User:Katyosterwald/Kansas City Workhouse

The Kansas City Workhouse, also known as the Vine St. Workhouse, located in Kansas City, Missouri, has a distinctive castle-like limestone structure, among the first of such styles in Kansas City. It is at 2001 Vine St, just south of the 18th and Vine Jazz District. A local historical landmark as of October 2008, it was designed by city architects A. Wallace Love and James Oliver Hogg, and completed in 1897. It housed both male and female short-term prisoners, and had a small school for truant boys. It was used as a workhouse from 1897 to 1911 until the removal of the male prisoners to the new Leeds Municipal Farm, and until 1918 with the removal of the women.

History

Although met with acclaim for its integration of sanitary and safety requirements (much improved over the former wooden structures at the site)—including the first steam-powered air circulation system in the city—it was replaced in 1911 with a new men's facility at the Leeds Municipal Farm. From 1911 till 1918, women prisoners were held at the site until a facility could be built for them at Leeds. After the departure of the women prisoners, the city used the building for municipal offices, most notably for the Sewer Sanitation Department. In the 1970s, the city decided to abandon the building, removing the floors and ceilings and bricking up the windows, a state in which the building currently resides in. In October 2008, it was placed on the local landmarks list by the city landmarks commission, and has a facade easement on it.

Design

The main 3-story structure is 9245 long, 234 wide, and 234 high, occupying 234 square feet on 1.5 acres, the site of the former facility condemned in 1895. The site was also home to an abundance of natural limestone

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