Michael Batiste: The 30's

Scene in Front of the Railroad Depot Moments after the Kansas City Massacre

30'sIm interested in the 30's era of Union Station. The thing that stands out about this year is Kansas City Massacre Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd. On the morning of June 17, 1933, a mass murder committed in front of Union Railway Station in Kansas City, Missouri shocked the American public into a new consciousness of the serious crime problems in the nation. The killings that took the lives of four peace officers and their prisoner are now known as the “Kansas City Massacre.”The Kansas City Massacre involved the attempt by Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd, Vernon Miller and Adam Richetti to free their friend, Frank Nash, a federal prisoner. At the time, Nash was in the custody of several law enforcement officers who were returning him to the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, from which he had escaped on October 19, 1930.

Activities
The Guthries CONTINUE

to enjoy visits to restored Union Station for myriad activities suited to adventurers of all ages. A day at Union Station might start with a stop at the information booth, where history brochures and maps are available, and breakfast at the Harvey House Diner to take time to plan the visit. The diner has reopened in its original location in the southeast corner.

Breakfast clientele on a Sunday morning might include informally dressed tourists and locals in their Sunday-best dining after early services. Harvey House Diner is one of three restaurants in the Grand Hall. Varying in operation times and prices, you’ll enjoy the fare at Pierpont’s and The Bistro at Union Station. The latter provides the best place for people-watching as seating juts over the Grand Hall.

People-watching at Union Station comes highly recommended by Tammy Gay, a Washington, D.C. federal employee who attends events at the station three or four times a year. Favorably comparing D.C.’s Union Station to ours, Tammy notes how much she enjoys the juxtaposition of history and vitality. “When you walk in, you realize just how much there is to see,” Tammy says.

Another frequent visitor, Lorrie Gordon, banker and lifelong Kansas City resident, says that “seeing the grandeur and history is worth a visit, even to the bathrooms” at the end of Sprint Festival Plaza. Lorrie also recommends visiting at Christmas when local service organizations donate and decorate trees, which are auctioned for charity, and seeing the traveling exhibits, which are exceptional.

The Post Office at Union Station is a Gordon-family favorite “because you can purchase unusual stamps as gifts for the kids in the family, unlike at the branch facilities.” A blue cow resting on her pedestal beside the Post Office entrance greets you as you enter.

Music

Bennie Moten. Photo courtesy LaBudde Special Collections, UMKC Library

On September 23, 1923, the Bennie Moten Orchestra made its first recording consisting of eight songs. By strict musical standards, the songs themselves were unrefined and not much removed from existing blues music. But the Bennie Moten Orchestra would soon

build upon its earliest recordings to develop a distinct Kansas City style of jazz that later dominated the jazz scene in the late 1930s and 1940s.

From the mid-1920s through the DEPRESSION

years of the 1930s, Kansas City's nightlife thrived under the protection of political boss Tom Pendergast and gangster Johnny Lazia. They ensured that the police would ignore the illegal alcohol, gambling, and prostitution that permeated the night scene. Kansas City's golden age of jazz thrived in this environment. By the 1940s, the Kansas City style of jazz had spread throughout America, playing in important role in shaping modern music.

Sadly, Bennie Moten did not live to see his broader impact on jazz. Instead, he died at Wheatley-Provident Hospital during what should have been a routine surgery to remove his tonsils in 1935. Most of the musicians in the Bennie Moten Orchestra followed a talented pianist named William "Count" Basie, who himself had been a part of Moten's band. Count Basie and his bands went on to eclipse Bennie Moten's fame. In 1937, Basie moved to Chicago and then New York, bringing Kansas City jazz to national prominence in the process.