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Believing in the civic value of higher education, William Volker and other Kansas City philanthropists began the effort to create Kansas City University in the 1920s. The university opened in the midst of the Great Depression with a small library in the college's only building. Thanks to a donation from Volker, the first university library opened in 1946 under the direction of head librarian Marjorie Copeland.The fifth library director, Dr. Kenneth Labudde, was a historian who believed that a library was the core of a university. Under his leadership which began in 1950, the university worked to increase library holdings and also raised funds to build this modern structure with the support of area philanthropists.Recognizing the need for more space for students, the library built a robotic retrieval system between 2008 and 2010 that freed up space for study areas. The system allows for compact storage of books and other materials and has been affectionately given the nickname "Roobot" by UMKC students as a nod to the university's mascot. The addition of the Miller Nichols Learning Center was completed in 2013, resulting in the creation of a new entrance and the addition of classrooms and a lecture hall.The most recent renovation was completed in 2021 thanks to the Sunderland Foundation and William T. Kemper Foundation, facilitating the relocation of the Kansas City Research Center from Newcomb Hall to the third floor and the creation of the Digital Collaboration Studio.

The exterior of the library's automated retrieval system displays a map of Kansas City that is illuminated at night. 

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Dedicated in 1970 as a three-story structure known as the General Library, UMKC's Miller Nichols Library has grown thanks to the support of area philanthropists to include more individual and collaborative spaces for students, resources for faculty, and several unique archival collections that serve scholars and the Kansas City community. The library was named in honor of Miller Nichols in 1991 following a $1.5 million donation that supported the completion of the fourth floor.

Miller Nichols Library, University of Missouri-Kansas City

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Starting with 260 students in 1933, the University of Kansas City grew from local philanthropist William Volker's belief that a great city deserved a great university. With stops at buildings and other campus landmarks, this walking tour explores the history of Kansas City's urban university through the lives of students, faculty, and local supporters over the past ninety years.

UMKC's Fine Arts building was constructed in 1942. and designed by Charles A. Smith, the same local architect who designed Haag Hall. Both buildings were built in what is known as a "modified collegiate gothic" architectural style. The Fine Arts building specifically was originally built to house the Chemistry and Biology Departments. Today, it houses the Department of Art and Art History, to which the Studio Art program also belongs, as well as the department's art gallery.In the 1970s, the University of Kansas City constructed several new buildings and expanded existing programs to accommodate the growing student body. Some of the new buildings constructed were the Spencer Chemistry and Biological Sciences buildings, which were built in 1972 and gave the Chemistry and Biology departments expanded classroom, office, and laboratory space. Once these departments had relocated to their new buildings, the Department of Fine Arts, which had been at 4825 Troost Avenue since 1967, moved to this building, and it was renamed the Fine Arts building.

The Fine Arts building joined the University of Kansas City campus with its completion in 1942, housing the Chemistry and Biology departments. For the first three decades, the structure was known Chemistry-Biology Building. The building was renamed in 1972 in the midst of a wave of expansion. With the departments of chemistry and biology moving to the Spencer Chemistry Building and Biological Science Building, the Department of Fine Arts moved to this building which was renamed accordingly.

Fine Arts Building, UMKC

After finishing university and working for several years in retail, Edward Swinney began his career by working t a bank in Fayette, Missouri. He eventually moved to the First National Bank in Kansas City, Missouri, where he started off as a cashier but quickly rose through the ranks, being elected president in 1890. From there, he built a solid name for himself within the financial community and became a valued citizen of Kansas City. In the late 1930s, after urging from William Volker, Swinney donated $300,000 to the construction of a gymnasium at the University of Kansas City, as well as another $500,000 to form an endowment for maintenance. The new building, finished in September of 1941, was named Swinney Gymnasium in honor of the donor who made the building's existence possible. The construction of the gymnasium was celebrated by KCU. Swinney intended to remain anonymous after making his generous donation, but word of his identity was leaked by the Kansas City Star. Once his name was released, 400 KCU students gathered at the First National Bank downtown one afternoon to say thanks in person. In response to shouts of "We want Mr. Swinney!" he went outside and accepted their thanks before rushing back inside to his office.A student named Betty Jo Fram also published a sarcastic article in the school newspaper backhandedly celebrating the gymnasium's addition to the school and ribbing on its facilities, how it was divided by gender, and other teachers and students. It was snarkily titled "What! No Swimming Pool?":<blockquote>Don't look now, but that pile of rocks on the northwest corner of the campus with a tile roof on it, is a far cry from that oversized sweatbox or "Little Bohemia" as Johnson and his thespian group of high grade morons call it. ... The new strcture boasts a ceiling that doesn't meet the floor, TWO basket ball goals, a basket ball court without a boxing ring at one end, and what is best of all, no gas masks are needed. No longer must that parfum au KCU gymnasium follow us around after a session of recreation. ... No longer do the boys' hand ball and boxing classes take the girls' minds off their game. Darn it!</blockquote><blockquote>... 'Tis rumored there are boxing, wrestling, and weigh lifting rooms on the boys' side, but I can't confirm it definitely. The only thing I can verify is that there IS a glass gallery on the third floor to watch court games, "as any fool can plainly see."</blockquote>Plans to modernize Swinney Gymnasium began in the early 1970s, but work on improvements did not begin until the 1980s. The expanded building, now called Swinney Recreation Center, featured "four full-size basketball courts and a suspended indoor track, as well as locker rooms, a fitness center, classrooms, and office space." Also added was the pool with its retractable roof that students enjoy to this day.

The E.F. Swinney Gymnasium was dedicated in 1941. Two years earlier, with encouragement from William Volker, Edward F. Swinney, the president of Kansas City's First National Bank, made two major donations to the University of Kansas City: one of $300,000 to build the gymnasium and another of $500,000 to start an endowment to maintain it once it was built. In the 1980s, the building was expanded into the Swinney Recreation center in order to add modern equipment, more basketball courts, and a swimming pool.

Swinney Recreation Center

The University Playhouse at UMKC was a $300,000 project by Clarence R. Decker and his wife Mary Bell Decker. Who both decided a small theatre would be good for the University. The Playhouse was originally a large auditorium at Camp Crowder, but as the war ended it was bought by UMKC and completely redesigned.   The stage was larger than your normal “little theatre” being 98’ x 34’, allowing only 500 seats; the proscenium was 28’ x 18’; the stage was equipped with 28 sets of lines for drops, curtains, and borders; the switchboard and lighting facilities were of recent designs for the time period which were centrally controlled; the stage settings were shifted on “wagons”; the orchestra pit was able to be raised and lowered hydraulically; rooms for costumes, props, and moveable equipment was provided as well. In addition, there were offices and classrooms, a circle-in-the-round theatre, a furnished “Green Room”, and a ten panel painting loaned to the University by Thomas Hart Benton.  Owing to the building's initial design to serve the needs of a military installation, there was no room for a lobby. This led to the decision to create the decorative fireplace at the front of the building along with a patio to offer a space for people to gather before the show and during intermission. The patio was constructed of Arkansas stone and designed by Rick Fillmore to include a large fireplace. One of the masons who helped create the structure referred to the substantial edifice as “a fireplace to end all fireplaces.” The fireplace was designed so that smoke would curl upwards through two sculpted ceramic masks symbolizing Comedy and Tragedy.It first opened its doors to the public on December 6th, 1948, with a gala performance of Maxwell Anderson’s Elizabeth the Queen. Jane Cowl guest starred in along with Belvins Davis as the guest director. The small theatre became a bustle of action through the years with a tradition of bringing professional actors and directors to come work with the students. One of those actors was Vaugn Burkholder, an actress who had a brief career on Broadway. She adored the theatre and would visit frequently, known for her high heels clicking along the catwalk above the stage. But, on the night of October 23rd, 1957, after she was dropped off at the playhouse, she was greeted by the manager just before she collapsed. She died of a heart attack in the manager’s arms that night. Since then, there had been strange occurrences around the Playhouse. Which only aided in the demise of the building. After many years of disrepair and the ghost story, the University Playhouse met its end in 1978, the building being demolished and replaced by Olson Performing Arts Theatre which resides on Cherry Street road.

Now located between the Swinney Recreation Center and Miller Nichols Library, this campus landmark contain the remains of the University Playhouse. Constructed in 1948, this was the original main campus theatre at the University of Kansas City, a private institution of higher education created by civic leaders in 1933. The organization joined the University of Missouri system in 1963. The Playhouse the result of efforts led by university supporters and theatre connoisseurs Clarence R. and Mary Bell Decker. With support of campus leaders, the university purchased the building from the U.S. Army as war surplus. Prior to being moved to the campus and converted into a theater, the wooden structure previously served as a large auditorium at Camp Crowder in Neosho, Missouri. The building slowly fell into disrepair leading to the administration's decision to demolish the structure in 1978. Today, all that remains is a decorative patio of Arkansas stone, along with a once large fireplace that is now used as decoration for the two intricate ceramic masks representing Comedy and Tragedy. Given its location at between the central quad, library, and student centers, the beloved campus landmark continues to serve some of its original function as a place where students gather and hold social and community events.

UMKC Playhouse (1948-1978)

Walter S. Dickey migrated to Kansas City from Canada in 1885. A few years later, he started the W.S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company, which made ceramic pipes out of burnt clay. First, the business sold these pipes to farmers to drain their land with. However, as technology grew and developed, W.S. Dickey began selling to phone companies as early phone lines were put down. In addition, as more municipalities in the area developed their own sewage systems, the company began to sell to them, too, finding great success in doing so. In 1912, after his clay company proved successful, Dickey began construction on the Dickey Mansion at 51st and Rockhill Roads in Kansas City, Missouri. It took two years to complete.After other business ventures failed and his investments crashed, putting him millions of dollars in debt, Dickey died in 1931. Kansas City philanthropist William Volker purchased Dickey's mansion and promptly gave it as a gift to the future University of Kansas City. It was the university's first building when the school opened its doors in 1933. Voller also personally donated funds to support many of 260 students who constituted the first class at the new university.The former Dickey Mansion, now called Scofield Hall, was the only building until 1935 when the Science Building was completed thanks again to a donation from Volker. The ground floor of the former mansion was converted to hold offices and the school library. The second floor, which used to contain bedrooms, was converted into classroom space. The third-floor kitchen became a laboratory with supplies paid for in part by a $10,000 donation from nearby Menorah Hospital, which had opened its doors just a few years earlier.The building was later renamed to recognize the contributions of Clarence Scofield who was thrust into the presidency in 1961 following the abrupt resignations of Earl McGrath in 1956 and Richard Drake in 1961. Both of his predecessors had sought private donations to bridge the gap between tuition receipts and the university's expenses. After two years of trying the same approach with similar results, Scofield was convinced that the only path to financial stability was accepting a merger with the University of Missouri.Although the student body of the University of Kansas City was growing each year, tuition only covered sixty percent of operational costs. In addition, both the University of Missouri and the University of Central Missouri were working to create satellite campuses in Kansas City, and these state-subsidized schools offered lower tuition. Although he shared their desire to remain independent, Scofield worked to convince other university leaders that accepting a merger was the best path to preventing the eventual closure of the school.After a series of meetings that began in January of 1963, university leaders announced the merger on February 26, 1963. In the following months, the state legislature approved funds to support the incorporation and expansion of Kansas City's campus into the University of Missouri's system which included the conversion of Normandy County Junior College to the University of Missouri at St. Louis. Scofield led the transition of UKC to UMKC until the summer of 1965 when he reached the state's mandatory retirement age of 65.Carleton Forman Scofield earned a Ph.D. in psychology from Yale in 1928 and taught for many years at the University of Buffalo, Scofield left academia briefly during World War II and worked for the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency, to support of their efforts in the war in the Pacific. For the next fifteen years, Scofield alternated between teaching and federal service, researching topics like psychological warfare while interviewing refugees from the Soviet Union and accepting federal assignments throughout the Middle East and Southeast Asia. After his retirement from UMKC, Scofield worked to support public educational television in Kansas City.

Constructed from 1912 to 1914 for industrialist and local newspaper publisher Walter S. Dickey, this stately mansion became the first building of the University of Kansas City after philanthropist William Volker acquired the property and donated it to the new university in 1930. Volker was one of the strongest advocates for the new university, and with his help, classes started in the fall of 1933 despite the financial turmoil wrought by the Great Depression. The building was later renamed in honor of former chancellor Clarence Scofield who oversaw the transition from a private university to a member of the University of Missouri system. Dr. Scofield became the last president of the University of Kansas City in 1961, and following the successful merger, he retired as chancellor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1965.

Scofield Hall 

Ernest Newcomb was an integral figure in the founding of the University of Kansas City (now UMKC) and this building was named in his honor after his death. Despite his role as a "founding father" of the university, an early change of management caused his relationship with the school to become strained. Newcomb, who grew up in Neosho, Missouri, was president of Central College, an women's Methodist college in Lexington, Missouri. When that school closed, Newcomb came to Kansas City with plans to raise money and establish a new Methodist College. However, his plan for "Lincoln and Lee University" failed due to a lack of funding and inadequate church support.Newcomb then campaigned for the creation of a non-sectarian university and worked for several years to achieve this goal with the support of local philanthropist William Volker who purchased 40 acres of land. With additional funds from Volker and other supporters, The University of Kansas City opened in 1933 with Newcomb as managing executive and secretary of the Board of Trustees. Despite his central role in the formation of the college, Newcomb saw his position eliminated five years later. He moved on to other ventures and did not return to the university he helped to establish. Despite a period when Newcomb's role was not recognized, forty years after its completion, this building was renamed Newcomb Hall in the early 1980s to honor the founder a few years after his death in 1979.Newcomb Hall, originally known only as "the library," housed the university's collection of books and archives along with a small auditorium. Following the death of long-time collector Robert Snyder, Jr., William Volker purchased Snyder's collection of Americana which included more than 20,000 maps, manuscripts, and books. Today the Snyder Collection is kept by Labudde Special Collections in the Miller Nichols Library.

Referred to simply as "the library" for much of its early years, this was the University of Kansas City's third building and was renamed in 1984 to honor Ernest Newcomb, one of the key founders of the university and the school's executive secretary from 1928 to 1938. The building originally housed the library and a small auditorium and its completion in 1936 reflected the growth of the university and its student body. This library became home to the large Snyder Collection in 1937 after the collection's purchase by William Volker; the central figure in the establishment. The library's collection and the needs of the university outgrew the capacity of this building leading to the creation of Miller Nichols Library in the 1960s. In the decades that followed, the former library building housed classrooms and offices, the university's telephone switchboard, and the State Historical Society's Western Historical Manuscript Collection before its move to Miller Nichols Library.

Newcomb Hall

When the University of Kansas City opened its doors in 1933, there was only one building on the entire campus: Dickey Mansion, which was later renamed Scofield Hall. This significantly limited school capacity, forcing the university to stop admittance at 260 students since that was the number that could safely fit in their only building. In response to a growing student body, as well as increasing demand for science facilities, Kansas City philanthropist William Volker donated $100,000 for the construction of UMK's new Science Building in 1935. At first it housed the departments of Chemistry, Biology, Geology, Physics, and Home Economics, but over the next decade, the Chemistry, Biology, and Physics departments all moved to other new buildings.In 1940, a fountain was installed in front of the building as a gift of the school's second graduating class. Kansas City Art Institute instructor Walter Wallace Rosenbauer sculpted the three nude statues surrounding the fountain, which were called the Three Graces. In 1973 the fountain was removed, and the statues were put into storage. Today, the statues are considered lost - literally, as recent searches in storage were unable to find them. However, it is likely they are still in storage somewhere and were just overlooked since they are small and were wrapped up in padding.In 1999 the building was renamed to honor Professor of Sociology Ernest Manheim. Manheim, who was born in Budapest, studied sociology in Germany. After receiving his two PhDs there and spending a year at the University of Chicago, he came to the University of Kansas City in 1938, where he spent the remainder of his career. Becoming a renowned sociologist, Manheim was called upon during by the city government World War II to tackle issues coming from "fathers at war, mothers at work, and children on the streets." He also testified during the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education on behalf of the Brown family at the request of Hugh Speer, the dean of eduction at the university. Manheim was also a recognized composer and wrote an award-winning symphony in the early 1950s, which was performed by the Kansas City Philharmonic.When the building was renamed in his honor, Manheim was praised for being a "true Renaissance Man, well-recognized and respected in Sociology, but [also] a well-regarded historian, writer and composer,” according to Tonya Crawford, UMKC's former senior archives specialist. The University of Kansas held an international symposium when he had his 100th birthday in 2000. Manheim passed away in 2002.

Manheim Hall became the second building on the campus of the University of Kansas City when it was completed in 1935, just two years after the first courses were held in the former mansion known today as Scofield Hall. This building was also a gift from the university's leading founder, philanthropist William Volker, and met the needs of the rapidly-growing university by offering laboratory and classroom space. Initially called the Science Building, this structure became the home to KCU's departments of chemistry, biology, geology, physics, and home economics. In 1999, the Science Building was renamed Manheim Hall in honor of sociology professor Ernest Manheim.

Manheim Hall

The construction of Royall Hall, known originally as Haag Hall Annex, took place during a wave of additions and expansions to the University of Kansas City in the 1970s. As more and more students enrolled at the university, demand for more space and educational programs increased. This decision to construct this building followed the approval to create Spencer Chemistry and Biological Sciences Buildings. Similar to this structure, those campus buildings were built in 1972, and were followed by the new School of Education and School of Medicine buildings in 1973 and 1974, respectively.Dr. Norman Royall began his studies at John B. Stetson University in 1929, at just fifteen years old. After getting his Ph.D. in 1940, Royall went on to work for the University of Kansas City. Some of his works outside of teaching included publications in the field of integral-transform theory and publications in general education, including a college algebra text he worked on for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and two more advanced mathematics textbooks. Another notable work of his was a 1961 series of 49 films on mathematics, which Dr. Royall completed for the United States Armed Forces Institute for use by American military members stationed around the world. In a 1960s profile in the Kansas City Star, journalist Charles Hammer stated, "Since coming to the University of Kansas City in 1947, Dr. Royall has been one of the intellectually moving forces in Kansas City." In 1983, the Haag Hall Annex was renamed Royall Hall in Dr. Royall's honor.

Originally constructed as an addition to neighboring Haag Hall and known as the Haag Hall Annex in its early years, this UMKC building was completed in 1972 to provide much-needed classroom space. The building reflected changes to higher education with two large lecture halls, a feature the university had previously been lacking. In 1983, the building was renamed Royall Hall in honor of Norman Royall, a longtime professor of math and physics who earned a national reputation for his textbooks and educational films.

Royall Hall

A former neighbor to the University campus, Robert Flarsheim left his nearly $9 million estate to the school when he passed away in 1991. The new building was named Flarsheim Hall in his honor, as its construction may not have been possible without his donation. Flarsheim is also memorialized by a bust elsewhere on campus.This building, a $30 million newest addition to the University of Missouri - Kansas City, was completed and dedicated in 1999. became the new home to the Departments of Physics, Computer Science, Telecommunications, and Geosciences. It also housed the Richard L. Sutton Geosciences Museum until it was recently moved to the third floor of the Miller Nichols Library.

Flarsheim Hall was built in 1999 to be the new home of several of UMKC's science and technology departments. When it was built it was one of the largest buildings on UMKC's campus. The building was named in honor of Robert Flarsheim, who had left his estate, worth nearly $9 million, to the university when he passed away in 1991.

Flarsheim Hall

The exhibit incorporates skeletal parts and recreations of Pleistocene (Ice Age ) animals that were recovered from sand and gravel deposits of the major rivers and tributary streams of the area. The exhibit also includes fossils found in upland areas entombed in glacial sand and gravel deposits (outwash) and in wind-blown silt (loess). Pleistocene age elephants have been reported from over half of the 114 counties in Missouri and from numerous sites in Kansas. Voorhies (1990) estimates that no fewer than 10 mammoth skeletons lie buried in the average square mile of Nebraska landscape, an indication that large numbers of these huge proboscideans once roamed across the Central Mid-Continent.The exhibit includes information on a variety of species, including ground sloths which first appeared in South America and gradually migrated into North America via the land bridge connecting the two continents that rose about 3 million years ago during the Pliocene Epoch. The species was given the scientific name Megalonyx jeffersoni in honor of President Jefferson, an amateur paleontologists, and one of the first to study extinct ground sloths. Two years before he became president, Thomas Jefferson published a description of an assortment of fossil bones including claws that had been excavated from a cave in West Virginia. Jefferson believed the claws were those from a large meat-eating animal that he named Megalonyx or “Great Claw” and instructed Lewis and Clark on their epic journey to explore the western part of the continent to watch for such a beast.

This exhibit within UMKC's Flarsheim Hall shares the work of the late Dr. Richard J. Gentile, Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The exhibit debuted at the Box Gallery in downtown Kansas City and was moved to this location in October, 2022. The exhibit invites students, faculty, and guests to the university to explore and learn about this region during the Ice Age when herds of giant mammals lived in the area. Most of the species on display became extinct about 10,000 years ago. This exhibit compares skeletal remains of Ice Age mammals with their modern day relatives including the giant ground sloth, woolly mammoth, mastodon, saber-toothed cat, and the giant beaver. The first photo within this Clio entry, as well as the 360-degree image within the Google Streetview section of this Clio entry, show how the exhibit now appears on the UMKC campus. The rest of the photos depict the exhibit during its 2021 debut at the Box Gallery.

Exhibit: The Ice Age Mammals that Roamed Throughout the Greater Kansas City Area

Only four years after its 1933 founding, the University of Kansas City had grown from one building to a small campus with several new buildings and over eight hundred students. After the library was completed, the greatest demand was more classroom space and a cafeteria. Prior to the completion of this building, students ate in the attic of the Administrative Building which was becoming exceedingly cramped.The new Liberal Arts Building, as it was known until renamed for the anonymous donor who funded it, met the need for a cafeteria while also doubling KCU's classroom space. The building was located next to the school's original entrance on Rockhill Road and given its location across from Scofield, Manheim, and Newcomb, the new building formed the quad that continues to shape the center of the UMKC campus.Students, faculty, and the local media speculated about the identity of the anonymous donor. Given his support for the university and his propensity for making anonymous donations, many assumed William Volker was also the funder behind this building. Volker was quick to correct the record, but since he regularly denied involvement with his philanthropy, the man known as "Mr. Annonymous" was the presumed funder until 1951 when the will of another philanthropist, Lena Haag, revealed that she had shared her inheritance with the fledgling university when her father passed away. William Volker was still involved, as Lena Haag had come to him for advice about how she could honor her parents and then donated funds for the Liberal Arts Building along with $200,000 for scholarships. When all this was discovered, students requested the building be named after Lena Haad. Since then, it has been called Haag Hall. A memorial plaque with her and her parents' names on it was also installed in the building.

Known as the Liberal Arts Building for its first decade-and-a-half, this campus building doubled the University of Kansas City classroom space when it was completed in 1937. The new building gave the school its first cafeteria in addition to classrooms to accommodate the school's enrollment which had grown from 260 students in 1933 to more than 800 students. In 1951, the anonymous donor who funded the building was revealed to be local philanthropist Lena Haag. Once this was revealed, the building was named in her honor.

Haag Hall

Construction of this building was put on hold during World War II and the building was not completed until 1950 when served as the first home of the University of Kansas City's law school. The law school was also the university's first professional school, as the School of Medicine followed in later years. The building also held the law school's library of around 50,000 texts, as well as a mock courtroom. In response to the program's growth, the School of Law and its library moved to another building at 52nd and Oak Streets in 1979, where they both remain to this day.The building's current name honors Carolyn Benton Cockefair, an instructor in the Department of English who was highly regarded throughout the university and community. Working for the university throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Mrs. Cockefair made a reputation as a talented teacher and provocative lecturer. Through her work in the Great Books Program, which was founded by Dr. Royall, Mrs. Cockefair became a favorite of students in the continuing education program and gained a following of non-traditional students, most women between the ages of 35 and 55, who dubbed themselves "the Cockefair Ladies." Carolyn Cockefair was also recognized for her ability to bring fictional characters to life by comparing them to more contemporary subjects or asking thought-provoking questions about them:<blockquote>“Can an evil book do evil to a judicious mind? Can a fool become wiser with a good book? Is virtue of less value to society if it is untempted?” These questions and her controversial comments paved the way for the lively conversations that filled her classroom time.</blockquote>Mrs. Cockefair retired from teaching in 1964 at the age of 80, following a career that had spanned six decades. She chose that year for her retirement because it corresponded with the 400th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare. Cockefair passed away just a few years later, in 1969. Eleven years later, largely through the influence of former students and community members who appreciated her effort to reach audiences beyond the traditional college student, his building was named in her honor. Cockefair's legacy also continues with the Cockefair Chair, a combination of lecture series and continuing education courses. Today Cockefair Hall houses the English and History Departments along with several classrooms.

Now home to the Department of English and the Department of History at UMKC, this campus building was completed in 1950 and served as the original home of the University of Kansas City Law School. Construction on the building began in the early 1940s, an effort that was placed on pause following the outbreak of World War II. In 1979, UMKC's School of Law moved to a larger modern facility, and this building was converted to classroom and office space for the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1980, the building was renamed Cockefair Hall in honor of Carolyn Benton Cockefair, an assistant professor of English in the 1940s and 1950s

Cockefair Hall

Originally from Maine, Herbert Hall got his first job working in a grain elevator in Chapman, Kansas. He later went on to co-found the Hall-Robinson Grain Company in 1887. Throughout his fifty-year career, he became one of the leading grain exporters in the United States and amassed more wealth for himself than most Kansans could dream of. He and Linda Southall, who were from Virginia, married in Kansas City in 1885. The two had no children and used much of their considerable wealth to support local philanthropy. Linda donated significant amounts to local hospitals to help women and children.Linda died in 1938, establishing in her will an endowment for a specialized free library. Upon his death in 1941, Mr. Hall, who was by that point rumored to be the second richest man in Kansas City, left millions to Linda's library fund, instructing it to be named for her. The library opened in 1946 and moved to a new building in the same location in 1964.Today, the Linda Hall Library is internationally recognized for its science, engineering, and technology collection, serving researchers around the world. Despite being located on UMKC grounds, the library is not a part of the university; instead, it is independently funded and operated. Also on the library grounds is a small urban arboretum, which contains many varieties of trees and native plants.Upon entering the library, visitors are greeted by a malachite tazza that was a gift to the American Ambassador to Russia from Czar Nicholas II in 1910. Helen Spencer discovered that this rare work had entered the private market and purchased it as a gift for Linda Hall Library. Additional treasures include a mid-19th century grandfather's clock that was designed by James Kenmuir, a hand-woven rug produced for a palace in China, and busts of famous scientists.

Established in 1946 through a six-million-dollar gift from Herbert and Linda Hall, this independent science research library includes an arboretum. Both the grounds and the library are open to the public. One of the largest science libraries in the United States, the collection began with the acquisition of the library of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1946. The availability and decision to acquire this collection shaped the direction of the library, which now also holds a sizable collection from the Franklin Institute and the Engineering Societies Library. The library holds over two million items, including a quarter million patents and records of leading scientific organizations. The collection is the largest of any private STEM-centered library in North America that is open to the public and is known for its collections related to the history of science and technology.

Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, and Technology

Sculptor Eugene Daub was commissioned to create this work to honor University of Missouri - Kansas City supporters Henry and Marion Bloch who provided substantial funding in support of the creation of the Bloch School of Management and other initiatives of that train students Kansa City area students in business and other related academic disciplines. The sculpture was dedicated in 2013 as part of the celebration of the opening of the Henry W. Bloch Executive Hall which is located near this sculpture. Eugene Daub was commissioned to create the statue honoring Rosa Parks in the U.S. Capitol as well as the Lewis and Clark statue in Kansas City.

Henry and Marion Bloch Sculpture

Uriah Spray Epperson was born in 1861 in Indianapolis and moved with his family to Kansas City when he was six years old. He started working for the Fowler Meat Packing Plant when he was 19 years old and stayed with the company for 22 years, eventually becoming the plant’s general manager. Epperson started two of his own businesses: Epperson Land Investment Company and U.S. Epperson Underwriting Company, which sold fire insurance. Mary Weaver was born in New York in 1855 to a prominent family. She married Uriah in 1899.Both of the Eppersons had a love of music and the arts. In the late 1890s, Uriah created a band of over 100 local businessmen, known as Epperson’s Megaphone Minstrels, to raise funds for local parks. The band played ragtime and cakewalk music, while performers in Blackface danced and did skits. [2] Epperson also helped organize the annual Priests of Pallas Festival, which included a parade, exhibits, concerts, and a masked ball. He served for a time as president of the predecessor of the Chamber of Commerce and spearheaded the construction of the Convention Hall. [3] The Eppersons were great philanthropists as well, donating to Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kansas City Art Institute, and the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, among others. [1]The Eppersons chose Horace LaPierre to design their ostentatious mansion. LaPierre specialized in designing grand residences around Kansas City. Construction began in 1919, and it was completed in 1923. The four-story home is built in a Collegiate-Gothic style, with a mix of Renaissance, Tudor, and Gothic elements, and is meant to emanate a large English university or country estate. [4] It takes up 24,180 square feet and has 56 rooms. It had a swimming pool, billiard room, organ loft, living room with a performance stage, and outdoor deck large enough for an orchestra. The inside features ornately carved oak fireplaces, stair bannisters, and wall panels. [3] The ceilings are also decorated and have crown moldings, and there are leaded glass windows throughout. The home cost a total of $450,000 to build, or about $6.75 million adjusted for inflation in 2019. The Eppersons named their home Hawthorn Hall, but it has been known locally as the Epperson House for decades.Uriah died in 1927, just four years after the home was completed. Mary continued to live in the home until her death in 1939. Over 600 people attended her funeral, which was held in the home. [3] As the Eppersons had no children, they left their estate to Uriah’s business partner, J. J. Lynn. Lynn attempted to use the home as business offices for the Epperson Underwriting Company, but was denied commercial use of the property. In 1942, he donated the house to what would become the University of Missouri-Kansas City. It was used as a residence hall for aviation cadets being trained during World War II. After the war, the university used the home for classrooms, office space, and storage. [3]The home is the setting of numerous stories of paranormal activity and investigations over the years. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, and the home, with its many staircases and recessed floors, could not easily comply with the new law. It has been vacant since 2010 and in a state of disrepair for years. A fire in 2006 caused water damage to some of the woodwork. [3,4] Due to the size of the building, renovation costs to comply with the law would be exorbitant, around $8-14 million. The university spends approximately $60,000 a year just to maintain the building. In late 2018, the university chancellor organized a task force to determine how to raise funds to preserve the home. [5]

This historic Kansas City home was completed in 1923 and the home of Uriah and Mary Epperson, local business owners and philanthropists. The couple shared a love of music and the arts and donated considerable sums to charitable institutions around Kansas City. The Collegiate-Gothic mansion has 56 rooms and cost $450,000 at the time it was built. The home has belonged to the University of Missouri-Kansas City since 1942, although it has been underutilized for over a decade due to accessibility requirements. Plans are underway to find funds to restore the mansion and find a new use for the property. 

Epperson House

In 1911, prominent Kansas City doctor Herbert G. Tureman and his wife, philanthropist Marie Powers Tureman, built a luxurious mansion along Oak Street in what is now part of the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) campus. The 38-room, Italianate house was designed by architect John McKenie and took five years to construct. After Dr. Tureman passed away in 1926, his wife Marie moved out of the home and leased it out to famed fashion designer and garment factory owner Nell Donnelly. The mansion and its occupant became sensationalized on December 16, 1931, when Donnelly and her chauffer, George Blair, were kidnapped on the driveway. The pair were taken at gunpoint to Bonner Springs and held at ransom for $75,000 until they were rescued two days later. Marie Tureman, who remained owner of the house, passed away in 1966. In her will, she left the property to UMKC. For over a decade, the university utilized the house as an event space.The idea for a museum developed in the late 1970s thanks to the efforts of childhood friends and avid collectors Mary Harris Francis and Barbara Marshall. Francis collected antique toys as a hobby, with a particular focus on dolls and dollhouses. Marshall, who worked in the art department of the Hallmark Company, commissioned miniature scenes and furniture from professional artists all over the world. Marshall’s collection of miniatures remains the largest known in the world. In 1979, the pair founded a non-profit foundation with the goal of combining their collections in a public museum. They made an arrangement with UMKC to house their exhibits in the Tureman Mansion, and in 1982 it officially opened as the Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City. It started out with 7,500 square-feet of space, but the addition of new facilities outside the mansion in 1989 and 2004 grew the size to 33,000 square feet.In 2014, the museum underwent a massive, $8 million expansion and renovation project. Displays were updated and rearranged, audiovisual technology was incorporated into some exhibits, a new climate control system was installed, and toys from the mid-twentieth century to the present were added to the collection. When the institution reopened in August 2015, it rebranded itself as the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures. The first floor was given an art gallery design to display the miniatures collection, and also contains event spaces. The second floor houses the toy exhibits and spaces for rotating displays.Today, the museum contains a growing collection of over 86,000 artifacts. The bulk of these are vintage toys, dating as far back as the Victorian era. The toy exhibits illustrate the cultural and technological contexts from which the artifacts came. The miniatures collection contains over 20,000 items crafted by master artists. Many are 1:12 scale recreations of furniture, machines, toys, rooms, and buildings. The museum claims to have the world’s largest collection of miniatures, and one of the largest public collections of vintage toys.

The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures opened in 1982 and offers visitors the chance to explore the world's largest collection of fine-scale miniatures, dolls and dollhouses, antique toys, and offers dozens of exhibits related to the history of toys. The museum is housed in the historic 1911 Tureman Mansion and included a collection that has grown to over 86,000 artifacts. The museum began when lifelong friends Mary Harris Francis and Barbara Marshall decided to donate their collections to start the museum. Francis collected old toys as a hobby, while Marshall commissioned handcrafted miniatures from professional artists worldwide. In 2015, the museum reopened after an 18-month renovation that saw the addition of new interactive exhibits and an expanded collection of artifacts. Since that time, the museum's first floor has been dedicated to fine-scale miniatures while the second floor offers exhibits of toys from the past two centuries.

History of UMKC: University of Missouri - Kansas City Walking Tour

Miller Nichols Library, University of Missouri-Kansas City

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information