can get some idea of the overcrowded conditions when one considers twenty-two blocks in that area had a population of 4,295.” (Goodwin)

Walker goes on to state that the crowded living conditions in the Bowery contributed to illness, crime, vice, juvenile delinquency, and the area was also characterized by high levels of unemployment. These conditions were replicated throughout many of the neighborhoods where African Americans were permitted to live in Kansas City. The Sanborn Map shows an example of this tenement housing at 1113 E 17th Street.

Bibliography:

Walker, Sandra, Ph.D. History of the African Americans in Kansas City. Kansas City, Missouri. The Lowell Press. 1993.

Sanborn Map Company. Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri, Volume 3 1909-1950. Courtesy of the Kansas City Public Library, Missouri Valley Special Collections. kchistory.org