The trouble with ideas at 18th and Vine

Last week’s cover story, “Historian in Chief,” describes efforts by UMKC history professor and ex-Chief Pellom McDaniels to get Kansas City interested in its comprehensive history.

He wants to engage people at the street level — to take history out of museums and academia and make people connect to it in everyday life — but sometimes his drive for results outpaces the 18th & Vine district’s ability to act.

McDaniels suggested installing informational placards in the historic Lincoln Building, which is one of the district’s older buildings in use today. In its heyday from the ’20s to the ’50s, the building housed an assortment of doctors and dentists. McDaniels’ proposed placards would have described the building’s history and provided perspective on the building’s founding.