|
1909: the city doubles its size, taking in the wpha area |
|
In 1909 Kansas City more than doubled its geographical size by annexing a large area of land south and east of city limits, from Brush Creek south to 77th Street and from State Line east nearly to the Blue River.
This major step in the city’s growth took in all of what is now the Ward Parkway Homes Association area. The farms still in the WPHA area were now worth more as potential development property than as farmland.
Albert Heslip, a Jackson County marshal, and his wife Emmma had owned their 80-acre farm since before the turn of the century. Their gently rolling land extended from Gregory Boulevard to 75th Street and from Ward Parkway to Summit Street. In November 1910, the Heslips sold three-fourths of the south half of their farm (73rd Street to 75th Street) to David Proctor’s newly formed Westmoreland Land & Investment Co. Price: $47,500.
The Heslips retained their homestead from 74th Street to 75th Street between Ward Parkway to Belleview Avenue. The 1908 city directory lists their residence at 75th Street and East Prospect Place (now called Jarboe Street). Earlier maps also show the farmhouse approximately in the 7400 block of Jarboe Street. The Heslips did agree, however, for an additional $100, to a restrictive covenant with Proctor, in which they would not subdivide or sell off their homestead tract unless it conformed to the street layout and restrictions Proctor had already established for his adjacent Westmoreland subdivision.
A month later, in December 1910, Proctor used this newly acquired land, shaped like an inverted “L”, to create the fifth subdivision in the WPHA area, called “Westmoreland Place.” Westmoreland Place includes, at its southern corner, the recently completed WPHA marker island. Proctor also continued his systematic redevelopment west of Ward Parkway, using the remainder of the farmland he had purchased in 1907. In February 1911, he created the sixth subdivision in the WPHA area, called “Westmoreland Extension,” which includes the 7300 blocks of State Line east to Holly Street, now the east lane of Ward Parkway.
73rd Street
75th Street
|
||||
|
Part 4 The City Doubles |