Moving 2014

It was interesting for me to live in this historical building. When I live in a city I love to find out the history of that town. North Kansas City has a rich history and so does the Sear's Building which is now the Northland Lofts. We lived on the 6th floor and our 7 large windows faced east. We witnessed some spectacular sun rises and weather situations from our lofty view. The building showed some wear and tear due to it's age. In "Bridging the Century The Story of North Kansas City" The Author Gus Leimkuhler writes, "Foundations of a City  In 1912 the first major plant, The Sears Roebuck Building, was erected at 715 Armour Rd. Other than the flour mills, the nine-story structure was the tallest building in NKC, and it still dominates the skyline today." He also writes, " Originally the Sears Building was a storage and catalog warehouse for the national retail company, and it served that function for 12 years. But it had other duties too."
"In 1918 US Army recruits were quartered there while they underwent training in the Rumely Building." The Rumely Building was just to the east of the Sears Bldg. on Armour Road. 

"Sears moved its operation across the river after World War I, and another mail-order business, Bellas-Hess, moved in, utilizing the building as a clearinghouse, a warehouse and a manufacturing facility." as per Gus.

 National Bella-Hess

(former National Cloak and Suit Company)

After Sears left:

"Meanwhile, around 1910, a company dating back to the 1800's, called National Cloak & Suit, (which legend says was based out of New York City's Greenwich Village), changed its name to National Bellas-Hess, and went into a period of prosperity, achieving sales of $40 million by 1928.   Bellas-Hess acquired the Sears building in North Kansas City around 1924-1925." I found this info. on the following site

http://www.examiner.com/article/bellas-hess-catalog-retailer-used-sears-warehouse-longer-than-sears-did

 "Bridging the Century The Story of North Kansas City" The Author Gus Leimkuhler further writes, "Several businesses shared the Sears Building at any one thime. In 1926, it was occupied by bag manufacturer (Percy Kent Bag Co. Inc.) and used as storage by both Corn Products Inc. and Hooven & Allison Cordage Company." The photo above was in Gus's book also.

I read somewhere that a huge Antique Store was housed in the Sears Bldg. just before the building was converted into loft apartments in about 1996.

So this is some of the history of The Sears Building and our former residence. We lived there only a year but it was an interesting year indeed.

We are so excited and surprised that we are able to start buying the 1973 split entry house in the Wilson Acres Subdivision at the southwest end of Excelsior Springs, Missouri. The renovation is an ongoing process. We are making headway.

The front of our Fine Street house.

When we were moving in we had to fight off stickery bushes at the entry way. They were the first things to go. We then moved reddish lava rock from the garden bed and Jess tilled the soil. Jess then pulled out the two bushes and removed the bars from the basement window. We then bought tulips and planted them. We still have the other garden area at the other side of the step. We have more bushes to move out along with the lava rock and removing the bars from another basement window. Then more tilling and planting. It will look so cool.