Safe Routes to School in the early 1900s: Tunnels make a safe intersection crossing for elementary school children

The KC Star reports:

During the early 1900s, the intersection at 27th Street and Cleveland Avenue was quite busy, bustling with cars and trucks. Even a Kansas City streetcar line crossed this intersection.

But children attending the nearby Greenwood Elementary School didn’t worry about safety. They could use one of the city’s first underground pedestrian walkways, commonly referred to as "The Tunnel." Four passageways, one from each corner of the intersection, met in the middle underneath the street.

Greenwood Elementary was built in the early 1900s and “The Tunnel” was built about the same time. The school was was named for James M. Greenwood, who laid the foundation for the Kansas City school system. By 1928, it was the largest grade school in Kansas City.