KANSAS CITY CALL BUILDING ASSESSMENT STUDY

As part of our field service outreach, Historic Kansas City secured two grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Kemper Fund for Kansas and Missouri, for assessing the structural integrity and physical conditions of the improvements upon the Kansas City Call property, located at 1715 East 18th Street in the 18th and Vine National Register Historic District.

The owner and Historic Kansas City desired to work together for the assessment of the structural integrity and physical conditions of the improvements upon the Kansas City Call property. Now completed, the assessment identifies the steps needed to secure and stabilize the property until long-term plans for its renovation can be developed.

The Call sits within the heart of the 18th and Vine Historic District, home to the American Jazz Museum, Black Archives of Mid-America, and Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The concept of a “museum and archive” was the vision of the previous owner and staff of the Call. Other Kansas City organizations have long recognized the importance of preserving the heritage of the Call and need for such a facility. The owner recently inherited the structure upon the death of her sister and desires to fulfill her sister’s vison.

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Historic Kansas City engaged qualified professionals to assess the structural condition and integrity of the improvements upon the Kansas City Call Property, such professionals to be paid solely from Grant funds. The project team included Taliaferro & Browne, STRATA Architects, Wallace Engineering and TetraTech.

Exterior masonry repairs are underway at the Call, funded by a grant from Ollie Gates.

HKC believes that it must be part of our mission to facilitate assistance to historic properties from sources like the National Trust. And they and we benefit from the engagement in the minority community, and preservation overall is stronger.

Today as in the past, The Kansas City Call is published weekly, its coverage including events in the Black community of Kansas City and the nation. The Call would become one of the six largest African American weekly newspapers in the country and (at one time) the largest Black business in the Midwest. Through the years, THE CALL has continued to urge the community to be politically empowered and to speak out on issues affecting the welfare of African American people. Through its columns, it has led campaigns against lynching, the Ku Klux Klan, and police brutality. It also fought segregation and discrimination in education, housing,
employment, and the use of public facilities.