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In 1950, motorists in the Kansas City area used four bridges to cross the Missouri River – the ASB (Armour Swift & Burlington), the Hannibal Bridge, the Fairfax Bridge and the Liberty Bend Bridge (M-291) far to the east.
Roughly 75 percent of that traffic was handled by the aging ASB bridge that served as the principal span between the bustling downtown area, the fledgling northern suburbs and the city of North Kansas City.
Following the tragic death in 1956 of a patient in an ambulance bound for a hospital south of the river, a small group of civic-minded Northland residents formed the basis of what was to later become North Kansas City Hospital.
Northland civic groups combined with area churches and put on a two-day chili dinner that raised $1,000.05 for the planning and construction of a hospital that served the growing northland area of Kansas City.
That chili dinner was the fundraising foundation that allowed the rest of the funds to be raised for the hospital.
Opened in March of 1958 as an 80-bed facility just north of M-210 Highway and Walker Road, North Kansas City Hospital has grown to become one of Kansas City’s premier health care facilities.
This week’s postcard shows the hospital in the early 1960s, given the vintage automobile parked in the circle drive.
This card was published by James Tetrick specifically for North Kansas City Hospital.
Michael Bushnell
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