By Michael Bushnell
Northeast News
August 26, 2015

Published by the Elite Postcard Company, this color postcard shows Central High School that once stood at the corner of 11th and Locust Streets downtown.

Originally opened in September 1867 in rented space in the old Starke building that once stood on the same site, classes were held in basements or unoccupied storerooms until property for a new school building could be purchased. During the 1870s, the Board of Education enlisted Kansas City Architect W. F. Hackney to design a school building to sit on the site of the Starke building (Hackney later went on to design the “new” Public Library building at Ninth and Locust Streets with partner Charles A. Smith).

In 1883, the building was built and opened to students. In 1903, an addition was built in order to accommodate the growing student population. The facility was used for a little over 30 years as a school facility, graduating some nationally noted celebrities such as Northeast native and baseball great Casey Stengel and acclaimed film star William Powell, star of the “Thin Man” series of films with Myrna Loy.

Kansas City’s population was growing rapidly and the residential center of life was no longer downtown. In 1915, a new Central High School was opened at the corner of Linwood Boulevard and Indiana Avenue. The old Central High became home to the Kansas City Polytechnic Institute and Junior College. Also known as the Kansas City Teachers College, it was an outgrowth of the teacher-training department founded in 1911 at Central High School. It became a four-year college awarding diplomas in 1931. The expanded training grew gradually from the original one-year course. By 1912, the school offered two-year training and in 1927, three years were required for a certificate.

Classes were held at the facility until 1942. It was razed in 1953 and used as a parking lot until the early 1970s. Kansas City’s Municipal Courts building now stands on the original Central site.