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Around the turn of the 20th Century, it was not uncommon for local photo-postcard companies to go door-to-door in Kansas City’s more affluent neighborhoods.
Postcard companies would take a photo of the home and sell copies of the photo in postcard form to the homeowner as a “keepsake” the family could send to out-of-town friends announcing their new real estate acquisition.
This real photo postcard was published by the Fred B. Schell Company, Central Building, Kansas City and Union Square in New York City.
The card shows “The Roberts Home” located in Mellier Place, Kansas City, Mo.
Mellier Place is a sub-division located in what is now considered the Volker Neighborhood, bounded by 37th Street on the north, 39th Street to the south, Wyoming on the east and State Line on the west.
The addition was platted by Walter Mellier, listed as a vice president of the Mellier-Duncan Real Estate Company.
Mellier, a St. Louis born cattle dealer turned real estate developer, came to Kansas City in 1879.
Mellier platted numerous additions in the midtown area, thus capitalizing on Kansas City’s great land boom of the early 20th Century.
Some of the more notable residents of the Mellier Place area were William Volker, whose Roselawn Estate was located in the 3700 block of Bell; former City Assessor George Lee; and A. Wallace Love, a noted building contractor and operator of the Phoenix Drug Store.
No information was given about the Roberts family who owned this home. The card bears a date of May, 1901.
Michael Bushnell
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