Editor’s Note: Past|Present is a new video series from The Star that travels through time to show how scenes Kansas City depicted in vintage postcards look today. Have a postcard you’d like to share with our team? Tell us about it here.
It’s hard to believe that someone could build the country’s largest lumber business while based in Kansas City, but near the turn of the 20th Century, R.A. Long did just that To mark his success, in 1910 Long built a 4-story Beaux Arts-style home on Gladstone Boulevard looking out over the East Bottoms.
He called the mansion Corinthian Hall, in honor of the distinctive Corinthian columns out front.
The outbuildings that surrounded the massive main structure cannot be seen in the view from a 1920s-era postcard, but the estate grew to include a carriage, a gatehouse and conservatory.
Long’s influence is felt across the country as well, particularly in Longview, Washington, which took its name from the Long-Bell Company he operated there.
Longview Mansion in Lee’s Summit was the family’s summer home, and served as a showplace for equestrian activities.
After Long’s death in 1934, his daughters donated Corinthian Hall to the Kansas City Museum Association, which opened it to the public in 1940. Since then, generations of local school kids have toured the museum which housed an eclectic assortment of somewhat suspect historical displays.
Today, the exterior looks remarkably like it did almost a hundred years ago. Inside, a recent renovation has brought much of the building’s faded glory back to life, and refined the museum’s emphasis on local history, the city’s cultural heritage and sense of civic pride..
Looking for more Kansas City history?
But wait, there’s even more here about Loula Long Combs and Longview Farm
R.A. Long was one of the prime movers behind the Liberty Memorial
Scenic and historic Cliff Drive is just down the hill from Corinthian Hall
How Cemetery Day at Mt. St. Mary’s speaks to the city’s past