Kansas City Museum
The Kansas City Museum sits inside the Corinthian
Hall in Kansas City, Missouri, which is also known as the R. A. Long
House sitting on three acres that includes the hall and various
outbuildings, the majority of which have been renovated to house
different displays that pertain to the local history and natural
sciences, a 1910 style soda fountain that serves ice cream and
phosphates and a 50 seat planetarium. The gorgeous structure that is
resides in was so named for its magnificent six Corinthian columns,
and called the Palace on Gladstone Boulevard that had been
constructed in 1908 by Long for an estimated million dollars and
designed by Henry Hoit. The magnificent beaux arts style 25,000
square foot mansion had been the residence of Long and his family
until his death in 1934, and then, the estate would be donated to
the KC Museum Association in 1939 by his daughters and then opened
to the public in 1940. When it was still a residence, the mansion
had a myriad of rooms and closets that were filled with elaborate
tapestries, antique furniture and paintings, but still not ready to
contain a museum, so a lot of remodeling would be necessary to
convert the smaller rooms into bigger ones. The changes have
definitely changed the value of the historic house, but in its
heyday during the 1950s and 1960s it had been a place of pioneering
natural sciences, with hundreds of stuffed animals that were
showcased in lifelike dioramas and different presentations and
classes in taxidermy. During the years, though, this outstanding
collection would be handed off to the bigger museums that were
better suited to take care of the exhibits. In 1948, the museum
would be deeded to the city, and in 2005, it would merge with the
Union Station Kansas City Inc., the same organization that manages
the Union Station.
|