The Music Hall in KC

A placard in the Music Hall tells a brief tale of destruction and rebirth in Kansas City at the turn of the century.  It reads as follows:

"Convention Hall at the northeast corner of Thirteenth and Central streets was dedicated February 22, 1899.  The hall burned to the ground on April 4, 1900.  A new fireproof building was constructed in ninety days and opened by the Democratic National Convention on July 4, 1900.

For 35 years, it was the center of the community activities and in it appeared the famous statesmen, soldiers, preachers, scientists, teachers, musicians, actors and athletes of the world.  There were held the city's first horse show, automobile and radio shows, and great displays of the products of industry and agriculture.

Erected by popular subscription and dedicated to the use and benefit of the people, it was acquired in its entirety by the municipality on June 27, 1935, and merged into this great auditorium, so that the purposes of its founders might be carried out and their ideals perpetuated in the hearts and lives of our citizens."

Thinking about how quickly this structure was completed, coupled with the elegance of the architecture, it is a little hard to understand why nothing in the current era can compete on either level.  There again, maybe it is not so hard to understand in this throw-away world we live in.