About Volker

 

Volker is located on the west side of Midtown Kansas City, Missouri on both sides of the West 39th Street business district.  The neighborhood is just west of Westport, a mile northwest of the Country Club Plaza, and three miles south of Downtown.

 

Prominent sites in and around Volker include the Restaurant Row on 39th, Roanoke Park, William Volker’s Roselawn estate, several churches, KU Medical Center, The Loretto building, and Westport-Roanoke Community Center. There is a diversity of architecture representing the entire history of the city – bungalows, shirtwaists, colonnade apartment buildings, and several more modern styles sprinkled throughout.

 

Our boundaries are 31st Street on the north and Westport Road/43rd Street on the south. The western boundary is State Line Road. On the east, it’s Roanoke Road on the north side of 39th and Southwest Trafficway south of 39th.

 

What is the Neighborhood Like?

The Volker neighborhood is an eclectic mix of housing, people, and lifestyles. Housing styles range from turn-of-the-century “Kansas City style” shirtwaist and four-square styles, to modest single-family bungalows and multi-story, brick colonnade apartment buildings of the 1920’s, to ranch style, infill housing of the 1950’s.

 

Two properties in the neighborhood are listed in both the National Register of Historic Places and the Kansas City Register of Historic Places. The Loretto Academy, an example of Georgian Revival architecture sitting upon 6.5 acres, was built in 1902 as a Catholic girl’s school and operated by the Sisters of Loretto. The Sisters were noted for their progressive educational instruction and religious tolerances, and the school was one of the first in the City to admit Black students. The residence of William Volker, “Roselawn” is the other distinguished historic structure in the neighborhood.

 

Vibrant small businesses line 39th Street West and Westport Road on the neighborhood’s southern border. With its numerous restaurants, music, clothing and book stores so close by, walkability is one of the most attractive features of Volker.