The History of Englewood Plaza

Englewood Plaza, located in a quiet middle-class neighborhood in western Independence, is a bit of Main Street U.S.A. The group of utilitarian buildings housing ordinary stores also enjoys the distinction of being one of the earliest suburban shopping "centers" in the area.  Originally a trolley stop in a sparsely developed residential area, Englewood owes its beginnings to the visionary schemes of Kansas City real estate agent and developer, Willard Winner. During the real estate boom of the 1880's, Winner sought to capitalize on the development in the Blue River Valley in the area between Kansas City's rapidly extending eastern boundaries and development pushing westward from Independence. In 1886, the Winner Investment company formed the "Eastside Syndicate" and purchased 2,400 acres which ran east to Independence from Kansas City. Here Winner planned a tract to be called Washington Park and began securing a right-of-way for a rail line to operate between Kansas City and Independence.
 

Washington Park and The Dummy Line:

Many scoffed at the idea; the line would never pay for itself! The Kansas City limits extended only as far east as Cleveland Avenue. Independence's western boundary was only a mile or so from the city square. The stretch of seven or eight miles between the two cities consisted of a sparsely settled farm district with a small population of around two hundred people. Nevertheless, the following year Winner formed the Kansas City Independence and Park Railway Company to build a rail line connecting Independence with the eastern terminus of Kansas City's Metropolitan Street Railway cable line at Fifteenth Street.

Inaugurated on September 2, 1887, the rail service quickly became known as the "Dummy Line" for its stripped-down, "dummy" steam locomotive which could run as fast backward as forward. Civic and business leaders in both cities hailed the two coaches drawn by a "wheezing, cinder-throwing, puffing engine" as a superior alternative to the horse and buggy or the limited services of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The line ran through the syndicate's Washington Park Addition, creating real and paper development along a 100-foot-wide boulevard that passed through rich farming land. Within the year most of the area was laid out in additions and subdivided into lots.

As the inflated land prices of the boom years started to level in the 1890's, Winner's far-reaching enterprise disintegrated. Parts of his grand design did, however, survive. Despite the economic slowdown, the Dummy Line prospered and Mt. Washington Boulevard (also known as Washington Park Avenue and, today, Winner Road) was completed, assuring the continued development of the area. In 1896 the electric cars of the Metropolitan Street Railway replaced the steam-powered "Dummy," providing service every fifteen minutes to Kansas City. The resulting stimulus to residential development along the line spawned small neighborhood business centers, among them the commercial areas which became known as Maywood and Englewood.

The South Englewood Improvement Association:

The area which became known as Englewood was a center of residential development and a core of business activity long before the concept of suburban shopping centers developed. The name "Englewood" appears on a 1904 map as an addition platted on land owned by the Winner Investment Company south of the Chicago and Alton Railway and west of Sterling Avenue. Commercial activity in the area between Sterling and Northern Street began as early as 1910.

By 1917, approximately forty families lived in the general vicinity. That year twenty-two individuals organized the South Englewood Improvement Association to secure improvements in the area south of the Chicago and Alton Railroad, east of Rock Creek and west of the Independence city limits. The association met at the Rock Creek School and elected Frank E. Garman, William Merrill, F.A. Barnett and James A. Sloan as its officers. The organization immediately petitioned the County Court for a paved road on Sterling Avenue south from the C. & A. tracks to Douglas and west to Rock Creek. The group also successfully lobbied three times between 1917 and 1927 for the enlargement of the Rock Creek School. Their efforts secured improvements west along 23rd Street from Sterling, the opening of 23rd from Benton east to the Independence-Raytown Road, opening Northern north from 23rd with a grade crossing over the C. & A. tracks, installation of twenty street lights, classification of all roads in the district as county highways, construction of a bridge over Rock Creek on Sterling, and an under- and over-pass west of Rock Creek school.

Up to the early 1920's, Englewood's commercial center consisted of a few businesses located on the north and south sides of Mount Washington Boulevard, an unpaved road with an electric trolley line running through its middle. The post-WWI residential building boom which lasted throughout the 1920's brought dramatic change to the area. William H. Harrison conducted the largest home development operation of its kind in the "inter-city area," creating a sizable residential population which required retail and business services. As a result, the local shopping centers of Englewood, Maywood and Fairmount expanded.  In December 1922, Englewood, Missouri incorporated as a fourth class city. Forty-two days later the city disincorporated due to the confusion caused by another city named Englewood in nearby Gladstone. Thereafter it was called "Englewood Station." The officers of the short-lived city were Arthur F. Gordon, John K. Hoover, J.H. Smith and McDonald Harris. At that time an effort to annex the area into Independence failed. Many Englewood residents and business owners opposed joining Independence or Kansas City. Continuing as an unincorporated area presented certain problems. The Independence Examiner editor noted certain concerns. "The people who live in the district are the ones who should be anxious. They cannot expect to continue as a county district without organization and without power to secure protection from a sanitary standpoint and on other accounts."

The observation had some merit. Englewood, like other inter-city communities, came under the jurisdiction of the Jackson County Court. The area enjoyed few public services and was often referred to by residents and business owners as the "stepchild of the County Court." Volunteers led by C.S. Hunting provided the only fire protection. Police protection came under the county's sheriff. Persistent problems in enforcement occurred as indicated in a 1924 article in the Examiner. "Aroused by increasing lawlessness, citizens of Englewood have volunteered to act as police until official protection is provided." Later, in the 1930's, Englewood, Maywood, and Fairland Heights hired "Slim" Palmer to patrol the area. Operating under county zoning regulations, the community had no planning authority or power to impose zoning or building codes. In 1924 Stanley Fike led an uphill battle to secure zoning regulations for the area. Sewer problems were not corrected until the 1930's when the county received W.P.A. funding.

Growth of the Englewood Commercial Area:

Despite lack of adequate services which promoted development, the commercial area prospered throughout the 1920's and the depression years. Up to 1927 the south side of the business district was homes with the exception of the Maywood Community Methodist Episcopal Church at Northern and Winner. Leo Walker, Englewood businessman, grew up in a home where the medical building now stands. To the west stood the home of Harry Ralston, brother-in-law of Frank James. Investors tore down the old McCullum house on the northwest corner of Winner and Harvard to make room for the commercial center's first brick business building, the Citizens Security Bank of Englewood. The McQuay house on the northeast corner of Winner and Appleton made way for florist, dry cleaning and optical shops. Across Appleton Street, Miller and Son's Used Cars displaced the greenhouses where florist Leo Walker trained. Most of the buildings erected in the late 1920's and early 1930's on the north side, including the old C.W. Kemmerer building, are still there, covered by later "face lifts."

Homer Vaughn, a grocer from 1921-1927 who entered into the construction business, built the first business building on the south side of the business district at the corner of Harvard and Winner just east of a parcel owned by Annie Ralston James, wife of Frank James. The building included a drugstore on the corner, a grocery store next to it and offices on the second floor. Other businesses in operation by 1927 were a filling station, G.E. Locke's Grocery, Englewood Hardware, Englewood Pharmacy, Englewood Hall, Englewood Plumbing, Dyer's Electric Shop, K-V Certified Cleaners, W.H. Mandevill Dry Goods, the Englewood Garage and Taxi Service, the Englewood Market, Brown's Drugstore, the Englewood Post Office, Englewood Realty, Zion's Realty, and the offices of Dr. E.H. Anderson and Dr. Charles W. Aikins, dentists, Dr. George Polk and Dr. J.N. Hill, physicians, and Dr. A.E. Heptonstall, osteopath.

In 1928, Vaughn, who is often referred to as the "Father of Englewood," organized and served as the first president of the Englewood Booster Club which grew into the Englewood Business Association. He remembered the group's most difficult challenge was organizing opposition to the Ralph Sewer Law, which would have placed prohibitive assessments on businesses and residents and stifled development in the area. The group ultimately appealed and defeated the measure.

During the 1930's Englewood became known as part of the "Inter-city District" which included Maywood and Fairmount. Expansion of the business district brought other physical changes as well as new businesses. A landscaped parkway replaced the streetcar tracks.

Growth promoted cooperative efforts. The need for emergency fire protection prompted Charles Ware, an Englewood insurance and real estate man since 1928, to form a special Kiwanis committee which raised $13,000 in 1944-1945. On August 30, 1945 the business owners and merchants formed the Englewood Business Association. Names associated with the organization at this time included Leo Walker, Earl McHenry, V.A. Julian and Alf Churchill. V.A. Julian, the first secretary-treasurer, remembered the association's initial achievements were securing a branch of the Independence Post Office which opened August 1, 1946, and a utility station where utility bills could be paid. In the late 1940's, the association converted the parkway running through the business district into a parking plaza and added street lights, improvements which stimulated more growth.

Annexation:
On May 12, 1948, the City of Independence annexed the Englewood area, doubling Independence's population. The post-WWII building boom and suburban expansion benefited Englewood; the trend to decentralize away from the Independence Square brought diversity to the business district.

Earl McHenry's Appliance Center, which opened in 1948 in what is now the west section of the Ben Franklin Store, reflected a shift from neighborhood services to a larger clientele. In 1952, McHenry's moved down the block to enlarged quarters. The large, new Englewood Theatre competed with the Granada and Plaza theatres on the Independence Square. In 1955 work began on a three-story medical building with twenty-five office suites designed specifically for doctors and dentists. 

Joining in Englewood's 1950's building boom were, among others, V.A. Julian, Jr., lawyer, Dr. S.F. Cockerell, pediatrician, Dr. E. Caster, and the Englewood 5-10 & 25 Cent Store. In the 1960's, Leo Walker razed several greenhouses on the northeast corner of Winner and Appleton to make space for development of Walker Center. The modern, L-shaped plan with a side parking lot created 7,400 square feet of commercial space which housed Walker's Flower Shop, Petey Childers Prescriptions, Johnnie's Englewood Cafe, a beauty salon and law offices.

Throughout the era of large shopping malls, Englewood's continuing economic vitality was due to an active merchant association, access to public transportation and a stable residential area. While one neighbor lamented the lack of a grocery store, sixty businesses catered to the most basic needs and supplied specialty items as well. One could have his or her shoes repaired, get a haircut, visit the doctor, dentist or optician, purchase flowers, baked goods, hardware, insurance, appliances, sundries, craft items, paint, stamps, pick up the cleaning and prescriptions, eat out, go to the movies, pay utilities and do the laundry.

Despite the closing of the Englewood Theatre in the late 1970's, entertainment was still available. Within a few years, one could enjoy live performances by Jerry Lee Lewis, Boxcar Willie, Conway Twitty, Charlie Pride, Kitty Wells and Loretta Lynn at Tuffy Williams' K.C. Opry.

Englewood Plaza Today:  *This area is being revised, your patience is appreciated.

Perhaps Englewood's most important distinction is not that it was one of the area's "first" shopping centers, but the fact that it has remained an active business center throughout the Great Depression, World War II, and the era of large shopping malls.

Despite changing lifestyles and demographics, it has continued to maintain basic services and meet new consumer demands, providing both the continuity and diversity that assures the future success of one of the area's oldest business districts.