If you drive or walk past the 19 beautiful 1890s and early 1900s mansions built in historic Hyde Park’s Janssen Place, you might think that time stands still.

Today these homes look very much the same as when each was completed, and the first owners moved in, more than a century ago. But, in fact, the neighborhood’s permanence has been built on hard work, patience, and persistence.

Drawing from their new book Janssen Place: A Unique Kansas City Neighborhood: Still on Parade After 125 Years, authors Bruce Mathews and Stephen Mitchell examine the vision of railroad magnate Arthur Stillwell to develop the city’s most affluent neighborhood, the first homes constructed there beginning in 1897, when it was coined “Lumberman’s Row,” and changes to the neighborhood during the Great Depression and post-World War II years. They also discuss a new era of Janssen Place homeowners committed to the restoration and preservation of their historic properties.