pg. 252-253 -- Missouri: A Guide to the 'Show Me' State, 1941 KANSAS CITY LIVESTOCK EXCHANGE AND STOCKYARDS
(open) , 1600 Genessee St., serve the packing plants of Kansas City, Kansas, and the Nation's largest horse and mule market. The EXCHANGE BUILDING, where buyers and commission firms have their offices, is in Missouri, but 64 per cent of the yards are in Kansas City, Kansas. The building, of concrete and brick, is nine stories tall and contains five acres of floor space. In the yards, which extend from Twenty-third Street on the south to Twelfth Street on the north, and from Genessee Street to the Kaw River, are 238 acres of pens connected with the large packing house by chutes and runways and a special double-decked bridge. Of the yardage, 87 acres are under cover. Daily capacity is 70,000 cattle, 50,000 hogs, 50,000 sheep, 5,000 horses and mules. Horse and mule auctions are held every Monday in a barn at the southeast corner of Nineteenth and Wyoming Streets. At Twenty-third Street is the AMERICAN ROYAL PAVILION, erected to house the American Royal Horse and Livestock Show that began in 1878. The present building dates from 1925, when its predecessor was partly destroyed by fire.
From the National Register application:
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"The Kansas City Livestock Exchange, 1600 Genessee Street, was constructed in 1910 as the central headquarters of the Kansas City stockyards. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Wilder and Wight and built by the Swenson Construction Company.
The Livestock Exchange Building is located strategically in Kansas City's West Bottoms in a central location to the stock yards. The Kansas state line is approximately 500' to the west. The site is a historic one, being the location of the first Exchange Building, a frame structure 24' square erected in 1971. The Livestock Exchange is surrounded on all sides by the evidences of a once-giant industry. Both the Missouri River to the north and east and the Kansas River to the west have long provided water as well as transportation. At the turn of the century the stock yards covered 207 acres with accomodations for 70,000 cattle, 40,000 hogs, 45,000 sheep and 5,000 horses and mules daily. By 1871 seven railroads were operating in the stock yards; today there are over ten miles of track inside the yards excluding acres and acres of track to the east and west.
Nine stories in height, the Live Stock Exchange rises above the flat flood plain to dominate the landscape in this part of the industrial bottom land. In an "E" plan, the primary facade faces east and fronts directly on Genessee Street. The three wings of the building extend to the west, overlooking the Kansas River. The building covers 31,000 square feet of ground, with a total floor space of 213,751 square feet. Rising from the street level to a height of 117 feet, the Stock Yards Exchange presents a massive, severely classical facade.
Exterior
The Live Stock Exchange Building is of a very functional design with very little ornamentation. The frontal elevation consists of a central slightly projecting bay flanked on each side by identical facades. Hydraulic pressed brick, maroon in color, is the primary building material.
The first two floors of the building are distinguished from the remaining seven floors by a Bedford cut stone which extends around the east, north and south facades. The cornice over the inset entry vestibule features dentils and the words "Kansas City Live Stock Exchange" cut in stone. Two rusticated brick columns are free-standing, attached at their base to three sets of two-door entry ways which extend back into the vestibule. These wooden double doors, with their glass transoms and flanking glass panels, were no doubt designed to accommodate large amounts of traffic going in and out of the building. Above the vestibule, a small light well is created by the recession of the entry. The elevation features large 2/2 light sash flanked on each side by narrower 2/2 light sash to create a tripartite window treatment. Just below these windows brick is arranged in a decorative manner in a circle framed by a rectangle on each side, just above the top of the entry vestibules.
This tripartite window treatment is consistent for two floors on all three major facades. The windows feature Bedford stone sills.
The remainder of the facade features 1/1 light double hung sash in severe symmetrical rows, rising to a stone stringcourse at the ninth floor before continuing to a bracketted terra cotta cornice and a small vertical attic story with "Kansas City Livestock Exchange" painted in large letters. The only other distinguishing feature is the placement of four plain circular stone medallions at the fourth floor level, beneath the windows of the central pavilion.
The north and south facades are of the same design as the primary facade."
From the Live Stock Exchange Building website:
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"Built in 1910, the Livestock Exchange Building was seen as a fortress of commerce for Kansas City and the western territory. With 475 offices, the building housed the Stockyards Company, telegraph offices, banks, restaurants, railroad and packing house representatives, and government agencies. It was the largest livestock exchange building in the world and one of the largest office buildings in Kansas City.
The stockyards had become an independent company in 1871 with 13.5 acres. Over time it grew to 207 acres and housed the current Livestock Exchange Building. In 1923 the Kansas City stockyards set a world record for a days’ receipts of cattle, 60,206 head. The handling capacity of the yards was 70,000 cattle, 50,000 hogs, 50,000 sheep, and 5,000 horses and mules.
By 1945 the Kansas City livestock market was an institution of national importance. But the up and coming feedlot operations and auction sales reduced cattle receipts in the stockyards. In 1984 the stockyards were sold to a group of investors to try to save the yards, and by 1991 the stockyards held its last auction.
The building received a $13 million renovation beginning in 1991 and then CEO and now owner of the Livestock Exchange Building, Bill Haw, had a vision for the area of low rise high value commercial buildings such as Gateway and Butler Manufacturing World Headquarters.
The Livestock Exchange Building has endured fire, flood and changing economies to once again become a thriving successful place to do business in this century."