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Kansas City Garment District Museum

New York. Paris. Milan. Hong Kong. Kansas City?

Yes, our fair city was once an epicenter of clothing manufacturing, and at its peak, the Kansas City garment business was well known throughout the fashion world.

Walking around the Garment District is like being transported back to another time. Giant red brick buildings with arches, ornate architectural elements, and old lampposts greet you. The historic Garment District covers roughly the area between 6th and 11th streets and Washington and Wyandotte streets in downtown Kansas City and it marks the area where our textile and garment industry flourished, beginning in 1898.

In the 1900s, the buildings in the district formed a wholesale distribution center for clothing, dry goods, millinery, and shoes. As demand for locally produced clothing items soared post-World War I, garment manufacturing replaced wholesale distribution. This thriving commercial hub was a major employer in the area (It was the second largest employer of any industry in Kansas City), especially for women and newly-arrived immigrants. And Kansas City was once among the top three biggest manufacturers of clothing products, alongside New York and Chicago. The District's products were sold in every state, and it was said that in its heyday, one in seven women in the U.S. owned a garment made in Kansas City. The 1960s marked the beginning of the decline and subsequent ending of the District's manufacturing era, due to such challenges as discount stores, cheaper labor overseas, and labor union issues.

Fortunately, the 1990s ushered in a new era of redevelopment for the District, adding more business, restaurants, and residential lofts.

The museum

The Garment District Museum, located at 8th and Broadway, in the old Burnham Hanna Munger Dry Goods Company building built in 1901, is the perfect little place to explore the history of the District. The museum is filled with old photographs of the District's buildings, interiors of the garment factories, and its denizens, as well as artifacts like old Singer sewing machines, buttons, thread, patterns, and more. There are all sorts of memorabilia from a bygone era, attached to key names and labels of the times, like Nelly Don and Fashionbilt. On one of the walls is a large map of the District circa 1915, showing at least 20 different clothing-related businesses that once called the neighborhood home. Vintage clothing items (Including Valentino-designed TWA stewardess uniforms made in K.C.) such as coats, dresses, hats, and shoes adorn mannequins, and the display changes each season.

When you look at these items, you notice that many of them are classic designs that you could wear today. And a close-up look reveals a high level of craftsmanship. These products were made well, with much attention to detail. As my friendly and informative guide astutely noted, "Good design is timeless."

The museum was founded in 2002 through the pivotal support of Harvey Fried and Ann Brownfield. Fried is the owner of Fried-Siegel Co., the Garment District wholesaler company his father started in 1930. Brownfield was a designer/manufacturer who also worked in the District, and today she conducts expert tours of the museum and neighboring buildings. The museum is located on the first floor in what is today one of DST Systems' office buildings, in a space donated to the museum by DST.

Across the street from the museum is a lovely park (where an underground trolley line ran in the early 1900s) that features a large sculpture of a sewing needle through a button, commemorating the District's history.

Nearby historic gems

Other Kansas City historic districts like Quality Hill and the Library/Financial district border the area. The smell of the Folger's plant wafts in the air, and it's sad to think that the plant will soon close. These buildings, some dating back to the 1870s, now house such tenants as a Subway sandwich shop, law offices, lofts, restaurants and cafes. In some ways it feels anachronistic, in other ways, it is great just to see the premises occupied and these buildings livened. (There have been a lot of wonderful revitalization efforts going on in the city, but quite a few of the city's architectural marvels still sit empty, languishing.)

The Savoy Hotel and Grill, established in 1903, still serves cold seafood and a warm room. Many of the buildings in the district are adorned with National Register of Historic Places plaques that note the original tenants, and the date the building was constructed along with its architect.

Today's Phoenix Jazz Club was once the Phoenix Hotel and a speakeasy style saloon at the turn of the century. Across the street from the Phoenix Hotel was the Manufacturers Exchange Building, which according to the photos at the museum, looked to be a grand old building, but is now a parking lot. Some of the old garment buildings were felled by asbestos, others by "progress" and modern buildings.

Stepping back in time in the Garment District serves as a reminder of the importance of historical preservation and the lessons it provides us as to who we once were as a city, a community, and as individuals, as well as who we are today and who we can be in the future.

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