National Bellas-Hess Catalog Story


Bellas-Hess catalog retailer used Sears warehouse longer than Sears did


SEARS / Bellas-Hess Building, North Kansas City
SEARS / Bellas-Hess Building, North Kansas City
Photo credit: 
Darrell L James
In the community of North Kansas City stands an ornate warehouse building which has served many purposes, ultimately becoming a residential space. 
In the early 1900's, there were five major mail-order houses, all doing business primarily via their catalogs vs. the walk-in stores which some of them later used.   They were: Sears-Roebuck,  Montgomery Ward, Alden's, Spiegel, and National Bellas-Hess.   The building shown was utilized by two of them, Sears and Bellas-Hess. 
Sears built the warehouse when it ran out of space in a 6-story building in the West Bottoms of Kansas City, Mo., which it had occupied since 1910.  Ironically, Sears used this new building only twelve years before moving to a new site, in Kansas City, and selling the North KC structure.
It is said that Missouri Pacific offered Sears a two-acre site at in new industrial park it was developing in Kansas City, Kansas, but Sears, having surpassed Montgomery Ward in size, chose the even larger five- acre site in North Kansas City, Missouri.http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=building&lng=3&id=184573
Sears built the nine-story-tall warehouse in 1912-13 in a style called "Industrial Gothic."   The architect was George C. Nimmons and the design reflects the Chicago architectural style. The dimensions of such buildings are often described in terms of their sections, called "bays." The Sears warehouse is five bays wide and eleven bays long. 
According to the Jan.1916 edition of "Western Architect," the structure cost $420,000, measured 220' X 101' and was designed as the first phase of an eight phase mega-plant, but the plans never materialized after World War I began.
It is situated in North Kansas City, a small city of some 4,700 to 5,500 souls, and just 4.6 square miles, directly north of Kansas City's downtown and City Market.  North KC is completely surrounded by Kansas City, Missouri, but is its own entity, with its own city government, police, and fire services.  
The city was begun by Mr. Willard Winner, but the town was greatly aided in the planning by three major companies,  Armour Meats, Swift Meat Packing, and Burlington Northern Railroad.  Hence three major arteries through the town bear the names Armour, Swift, and Burlington, as does one of the earliest bridges over the Missouri River does, the Armour, Swift & Burlington Bridge, or ASB Bridge, for short. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASB_Bridge
The Sears warehouse is at 715 Armour Road, and faces roughly north.  It featured many windows, radiator heat, and two giant freight elevators, at opposite corners.    It was built with three long sets of slanted skylight "wedges," on the roof, bathing the 9th floor with natural light.   The wedges can be seen from a distance, and select apartments on that floor, as well as the corridor, still benefit from these skylights today.
Meanwhile, around 1910, a company dating back to the 1800's, called National Cloak & Suit, (which legend says was based out of New York City's Greenwich Village,) changed its name to National Bellas-Hess, and went into a period of prosperity, achieving sales of $40 million by 1928.   Bellas-Hess acquired the Sears building in North Kansas City around 1924-1925.
Here is a National Bellas-Hess stock certificate:http://www.scripophily.net/nabehecoinny.htm   
The Sears/National Bellas-Hess building in North Kansas City, showing the west-facing side, with the side loading doors.   http://localhistory.kclibrary.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/Montgomery&CISOPTR=4158&CISOBOX=1&REC=1
National Bellas-Hess, (mis-pronounced by many locals as "National Bellasys,") was the center of a sales tax battle in Illinois which reached the Supreme Court in 1967.  
The state of Illinois believe it should be able to collect sales tax on the transactions within state borders, but the court ruled that National Bellas-Hess, by then incorporated in Delaware and domiciled in North Kansas City, and having no physical presence in Illinois, except for goods transported by the US Mail, did not owe Illinois any tax revenues.http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=386&invol=753
Even so, the publicity of the case, and the changing times, caused National Bellas-Hess to declare bankruptcy in 1971.  The Kansas City Bellas-Hess building went through a series of incarnations for 25 years, including being utilized as a giant antique mall, before being developed into loft apartments in approx. 1996    Northland Lofts has 98 one-bedroom units and 54 two-bedroom units
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