The History of our Public Schools
Wyandotte County, Kansas

 

 

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SHOP

Location:  313 N. 10th Street
Contact:  (913) 627-3850
Director:  Ira Lourie

The Shop Office has been in the same building for years.  The picture at the right was taken in the early 1900s.  The wording on the building says "Storeroom and Shop". (Note the car in the lower right of the picture, at the back of the shop.)

In the 1914 and 1921 architectural drawings of the storeroom and shop, there is a drawing for a Shop Residence (including bedrooms, sitting room, living room, dining room, kitchen, etc).  It is the building at the lower left in this first picture.  Whether a shop foreman or janitor lived there is unknown at this time.In later years the Storeroom has been in a separate location in a separate building with the Central Food Kitchen, now called Nutritional Services - North 18 th Street ). 

The Maintenance Shop in 2006 is comprised of the following crafts/crews and supervision:
Director of Physical Properties, Coordinator of Buildings and Grounds, Asbestos Inspector/Management Planner, Asbestos Crew, Auto Mechanics, Brickmason and Brickmason Helper, Carpenters, Electricians, General Mechanic, Labor Crew, Grounds Crew, Painters and Glazier, Pipe Fitters, Plumbers, Roofer, Sheet Metal, Sheet Metal/Roofer Helper; Truck Drivers, and Preventive Maintenance Technician.

Architectural Analysis - Public School Buildings (New/Additions) by Rose and Peterson - 1890-1927

Architectural Blue Prints and/or Plot Plan of Building

SUMMARY

1908:  The Board of Education shop expanded its activities and acquired horses and a wagon.

Prior to 1908, part of the storeroom was in the Carnegie Library, the shop in the old Dr. George Gray Building at Central (7th & Ann Ave), and other buildings.  "Building Superintendent Biscomb moved the storeroom from the library to the shop before the beginning of the term in 1908."  Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools History by Nellie McGuinn, 1966.

1911:  "Somebody offered $25 for the shop building at Central (the old Gray building), but it was decided to raze it instead."  Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools History by Nellie McGuinn, 1966.

One of the last projects W. W. Rose designed for the Kansas City, Kansas Board of Education during this juncture in his career was the Shop Building (1909), a fairly straightforward design with a Sullivanesque detail at the main entrance.  (It should be noted that even where the overall structure of a building's ornament is Sullivanesque, as here or in the later Louisa M. Alcott Elementary School, its design by Rose employs forms that remain Classical to derivation.)  

Shop Wages - 1925   (.pdf)

1938: A new addition for the shop was started when land was acquired and houses removed for an extension to the building on the southeast. 

In 2004, Phase IV of the KCKs Public Schools $120 million bond issue includes: Banneker, Central, McKinley and Quindaro Elementary Schools, Harmon High School and the Area Technical School (ATS). Central and McKinley will reopen to student enrollment in the Fall of 2004. The other buildings, which previously had air conditioning, will receive upgrades to their heating and cooling systems, as well as minimal energy updates on windows and exteriors. The last buildings to receive upgrades include the Main Branch Library, Central Office and the Shop.

DIRECTORS

Lewis Brotherson, Buildings and Grounds Superintendent, 1924-1939.
Rothwell Todd, Shop Superintendent, October 1939 – December 1962.
Fred Meyn, Director of Physical Properties, November 1962 – July 1986.
Kelly Lowman, Director of Physical Properties, July 1986 – July 2002.
Ira Lourie, current Director of Physical Properties, effective August 28, 2002.

A thank you to Linda Carr, Secretary to the Director, for information on the Shop.

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Contact the History Webmaster - Patricia Adams

History Site created on December 02, 2002
Page last updated: 02-Jan-2012