Brookside

Brookside is one of Kansas City’s most-celebrated streetcar suburbs — a planned residential neighborhood developed by the J.C. Nichols Company in the 1910s-1920s as part of the broader Country Club District. The Brookside Shopping Center, opened in 1919, is among the oldest planned shopping centers in the United States. The neighborhood’s leafy streets, historic homes, and walkable village character anchor its enduring appeal.

Boundaries

Brookside occupies the area between Brush Creek (~55th Street) to the north (just south of the Country Club Plaza), 75th Street to the south, Troost Avenue to the east, and State Line Road to the west. The traditional core is centered on the Brookside Shopping Center at 63rd Street and Brookside Boulevard.

History

Pre-development (1880s-1910s)

The land that became Brookside was farmland + small estates through the late 19th century. As Kansas City’s population grew + the streetcar network expanded southward, real-estate developers identified the area as suitable for planned residential expansion.

J.C. Nichols Company development (1910s-1920s)

J.C. Nichols (jc-nichols) — the same developer who would later build the Country Club Plaza — began developing Brookside in the early 1910s as part of his broader Country Club District master plan. Brookside was designed as a streetcar suburb: walkable, family-oriented, with curving residential streets, neighborhood parks, and a planned commercial center.¹

The Brookside Shopping Center opened in 1919 along Brookside Boulevard. It was among the first planned shopping centers in the United States, predating the more-famous Plaza by three years (Plaza opened 1922). The shopping center was deliberately designed to serve the surrounding residential neighborhood as a walkable village center.

Restrictive covenants

Like the broader Country Club District, Brookside was developed with restrictive racial covenants that prevented properties from being sold to or occupied by Black, Jewish, or other minority buyers. The covenants enforced strict racial segregation in the neighborhood from its founding through the 1948 Shelley v. Kraemer Supreme Court ruling.

The legacy of the covenants — and the redlining patterns that reinforced them — continues to shape Brookside’s demographics today. While the explicit legal architecture of segregation was ended in 1948, the wealth concentration + housing pattern it established persists. Brookside remains predominantly white + relatively wealthy compared to many KC neighborhoods.

See restrictive-covenants-kc for detailed coverage of this history.

Mid-20th-century stability (1930s-1980s)

Through the mid-20th century, Brookside operated as a stable, affluent, family-oriented neighborhood. The shopping center continued to anchor commercial activity. Brookside Boulevard retained its tree-lined character. Brookside Elementary + later Brookside Charter School + private schools served the neighborhood.

Modern era (1990s-present)

Brookside remains one of KC’s most-desirable + highest-priced neighborhoods. The Brookside Shopping Center has been preserved as a historic district + remains active commercially. Independent + small-chain retail anchors the center.

The annual Brookside St. Patrick’s Day Warm-Up Parade is one of KC’s most-attended community events. The Brookside Art Annual brings tens of thousands of visitors to the neighborhood.

Architecture

Brookside’s housing stock is dominated by early-20th-century craftsman, bungalow, Tudor revival, and Colonial revival homes. Many of the original Nichols Company-developed homes survive in good condition. Lot sizes are modest by suburban standards but generous compared to other urban-core KC neighborhoods.

The Brookside Shopping Center features the same Spanish/Mediterranean Revival style that Nichols would later refine at the Plaza — terracotta roofs, courtyards, fountains.

Notable businesses (present-day Registry)

The Brookside Shopping Center hosts dozens of independent KC businesses. Notable operators (subject to current verification):

• Brookside Toy & Science
• Foo’s Fabulous Frozen Custard
• The Crow’s Coffee Brookside [if multi-location verified]
• Local Pig
• Aixois (French bistro)
• Brookside Barrio Restaurant
• Various boutiques + galleries

Annual events + traditions

• Brookside St. Patrick’s Day Warm-Up Parade — Sunday before St. Patrick’s Day
• Brookside Art Annual — early May
• Brookside Holidays — winter

Cultural significance

Brookside is KC’s most-recognized example of the streetcar-suburb pattern that defined early-20th-century American residential development. The neighborhood is often cited in urbanism + planning literature as a model of walkable, mixed-use, family-oriented development.

The neighborhood’s enduring appeal — stable values, distinct character, intact historic architecture — also makes it a frequent reference point for KC’s ongoing housing-policy discussions.

Restrictive covenant + redlining history

Brookside was developed with restrictive racial covenants by the J.C. Nichols Company. These covenants — and the broader Country Club District restrictive-covenant system — were central to KC’s 20th-century housing segregation. See jc-nichols + restrictive-covenants-kc for detailed coverage.

The covenants were ruled unenforceable in 1948. Subsequent redlining + private discrimination perpetuated similar exclusion patterns through the 1970s. Even today, Brookside’s demographic patterns reflect this history.

Adjacent neighborhoods

• country-club-plaza — north
• country-club-district — west
• waldo — south
• crestwood — east

Sources

Footnotes

1. KC Public Library Missouri Valley Special Collections — Brookside Shopping Center documentation. ↩