The Kansas City Club has officially closed its doors and is putting its building on the market. Over the last century the club has had notable members, such as: Harry S. Truman, Dwight D Eisenhower, Tom Pendergast, Kemper Family, Ewig Kauffman, and Robert A. Long.
If only those walls could talk, I can only imagine the stories shared, jokes told, and business deals that were done inside that club. Especially during the Pendergast era.
“Over the past decade, several members and your elected board of directors have dedicated countless hours and very often personal funds to propping up the club,” the letter said. “We currently have a growing and aging accounts payable. In addition, we are responsible for increasing employee pension obligations as well as a bank note and two personal loans by members. Despite months and years of creative problem solving, loans and financial gifts, our cash flow situation has become untenable.”
How can a club filled with over a century of aristocrats file for bankruptcy? Well the four-story clubhouse contained a dining room, a pub, a library, a cigar stand, full-service athletic facilities, and banquet and meeting facilities including a lounge, a ballroom, and private conference rooms. Two “inner clubs” have their own private lounge and bar spaces for their own members. The athletic facilities include cardio, weight, and strength training equipment, a trainer, a masseuse, hot tubs, steam rooms, saunas, a racquetball court, and two squash courts
I’m taking bets on what they convert the building into… Smart money is on apartments or condos..
Heres some more notable past members of The Kansas City Club.
- Edward H. Allen, 10th Mayor of Kansas City (1867–68)[4]
- Victor B. Bell, lumber magnate[4]
- Richard L. Berkley, 50th Mayor of Kansas City (1979–91)[4]
- Alden J. Blethen, newspaper publisher[4]
- Pasco Bowman, judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (1983-2003)[4]
- Omar Bradley, senior U.S. Army field commander in North Africa and Europe during World War II[4]
- Thomas B. Bullene, owner of the Emery, Bird, Thayer Dry Goods Company, 22nd Mayor of Kansas City (1882–83)[4]
- Kersey Coates, early Kansas City hotel magnate[4]
- Harry Darby, U.S. Senator from Kansas (1949–50)[4]
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States (1953–61)[4]
- John B. Gage, 45th Mayor of Kansas City (1940–46)[4]
- Ewing Kauffman, pharmaceutical magnate and owner of the Kansas City Royals[4]
- Charles E. Kearney, early railroad magnate[4]
- R. Crosby Kemper, banker and philanthropist[4]
- R. Crosby Kemper Jr., banker and philanthropist[4]
- Gardiner Lathrop, attorney[4]
- Robert A. Long, lumber magnate[11]
- August Meyer, mining magnate[4]
- Ralph Leroy Nafziger, founder of Hostess Brands[12]
- Tom Pendergast, Democratic Party political boss[4]
- Charles H. Price II, businessman, U.S. Ambassador to Belgium (1981–83), U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom (1983–89)[4]
- James A. Reed, U.S. Senator from Missouri (1911–29), 32nd Mayor of Kansas City (1900–04)[13]
- Jack Steadman, Kansas City Chiefs general manager (1966–76), president (1976–89), chairman (1989-2005), and vice-chairman (2005–07)[4]
- Leander J. Talbott, realtor and politician, 24th Mayor of Kansas City (1884–85)[4]
- Joseph P. Teasdale, 48th Governor of Missouri (1977–81)[4]
- Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (1945–53), 34th Vice President of the United States (1945), U.S. Senator from Missouri (1935–45)[4]
- Robert T. Van Horn, lawyer, U.S. Representative from Missouri (1865–71), 6th Mayor of Kansas City (1861–62, 1863–65)[4]
- William Warner, lawyer, U.S. Senator from Missouri (1905–11), U.S. Representative from Missouri (1885–89), 13th Mayor of Kansas City (1871–72)[4]
- William L. Webster, 39th Missouri Attorney General (1985–93)
- Charles Evans Whittaker, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1957–62)[4]
- David Wysong, Kansas politician[4]
A Mind 