The Valentine Neighborhood Association has applied for local historic designation for a new district called the Norman School Historic District. The district boundaries would be 35th Street to Valentine Road and the west side of Pennsylvania to the east side of Summit Street (Southwest Trafficway). (The larger Valentine Neighborhood extended from 33rd Street to W. 40th Street between Broadway and Southwest Trafficway).
The new proposed district is just south of the blocks where Kansas City Life Insurance Company recently demolished 23 buildings to make way for redevelopment. It lies between the Old Hyde Park Historic District and the Roanoke Historic District.
According to the nomination, the four-block area developed around the Norman School, which was built in 1906 and later expanded. Although there was little development before, the area developed rapidly after plans for the much-needed school were made public. The Norman School served not only as an elementary school, but also as a social center for the community. By 1929, the Norman School neighborhood was completely filled in. Of the homes built between 1902 and 1929, 60 contributing resources remain. They retain the integrity of the location, settings, materials and design of the period when they were built.
The local district nomination is part of an ongoing effort by the Valentine Neighborhood Association to be recognized as a national historic district. A proposal to add Valentine to the National Register of Historic Places began in 2019 and is continuing.
The Historic Preservation Commission is scheduled to hear the Norman School Historic District nomination on May 23. Email letters of support to Bradley.Wolf@kcmo.org by May 27.