12th Street, East from Main

Horse-drawn vehicles in the distance are the only traffic in sight in the old 1914 post-card scene taken at 12th and Main, looking east. A sign proclaims Cars do not stop here and a public scale conveniently tells your weight and fortune for a penny. At the right is the Jones Store Company. The company, which had been founded in 1887 in Stafford, Kan., by Mr. and Mrs. J. Logan Jones, began business in the Kansas City area in 1890 near 5th and Minnesota, Kansas City, Kansas. The store moved across the river to 6th and Main in 1895 and four years later it was destroyed by fire. The final move was to 12th and Main. The 1914 city directory lists Louis Stewart, president; W. A. Jones, treasurer, and L. M. Jones, manager. A Jones warehouse was at 1601 Baltimore. Jones advertisements on the borders of pages of the old directory read: We give and redeem surety coupons. The sign Drugs on the building at left is that of William L. Federmann, who was one of the first directors of the California-owned Lewis K. Liggett chain of drug stores, Rexall Drugs. Federmann got his start at the age of 15, tending the soda fountain in a Brookfield, Ind., drugstore. He came to Kansas City in 1886 on the way to California and took a job in a small drugstore at Independence and Forest. It was described as of the coal-oil lamp variety, with round top showcases set upon fancy scroll legs. Eventually Federmann bought the little store, which was the first of his chain. The 1914 city directory lists W. M. Federmann, president and treasurer, Federmann Drug Stores, and the five stores in Kansas City: 706-708 Delaware (wholesalers); the southwest corner of 11th and Grand; Diamond Drug Store, 904 Main; Palace Drug Store, northwest corner, 12th & Main (pictured) and one in the Baltimore Hotel at 12th and Baltimore.Today both of these early-day companies still operate in Kansas City. The Jones Store occupies the same location in an expanded building on Main and has all of the frontage on Walnut between 12th and 13th streets. The firm also operates four suburban stores.Federmann's Drugs now occupies space at 211 E. 11th and is the second oldest drugstore in the state of Missouri, still operating under its original name. Kansas City Star, January 22, 1977.