This building was the R.O. Stenzel & Company Warehouse in Kansas City, Missouri.Photo byMwkruse, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The historic R.O. Stenzel & Company Warehouse was located at 1811 Walnut in Kansas City, Missouri. Today, this building is a Community America Crossroads Branch. On July 20, 2007, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The architectural style of the building is Modern Movement. The foundation is concrete and the walls are brick. The building was designed by Kivett & Myers. It was constructed in 1948.

This rectangular building was a one-story warehouse and the architectural style is an example of what was used post-World War II. Another entrance and foyer are in a small rectangular block added to the building in 1964.

During the 1940s, this building was a distribution and warehousing business. Most of the freight distribution buildings built in Kansas City’s freight districts during the 1930s and 1940s had simple masonry construction which is displayed with the Stenzel Warehouse.

The Stenzel Warehouse had loading bays in the front and rear of the building so products could be shipped by truck or rail.

Raymond O. Stenzel

Stenzel was born on September 26, 1911, in Olmitz, Kansas although he grew up in Windsor, Colorado, and attended the University of Colorado. He died on November 23, 2002, in Pauma Valley, California, at age 91.

Raymond, born in Olmitz, Kansas, grew up in Windsor, Colorado, and graduated from the University of Colorado in 1934.

Stenzel's first wife, Mary Madelyn Galloup Stenzel, was his high school sweetheart. They lived in Denver, Colorado, and moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1942. This is where Stenzel found his success and where he owned distribution businesses until 1987.

Mary passed away in 1985. She and Raymond had three children. Their daughter, Judith, passed away last year. A son, William, passed away in 2007. Another son still survives in Colorado.

Stenzel served on the Board of Directors of Research Hospital and Medical Center in Kansas City. He also served on the Board of Merchants Produce Bank of Kansas City and the University of Colorado Foundation Board. Stenzel was a member of Fox Acres Country Club, Pauma Valley Country Club, and a past member of Blue Hills Country Club and Kansas City Club.

Stenzel was survived by his second wife, Phyllis L. Stenzel. She had a son and a daughter.

The Stenzel family left an incredible legacy. Raymond was a golf enthusiast who had a passion for the Colorado mountains.

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