Did You Know…
Beacon Hill was a 365-acre area of Kansas City centered around 27th and Troost known as the Porter Farmstead. The huge tract was the home of the Rev. James Porter family. The Porters acquired the land in 1834 and established a large plantation with 40 slaves. Five generations of the Porter family lived in the original and subsequent iterations of farmhouse near what is now 28th and Tracy Avenue.
The Porters, or more likely their slaves, built a five-room log home (later enlarged) between 27th and 28th east of Tracy facing north. It was constructed of black walnut logs and black walnut weather boarding. To the rear of the home were the slave cabins.
The plantation had a natural water supply, a spring at the southeast corner of 28th and Paseo. The ground north of 20th Street was heavily timbered, and the Porters had an orchard that stretched from Troost to Forest between 27th and 18th Streets. Between 27th and 28th from Harrison to Holmes, now Hillcrest addition, was a pasture. Porter farm’s hay field was south of the pasture and west of Troost, and there was a corn field to the east. The family burial grounds were on the future site of the Troost Avenue Methodist Church at 2534 Troost, and later that land was given to the church.
By the mid-20th century, there were more than 600 flourishing businesses, hotels, restaurants, and stores in or adjacent to Beacon Hill. Lincoln High School, later renamed Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, was the first KC high school dedicated to black students. It remains one of the top-ranked high schools in the U.S. today due to academic excellence.
In 1951, a proposal was made for the “South Midtown Freeway” (later called Highway 71). Beacon Hill was one of several neighborhoods impacted as the City and MODOT began to buy properties and leave them vacant. Along the 12-mile stretch of Highway 71, 10,000 people were relocated. The highway project took decades to complete, and left many blighted and vacant properties in Beacon Hill, especially north of 27th Street. But strong and committed Beacon Hill neighbors persevered, and in 1974, the Beacon Hill Community Council was created.
In 1998, Kansas City Mayor Emanuel Cleaver II responded by forming the Beacon Hill Task Force to begin redeveloping areas of Beacon Hill decimated by building Highway 71.
At times, an interview may serve as the only source of information available about a certain place, event, or person. Beacon Hill’s oral history helps us understand how individuals and communities experienced the forces of history. You can view Beacon Hill History of the Neighborhood on YouTube.
