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Make history new

cyrus hotel drawing

Named for City of Topeka founder, Cyrus K. Holliday, the Cyrus Hotel and Holliday Public House spans across the former storefronts of 912-920 Kansas Avenue.

Courtesy of Cyrus Hotel

Courtesy of Cyrus Hotel

It's part of the South Kansas Avenue Commercial Historic District, so certain parts of the properties must be preserved.

Edie Smith, director of marketing and membership at Downtown Topeka, Inc., says the developer plans to maintain some of that historical character.

With a wealth of local history resources available to me in the Topeka Room on the library's second floor, I was able to locate a few snapshots in history of the commercial properties once housed in 912-920 Kansas Avenue.

How I dug up the history of businesses that thrived in the 900 block of Kansas Avenue in the 1920s

Within the cozy capsule of the Topeka Room, furnished with historically significant antiques and art, I located the library's collection of city directories. I searched by street name in the 1920s, when most storefronts on Kansas Avenue were brimming with life and commerce.

Courtesy of the Cyrus Hotel

Courtesy of the Cyrus Hotel

 

900 block of Kansas Avenue circa 1930-1939 | Courtesy of KansasMemory.org, Kansas State Historical Society

900 block of Kansas Avenue circa 1930-1939 | Courtesy of KansasMemory.org, Kansas State Historical Society

In 1926, early motorheads and tinkerers would have felt right at home in the buildings of 912, 916 and 918 Kansas Avenue. They housed the Sunflower Battery & Motor Company, the J.E. Ward Garage and Shrake Electric Co., respectively.

By 1929, the properties had changed hands. Montgomery Ward would occupy 912 for years to come, and 916 was Bill's Barbecue Restaurant.

By 1933, however, the directory included far fewer businesses on Kansas Avenue, a result of the Great Depression is my assumption. For the buildings at the future site of the Cyrus Hotel, life went on. Montgomery Ward chugged through the hard times remarkably well, even managing to turn a profit before the end of the thirties. Its "green awning" retail store at 912 Kansas Avenue was one of 531 that opened across the nation between 1921 and 1929, after the company went from mail-order catalog sales to a retail store model.

Kansas Avenue as seen in the Topeka Room's Sanborn Maps, last updated in 1945

Kansas Avenue as seen in the Topeka Room's
Sanborn Maps, last updated in 1945

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In the thirties, you could get your hair cut by Lester L. Thieroff at 916 1/2 Kansas Ave or buy a pigskin for your football team from the H.B. Howard Athletic Supply.

Courtesy of nfl.com

Courtesy of nfl.com

While wading into the history of those buildings in the comfort of the quiet Topeka Room, I couldn't help but wonder if the future guests in the Cyrus's 79 rooms would be able to sense that history, the lives played out, the late hours spent over bookkeeping in the financially perilous thirties, women in long gloves trying on hats in Montgomery Ward, drivers in Model T's honking out a robust "Ah-oo-gah"as they pulled into the mechanic's, the locals jawing about the latest squabbles between legislators while getting a shave and a haircut for two bits (quarters).

Ford car 1920

everlasting-car.blogspot.com

Women's fashion in the 1939 Montgomery Ward catalogue.

Women's fashion in the 1930s Montgomery Ward catalogue.
Courtesy flic.kr/p/8MsVac

The Cyrus Hotel wasn't the only topic that engaged me while I spent some time doing research. While looking up locations on the National Historic Register in Shawnee County, I discovered that my rental in Holliday Park is on the register, and was once occupied by a married couple named Hubert and Maie Carpenter in the 1920s. After Hubert's death, Maie took in boarders, probably leading to the eventual conversion of the house into two single floor units in the 1930s.

My block in Holliday Park still has the same houses, artfully preserved. I was curious about why my house had been converted into a two-flat so long ago.

My block in Holliday Park still has the same houses,
artfully preserved. I was curious about why my
house had been converted into a two-flat so long ago.

That's the beauty of spending time in the Topeka Room. You'll discover more than you bargained for. And your life could become richer in the process.

How you can satiate your own curiosity about your history or property

Look up any property, person or moment in history with the help of our expert research librarians.

Donna Rae Pearson

Donna Rae Pearson shows a city directory to
members of the Topeka History Geeks

On a chilly day in December, members of the extremely popular Facebook group, the Topeka History Geeks, came to the Topeka Room to explore its vertical files, directories, maps, yearbooks and plethora of other resources available to those Topekans with an insatiable thirst for local history.

 

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