The Kansas City Museum is located in Kansas City,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, United States. In 1910, the site was built by lumber baron and civic leader Robert A. Long as his private family estate, with the four-story

historic History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

Beaux-Arts style Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorpor ...

mansion named Corinthian Hall. In 1940, the site was donated by Long's heirs to become a public

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

. Seventy-five years later, it began extensive renovation.

Background

The estate consists of Corinthian Hall, named for its Corinthian columns, and its outbuildings. Built for Robert A. Long and his family, this private residence was completed in 1910 for an estimated (equivalent to $ in ). It was designed by local architect Henry F. Hoit. The four-story mansion features , with of livable space, was the family residence until R.A. Long's death in 1934. Daughters Sally and Loula removed decorative items and architectural features from Corinthian Hall for installation in their own homes, and held a two-day auction in late 1934 to sell the remainder of the items. Then, the mansion sat empty and was for sale. Very little remained of the original furniture, and some rooms lost all architectural fabric. These changes lessened the value of the building as a "

historic house A historic house generally meets several criteria before being listed by an official body as "historic." Generally the building is at least a certain age, depending on the rules for the individual list. A second factor is that the building be in ...

". Still, the Longs' daughters donated the estate to the Kansas City Museum Association in 1939. In 1940, it was opened to the public as a history and science museum. Facing financial difficulties, the museum was deeded to the City of Kansas City, Missouri in 1948. In the 1950s, the museum focused on display and interpretation of natural history. Early in 1951, taxidermy specimen displays expanded into the basement, along with mineralogical exhibits of fossils, rocks, and minerals. During its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, the museum housed hundreds of stuffed animals in lifelike dioramas and offered various presentations and classes in

taxidermy Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proc ...

. It featured a 50-seat planetarium, and a 1910-style

soda fountain A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated soft drinks, called fountain drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. The device combines flavored syrup or syrup concentra ...

serving

phosphates In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

and

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

. By the 1970s, museum staff realized that the building was too small for its potential in local history and science and began to split it. Museum staff and civic leaders considered the newly empty

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

as a potential site for a new science museum. From 2005 to December 2013, the museum was managed by Union Station Kansas City, Inc., which maintains

. In January 2008, the primary buildings of the museum—the residence and carriage house—closed for major renovations of roofing, masonry, art glass, energy efficient windows, elevator, and HVAC. Since May 2014, the City of Kansas City and Missouri's Parks and Recreation Department operate and manage the Kansas City Museum.

References

External links

*
Corinthian Hall at the R. A. Long Historical Society website
{{authority control Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri Beaux-Arts architecture in Missouri Houses completed in 1909 City museums in the United States Planetaria in the United States Museums in Kansas City, Missouri History museums in Missouri Natural history museums in Missouri Biographical museums in Missouri National Register of Historic Places in Kansas City, Missouri Gilded Age mansions