J.C. Nichols's home in Sunset Hill, located on West 55th Street between Ward Parkway and State Line Road

The Country Club District is the name of a group of neighborhoods comprising an upscale, historic residential district in Kansas City, Missouri, and Johnson County, Kansas, USA, developed by noted real estate developer J.C. Nichols. The district was developed in stages between 1906 and 1950. Today it is home to approximately 60,000 people and includes such well-known Kansas City neighborhoods as Sunset Hill and Brookside in Missouri and Mission Hills, Fairway, and the oldest parts of Prairie Village in Kansas, making it the largest planned community in the United States. Ward Parkway, a wide, manicured boulevard, traverses the district running south from the Country Club Plaza, the first suburban shopping center in the United States. Image File history File linksMetadata Sunsethillhouse3. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Sunsethillhouse3. ... Jesse Clyde Nichols (August 23, 1880 - February 16, 1950), better known as J. C. Nichols, was a prominent developer of commercial and residential real estate in Kansas City. ... Ward Parkway, located in Kansas City, Missouri near the Kansas-Missouri state line, is one of the most famous parkways in the United States. ... State Line Road is a major north/south street in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area that runs along the Kansas/Missouri border. ... Neighbourhood is also a term in topology. ... Nickname: Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... Official language(s) English Capital Jefferson City Largest city Kansas City Largest metro area St Louis[1] Area  Ranked 21st  - Total 69,709 sq mi (180,693 km²)  - Width 240 miles (385 km)  - Length 300 miles (480 km)  - % water 1. ... Johnson County (standard abbreviation: JO) is a county located in the state of Kansas. ... Official language(s) English[2] Capital Topeka Largest city Wichita Area  Ranked 15th  - Total 82,277 sq mi (213,096 km²)  - Width 211 miles (340 km)  - Length 417 miles (645 km)  - % water 0. ... Jesse Clyde Nichols (August 23, 1880 - February 16, 1950), better known as J. C. Nichols, was a prominent developer of commercial and residential real estate in Kansas City. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mission Hills is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, (USA). ... Fairway is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. ... Prairie Village is a city in Johnson County, Kansas and is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. ... A New town or planned community or planned city is a city, town, or community that was designed from scratch, and grew up more or less following the plan. ... Ward Parkway, located in Kansas City, Missouri near the Kansas-Missouri state line, is one of the most famous parkways in the United States. ... Kansas Citys Country Club Plaza The Country Club Plaza (often referred to as the Plaza) is an upscale shopping district in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It was the first shopping center in the world designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile. ...

History

A home located at the southwest corner of West 55th Street and Ward Parkway

J.C. Nichols began developing the district 1906 with a neighborhood he called Bismarck Place. As his development expanded to include Countryside, he began to develop a master plan which he dubbed the "Country Club District" because of its proximity to what was then the Kansas City Country Club, now Loose Park. Eventually, Nichols acquired a tract of land crossing from Missouri into Kansas, which now includes the neighborhoods of Sunset Hill and Mission Hills. Nichols also built the nearby Country Club Plaza, which was the first shopping center in the United States designed to accommodate patrons arriving by automobile. Today, the Country Club District is the largest, contiguous planned community built by a single developer in the United States. Image File history File linksMetadata Sunsethillhouse2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Sunsethillhouse2. ... Ward Parkway, located in Kansas City, Missouri near the Kansas-Missouri state line, is one of the most famous parkways in the United States. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Kansas Citys Country Club Plaza The Country Club Plaza (often referred to as the Plaza) is an upscale shopping district in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It was the first shopping center in the world designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile. ... For the traditional meaning of the word mall, see mall. ... Karl Benzs Velo model (1894) - entered into the first automobile race An automobile or motor (usually shortened to just car) is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. ... A New town or planned community or planned city is a city, town, or community that was designed from scratch, and grew up more or less following the plan. ...

Controversial restrictive covenants

A home at the intersection of Ward Parkway and West 55th Street, designed by Louis Curtiss after plans by Frank Lloyd Wright

Nichols used restrictive covenants, or "deed restrictions", in each property in the district to control the use of the land. Most of the covenants pertain to the uses to which the property owner could put to his land, or contain setback and free space requirements. Image File history File linksMetadata Sunsethillhouse1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Sunsethillhouse1. ... Ward Parkway, located in Kansas City, Missouri near the Kansas-Missouri state line, is one of the most famous parkways in the United States. ... Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was one of the worlds most prominent and influential architects. ... A restrictive covenant is a legal promise made in a deed by the buyer of real estate to do or not to do something, and not to sell it without exacting the same promise from the next buyer. ... An English deed written on fine parchment or vellum with seal tag dated 1638. ...

A controversial aspect of the covenants in the district, however, was and remains the use of racial restrictions that prohibit ownership and occupation by African Americans, Jews, and other ethnic minorities. The 1948 Supreme Court decision Shelley v. Kraemer made such restrictions unenforceable, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited the future incorporation of such covenants. Nevertheless, restrictions continue to appear in the deeds to Country Club District properties. The restrictions require that a notice to amend be filed five years in advance of the deed restrictions renewal date, usually every twenty to twenty-five years, and that all homeowners must agree to the change with a notarized vote. This practical difficulty is the reason racial restrictions continue to appear throughout the district. At the same time, this practical difficulty has protected the other covenants from change, and thus has helped to preserve the essential character of the neighborhood and to resist encroachment by commercial developers. African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or black Americans, are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan and West Africa. ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... Holding The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits a state from enforcing restrictive covenants which would prohibit a person from owning or occupying property on the basis of race or color. ... http://www. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

While Nichols utilized the restrictive covenant model to bar non-whites from his neighborhoods, Nichols was not the first in Kansas City to engage in the practice. In fact, such practice had been in full force in Kansas City since the time Nichols was born in the 1880s. Moreover, although Nichols's covenants were discriminatory, Kansas City historian William S. Worley noted that Nichols eventually was among the first of his contemporaries to abandon the practice of barring sale to Jews. // Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ...

Today the Country Club District is still predominantly white and protestant, and still is home to some of Kansas City's richest residents.

School desegregation and white flight

On the Missouri side, many residents formerly sent their children to Southwest High School, a public school in the Kansas City School District. At its peak in the mid-1960s, Southwest High School had over 2400 students, 20% of whose parents were Southwest alumni. After the end of racial segregation in schools under Brown v. Board of Education, however, Kansas City, Missouri, experienced considerable "white flight." By the 1997-1998 school year, Southwest's final year in existence, enrollment had dropped to below 500. Today, nearly all residents of the Missouri side of the Country Club District send their children to private schools, including the Pembroke Hill School, The Barstow School, Rockhurst High School, and Notre Dame de Sion. The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... The Rex Theatre for Colored People Racial segregation is characterized by separation of different races in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home[1]. Segregation... Holding Segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, because separate facilities are inherently unequal. ... White flight is a term for the demographic trend where working- and middle-class white people move away from increasingly racially mixed inner-city neighborhoods to predominantly white suburbs and exurbs. ... Year 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... The Pembroke Hill School or Pembroke Hill is a nonsectarian, coeducational, private preparatory school located on two campuses near the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. ... The Barstow School (commonly known simply as Barstow), founded in 1884[1] by Miss Mary Louise Barstow, is a nonsectarian, coeducational, private preparatory school located on State Line Road in suburban southern Kansas City, Missouri, USA. The Barstow School enrolls approximately 650 students in preschool through 12th grade. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

Homes and residents

Tom Pendergast's home along Ward Parkway

The district includes many homes by or after plans of many noted architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright, McKim, Mead, and White, Louis Curtiss, and Mary Rockwell Hook. Several homes are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and/or its subset, the National Register of Historic Homes. Image File history File linksMetadata Pendergasthouse. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Pendergasthouse. ... Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1873 – January 26, 1945) controlled Kansas City as a political boss. ... An architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect is a person who is involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction. ... Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was one of the worlds most prominent and influential architects. ... From left to right: Will Mead, Charles McKim and Stan White McKim, Mead, and White was the premier architectural firm in the eastern United States at the turn of the twentieth century. ... A typical plaque showing entry on the National Register of Historic Places. ...

Notable residents of the Country Club District have included:

• Mayor Harold Roe Bartle
• Mayor Richard L. Berkley
• H&R Block founder Richard Bloch
• Senator Kit Bond
• author Evan S. Connell
• Hallmark Cards chairman Donald J. Hall, Sr.
• Hallmark Cards founder Joyce Hall
• composer John Kander
• businessman R. Crosby Kemper Jr.
• pharmaceutical magnate Ewing Kauffman and his wife Muriel Kauffman
• UCLA and KU chancellor Franklin David Murphy
• political boss Tom Pendergast
• Ambassador Charles H. Price II
• columnist Calvin Trillin
• professional golfer Tom Watson
• Mayor Charles Wheeler.

Harold Roe Bennett Sturdevant Bartle (June 25, 1901 — May 9, 1974) was a lawyer, banker, cattleman, politician, college president and renowned public speaker. ... Richard L. Berkley (born Richard L. Berkowitz, June 29, 1931) served as mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, USA, from 1979 to 1991. ... H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) is a tax preparation and personal finance management company founded by brothers Henry W. and Richard Bloch in Kansas City in 1955 (they changed the name of the company to prevent mispronunciation). ... Richard, and brother Henry, started H&R Block in 1955. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Politics Portal      The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral United States Congress, the... Christopher Samuel Kit Bond (born March 6, 1939 in St. ... Evan S. Connell (b. ... This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... Donald J. Hall Sr. ... Joyce Clyde Hall (1891-1982), American businessman, was the founder of Hallmark Cards. ... John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri) is the American composer of a series of musical theatre successes as part of the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb. ... R. Crosby Kemper, Jr. ... Ewing Marion Kauffman (September 21, 1916-August 1, 1993) was an American pharmaceutical magnate, philanthropist, and Major League Baseball owner. ... Muriel McBrien Kauffman (August 28, 1916-March 17, 1995) was wife of Ewing Kauffman and the two were the founding owners of the Kansas City Royals baseball team. ... Binomial name Ucla xenogrammus Holleman, 1993 The largemouth triplefin, Ucla xenogrammus, is a fish of the family Tripterygiidae and only member of the genus Ucla, found in the Pacific Ocean from Viet Nam, the Philippines, Palau and the Caroline Islands to Papua New Guinea, Australia (including Christmas Island), and the... The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU) is an institution of higher learning in Lawrence, Kansas. ... Dr. Franklin David Murphy (1916 - June 16, 1994) was an American administrator, educator, and medical doctor. ... Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1873 – January 26, 1945) controlled Kansas City as a political boss. ... Charles H. Price II (b. ... Calvin Trillin (born Kansas City, Missouri, December 5, 1935) is an American journalist, humorist, and novelist. ... // Thomas Sturges Watson (born September 4, 1949 in Kansas City, Missouri) is an golfer on the Champions Tour, who still occasionally competes in PGA Tour events. ... Charles B. Wheeler, Jr. ...

Trivia

For two weeks in October of 1977, renowned artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped Loose Park's 4.5 km of footpaths in 12,500 square meters of saffron-yellow coloured shiny nylon fabric; the project cost $130,000. Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Christo and Jeanne-Claude. ...

In 1970, members of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) were charged with pipe bombing the home of J.C. Nichols, among other places in Kansas City. Three SDS members were convicted. See United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Western Division (Kansas City), Criminal Case Files (1879- 1972), Case 23498. SDS logo The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was, historically, a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the countrys New Left. ... The U.S. Courts for the Western District of Missouri encompass 66 counties in the western half of Missouri. ...

Further reading

• Evan S. Connell, Mrs. Bridge (North Point Press, 1959) and Mr. Bridge (North Point Press, 1969).
  • Novels set in the Country Club District between the 1920s to the 1940s, with frequent references to the district and the Country Club Plaza.
• Evan McKenzie, Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government (Yale University Press, 1996).
• Robert Pearson and Brad Pearson, The J. C. Nichols Chronicle: The Authorized Story of the Man and His Company, 1880–1994 (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas).
• Sherry Lamb Shirmer, A City Divided: The Racial Landscape of Kansas City, 1900-1960.
• William S. Worley, J. C. Nichols and the Shaping of Kansas City: Innovation in Planned Residential Communities (Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1990).

Evan S. Connell (b. ...

See also

• Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
  • Merchant-Ivory film based on Evan S. Connell's novels, filmed largely on location
• Quality Hill
  • Kansas City neighborhood which was the predecessor to the Country Club District
• List of neighborhoods in Kansas City, Missouri

Mr. ... Merchant Ivory Productions is a film company founded by director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, best known for its period costume dramas. ... Quality Hill is an historic and highly upscale registered neighborhood in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It is located on the west side of downtown, between Broadway and I-35 to the east and west, and between 7th Street and 14th Street to the north and south. ... . ...

External links

• University of Missouri-Kansas City: "Ward Parkway: a Grand American Avenue"
  • Original Map of the Country Club District -- produced by the J.C. Nichols Company early on in the development
  • Planning for Permanence -- the speeches of J.C. Nichols
• Homes Associations of the Country Club District Home Page
  • Umbrella organization to all homes associations in the Country Club District, covering 22,000 homes
• Community Builder: The Life & Legacy of J.C. Nichols
  • A documentary about J.C. Nichols produced by PBS in 2006
• O High School, My High School!
  • Essay by Gerald Shapiro appearing in the Colorado Review abouth Southwest High School, the Country Club District, and racial segregation in Kansas City, Missouri