Now KC’s government hub, area once home to Turkish baths and birth of a drugstore empire
Inside Look is a Star series that takes our readers behind the scenes of some of the most well-known and not-so-well-known places and events in Kansas City. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email our journalists at InsideLook@kcstar.com.
Today, the eastern edge of downtown Kansas City is dominated by a cluster of civic buildings — City Hall, the Jackson County Courthouse, police headquarters and the U.S. Courthouse. But those didn’t begin appearing until the 1930s.
This postcard view (published a decade or more earlier) reveals a much different 12th Street looking west from its intersection with McGee Street.
One with a mix of retail, lodging and several theaters — most notably the Pantages, which was among the city’s largest. Ironically, it appears the card’s illustrator misspelled it on the huge sign that hung outside.
The eight-story Hotel Mercer on the southeast corner of 12th and McGee also housed Turkish baths and a millinery shop on the ground floor. Many years later, the Kansas City Public Library would sit on the site.
But it’s sign on the Argyle Building across the street to the north that bears close inspection.
That’s where Ike Katz shifted from selling cigars to pharmaceuticals. Katz Drugs entered the market during World War One, using the phrase “Katz Pays the Tax” in response to a wartime excise tax. It was a smart ploy, and it wasn’t long before that cool Katz logo was showing up in locations all over town.
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Looking for more Kansas City history?
Another early Katz Drugstore was located in the nearby Boley Building
The Empress Theater was just around the corner from 12th & McGee
How the Downtown Loop slowly throttled downtown businesses
